To create effective and long-lasting social change, organizations and the programs they create must in one way or another become embedded in the local community they serve. In the spring 2016 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review there are two articles that make it clear just how important grassroots engagement is. One of these is the feature article “Community Engagement Matters (Now More Than Ever).”
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Touting products like LEDs and recycled plastic packaging as “green” is misleading, because it fails to account for their effects on markets and consumer behavior and for the resulting environmental consequences. The authors offer what they say is a better approach: measuring the overall "net green" impact of the product.
In adopting data-driven practices, leaders must design and implement programs in ways that engage community members directly in the work of social change.
Until recently, both foundations and venture capital firms were wary of directing resources toward education technology startups. Here’s how “blended capital” is expanding the ed-tech field.
Women are seen as less likely to engage in risky behavior and more likely to use money prudently. But this stereotype can lead to discrimination against women.
The Human Needs Index offers complex, near-real-time information on how people across the United States use social services.
An online tool called Project Sunroof provides homeowners with a clear picture of whether they should go solar.
Two recent initiatives deploy online learning technology to provide training for social sector professionals on a global scale.
Survival International helps tribal societies protect their land—and
their way of life—from encroachment and unwelcome development.
Helping US federal agencies design inexpensive, user-centered technology products is the mission of an unsung team of developers. Includes video extras.
From Mumbai, India, to Mérida, Mexico, IBM employees are applying
their professional skills to a wide range of social challenges.
Six years ago, the City Colleges of Chicago launched its own turnaround effort—a bid for “reinvention”—and now it’s earning high marks for improved performance.
With Kid Power, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF is using technology to leverage children’s desire to help other children.
The quest to build an infrastructure for measuring social impact depends on targeting the right customers.
By following the right regimen, pharmaceutical companies can boost their ability to bring life-saving medicines to poor customers.
For nearly a quarter century, a network of research and advocacy groups has kept a close eye on US state-level policymaking.
In campaigns to promote human rights, messages that highlight the experience of specific victims tend to be most effective.
For students who attended one high-profile charter school, going there has resulted in lasting benefits—academically and otherwise.
A study of producer organizations in Uganda highlights the role of reciprocity as a motivating force among members.
Cultural factors, including gender norms, can have a decisive impact on efforts to build social cohesion in developing countries.
In an era of instant feedback and crowdsourcing, the government misses out when it relies solely on authorized voices.
A new book reminds pessimists that growing numbers of people around the world are wealthier and healthier than ever before.
The success of the Housing First movement shows why social service providers must listen to the people they serve.
One of the cities hit hardest by the wave of home foreclosures was Stockton, Calif., a city that later declared bankruptcy.
Innovation is more than a good idea—it’s a patient process of iteration, learning, evaluation, implementation, and, importantly, scaling up what works.
In a world increasingly focused on measurable impact, human rights inequities are difficult to frame and fight. Yet solving them is key to meeting other social challenges
How to overcome the barriers that large institutions like the government put in the way of scaling up innovations.
RSPN and Nesta teach lessons about achieving social impact in the Global South and North.
The role of donors in building broad social ecosystems for scaling up social innovations, particularly in the developing world.
More poor households benefit when the private and social sectors work together to build better environments for inclusive business.
The challenges of scaling up programs aimed at empowering adolescent girls in Bangladesh and Uganda.
Funders are devising new approaches that account for the impact that
social issues have on people’s health.
The causes of health inequity are diverse and entwined; the solutions will be as well.
Community-based organizations, philanthropic institutions, and federal agencies—all are needed to support and sustain revitalization efforts.
By catalyzing the power of people to make change, community organizers equip
people at every level to overcome the myriad barriers to health.
The Deaconess Foundation seeks to shift public policy, mobilize community members, and strengthen advocacy efforts related to children and youth.
Health impact assessments can be used to bring the social determinants
of health into the policymaking process.
A coalition of organizations in New York has made progress in improving the lives and health of nail salon workers.
A Stockton, Calif., organization is striving to transform its city through culturally
rooted, healing-centered practices and a pedagogy of love.
Philanthropy can pursue several effective approaches to improve LGBT health.
Expanding public transit systems to connect low-income communities to healthy environments, high-quality education, and well-paying jobs isn’t enough. Transit has to be affordable as well as accessible.
Fair housing initiatives that focus on dispersion ignore the social structures and processes that result in the inequitable distribution of resources necessary for health.
A coalition of organizations is improving the health of low-income communities.
