Innovative ideas to help leaders of nonprofits and NGOs be more effective (more)
How did Room to Read create more than 5,000 libraries in less than eight years? The media have largely focused on founder John Wood as the catalytic figure in the organization's success story. Of equal importance, however, is Room to Read's solid and replicable operational choices.
Although the donor-advised fund industry is in a high-growth phase, all boats will rise if we worry less about competing with each other and instead find ways to work together. By Kim Wright-Violich, president of Schwab Charitable.
The most trusted employees cash in on lax internal controls to fleece nonprofits.
How do you spot an asshole in the workplace—or figure out whether you might be one? Robert Sutton, author of the best-selling book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, provides a sure-fire test and offers tips for keeping your "inner jerk" from rearing its ugly head on the job. Drawing on serious research and analysis, Sutton shows his Stanford 2007 Nonprofit Management Institute audience how managers can eliminate mean-spirited and unproductive behavior.
Social enterprises combine the best of the nonprofit and for-profit worlds, but that very innovation has made it difficult for them to raise money. Philanthropists are reluctant to give grants to profit-making organizations, and commercial investors are wary of investing in organizations that are driven by a social mission. The authors explore the social enterprise capital market and offer short- and long-term solutions to this funding gap.
In virtually every for-profit industry, success hinges on producing more goods or services at a lower cost without compromising quality. But increasing productivity can work in the nonprofit world, too, as an examination of three healthy nonprofits shows.
Despite temptations to broaden its focus, the Rural Development Institute has remained single-mindedly devoted to its mission. As a result, the organization has helped 400 million poor farmers around the world take ownership of some 270 million acres of land – all on a modest budget.
