Nonprofits using for-profit models, businesses pursuing social missions—the paths of businesses and nonprofits aren’t just crossing, they are converging. When it comes to value creation, stakeholder management, organizational structure, and capital mobilization, business and nonprofit leadership face many of the same challenges and goals. Stanford Social Innovation Review’s winter 2007 issue deals with the necessity of “Capitalizing on Convergence.”
Not only does a distinctive brand help a nonprofit raise its visibility among the public, it also develops deeper ties with donors, partners, and other stakeholders.
Aid organizations help build small businesses build capacity without asking whether people want the businesses’ products. As these stories show, successful programs start with real buyers.
Successful social innovators nurture close ties between members and infuse their networks with a common set of values.
Nonprofits and businesses are converging - in the value they create, the stakeholders they manage, the organizations they form, and the financial instruments they use.
A Chilean firewood certification program spares both the air and indigenous business.
Lower-income patrons of Market Creek Plaza can now invest in the shopping center.
How Fair Trade coffee moved out of its niche and into the most mainstream market of all.
Responsible Wealth, a Boston-based nonprofit, is convincing many affluent Americans to challenge the very rules that made them rich.
How Lutherans are transforming their love of coffee into global good.
Nonprofits aren’t as nice to their employees as you might think.
Why eco-friendly products may be bad for the environment.
How organizations can inspire reconciliation instead of revenge.
The most successful nonprofits pay close heed to their markets.
Spiffy Web sites aren’t just easy on the eyes; they’re also easier to believe and learn from.
How can companies hire and promote more women and minorities?
THE NEW CAPITALISTS: How Citizen Investors Are Reshaping the Corporate Agenda by Stephen Davis, Jon Lukomnik, and David Pitt-Watson
STRATEGIC GIVING: The Art and Science of Philanthropy by Pablo Eisenberg
MacArthur “genius” prize winner creates drugs for the developing world.
