Fifty Years in Public Causes: Stories from a Road Less Traveled – 2005
In this extraordinary memoir, Brian O’Connell traces a lifetime of organizing beginning at the local level and extending to national and international crusades.  Brian worked with the American Heart Association in its earliest efforts to reduce death and disability from heart attack and stroke, spent 12 years as national head of the Mental Health Association during major breakthroughs in understanding and treatment of depression, and chaired the founding committee of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. In 1980 he and John Gardner launched Independent Sector where O’Connell served for 15 years as president and CEO of a vast coalition devoted to strengthening voluntary initiative, philanthropy, and civic action.

Voices from the Heart: In Celebration of America's Volunteers – 1999
Preface by Thomas Moore
People across the United States are dedicated to solving problems, sharing, and working to build strong and healthy communities.  No matter what their age, faith, or race, no matter where they live or how much money they make, ordinary Americans are coming together to give their time, effort, skill, and energy to the causes that move them.  This book is a tribute to this spirit of giving.

Civil Society: The Underpinnings of American Democracy – 1999
Foreword by John W. Gardner
This book traces the concept and practice of citizens as the primary office holders of government and government’s essential responsibility to keep open such freedoms as assembly and association to allow and encourage citizen participation and influence in every aspect of society.

Powered by Coalition: The Story of INDEPENDENT SECTOR – 1997
Foreword by John W. Gardner
Independent Sector is a national coalition of organizations that share a commitment to preserving and expanding voluntary action, philanthropy, and other aspects of private initiative for the public good.  This is the founding president’s account of how and why such diverse groups were brought together in 1980, what it has taken to keep them together, and what they have been able to achieve through collaboration.

Board Overboard: Laughs and Lessons for All but the Perfect Nonprofit – 1996
Side-splitting spoof of nonprofit organizations presented in the form of minutes from a fictitious nonprofit’s board meetings.  Eavesdrop on an outrageous group of inept but very funny board of directors.

People Power: Service, Advocacy, Empowerment – 1994
During more than forty years as an organizer and leader of voluntary organizations, Brian has spoken and written about the importance of active citizenship and citizen involvement in preserving and strengthening our participatory democracy.  This book gathers some of his best work -- essays, keynote addresses, op-ed columns, and a sampling of previously unpublished peeves -- between two covers and, in the process, explores and illuminates the matrix of ideas, practices, and relationships that underlies America’s independent sector.

The Board Member's Book: Making a Difference in Voluntary Organizations – 1993
2nd Edition
Packed with inspiration, practical advice, and time-tested solutions to the problems board members face each day. Since publication of the 1st Edition in 1985, voluntary organizations have begun to focus more attention on ethical issues. Brian provides sound guidance on how to conduct both “internal” and “external” ethical evaluations and inspire public confidence in your organization. 

Volunteers in Action – 1989
Co-authored by Ann Brown O'Connell
This book evokes the compassion, spirit, and power of the voluntary sector in America, illustrating with clarity and precision the ways that volunteers can and do make a difference. Essential reading for those who write, study, speak about, or participate in voluntary activities.

PHILANTHROPY: Four Views – 1988
Co-authored with Robert Payton, Michael Novak, and Peter Dobkin Hall
The contributors to this volume address a variety of public policy issues that emerge from an examination of philanthropy as it is practiced in the United States.

Philanthropy in Action – 1987
Lively, spirited, and entertaining, this book is both a collection of great stories, masterfully told, as well as an informative, essential reference for students, researchers, scholars, writers, teachers, and others concerned about philanthropy and nonprofit organizations in America.

Our Organization – 1987
This is a hilarious spoof of the world of volunteer organizations presented in the form of one organization’s board meetings’ minutes in a witty view into realm that is too rarely viewed with humor.

America's Voluntary Spirit: A Book of Readings – 1983
Foreword by the Honorable John W. Gardner
Every American interacts with our sector regularly, yet too often we are unaware of its extraordinary strength and diversity or the role it plays in our national life. In this thoughtful collection, Brian brings together 45 selections which analyze and celebrate the sector’s power and variety.  Contributors ranging from de Tocqueville, John D. Rockefeller, and Thoreau to Max Lerner, Erma Bombeck, and Vernon Jordan are unified in a common examination of this unique dimension of American life.

Finding Values That Work: The Search for Fulfillment – 1978
Drawing on his own search and on his years with the Mental Health Association, Brian has come to believe “that under the initial layers of shifting sand there is bedrock, which, with effort, can be reached and which does offer a chance for stability and fulfillment.”  The book presents no formula for instant happiness, but it does provide relief from the molds so many of us have been trying to force ourselves into, and some insight into the ways of finding values that work.

Effective Leadership in Voluntary Organizations: How to Make the Greatest Use of Citizen Service and Influence – 1976
Here is a down-to-earth handbook for making such voluntary organizations effective instruments for citizen service and influence, whether the cause requires a temporary ad-hoc committee or an on-going organization with a professional staff. It moves quickly from advice on how to get started to providing specific guidelines on such basic topics as fundraising, fulfilling the role of organization president, the distinction between volunteers’ roles and the functions of staff, involvement of minorities, evaluation, and the charting of new directions.