Scaling
The Trouble With Scaling Cheap
Social innovation means building a road to the future that doesn't yet exist, without lowering standards.
Impact Investing
The Impact Portfolio
That Beat the Market
I had a mandate to create an investment portfolio wholly devoted to impact that would not sacrifice returns. After a decade, it outperformed its benchmarks of traditional market indexes and demonstrated that socially positive investments are long-term value investments.
Nonprofits & NGOs
How AI Can Strengthen Human Connection,
Not Replace It
Nonprofits balancing automation with empathy should focus on supporting team members providing care so they can be more present with people seeking help.
Education
HBCUs Want to Shift From Survival to Sovereignty
How well-targeted investments can help unlock the full potential of Black higher education.
Nonprofits & NGOs
Who Will Raise Money When the Money Raisers Are Gone?
To solve the talent crisis, we must move from transactionalism to transformation.
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IN-DEPTH SERIES
When Minnesota’s Civic Gyms Stayed Open
Foundation leaders, community partners, and a mutual aid organizer reflect on what happened during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
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IN-DEPTH SERIES
Renewing Public Education’s Purpose
A series of diverse essays on the purpose of public education in a time of widespread change: What is public education for, and how can it evolve to meet its promise?
Health
The Citizen-Led Fight Against Hidden Epidemics
The scientific and medical communities were divided on the treatment for Lyme disease for decades. Neglected and suffering, Lyme patients learned how to advocate for themselves.
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Nonprofits & NGOs
The Seven Labors of the Modern NGO
Good missions don’t automatically become good results. Seven self-imposed burdens most often separate the two, and senior leaders can dismantle them.
Excerpt
Design Thinking
Against ‘It’s Better Than Nothing’
An excerpt from Global by Design on how misguided innovation can cause more harm than not getting involved
Philanthropy & Funding
The Case for Ranking Donor-Advised Funds
A single public metric ranking DAF sponsors by the share of assets they deploy would turn the incentive to accumulate wealth into a race to give.
Education
Right Ingredients, Wrong Recipe: What It Takes to Really Get Children Learning
Shifting away from rote learning requires more than the right inputs. Meaningful learning can only take place when school systems put the right political, cultural, and behavioral conditions in place.
Government
When Evidence Isn’t Enough
If policy and spending decisions have become much more rigorous, why have outcomes still failed to improve?
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Most Commented
Scaling
Scale Really Matters
The problems are big, the time is short, and the resources are limited.
Education
Welcome to the Era of Relational Intelligence
As AI begins to transform education, work, and social life, we need to focus on developing and expanding capacities essential for human flourishing.
Philanthropy & Funding
Scale Is a Myth! Embrace the Long Defeat!
Why the ghost of Paul Farmer wants you scaring the horses at Skoll
Philanthropy & Funding
Does Everything in the Social Sector Need to Scale?
In a world that no longer behaves like a scalable system, success must be something other than growth.
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The Gyms on the Corners
Recognition, distortion, and the organizing infrastructure behind Minnesota's response to Operation Metro Surge.