Foundations - Most Popular
New and innovative ideas for leaders of foundations (more)
Social Innovations
The Power of Strategic Mission Investing
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
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.
Podcast
Denise Gammal - The Nonprofit Accountability Trap
Why should a grantee invest $50,000 in computing infrastructure and add staff to comply with the reporting requirements of a $16,000 grant? The inherent tensions between the high resource costs of evaluation and the demands of service delivery are a challenge for nonprofits and foundations alike. In this audio lecture, Denise Gammal presents the results from Stanford Center for Social Innovation's large-scale study on nonprofit management to foundation professionals.
Cultivating Cross-Sector Partnerships
An HIV organization in Botswana provides lessons in cooperation.
Podcast
Kay Sprinkel Grace - Craigslist Boot Camp Keynote
Mission, vision, and values are the essential ingredients of a transformational process that brings philanthropists and organizations together to meet critical community needs. Kay Sprinkel Grace approaches fundraising with an attitude of pride and power. In this audio lecture, she explains how donors are inspired to invest in an organization that communicates shared beliefs by taking real action to benefit those in need.