SSIR’s 2020 Social Innovation Reading List
Highlights of this year’s book reviews and excerpts on topics including nonprofit management, the future of capitalism, technology trends in social movements, and the rich history of Black philanthropy.
Foundations New and innovative ideas for leaders of foundations
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How Foundations Fail Diverse Fund Managers and How to Fix It
Foundations and impact investors need to face the ways they are complicit in perpetuating inequality through their capital allocations, and upend five structural investment barriers to better serve women and people of color.
Hyperlocal Giving to Black-Led Nonprofits Cannot Simply Be a Trend
Not only do Black-led nonprofits need lasting and long-term support, but philanthropy needs to wrestle with its past failures to invest in the very communities we claim to be working for.
The Myth of Perpetuity in Foundation Strategy
As philanthropic boards debate digging deep to address pandemic-related crises, a study of articles of incorporation of the top 50 foundations surfaces pathways to big bets regardless of founding intent or degree of post-recession recovery.
Building a Trust-Based Philanthropy to Shift Power Back to Communities
To realize the deep systemic change that America is demanding, philanthropy must reorganize to build and demonstrate a trust-based culture, invest in community leadership capacity-building, and open up decision-making and information-sharing structures.
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What Is Community Anyway?
Our understanding of community can help funders and evaluators identify, understand, and strengthen the communities they work with.
Measuring Social Value
Too many people believe social value is objective, fixed, and stable, when in fact it is subjective, malleable, and variable.
What Everyone Can Learn From Leaders of Color
These leaders’ assets go beyond experiences of oppression or marginalization to include the connection, meaning, and joy they can draw on from their respective cultures and communities.
Working Wikily
A few nonprofits are using social media to fundamentally change the way they work and increase their social impact.
What the Heck Does ‘Equity’ Mean?
A clear definition of equity would seem paramount to galvanizing philanthropy into action around this increasingly used term—but the field is only beginning to explore what it really means.