Social Issues | Most Popular Articles

How Listening to Constituents Can Lead to Systems Change

By Mary Marx, Lymari Benitez, Yessica Cancel & Katie Smith Milway 1

Listening to participants allows nonprofits to go beyond the “what” of change to the “how and why,” the first step toward changing unjust systems.

The Problem of Social Benefit

By Frank Nagle 1

Economists have obsessed over the question of negative externalities, but market arrangements can also generate positive externalities. We should consider how to harness them for public good. | Open access to this article made possible by Harvard Business School Division of Research and Faculty Development

Building Relationships, Strengthening Neighborhoods

By Seth D. Kaplan

Systems change efforts that focus on boosting social capital and collective efficacy through building relationships within communities show promise. But do we have the patience to wait for them to work?

How Science Philanthropy Can Build Equity

By Elizabeth Good Christopherson, Emily L. Howell, Dietram A. Scheufele, Kasisomayajula Viswanath & Norris P. West 1

It’s time for science philanthropy and communication to cocreate a new era of partnership with communities of color. | Open-access to this article made possible by the Rita Allen Foundation.

Shifting Philanthropic Power

By Alyssa Haywoode

Last spring, as the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the United States’ racial and class inequities, Teach for America endeavored to put philanthropic power in younger, more racially diverse hands.

Measuring Climate Risk

By Gordon Feller

Climate Risk Labs (CRL), one of the emerging nonprofits tackling the climate crisis, aims to accelerate climate science research and build partnerships that utilize CRL’s data sets to shape future clean energy solutions.