SSIR’s 2021 Social Innovation Reading List

By SSIR Editors

Highlights from book excerpts published by SSIR online this year on topics including mutualism, grassroots development, breakthrough ideas, racial injustice, and well-being.

Using Founder Sabbaticals as Organizational Reset

By Natalie Bridgeman Fields 4

Founder sabbaticals are as important for the organization as for the well-being of the founder. But for a founder’s sabbatical to build organizational resilience, examine internal power dynamics, and prepare for the founder’s eventual (and inevitable) departure, organizations must plan for, resource, and require them.

The Vertical Integration of Philanthropy

By Tom Dawson

Why social impact organizations are acquiring mission-aligned nonprofits.

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Data in Collective Impact: Focusing on What Matters

By Justin Piff

Understanding data and using it effectively in collective impact can help achieve short- and long-term progress on shared goals.

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Using Data to Disrupt Systemic Inequity

By Jennifer Blatz

A look at how the collective impact initiative StriveTogether is enlisting data to resolve systemic barriers that limit opportunity for children and families of color in the United States.

Overcoming Racial Equity Fatigue

By Benjamin Abtan

Eighteen months after an unprecedented movement for racial justice, many organizations are feeling frustration and disappointment. What now?

Integrating Individual Well-Being With Environmental Systems

By Randall Amster & Linda Bell Grdina

How cultivating a values-based, ecological worldview can help lay the groundwork for collective action toward the greater well-being of individuals, societies, and the systems in which we live.