Giving in the Light of Reason
Will the Open Philanthropy Project’s experiment in effective altruism validate the cause or demonstrate its hubris? Open access to this article is made possible by an underwriter.
Cause Marketing
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Finding a Niche
In Colombia, the Center for Social Innovation is exploring how much government can do to facilitate social change.
The Builder’s Mindset
Part 3 of 3: Bring talent to solve underserved market inefficiencies, not just intention.
An Idea That Spreads: Intercontinental Ballistic Microfinance
It is critical that high-performing organizations learn how to tell authentic stories about their impact.
What the New Facebook Changes Mean for Nonprofits
Use of Facebook (or any other social media platform) should be guided by a larger strategy with goals that further your organization's mission.
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Catalytic Philanthropy
Despite spending vast amounts of money and helping to create the world’s largest nonprofit sector, philanthropists have fallen far short of solving America’s most pressing problems. What the nation needs is “catalytic philanthropy”—a new approach that is already being practiced by some of the most innovative donors.
The Dragonfly Effect
Two veterans of consumer psychology, marketing, and entrepreneurship provide a guide to using social media for social change.
The Hidden Costs of Cause Marketing
From pink ribbons to Product Red, cause marketing adroitly serves two masters, earning profits for corporations while raising funds for charities. Yet the short-term benefits of cause marketing—also known as consumption philanthropy—belie its long-term costs. These hidden costs include individualizing solutions to collective problems; replacing virtuous action with mindless buying; and hiding how markets create many social problems in the first place. Consumption philanthropy is therefore unsuited to create real social change.
Cultivating the Green Consumer
Consumers say they want to buy ecologically friendly products and reduce their impact on the environment. But when they get to the cash register, their Earth-minded sentiments die on the vine. Although individual quirks underlie some of this hypocrisy, businesses can do a lot more to help would-be green consumers turn their talk into walk.
Antipoverty Apps
mPowering has created an app that awards goods and services to individuals facing extreme poverty when they make beneficial choices.