Solutions - Articles

Podcast

Sojeila Maria Silva - Financial Management 101

The most useful financial statements are those that clearly convey information to their stakeholders in the simplest format possible. In this audio lecture, financial consultant Sojeila Maria Silva shares her wisdom from 18 years of management experience. Speaking at the 2007 Nonprofit Boot Camp, she covers different approaches to financial management, what finance and budgets entail in real terms, and how to analyze most commonly used financial statements.

Networks for Good Works

By Joel M. Podolny

Successful social innovators nurture close ties between members and infuse their networks with a common set of values.

Podcast

Heather Carpenter and Jennifer Chien - Improve Your Nonprofit Operations

In this audio lecture, Heather Carpenter and Jennifer Chien offer a wealth of practical advice and concrete steps to establish basic organizational procedures and best practices for young nonprofits. Speaking at the 2007 Nonprofit Boot Camp, they map out the tasks in key areas such as insurance, human resources, finances, fundraising, and board relations to help executives in start-up nonprofits strengthen and simplify operations, freeing up valuable time to focus on the programs they care about.

Podcast

William McDonough - Environmental Sustainability and Green Design

When it comes to environmental sustainability, William McDonough is nothing less than a hero for the planet. In this audio lecture, he discusses how he has designed eco-friendly buildings with unique properties, such as the ability to produce oxygen. He urges his audience of Stanford Graduate School of Business students to set goals not toward an efficient bottom line of doing the wrong thing less badly, but rather toward the effective top line of doing the right thing.

Podcast

What Does It Take to Get Off the Ground? - Net Impact 2005

Have you ever thought about launching your own social venture? Are you curious if you have what it takes to become a social entrepreneur? What funding sources are available to you? What are the challenges of running a social venture? This panel discussion brings together people from both sides of the "start-up" fence—those who started with large financial backing and those who had none.

Podcast

Panel Discussion - Fostering Effective Nonprofit-Corporate Relations

Nonprofits and corporations can achieve their goals by working together. In this panel discussion, 2007 Nonprofit Boot Camp panelists describe the various forms of partnerships between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, their benefits, and their pitfalls. They talk about how to start and develop successful partnerships from the perspective of people who have sat on both sides of the table.

Podcast

Kevin Danaher - Get Out of Your Silos

To be effective, nonprofits cannot operate in isolation, but must engage with other organizations across the various sectors. Talking at the 2007 Nonprofit Boot Camp, Kevin Danaher delivers an energizing call for the next generation of leaders to make connections with business, government, nongovernmental organizations—and even the wisdom of nature itself in their quest to transform the world.

Podcast

Evaluating Social Venture Ideas - Net Impact 2005

Three social-venture experts share the process and tools they use to evaluate the impact and viability of aspiring change-makers' ideas in this panel discussion from Bridging the Gap, the Stanford 2005 Net Impact Conference organized by the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A must-hear for anyone planning on starting a social or environmental enterprise.

Review: The New Capitalists

Review By Jarrett Spiro

THE NEW CAPITALISTS: How Citizen Investors Are Reshaping the Corporate Agenda by Stephen Davis, Jon Lukomnik, and David Pitt-Watson

Winter 2007