Technology
The Call of Violence
In parts of the world, expanding cell-phone coverage brings with it an increase in violent activity.
Jessica Ruvinsky is a science writer based in Santa Monica, California. She was an editor at Discover magazine in New York and has contributed to The Economist, Science, and U.S. News & World Report. She has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Stanford and a bachelor's degree from Yale.
In parts of the world, expanding cell-phone coverage brings with it an increase in violent activity.
People are more apt to behave in socially responsible ways when they think that others might take notice.
How a company supports employee voluntarism depends on whether it participates in certain kinds of external networks.
Spreading messages in remote villages is a matter of understanding the patterns by which villagers connect with each other.
A properly designed sponsor-a-child program can have real, long-term impact on the life course of its beneficiaries.
Major local events, with some notable exceptions, spur locally based companies to increase charitable giving.
Enrollment in a classroom with a high poverty rate doesn't necessarily affect individual student performance.
In a market context, people are apt to betray their own beliefs about right and wrong.
Government authorities are experimenting to build citizen trust.
A Philadelphia study connects green spaces to neighborhood safety.
Corporate sustainability reporting is increasingly mandated by government and the public.
New research finds that some companies are increasingly pro-diversity and others lag well behind.
Membership in organizations is growing, but not what it used to be.
Technology can empower citizens to co-create some government services.
The diseases that get funded tend to be the ones for which funders can take credit.
The moral legitimacy of a new market can come as much from how you sell something as from exactly what you’re selling.
Transformational leaders capitalize on the creativity that employees have.
Most health advocacy organizations do not report industry funding.
A new study finds that nonprofits are not becoming more commercialized.
Living near safe drinking water is not the same as drinking safe water.
“One death is a tragedy; 1 million is a statistic,” Joseph Stalin is supposed to have said. The more people we see suffering, the less we care.
Under the EPA’s Audit Policy, violators who voluntarily report themselves can get certain penalties reduced or waived if they commit to ongoing self-regulation.
Lobbying and bribery are both time-honored ways to seek influence, but there is an important difference between them.
The media introduce social movements to the masses, but how do social movements make it into the media?
According to a new analysis, most of the world’s poor no longer live in the poorest countries.
New and valuable mHealth apps are coming out all the time. What sort of open architecture can support this wave of innovation?
A recent study showed that online game communities provide access to social capital.
The more money a person has, the less generous, helpful, compassionate, and charitable he is toward other people.
In Britain, the social safety net allows people who fall into poverty to pull themselves out. Americans who become poor are more likely to stay that way.
Politically radical social workers didn’t expect to be working in a bank any more than white-collar bankers expected to be holding meetings in a crowded public market.
Private foundations that finance education in developing countries need to be more transparent in their mission and impact.
People tend to perceive organizations as being either warm or competent, not both—and they are much more likely to do business with the competent one.
Research reveals why low-income minority neighborhoods are often the site of the worst environmental polluters.
Young workers are, on average, less self-less than previous generations. How will this affect the nonprofit sector?
While more money may translate to a higher valuation of oneself, but when it comes to happiness, money is no indicator.
Study suggests that for young volunteers, it's not just about résumé padding.
Health education is at a crossroads, and interactive computer games may be a guiding force.
Direct participation by Indonesian villagers proves that process matters, even when outcomes don't change.
Social media is a powerful marketing tool. But how do you control your message once it goes viral and is in the hands of the public?
People are more likely to engage in moral behavior when they are in a clean-scented room.
New research shows that buying green products makes people more likely to cheat and steal.
For-profit companies preach and employ diversification—and it would behoove nonprofits to have diverse revenue portfolios, as well.
What makes a civic association effective is not so much the resources and opportunities available to it, but good leaders.
Family-owned firms pollute less than nonfamily firms; and that is due to the family values that these firms were founded upon.
How people experience government programs directly affects their levels of civic engagement.
People are more likely to use products that they pay for, but when it comes to malaria-preventing bed nets in Africa, the opposite holds true.
New public-private partnerships have led to big leaps in the exportation of Argentinian wine.
As parents spend more time raising their profitable coffee crop, they spend less time attending to their children's needs.
Global warming may end up helping some poor farmers who will be able to sell their crops for higher prices.
How nonprofit board size and independence relate to board performance.