2022 Summer Social Innovation Reading List

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Need material for your summer road trip or weekend at the beach? Check out these books, articles, and podcasts that explore mission-centered leadership, leveraging social purpose to survive a crisis, the history of the US nonprofit sector, the importance of well-being to social change, and more.

Rebalance: How Women Lead, Parent, Partner, and Thrive by Monica Brand Engel, Lisa Neuberger Fernandez, and Wendy Jagerson Teleki

“We wrote Rebalance in the depths of the pandemic, at a time of massive change and deep reflection. We wanted to explore what it takes to thrive full-circle in all aspects of our lives: as purpose-driven leaders, parents, partners, and citizens.”

The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine

“Grabbing software off-the-shelf that is ‘smart’ may look like a technical decision; at its heart it is a deeply and profoundly human challenge that requires informed leadership to do well. There is a sweet spot of balancing the capability of the technology with the interests and needs of the people inside and outside that organizations need to identify.”

Facilitating Breakthrough: How to Remove Obstacles, Bridge Differences, and Move Forward Together by Adam Kahane

“The role of the facilitator is to strategize, organize, design, direct, coordinate, document, coach, and otherwise support the work of the group of people who are collaborating.”

Nonprofit Neighborhoods by Claire Dunning

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“There is little doubt that one of the most significant developments of the US nonprofit sector was its expansion in the 1960s, as it absorbed federal funding to implement Great Society social welfare and anti-poverty programs. Yet, even as that expansion remains an indisputable landmark, its significance with respect to broader political and ideological currents is much less settled.”

Change for Good: An Action-Oriented Approach for Businesses to Benefit from Solving the World's Most Urgent Social Problems by Paul Klein

“Solving social problems has never been more important and the reasons why businesses should contribute to social change have been well documented. However, the current approach, which could be described as “everything about us without us,” is one of the reasons that business-based social change programs don’t work well enough.”

Letting Go of Your Nonprofit: Mission-Centered Leadership During a Merger by Jean Butzen

“I decided to write a book about these nonprofit leaders who could let go. There are many excellent “how-to-merge” books available, but nothing that addresses the emotional aspects of letting go from the perspective of the leader who is taking their nonprofit into another.”

Centered Self: The Connection Between Inner Well-Being and Social Change (In-depth series)

“The pioneers of well-being in the social change sector are often met with great skepticism. Yet they persevered to create spaces for experimentation and learning, and paved the way for us to shift well-being from a taboo topic only whispered about in conference hallways, to an openly discussed and seriously considered aspect of social change.”

Case Study on Pixza: Preserving Social Purpose Amid a Global Pandemic by Gregory C. Unruh & Fernanda Arreola

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“Mexico’s Pixza began as a social inclusion vehicle for homeless adults through a pizza business. Its evolution demonstrates how social entrepreneurs can leverage purpose to sustain organizations through a crisis and to reengineer business models to foster greater impact.” Listen to the authors on an episode of the Mission to Scale podcast. Speaking of…

SSIR's Summer 2022 Authors on the Mission to Scale Podcast

This summer, SSIR authors share new insights, perspectives, and ideas for tackling the world’s most pressing social challenges on the Mission to Scale podcast. Listen to host Dan Berelowitz talk with the authors of SSIR’s Summer 2022 issue about tech inclusion for excluded communities, strategies for successful health collaboratives, “pacer” organizations supporting entrepreneurs’ success, the business case for Indigenous rights, and leveraging purpose to steer a social enterprise through crisis.

Uncharted Ground Podcast Series

As you journey to places known or unknown this summer, add Uncharted Ground to your podcast queue and travel to the frontlines of global development for in-depth interviews with social entrepreneurs who are changing the world. Host Jonathan Levine takes you on their journeys of social innovation, from enlisting families to deliver health care in India to making clean drinking water affordable in Africa.

Read more stories by SSIR Editors.