Competing for a Change
How Changemakers’ “collaborative competitions” harness the wisdom of crowds.
Field Report - Articles
Profiles of innovative work (more)
Boots on the School Ground
An innovative federal project turns retiring military personnel into teachers.
Working All Fronts
How Sustainable Conservation unites all sectors for the environment.
Micro-franchise Against Malaria
How for-profit clinics are healing and enriching the rural poor in Kenya.
Unselling Meth
The Montana Meth Project's graphic ads saturate TV, radio, billboards, and newspapers to portray the reality of methamphetamine use, in all its grit. Scabs and body sores are just the beginning. So far, the shock factor is working.
Green for Green
Peter Liu started his working life as an engineer at the oil giant Chevron Corp. The experience turned him into an avid environmentalist. Several years later, it also led him to co-found the New Resource Bank, which calls itself the nation’s first “green” commercial bank.
Money for a Song
The Public Radio Fund gives investors a chance to protect nonprofit airwaves. With its help, KTOO-FM in Juneau, Alaska, recently debuted a 24-hour news show and two locally-hosted Alaska-flavored music stations.
Fair Trade Spanish
Michael Parker pays his new Spanish tutor $17 less than he paid his old teacher in Iowa. But his new teacher, Yesenia Mateu Grave, takes away double her normal fee. Thanks to Web conferencing, Mateu Grave teaches students around the world from her hometown in Antigua, Guatemala, via a site called Speak Shop, combining audio, video, and online chat for a classroom-like experience.
Policing the Police
The traditional approach among human rights groups in Nigeria had been accusatory: publicize injustices or sue the government. But in January 1998, on the eve of democracy, an NGO called the CLEEN foundation set out to reform law enforcement from within.
Bettering Beantown
Greenlight is a nonprofit catalyst: It identifes a local need, scours the country for the best program to meet it, and then establishes a chapter in its hometown.