All too often nonprofit organizations think that communications is simply about getting your message out. But to do that effectively you need to understand what shapes people’s feelings and values. And for that you need to understand social science, which is the subject of “The Science of What Makes People Care,” the cover story in the Fall 2018 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.
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Five principles based in social science that will help organizations connect their work to what people care most about.
Organizations are increasingly turning to system change to tackle big social problems. But systems are complex, and mastering the process requires observation, patience, and reflection. To begin, here are two
approaches to pursuing system change.
Progress in dealing with the problem of climate change will require that the institutions of government, business, and community work not in isolation from each other, let alone at cross-purposes, but by reinforcing each other’s efforts through consolidation.
Most global development programs still segment people by demographics when trying to change their behavior. We must learn from the private sector and segment people based on the reasons behind their actions. Open access to this article is made possible by The Surgo Foundation.
Using autonomous drones, the company Zipline can deliver blood products and medicines for immediate medical treatment in remote areas.
The non-partisan fact-checking website AltNews aims to curb the spread of misinformation on social media.
The cross-sector collaborative N Square hopes to influence the cultural conversation and rekindle public awareness about the danger that nuclear weapons pose to humanity.
Reimagining the Civic Commons claims it has built the first comprehensive set of metrics that connect the impact of revitalization to things like trust between people, neighbors' perceptions of safety, and a community’s ability to draw together people of different incomes, races, and backgrounds.
StrongMinds looks to break the cycle of depression for women in Uganda and beyond.
Benefit Chicago demonstrates how place-based impact investing transforms a community by seeing the investment potential in everyone.
The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights has pioneered a rapid response grantmaking model connected to the global grassroots.
Fund for Shared Insight is pooling the cash and convictions of 13 philanthropies to build the field of end-user feedback. Can its leaders become role models for the positive change they seek to create? Open access to this article is made possible by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (Fund for Shared Insight).
Humanitarian nonprofits unconsciously reinforce the very conditions of women’s oppression they seek to eradicate in their programming.
The social sector has a lot to learn from the innovation network that has emerged from the post-Thanksgiving global giving movement.
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Proponents of charter school expansion in Massachusetts thought that a ballot initiative was the obvious bet. They were wrong.
While old foundations typically support traditional public-school institutions, new foundations are seeking to reshape or bypass them.
An educational collaboration between a literacy program for public schools and the government of Punjab, India, struggles with accountability and political support.
Research shows that foundations are motivated by impact in their grantmaking.
Foundations are shifting their higher-education funding to outside organizations that promote initiatives they favor.
In Winners Take All, writer Anand Giridharadas calls out the hypocrisies of philanthropists.
The authors of Money Well Spent reconsider their original arguments a second time around.
The authors of Equality for Women = Prosperity for All expose the economic wastefulness of gender inequity.
The conservation movement has been criticized for being too homogenous, but the National Audubon Society is taking steps to change that.
