Evaluation Blues
How accountability requirements hurt small, innovative programs the most.
Nonprofits & NGOs Innovative ideas to help leaders of nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations work more effectively
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Podcast
The Future of Philanthropy - Skoll World Forum 2007
As the boundary between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds continues to blur, how may philanthropy evolve to assist social change? In this panel discussion, academics and practitioners consider how public—and private—sector support may be combined in new ways in the future to fund progressive domestic and global social enterprises.
Brevity Is the Soul of Innovation
How clear, brief mission statements inspire progress.
Podcast
William Foster - How to Grow a Nonprofit Big
Many nonprofits want to expand their staff and funding base so that they may serve a broader public. Until recently, little information was available about how such organizations may do so successfully. In an audio interview with Stanford Social Innovation Review managing editor Eric Nee, William Foster shares findings from the Bridgespan Group's groundbreaking research on what it takes to be in the big leagues. He discusses types of funders to pursue, how to restructure an expanding organization, and whether going big is right for everyone.
Podcast
Heather McLeod Grant - What Makes Great Nonprofits Great?
Now, more than ever, nonprofit leaders need to know how to maximize their social impact. Center for Social Innovation researcher Heather McLeod Grant shares some of the groundbreaking research explored in her coauthored book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits. Drawing on her extensive study of nonprofit leaders and organizations, Grant reveals that success isn't just about "nonprofit management," but about creating larger systemic change. She shares three of the six practices for making such transformation possible.
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Drowning in Data
Funders are calling for more program evaluation, but nonprofits are often collecting dubious data, at great cost to themselves and ultimately to the people they serve.
Collective Impact
Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, not the isolated intervention of individual organizations.
Plotting Impact Beyond Simple Metrics
For NGOs, impact comes in different forms and to track the cycles of social change work, we must think across the tangibility and the speed of emergence of change.
Ten Nonprofit Funding Models
With an understanding of these 10 funding models, nonprofit leaders can use the for-profit world's valuable practice of engaging in succinct and clear conversations about long-term financial strategy.
The Problem With Fair Trade Coffee
Fair Trade-certified coffee is growing in sales, but strict certification requirements are resulting in uneven economic advantages for coffee growers and lower quality coffee for consumers.