Sectors - Articles

Podcast

John Sage - Social Enterprise, Fair Trade and Coffee

Combining idealism with a genuine love of business, John Sage cofounded the social enterprise company Pura Vida, one of the largest distributors of fair trade organic coffee in the world. In this University podcast, he discusses his mission to improve the lives of people in coffee-growing regions. Sage explains how Pura Vida works at the intersection of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, showing how the two can be blended to generate both revenues and social good.

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.

Learn to Love Lobbying

By Fraser Nelson, David W. Brady, & Alana Conner Snibbe 2

Most nonprofits don’t know how to lobby and, worse, think that it entails cutting shady deals with sleazy characters. Yet lobbying is nothing more than educating legislators – a right that our democracy guarantees. To make change, nonprofits must learn to lobby. And who knows? They may even learn to love it.

Podcast

Dennis Macray - Social Responsibility and International Coffee

Starbucks has taken environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility seriously in its work with coffee farmers. In this audio lecture, Dennis Macray discusses how the United States' leading coffee retailer is reshaping its business practices and reinventing the international coffee trade.

Podcast

Paul Lamb - Nonprofit Managment and the Web

Nonprofit management now requires the innovative use of information technology. In this Stanford podcast, nonprofit technology consultant Paul Lamb explores how the web is transforming nonprofits and NGOs. He looks ahead to the potential that ubiquitous mobile computing, virtual worlds, user-generated content, and social networking have to upend traditional constraints and to open new doors.

Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition

By Roger L. Martin & Sally Osberg 40

Social entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention, but along with its increasing popularity has come less certainty about what exactly a social entrepreneur is and does.

Podcast

Yvon Chouinard - Corporate Social Responsibility and Profits

Patagonia has found corporate social responsibility to be a profitable strategy. In this audio lecture, Yvon Chouinard, founder,  offers a slew of counterintuitive business tips on how to save the environment while making money. This self-proclaimed "reluctant business man" reveals himself to be a business visionary.

Profiting From Failure

By Paul Shoemaker

What nonprofits and donors can learn from the closing of a venture philanthropy firm.

No Substitute for Experience

By Rosaline Juan

When hiring executives, many nonprofits should seek marketing expertise.

The Crown Weighs Heavily on the Eyelids

By Alana Conner Snibbe

Why the powerful have a hard time taking other people’s perspectives.