Commercial microfinance institutions (MFIs) must calculate two bottom lines: alleviating poverty for clients and also generating profits for investors. To achieve the latter goal, some MFIs charge their impoverished clients exorbitant interest rates. The recent Banco Compartamos IPO in Mexico raises a red flag, demonstrating how easily well-intentioned MFIs and their investors can shift from microlending to microloan-sharking.
At what stage in life do innovators make their most significant contributions to social enterprise? In this audio lecture, economist and creativity researcher David Galenson debunks the myth that high achievement is the domain of youth and genius for an audience of social entrepreneurs over the age of 60. Applying lessons learned from lives of artists and leaders, he considers differences in style and time horizons of creative people, emphasizing that social innovation is more about slow burn than flash in the pan.
Online giving markets help donors contribute more easily.
In picking board members, first figure out what you want out of them.
Let's not lose our college idealism.
Nonprofits and givers need to drop their sense of entitlement.
When Dr. Vera Cordeiro Rio worked at Hospital da Lagoa in Rio de Janeiro, she witnessed a constant admission/re-admission cycle in childcare treatment. To break that cycle, she gathered medical community volunteers to form Renascer, addressing root causes that prevent families from providing adequate care. In this audio interview, join host Sheela Sethuraman as she learns how Cordeiro Rio translated her passion translated into a methodology that is quickly sweeping through Brazil and the world.
Grassroot Soccer uses the world’s most popular sport to educate kids in sub-Saharan Africa about HIV and its prevention.
World of Good connects female artisans in poor countries with retailers (including Whole Foods Market, pictured) in the West.
Part academic institution, part activist group, part think tank, ATREE crosses sectors to breed a new species of conservation agency in India.
