Read about how design thinking should be retooled to better serve communities, how foundations and nonprofits are embracing lobbying for social good, how companies can thwart populist threats to socially responsible business, how digital technologies can be harnessed to promote sustainability and corporate performance, and other topics in the Winter 2024 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.
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Design thinking has failed to deliver on its promise to solve the world’s thorniest social challenges. Adopting a critical design stance can help designers serve communities, rather than their own methodology.
Too many nonprofits and foundations reject lobbying as dubious. But a new movement is reclaiming this practice as essential for promoting social change.
Populism is re-emergent worldwide, posing direct threats not just to democratic governance but also to socially responsible businesses. Despite the populist challenge, businesses still have an opportunity to do good and support liberal democratic forces.
Digital technologies, when used in the right way, can benefit organizational performance, improve people’s lives, and protect the planet.
A Filipino aeronautical engineer has invented an organic sealant using the pili tree’s spent resin.
The Vagina Museum educates the public about gynecological and reproductive health to dispel sexist myths and challenge normative body politics.
With its holistic approach to prosthetic care, oqni is helping Armenian veterans reintegrate into society.
Combining augmented-reality glasses with real-time transcription, XRAI Glass aims to translate speech for deaf people.
Chicago Adventure Therapy is helping young people and families in high-crime communities to heal by connecting with nature. | Open access to this article is made possible by the donors of Chicago Adventure Therapy, Jim and Gail Tibensky and Kathryn Dittemore.
The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies prioritizes disaster-emergency preparation and relief outcomes for disabled people.
Built for Zero Canada is making strides toward eliminating homelessness in Canada.
Californians for Justice has elevated the power of young people by establishing authentic relationships between them and teachers, educators, and officials. In so doing, it has remade education in the state and crafted a model for broader social change.
Philanthropy needs a new framework for building connection and trust with the communities it seeks to serve.
Randomized controlled trials have limited value for program implementers without better theories of change and broader sources of data. Behavioral science can help.
Philanthropies can leverage the expertise and capabilities of for-profit companies to advance charitable causes by employing global access commitments. | Open access to this article is made possible by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Police shootings of unarmed individuals increase civic engagement among local Black and Hispanic residents.
Technology tools used to identify racially diverse candidates made employees at one company feel like Black and brown candidates were being commodified.
An international study suggests remedies for online disinformation like accuracy prompts and crowdsourcing are broadly effective across cultures and nations.
Performance-based incentives, auditing, and feedback boost performance at health centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Scholar and activist Christopher Paul Harris re-envisions the history of Black protest movements to argue for new politics based on pain, joy, and care.
In Becoming a Public Benefit Corporation, Michael B. Dorff contributes a well-balanced examination of the pros and cons of the benefit corporation.
A collection of standout pieces published online about problem-solving, telling better stories, advancing reparations, and the growing impact of AI in the social sector.
The nonprofit Nā Kama Kai commemorates those who perished and suffered from the Maui wildfires.
Nearly two decades after our founding, the Chorus Foundation and our allies take stock on what we have learned about philanthropy, power, and creating a better world.
Spending down is only a tactic. To turn it into something more strategic, we will need to consider a host of questions.
The Kataly Foundation invests in communities in ways that ensure that more value stays in the community.
Visionary solidarity economy projects are putting down roots in communities across the United States. But philanthropy will be needed for these seeds to bear fruit.
Philanthropy needs more movement funders who stand on the side of racial and economic justice and against right-wing authoritarianism.
Our work organizing the Laotian community in Richmond, California, is a case study in power building.
At Kindle Project, we have embraced power-sharing models for more than a decade. Although we have gained many new insights, we continue to maintain that philanthropy must share power with the communities it seeks to uplift.
We designed the (Re)Generative Leadership Framework to be accountable to movements and future generations by creating the conditions to bring our best and full selves to achieve our vision.
To achieve systemic change, philanthropy must invest in culture that builds community power.
To win the battle for our world’s future, we need imaginative activism that moves culture to embrace mutual care and regeneration.
The Chorus Foundation worked with climate movement activists to create an ecosystem of allied funders and organizers that could usher in a just transition.
