Foundations - Articles

Podcast

Rodrigo Pizarro - Making Salmon Farming More Sustainable

In Chile, the farming of salmon seemed the ideal solution to the depletion of world fish populations—until it became clear that acquiculture causes its own environmental problems. In an audio interview by Eric Nee, managing editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Rodrigo Pizarro explores the challenges of acquiculture and the foundation's project to reduce the impact of salmon farming through a sustainable system of seaweed cultivation.

Review

Effective Foundation Management

Review By Catherine DiBenedetto

Winter 2008

Podcast

Maria Eitel - Nike’s Efforts to Empower Young Girls

Nike has taken pains to clean up its act since the media brought public attention to human rights violations in its supplier factories in the 1990s. Through the Nike Foundation, the sports and fitness giant is taking a proactive approach to some of the world's most challenging social problems. In this audio lecture, Nike Foundation president Maria Eitel talks to a Stanford MBA audience about how the organization is focusing on creating economic opportunities for adolescent girls around the world as a means of alleviating poverty.

Failing Well

By Judith M. Gueron

Foundations need to make more of the right kinds of mistakes.

The Power of Strategic Mission Investing

By Mark R. Kramer & Sarah E. Cooch 1

A growing number of foundations are offering low-interest loans, buying into green business ventures, and investing in other asset classes to advance their missions. To bring about real change, foundations need to make strategic mission investments that complement their grantmaking and leverage market forces.

Podcast

Bill Drayton - Global Social Entrepreneur

Ashoka's founder, Bill Drayton, believes that everyone can be a changemaker. In this audio lecture, he reflects on many of the early influences that helped him understand how to advance true social progress. From these beginnings, he traces his own path in public service, and describes the founding of Ashoka, which has grown into a flourishing network of social entrepreneurs who can serve as role models for further progress in promoting social justice around the globe.

Podcast

Katherine Fulton - Finding Philanthropy’s New Sweet Spots

How can philanthropy have a greater impact on social problems? In this audio lecture, Katherine Fulton,  Monitor Institute president, envisions a new era in which philanthropy will reclaim the American dream for communities that have been left behind. In a talk sponsored by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fulton reviews how philanthropy has changed over the last 10 years, and how the public and private sectors can work together to create social change.

Podcast

Council on Foundations Annual Conference - Philanthropy and Nonprofit Acountability Practices

In the field of philanthropy, are foundations' grantmaking and reporting processes aligned with nonprofits' strategies? In this panel discussion exploring data from a Center for Social Innovation study on nonprofit accountability practices and the costs of conflicting demands, experts debate ways in which evaluation requirements may help or hinder mission delivery.

Luck of the Draw

By Kevin Bolduc, Phil Buchanan, & Ellie Buteau 1

Grantees of foundations have little control over which program officer takes their case. Yet program officers make or break grantees’ experiences with foundations. To trigger social change, foundations must give program officers better training, clearer expectations, and regular performance feedback.

The People’s IPO

By Anne Stuhldreher

Lower-income patrons of Market Creek Plaza can now invest in the shopping center.