Solutions - Articles

Podcast

Panel Discussion - Skoll World Forum: Financing the Growth of Operations

Financing the growth of operations to achieve major scale is undoubtedly the biggest challenge facing social entrepreneurship. This panel discussion explores the current challenges and constraints in mobilizing capital flow to compelling social enterprises. Experts cover a range of strategies and channels available to social entrepreneurs for financing growth plans, including emerging alternatives to create new asset classes (hybrid, for-profit, and for-benefit models).

Podcast

James A. Joseph - Leadership in the Second Half of Life

Former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, James Joseph believes we must support those over 50 launching new careers later in life so they may continue to make significant contributions to society. In this audio lecture recorded at the Encore Career Summit, sponsored by the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford, Joseph reflects on what it takes to be a great leader in the second half of life. Using Nelson Mandela as a prototype, he reflects on how skills such as the ability to work with one's enemies are critical elements of the mature leader.

Podcast

Marc Koska - Preserving the Right to Safe Injections

In India and Africa, syringes are frequently reused, despite the obvious dangers of cross infection and death. Marc Koska talks about his involvement with Star Syringe, which designed and licensed an auto-disable syringe that prevents syringe reuse. He discusses how single-use syringe adoption is progressing in India, and also talks about the activities and aims of his charity SafePoint Trust.

Podcast

Robert Searle - Can Nonprofits Get More Bang for the Buck?

If you haven't bought a flat-screen TV yet, chances are you're waiting for the prices to drop. Technologies get cheaper by virtue of the "experience curve," a phenomenon where, as companies get better at what they do, costs become lower. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review sponsored audio lecture, Robert Searle argues that nonprofits also can have experience curves, achieving a greater volume of outcomes for the same cost. He discusses the types of outcome metrics on which nonprofits should focus.

No Profit for Her

By Alana Conner

Research shows that men may be more effective than woman at utilizing microfinance investments.

Podcast

Brian Lehnen, Scott Morgan, Anne Marie Burgoyne - Year One in the Life of a Nonprofit Start-up

What fuels the creation of a nonprofit organization? In this panel discussion, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, panelists talk about their experiences founding an education-related nonprofit in the United States and a microenterprise in Africa. They explore how they came up with the ideas for their enterprises, how they focused and manifested those ideas, and what smart and not-so-smart choices they made along the way. A portfolio manager adds her insights on what elements make a startup appealing to potential funders.