First Book is a not-for-profit organization that provides books to low-income students. In this audio interview, founder Kyle Zimmer discusses with Design for Change host Sheela Sethuraman the evolution of her startup from a mere idea in 1992 to an organization with hundreds of employees and millions of books. She also outlines how she's applied best business practices to create a scalable entrepreneurial model.
Scientific advances have opened previously unimaginable possibilities in the realm of human reproduction. Determining the sex of an early-stage embryo, or shifting the pre-conception arrangement of chromosomes in favor of certain outcomes, further opens the door to sex selection. By various means, it is becoming feasible to genetically engineer a child with specific qualities. In this audio lecture, Michael J. Sandel and William Haseltine debate the moral and ethical implications of such actions.
In nonprofit management, implementing organizational changes can be a huge challenge. In this audio lecture, Susan Colby shares the Bridgespan approach to nonprofit strategy by taking the example of one of her clients, the Harlem Children's Zone. Speaking at the 2006 Nonprofit Management Institute at Stanford, she walks her audience of high-level nonprofit executives through a rather challenging process to tactfully institute radical organizational changes.
How do you spot an asshole in the workplace—or figure out whether you might be one? Robert Sutton, author of the best-selling book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, provides a sure-fire test and offers tips for keeping your "inner jerk" from rearing its ugly head on the job. Drawing on serious research and analysis, Sutton shows his Stanford 2007 Nonprofit Management Institute audience how managers can eliminate mean-spirited and unproductive behavior.
To weather the impending crisis in nonprofit leadership, we must mentor young talent.
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.
Professionalism has become coded language for white favoritism in workplace practices that more often than not leave behind people of color. This is the fourth of 10 articles in a special series about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
