Kevin Starr
Kevin Starr directs the Mulago Foundation and the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program.
Philanthropy & Funding
In Numbers We Trust
Because trust-based philanthropy shouldn’t mean blind faith.
Measurement & Evaluation
Don’t Feed the Zombies
When funders aren’t accountable for impact, it ruins the party for everyone.
Scaling
Strategy: Go Big or Go… Oh, Just Go Big
Four steps to impact at a scale that really matters.
Philanthropy & Funding
Do They Still Need Our Money?
A wave of big-bet grants has left some funders asking whether recipient organizations still “need” their money. That’s always the wrong question.
Scaling
Getting to Scale: Size Matters. Shape Matters More.
Scale is a verb, not a noun: The trajectory and curve of impact are more important than the numbers.
Scaling
We’re Beating Systems Change to Death
Systems change is more a destination than a journey. "Scalable solutions" might be a better way to make the trip.
Economic Development
Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Give a Family Cash, and You Feed Them for…a While
For all the glowing press that unconditional cash transfers (UCT) have gotten, cash is still a long way from living up to the hype and transforming the development sector.
Scaling
Nowhere to Grow
The systematic scale-up of social entrepreneurs’ solutions by Big International NGOs (BINGOs) is simply not a thing. Why not?
Scaling
Your Software, Their Hardware: Stacking the Deck for High-Quality Replication
Your awesome model doesn’t get to serious scale unless others replicate it, too. Here’s how to make it happen.
Scaling
Big Enough. Simple Enough. Cheap Enough.
Daunting social problems need scalable solutions. Here’s how to know if you’ve got one.
Philanthropy & Funding
Development Impact Bonds: There’s Still No Free Lunch
We’re in big trouble if complicated, expensive schemes like these are what it takes to get big funders to fund for impact.
Business
Somebody’s Gotta Get Rich
If we’re serious about solving problems, marginal businesses won’t do.
Health
Health Care: The Cool Stuff Doesn’t Matter If the Basics Aren’t There
Fund primary health care. Everywhere. Now.
Measurement & Evaluation
Addicted to Bad News
Don’t indulge. It can drain the joy right out of the work.
Education
Let the Man Do His Job!
It’s hard to be a government minister in a country where resources are scarce. Don’t make it worse.
Water & Sanitation
Development Malpractice In Ghana
How stuff that doesn’t work can screw up stuff that does.
Philanthropy & Funding
The Pink Hats Were Awesome. Now Let’s Deliver.
We need to double down on the gritty business of impact. Here’s how.
Philanthropy & Funding
The Pitch Is Dead. Long Live the Conversation.
If you treat funders like prey, they'll probably run.
Education
A Big Problem, a Small Experiment, and a Lot of Noise
Liberia’s leaders are trying to jump-start their schools. Give them a break.
Leadership
Seduced by “The Reductive Seduction of Other People’s Problems”
Even in the world of poverty and development, seduction sometimes works out OK.
Big Picture
The Doer and the Payer: A Simple Approach to Scale
Growth and scale aren't the same thing. Here's what you need to know if you're serious about getting to scale.
Nonprofit Management
So What’s It Take to Get Fired Around Here?
Greg Mortenson and Three Cups of Getting Away With It.
Design Thinking
Getting Beyond Hype: Four Questions to Predict Real Impact
A simple way to think about investment and design.
Review
Economic Development
The Trouble With Top-Down
The limits of technocratic, one-size-fits-all approaches to economic development have become all too evident.
Philanthropy
GiveThoughtfully: It Depends on Your Point of View
Bringing a discussion of cash transfers in for a landing.
Economic Development
GiveDirectly? Not So Fast.
We are mistaking an important experiment for a proven solution.
Measuring Social Impact
Get Out of the Office
You’ll never get what’s going on out there by sitting in here.
Foundations
Big Bang Philanthropy
How one group of funders gets the most for the poverty-fighting buck.
Philanthropy & Funding
Dump the Prizes
Contests, challenges, awards—they do more harm than good. Let’s get rid of them.
Foundations
Be Nice. Fund Results. Minimize Hassle. Help Out.
The word from the trenches on how funders can make life easier for everyone.
Foundations
Real World Impact Measurement
“Good enough” = simple enough to do, but rigorous enough to mean something.
Socially Responsible Business
Another Look at “Carbon for Water” in Western Kenya
There needs to be more scrutiny around the use of the LifeStraw water filter and more debate about the validity of its carbon for water deal.
Foundations
Just Give ’Em the Money: The Power and Pleasure of Unrestricted Funding
Unrestricted money makes an organization work smoothly, enables innovation, and provides fuel for growth.
Socially Responsible Business
Thirty Million Dollars, a Little Bit of Carbon, and a Lot of Hot Air
Carbon for Water is engaged in a loopy funding scheme and offers a lousy public health solution.
Review
Economic Development
New School Economics
More Than Good Intentions: How a New Economics Is Helping to Solve Global Poverty by Dean Karlan & Jacob Appel
Philanthropy
It’s Not About the Tea
By and large, the Central Asia Institute's supporters went for a feel-good story, didn’t do their homework, and didn’t ask the right questions with the Three Cups of Tea dust up.
Measuring Social Impact
Impact Market Failure
It comes down to this: We’re all operating in a dysfunctional market for impact.