Center for Social Innovation

Research: Cadaver Commerce

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

The moral legitimacy of a new market can come as much from how you sell something as from exactly what you’re selling.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Finding Your Funding Model

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

Many nonprofit leaders seek reliable funding but are not sure how best to pursue it. Four guidelines provide a road map for leaders to identify and develop the right funding model for their organization.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Research: How Leaders Encourage Innovation

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

Transformational leaders capitalize on the creativity that employees have.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Supplicants No More

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

THE END OF FUNDRAISING: Raise More Money by Selling Your Impact by Jason Saul

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Too Good to Fail

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

In August 2010 the US government closed ShoreBank, one of the country’s leading social enterprises. Why did ShoreBank fail? And what lessons can be learned from its 37-year record of innovation?

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Nonprofit Initiative Mentors Women Entrepreneurs In Emerging Markets

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program is helping women in 22 countries in the developing world start and grow businesses, Dina Habib Powell, who oversees the effort told a business school audience.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Giving Just Got Easier: Philanthropedia Brings the Cream to the Top

If you want to give money to a good cause, how do you decide which organization to focus on amidst myriad choices? A new enterprise driven by Stanford MBAs, known as Philanthropedia, is making it easier for you to figure it out.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Nonprofits Must Change as Old Charitable Funding Models Decline

Organizations such as Goodwill Industries and the Camp Fire Girls of America have endured for more than 100 years. The key to their survival is change, not more of the same, their leaders told a business school audience.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Cause Marketing, Nonprofits, Philanthropy & Responsible Investing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management

The Science of Getting People to Do The Right Thing

For the movers and shakers of this world who could use some practical, cost-effective solutions for encouraging donations, volunteerism, social activism, and other responsible, caring, and pro-social behaviors, Frank Flynn reviews the latest findings. To receive Flynn's highlights, sign up for the quarterly prosocial highlight.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Business, Nonprofits, Social Policy, Human Rights, Leadership, Nonprofit Management

Work-Life Balance: Men Want It, Too

The pay gap is narrowing between men and women in the workplace as is the percent of time men and women spend on family duties, but workplace policies have not caught up with these new realities, Professor Myra Strober says in an essay in U.S. Banker.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Nonprofits, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Too Good to Fail

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

In August 2010 the US government closed ShoreBank, one of the country’s leading social enterprises. Why did ShoreBank fail? And what lessons can be learned from its 37-year record of innovation?

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Research: Nonprofits Aren’t More Commercial

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

A new study finds that nonprofits are not becoming more commercialized.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

The Challenge of Organizational Learning

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Disseminating insights and know-how across any organization is critical to improving performance, but nonprofits struggle to implement organizational learning and make it a priority. A recent study found three common barriers to knowledge sharing across nonprofits and their networks, as well as ways and means to overcome them.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management

Q&A: Roundtable on Shared Value

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Executives from 10 major corporations gathered in New York City to discuss the innovative ways that they are putting societal issues at the core of their companies’ strategy and operations.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Amplifying Local Voices

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

GlobalGiving’s storytelling project turns anecdotes into useful data.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Government, Nonprofit Management

Nonprofits’ Attraction to Stimulus Funds Could Prove Fatal

Nonprofits need to be careful not to betray what makes them essential to a healthy democracy and civic marketplace. The job of nonprofits is to take on social and global problems and make our communities better places to live and work. To do that, nonprofits need to deliver effective services, find innovative ways to address both the symptoms and causes of problems, and ride hard on government lawmakers and policymakers. But nonprofits should be careful that in chasing government money and access to power they do not devolve from entrepreneurial watchdogs into lazy and dependent lapdogs.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Your Fundraising Needs to Change Now

State, corporate and foundation giving has decreased during the economic recession. Individual giving has increased every year despite recessions. For nonprofits to garner donations from individuals, a whole new set of capacities is required to reach potential individual donors.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Government, Nonprofit Management

Giving-sector Should Raise its Advocacy Voice

The giving sector can be much stronger advocates to address the symptoms and the causes of the social and global problems the economic crisis only is making worse. Fear of offending giving-sector powerbrokers, and a lack of resources, are muzzling nonprofits. But supporting nonprofit advocacy, policy and community-organizing work can yield big returns. Those are the conclusions of two new reports that underscore the need for greater investment in helping nonprofits to be stronger advocates.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Three Museums in One

The author interviews board chair, Frank-Paul King, about the decision to merge the three museums that now make up the Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas, Texas. King says it worked because "after it had been talked about on and off for a decade ... we created a vision for the Museum of Nature & Science for the next century."

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Nonprofits Need to Know Their Givers Better

By focusing and improving how they treat their donors, nonprofits will find a higher giving retention rate. Fundraising is a critical part of a nonprofit’s business, and charities need to move beyond business as usual, stop treating givers as automated teller machines, and recognize that a worthy mission and success in addressing social problems are not enough to attract and retain givers.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Network Mindsets in Nonprofit Management

Nonprofit management is shifting to develop a networking mindset. In this audio lecture, Beth Kanter, author and leader in social media for nonprofits, discusses how nonprofits can utilize their professional networks and develop a “network mindset.” During her presentation at the Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, she evaluates various tools and experiences in nonprofit management that can develop the relationships needed to create a successful network.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Solar Power in a Suitcase

What good is new energy technology if it can't be transported to the regions where it is most needed? In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman talks with Laura Stachel and Hal Aronson, co-founders of WE CARE Solar, about the international journey that led them to create one of the world's most portable solar energy systems. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Nokia Health Award, these two innovators work to bring reliable power to health care facilities all over the world.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Environment, Nonprofit Management

Sustainable Water Treatment

How can a young nonprofit organization make a tangible improvement in people's health through clean water using only the power of gravity? This was the challenge for Daniel Smith and the AguaClara team when they began work to introduce community-level drinking water treatment plants in Honduras. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman learns from the 2011 Intel Environment Award winners about the importance of using local resources and experts to encourage horizontal learning.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Leveraging Online Collaboration

How can nonprofit and crowdsourcing experts collaborate to make media more accessible? In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman talks to Dean Jansen, co-Founder of Universal Subtitles, a volunteer platform for doing collaborative subtitling and translation of videos. As the winner of The Tech Awards 2011 Katherine M. Swanson Equality Award, Jansen discussed Universal Subtitles' current challenges and future potential in leveraging internet volunteerism.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Partnering for Scale and Impact

Melissa Bradley, CEO of Tides, explores how partnerships between for-profit and nonprofit organizations--and everything in between--can increase scale and impact. In this audio lecture, recorded at the Stanford Social Innovation Review's 2011 Nonprofit Management Institute, Bradley discusses the current landscape of the social sector, and what scale and impact really mean. She also shares case studies of successful partnerships and the "top ten" lessons we can draw from collaborations.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Education, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Fill Classrooms with Committed Teachers

Teach For America places thousands of energetic and committed college graduates as teachers in under-resourced schools for their first jobs. Founder Wendy Kopp shares why and how she started the organization in 1980, and the progress Teach For America has been making ever since.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management

Ask ACT: 20 Years of Nonprofit Management Experience

April Gilbert, former executive director of the Stanford Alumni Consulting Team, presents ACT's approach to knowledge management.

Resource: Video

Topic:

The Next Social Leaders

Social entrepreneur veteran Laura Scher and more recent entrants, Kirsten Gagnaire and Jenny Shilling Stein, offer advice on what it takes to create a successful for-profit or nonprofit organization with a social purpose.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Network Mindsets in Nonprofit Management

Nonprofit management is shifting to develop a networking mindset. In this audio lecture, Beth Kanter, author and leader in social media for nonprofits, discusses how nonprofits can utilize their professional networks and develop a “network mindset.” During her presentation at the Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, she evaluates various tools and experiences in nonprofit management that can develop the relationships needed to create a successful network.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Remedying Group Disparities in School Achievement

Inequalities between socially marginalized and non-marginalized groups have led to poorer school and health outcomes for African Americans, Latino Americans, and other non-Asian ethnic minorities. Although many structural factors contribute to these inequalities, this study examines one psychological factor: concern about social belonging — a sense of having positive relationships with others.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Government, Nonprofit Management

A Behavioral Science Perspective on Why People Vote

The investigation into what messaging motivates people to vote and the effectiveness of facilitating a voting plan during a presidential election.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Environment, Nonprofit Management

The Effectiveness of Message Framing to Influence Behavior

Most observers agree that human consumption is on a crash course with the environment. Although recycling programs have been implemented in many cities around the world, people often do not participate as often as they could. This research examines the effectiveness of messages that highlight the negative consequences of not recycling (loss frames) versus those that emphasize the positive consequences of recycling (gain frames) in influencing people's behavior.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Health Care, Nonprofit Management

Using People's Irrationality To Do Good

Identifying effective obesity treatment is both a clinical challenge and a public health priority. Can monetary incentives stimulate weight loss? Leslie John presents a study that examines different economic incentives for weight loss during a 16 week intervention.

Resource: Video

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

Topics:

Breaking New Ground: Using the Internet to Scale

Commissioned by KaBOOM! and authored by Katherine Fulton and alumna Heather McLeod Grant of the Monitor Institute, this case study looks at the challenges KaBOOM! faced and lessons the organization learned while pioneering an online strategy to scale its impact. This strategy involves giving away the nonprofit model online for free to empower others to act on KaBoom's behalf.

Resource: Practitioner Case

Topics:

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

X PRIZE Foundation: Revolution Through Competition

The X PRIZE Foundation originated as prize competitions for significant development in the exploration of outer space. Several problems faced the organization as it began to focus on fields outside of space, including whether prize competitions could work in areas such as poverty.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

AARP and AARP Services: A Multi-Sector Approach to Social Change

In 2006, AARP was one of the largest, most well-known nonprofits in the United States. However, the organization faced numerous public relations and strategic challenges.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Rural Development Institute (A): Should It Tackle the Problem of the Landless Poor in India?

The Rural Development Institute was established in the 1970s to alleviate poverty by securing land rights for the world’s rural poor. The organization was considering whether to enter India to work for land reform.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Rural Development Institute (B): Success in India

In 2000, the Rural Development Institute entered India. The organization had to modify its model to address the unique aspects of the situation in that country.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Circus Oz

Circus Oz, Australia’s premier, international circus, was exploring offering the new development officer position a higher-than-normal salary. The case and its companion videocase cover the organization’s dilemmas around this, and the situation’s resolution.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

PacifiCare's African American Health Solutions (AAHS)

By early 2006, PacifiCare's African American Health Solution had made significant headway in its two primary markets of Dallas and Los Angeles. Now the health insurance program had to define its purpose more clearly in the face of growing competition for the business of African Americans.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism

Minnesota Public Radio had evolved from a small public radio station to a network of 38 stations, mainly through social purpose capitalism. The founder came under criticism after creating for-profit ventures to support and build the enterprise.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Teach For America: The Bay Area Expansion (A)

Teach for America, a nonprofit that places talented college graduates in teaching positions in under-resourced areas, needed to expand its placements in the San Francisco Bay Area. Case A details the challenges of TFA’s attempt to expand into the San Francisco Unified School District.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

A conference at Stanford brought together professionals from foundations to share best practices, discuss emerging innovations, and build professional networks. This summary presents key issues discussed.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The Altman Foundation

The Altman Foundation was established to serve the people of New York City. By 2005, the foundation was poised to take its strategic philanthropy to the next level by implementing a broader system of research and evaluation.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Social Service Mergers: HOPE Services and Skills Center

Four years after HOPE Services merged with the Skills Center, everyone considered the merger a success. But as with most for-profit and nonprofit mergers, the change was not without its costs and challenges.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Institute for Healthcare Improvement: The Campaign to Save 100,000 Lives

In December 2004, the president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement challenged U.S. hospitals to reduce unnecessary deaths by 100,000 in the next 18 months. The case describes a campaign that incorporated lessons from politics and social activism.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

As Green As It Gets

As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Creating an Online Information Marketplace for Giving

The best nonprofits don’t necessarily get the most money, observed William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Philanthropy Program officer Jacob Harold and president Paul Brest in 2007. From there they started exploring how they could improve the marketplace and how donors give their money. To that effect they hired consulting firm McKinsey & Company to explore the online information marketplace for giving space at a macro level, looking at trends and opportunities. Armed with data they then tried to figure out what to do.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Endeavor

Endeavor selects promising entrepreneurs and helps them develop and grow their businesses through mentorship and guidance. In 2007, founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg looked at the organization's expansion strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

Topics:

Money and the Mind

Money changes people's motivations — increasing their sense of self sufficiency and even making them keep a greater physical distance from others. After focusing on money, individuals work longer before asking for help, are less helpful to others, and prefer to play and work alone.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

To Increase Charitable Donations, Appeal to the Heart — Not the Head

If organizations want to raise money for a charitable cause, it is far better to appeal to the heart than to the head. Put another way, feelings, not analytical thinking, drive donations. People are most generous when asked to make a donation to an identifiable individual victim. The more statistical information about the general plight of a group of people similar to the individual victim, the less generous potential donors became. Many charities make the mistake of trying to appeal both to emotion and to reason in their fundraising appeals.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Nonprofits Are Seen as Warm and For-Profits as Competent: Firm Stereotypes Matter

Consumers frequently assign stereotypical views to nonprofits, categorizing them as warm, generous and caring organizations, but assuming their business abilities will be less competent than their for-profit peers'. In contrast, for-profit companies are seen as more competent from a balance sheet perspective, but are not necessarily socially aware.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Foster a More “Giving” Identity to Rouse Donors and Volunteers

How nonprofits ask for support can make their potential donors more generous with both their time or money, says Professor Jennifer Aaker. The trick is to help donors develop a more giving identity -- for instance helping them see themselves as the kind of people who support a specific cause.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

The Gendered Implications of Apparently Gender-Neutral Organizational Theory: Re-Reading Weber

This paper deconstructs Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy to make visible the masculinity and masculinism embedded in it. It identifies silences in Weber's text, rejects claims about the "natural" that imply that things cannot be done another way, and rejects dichotomous thinking that denies possibilities and encourages essentialist thinking.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

Topic :

Strategic Management of Nonprofits: STRAMGT 368

This course surveys strategic, governance, and management issues facing a wide range of nonprofit organizations in an era of venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. It introduces students to core managerial issues in the nonprofit sector, such as development/fundraising, investment management, performance management and nonprofit finance.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Philanthropy & Responsible Investing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Government, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Ruth Bolan (EPNL '06)

Ruth Bolan is giving voice to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Island. She funds documentaries that bring their culture and challenges to millions of viewers.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

Topic :

Economic Development, Education, Environment, Nonprofit Management

An interview with Mary Margaret Sloan (EPNL '04)

Mary Margaret Sloan fires up young people by placing them in environmental service jobs around the country. Her goal is to train the next generation of conservation leaders.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Economic Development, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Federico Lozano (MBA '09)

Federico Lozano is working to alleviate poverty by connecting poor, semi-skilled laborers from the developing world with jobs in the developed world.

Resource: Fellow

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Economic Development, Education, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Peter Hero (MBA '66)

Peter Hero has been helping philanthropists make a social impact for two decades. He's now inspiring students to get involved in social entrepreneurship.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Economic Development, Education, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Katherine Boas

Katherine Boas created the Barefoot MBA curriculum with her classmate Scott Raymond while a student in the Stanford MBA program. Her ambition? To teach the world’s poorest entrepreneurs the basic business skills they need to make better decisions with their microloans.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Network Mindsets in Nonprofit Management

Nonprofit management is shifting to develop a networking mindset. In this audio lecture, Beth Kanter, author and leader in social media for nonprofits, discusses how nonprofits can utilize their professional networks and develop a “network mindset.” During her presentation at the Stanford Social Innovation Review's Nonprofit Management Institute, she evaluates various tools and experiences in nonprofit management that can develop the relationships needed to create a successful network.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic :

Creating Solidarity Through Unusual Acts of Kindness

What inspires people to act selflessly, help others, and make personal sacrifices? Unusual acts of kindness—like giving something away to someone you don’t even know and getting nothing in return—happens numerous times every day, in the form of blood donation, providing online reviews, and so on. In each case, someone provides a useful good, service, or bit of advice free of charge. In academic circles, this type of giving is referred as “generalized exchange.” Generalized exchange stands in contrast to “direct exchange,” in which payments are made or reciprocity is expected. Professor Frank Flynn and colleagues, Robb Willer and Sonya Zak, looked at these unusual acts of kindness and examined whether generalized exchange systems can create more solidarity than direct exchange systems.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Supporting Equality in Education

How can a certain kind of behavior actually contributes to inequalities? Specifically, do children’s social-class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom, thereby teasing out children’s own role in educational stratification? We consider how teachers may use such information to correct these dynamics, and thus contribute to more equal access for all children at school.

Resource: Research Paper

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Environment, Nonprofit Management

How Do You Encourage Recycling?

Recycling programs abound, but people are often lackadaisical about putting plastic, paper, glass, and metal into those bins. How can we get more people to recycle? An intervention recently conducted in Canada is pointing the way, and the message is all about ... well, the messaging.

Resource: News Article

Topic :