Fall 2010

Issue

Fall 2010

Volume 8, Number 4

One of the most difficult things for any entrepreneur to recognize is when the time has come to turn over the reins to someone else. The fall 2010 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review features an article—“Freeing the Social Entrepreneur”—that explains why it is important for social entrepreneurs to relinquish control. The article goes on to provide a blueprint for the type of leadership team that social entrepreneurs should build, and how it is different from the team that business entrepreneurs create.

Features

Social Entrepreneurship

Turning Values into Action

By Mary C. Gentile 4

To produce good outcomes, social entrepreneurs must learn how to articulate their values consistently and act on them.

Civil Society

What Civil Society Needs

By Bruce Sievers

Without a healthy civil society it becomes difficult if not impossible to solve other, more readily apparent problems.

Social Entrepreneurship

Freeing the Social Entrepreneur

By Chantal Laurie Below & Kimberly Dasher Tripp 7

Social entrepreneurs must recognize when it is time to relinquish control and create strong leadership teams.

Economic Development

Beyond the Poverty Line

By Rourke L. O'Brien & David S. Pedulla 3

A new approach to measuring poverty is needed, one that accounts for multiple factors such as housing, and regional economic differences.

What’s Next

Human Rights

Drowning Out Hate

By Suzie Boss 4

The website Not In Our Town is combating prejudice by broadcasting anti-hate stories and campaigns.

Fundraising

Nonprofits Pipe Up

By Suzie Boss

Chris Hughes, Facebook’s cofounder, has created a social media platform called Jumo designed specifically for nonprofits.

Government

Unlocking Future Savings

By Suzie Boss

The English hope to sell social impact bonds (potentially paid for by the government) to raise money to fund new programs.

Measuring Social Impact

Wisdom of a Smaller Crowd

By Suzie Boss

Philanthropedia cofounder Deyan Vitanov wants to make it easier for donors to see the impact of the organizations they fund.

Field Report

Energy

This Old Green House

By Suzie Boss 1

Clean Energy Works Portland gets consumers—and the workforce—energized about weatherization.

Economic Development

Microfinance’s Next Frontier

By Meredith May

LeapFrog Investments aims to insure the poor on a grand scale.

Human Rights

The Law of Networks

By Sam Scott & Jessie Speer

The Innocence Network, an international collaboration of pro bono legal and investigative organizations, grows rapidly and flexibly.

Case Study

Corporate Philanthropy

Do No Evil

By Suzie Boss 6

Google DotOrg launched in 2004 with bold ambitions and almost $1 billion in seed funding. But the results have been less than stellar.

Viewpoint

Socially Responsible Business

Big Business Matters

By Judith Samuelson 7

Social intrapreneurs—change agents already working deep within business—are the answer for business’s woes.

Social Entrepreneurship

Monk, Architect, Diplomat

By Mark Albion 8

Three types of leadership are needed to build a successful organization.

Arts

Collaborative Change

By James Shulman

Bringing innovation to hard-to-change institutions.

Government

Innovating Public Systems

By Stephen Goldsmith

With these seven levers, social entrepreneurs can foster change in everything from affordable housing to child welfare to poverty alleviation.

Research

Technology & Design

Buzz Control

By Jessica Ruvinsky 1

Social media is a powerful marketing tool. But how do you control your message once it goes viral and is in the hands of the public?

Fundraising

Put at Least One Egg in Another Basket

By Jessica Ruvinsky 1

For-profit companies preach and employ diversification—and it would behoove nonprofits to have diverse revenue portfolios, as well.

Government

Receiving Aid, Receiving Respect

By Jessica Ruvinsky

How people experience government programs directly affects their levels of civic engagement.

Health

The Value of Free

By Jessica Ruvinsky

People are more likely to use products that they pay for, but when it comes to malaria-preventing bed nets in Africa, the opposite holds true.

Business

Unsoiled Reputations

By Jessica Ruvinsky

Family-owned firms pollute less than nonfamily firms; and that is due to the family values that these firms were founded upon.

Civil Society

What Makes Civic Associations Work

By Jessica Ruvinsky

What makes a civic association effective is not so much the resources and opportunities available to it, but good leaders.

Book Reviews

SERVING COUNTRY
AND COMMUNITY:
Who Benefits from
National Service?
Peter Frumkin & Joann
Jastrzab

Review

Government

Put the People to Work

Review By Chris Jarvis 5

SERVING COUNTRY AND COMMUNITY: Who Benefits from National Service? by Peter Frumkin & Joann Jastrzab

BUILDING SOCIAL
BUSINESS: The New
Kind of Capitalism
that Serves Humanity’s
Most Pressing Needs
Muhammad Yunus

Review

Socially Responsible Business

Hear, Hear for Profits

Review By Rodney Schwartz 5

Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs by Muhammad Yunus

THE POWER OF
POSITIVE
DEVIANCE: How
Unlikely Innovators
Solve the World’s
Toughest Problems
Richard Pascale, Jerry
Sternin, & Monique Sternin

Review

Measuring Social Impact

Survival of the Deviant

Review By Dean Karlan

The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems by Richard Pascale, Jerry Sternin, & Monique Sternin

THE CLIMATE WAR:
True Believers, Power
Brokers, and the Fight
to Save the Earth
Eric Pooley

Review

Environment

Climate Soldiers

Review By Stephen H. Schneider 5

The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth by Eric Pooley

Q&A

Economic Development

Neal Keny-Guyer

By Eric Nee

Neal Keny-Guyer believes that wars, earthquakes, and other disasters create opportunities for Mercy Corps to help improve society.

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