Solutions - Articles

Good Measures Conference - Evaluation in the Nonprofit Sector

Evaluation is one of the most powerful mechanisms a nonprofit organization can use to unlock its potential, become more effective, and achieve success. But traditional evaluation methods are expensive, require thorough knowledge of the social sciences, and take a good deal of time to perform. In this part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Mark Kramer details how nonprofits can better incorporate evaluation to achieve their mission and bring about social change.

Wendy Kopp - Raising the Bar for Low-Income Students

Teach For America places thousands of energetic and committed college graduates as teachers in under-resourced schools for their first jobs. In this audio lecture recorded at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wendy Kopp shares why and how she started Teach for America in 1980, and its progress in raising the bar for under-achieving children. She also discusses how the organization rode out its "dark years," when enthusiasm and corporate support for the effort began to wane.

Clout-Sourcing

By Marcia Stepanek 2

Social media is helping people self-assemble for social action.

Robert Klein - Proposition 71: Funding Stem Cell Research

When President Bush set limits on stem cell research in 2001, millions of families who were hopeful that such research could help alleviate the diseases of their loved ones were devastated. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation audio lecture, attorney Robert Klein discusses his efforts to author and push through legislation in California which, so far, has succeeded in advancing such research. Sharing personal and political struggles, Klein movingly underscores the urgency behind his quest.

Dollar Days

By Marcia Stepanek 2

Social media will become increasingly critical to nonprofits' advocacy.