Making Sense of the Social Capital Landscape: Defining a Common Language
The new social capital market is great, but won't answer all of society's problems.
Social Innovations
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Securitizing Philanthropy
Let's not confuse financial innovation in philanthropy with excessive risk taking.
A Buyer’s Market for Change
Even in bad times, how can we afford not to make social improvements?
Donate for Return vs. Invest for Impact: Where Do You Stand?
The field of socially responsible investing is still in very wild and hostile territory.
Podcast
Gene Sykes & Mark Tercek - Risks and Opportunities of Going Green
What does Wall Street make of the trends in cleantech, corporate environmental strategy, corporate social responsibility, and emerging carbon markets? In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, two Goldman Sachs managers discuss how their investment firm is making the financing of corporate deals contingent upon the incorporation of increasingly stringent environmental criteria.
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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.
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.
Creating High-Impact Nonprofits
Conventional wisdom says that scaling social innovation starts with strengthening internal management capabilities. This study of 12 high-impact nonprofits, however, shows that real social change happens when organizations go outside their own walls and find creative ways to enlist the help of others.
Microfinance Misses Its Mark
Despite the hoopla over microfinance, it doesn't cure poverty. But stable jobs do. If societies are serious about helping the poorest of the poor, they should stop investing in microfinance and start supporting large, labor-intensive industries.