How can a country like China, which is still relatively poor, balance economic and environmental concerns? In this audio lecture, Peking University Professor Lu Zhi, who was invited to Stanford by the Center for Social Innovation, offers thoughts on conservation and some of its broader implications. Her message is that reversing the negative effects of rapid industrialization is possible, even in a developing country.
India has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world. This points to an underlying economic problem: poverty. Most poor women in that country simply cannot afford adequate health care. In this audio interview with Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman, Anant Kumar talks about how Lifespring Hospital in India provides quality care to women and children, regardless of their level of income. He talks about how the effort was launched, how it is sustained, and future goals.
Navigating social networks could well be the ultimate nonprofit management tactic. In this audio lecture recorded at the Nonprofit Management Institute, Heather McLeod Grant discusses how individuals and organizations are using networked approaches to promote social change efforts. She focuses on the work of the Monitor Institute, in particular, and offers tips on how to use social networks effectively.
In the late 1980s, when Barry and Andrea Coleman noticed that motor bikes intended for use in the delivery of health care in Africa were not being used because they had broken down—in some cases needing mere $3 oil filters—they knew they had to put their own pedal to the metal. Speaking at the 2009 Responsible Supply Chains Conference at Stanford, they share some of the successes and challenges associated with running Riders for Health, which administers vehicles to keep health supplies flowing efficiently throughout the continent.
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.
Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, not the isolated intervention of individual organizations.
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.
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.
Social entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention, but along with its increasing popularity has come less certainty about what exactly a social entrepreneur is and does.
