Design Thinking
SSIR Online, Spring 2021 Issue
Links to all of SSIR's online-only articles published the past three months, with editors' notes about standout pieces on design thinking, foundation spending, and rebuilding US democracy.
Tag: Funding
Economic Development
Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Give a Family Cash, and You Feed Them for…a While
For all the glowing press that unconditional cash transfers (UCT) have gotten, cash is still a long way from living up to the hype and transforming the development sector.
Philanthropy & Funding
Shifting Power to Communities in Grant Funding
To truly advance racial justice, funders must share decision-making power over who receives capital with the communities they hope to serve.
Foundations
Further Reflections and Reactions on Foundation Payout Rates
There will be future crises that are as compelling as the ones we are going through today, and philanthropy must be ready to respond. This essay, by the author of the keystone article in the series on foundations' payouts during crises, is a response to the views of nine other commentators.
Foundations
There Is No One Answer to How Much Foundations Should Pay Out
Larry Kramer’s call for rigorous, evidence-based analysis on payout rates is responsible and leaves room for different approaches. This essay is a response to the keystone article in the Up for Debate series on foundations' payouts during big crises. Visit the series page for more reaction pieces like this one.
Foundations
Philanthropy Must Go Beyond Traditional Grantmaking
The COVID crisis has laid bare the limitations of conventional foundations and put a spotlight on alternative approaches to philanthropy and creating positive social change. This essay is a response to the keystone article in the Up for Debate series on foundations' payouts during big crises. Visit the series page for more reaction pieces like this one.
Foundations
Unprecedented Times Call for Foundations to Take Unprecedented Actions
During this historic disruption, foundations should not put their own survival above the survival of the civil society and nonprofits that they serve. This essay is a response to the keystone article in the Up for Debate series on foundations' payouts during big crises. Visit the series page for more reaction pieces like this one
Foundations
Focus on Outcomes, Not on Dollars
The important issue isn’t the preservation of a large endowment, but how to exercise informed, imaginative, and sensitive judgement in pursuit of outcomes for the common good. This essay is a response to the keystone article in the Up for Debate series on foundations' payouts during big crises. Visit the series page for more reaction pieces like this one.
Foundations
The Case for Foundations to Do More in Times of Crisis
Spending more today will mean having less for the future, but the current crisis is unprecedented and the financial trade-off is very modest.
Excerpt
Impact Investing
Challenging the Trade-Off Mentality
Accountable calls for a new form of ethical capitalism. In the following excerpt, authors Michael O’Leary and Warren Valdmanis unpack the ethics of the trade-off.