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Philanthropy, Responsible Investing
Gratitude: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Expressions of gratitude motivate others’ prosocial behavior. When people are thanked for their efforts, they experience stronger feelings of social worth, which inspires them to engage in further helpful acts. In short, gratitude proves to be the gift that keeps on giving because it makes others feel valued.
![[photo - Mark Kramer]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/Mark%20Kramer%201.jpg "[photo - Mark Kramer]")
This audio interview from the Environmental Defense Fund's Future of Green Calls covers complex interactions of the philanthropy sector, socially conscientious nonprofit organizations, and for-profit businesses with FSG Co-Founder Mark Kramer. Kramer outlines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) acts as a lever to minimize environmental harms done by daily business activities. Also covered are how natural resources are consumed by industries and a discussion about sustainability practices.
![[photo - Photo: Doug McAdam]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/doug%20mcadam%205061.jpg "[photo - Photo: Doug McAdam]")
How are engaged citizens made? In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford sociology professor Doug McAdam argues that youth volunteering does not directly result in active citizens or a robust civil society. Instead, the responses to youth activism are varied and driven by historical and cultural context.
Research Resources
Taking from the rich and giving to the poor is the philosophy behind the aptly named Robin Hood Foundation, one of the most influential philanthropies today. Happily, the "takers" in this case are also the givers -- wealthy board members and others who have joined forces in one of the greatest extended campaigns of all time to significantly reduce poverty in New York City.
Resource: News Article
Chase Your Dream Skoll Advises Class of 2010 "Define your dream and chase it with as much rigor and authenticity as you can muster," entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeff Skoll advised Stanford Graduate School of Business 2010 graduates.
Resource: News Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2010
Grantmaking initiatives often fail when the foundation remains isolated from its grantees and the communities they both serve. To remedy this problem, grantmakers must work more closely with their grantees, community leaders, and other important stakeholders. This engagement helps everyone involved gain a deeper understanding of the problems they are tackling, create new and better solutions, and build more effective organizations
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2010
With the economy in turmoil, funders are increasingly pressuring nonprofits to merge. Yet mergers are not always the right path for nonprofits in financial distress. For a healthier nonprofit sector, funders should consider a wider variety of partnership options.
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2010
Improving the lives of disadvantaged populations—whether through better schools, after-school programs, or teen pregnancy prevention clinics—requires proven theories of change. The very development of a field depends on their diffusion, replication, critique, and modification. Yet some organizations refuse to articulate a theory of change and some funders think it would be intrusive to demand that they do so. The interests of all concerned are served by a developmental approach to creating and evaluating theories of change
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
![[photo - Sally Osberg]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/sally_0.jpg "[photo - Sally Osberg]")
After creating the Skoll Foundation in 1999, Jeff Skoll, MBA '95, helped focus the organization on social entrepreneurship—including helping people help themselves—foundation President Sally Osberg said.
Resource: News Article
![[photo - Michael Klausner]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Michael-Klausner_0_0.jpg "[photo - Michael Klausner]")
Michael Klausner takes issue with pundits who would like to require charitable organizations to distribute their assets faster than now required. His argument appears in the inaugural issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Resource: News Article
![[photo - Dale Miller]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/Dale_Miller_0.jpg "[photo - Dale Miller]")
Letting people pretend they are supporting worthy causes because there is something in it for them may increase their participation. Researchers say nonprofit organizations need to recognize the wide range of motives behind donations of both money and time.
Resource: News Article
Three Nobel Peace Prize recipients joined nearly 400 scholars, philanthropists, foundation leaders, and government executives for a two-day discussion of global philanthropy.
Resource: News Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010
“By paying so much attention to managing their own risks, philanthropists are no longer attending to the marginalized people who risk so much to make change happen,” says Sheela Patel in this First Person.
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010
In recent decades, nonprofits have significantly increased the size of their endowments. Yet during the current economic crisis, they made scant use of their sizable holdings. Instead of drawing down their endowments to offset losses of income, nonprofits resorted to cutting programs and personnel, sometimes dramatically. To prepare for future financial downturns, nonprofits should treat endowments as rainy day funds, not cut programs to preserve the endowment.
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010
Jeff Raikes takes over the Gates Foundation at a turbulent
time when philanthropic resources are down and social needs are up
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2009
How a Jewish charity is responding to one of the biggest scams in history.
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2009
Despite spending vast amounts of money and helping to create the world’s largest nonprofit sector, philanthropists have fallen far short of solving America’s most pressing problems. What the nation needs is “catalytic philanthropy”—a new approach that is already being practiced by some of the most innovative donors. —By Mark R. Kramer
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
In bad economic times, nonprofits must convince donors to give more.
Resource: Blog Post
Charity gift cards are a good way to give meaningful holiday presents.
Resource: Blog Post
Good Capital invests in socially responsible Adina.
Resource: Blog Post
Nonprofits looking for charity should connect with baby boomers who own small businesses.
Resource: Blog Post
![[photo - Carol Larson]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/3687%5B1%5D.jpg "[photo - Carol Larson]")
What does it take to keep a large foundation focused on evaluation for self-improvement? As part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Carol Larson, CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, shares tools, lessons, and strategies for assessing performance to create a "culture of inquiry." Organizational qualities such as innovation, collaboration among stakeholders, and freedom to make "mistakes" are critical elements to foster an effective learning enterprise.
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Resource: Audio
![[photo - Mark Kramer]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/3686%5B1%5D.jpg "[photo - Mark Kramer]")
Evaluation is one of the most powerful mechanisms a nonprofit organization can use to unlock its potential, become more effective, and achieve success. But traditional evaluation methods are expensive, require thorough knowledge of the social sciences, and take a good deal of time to perform. In this part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Mark Kramer details how nonprofits can better incorporate evaluation to achieve their mission and bring about social change.
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Resource: Audio
How do you use for-profit activities to fund your social entrepreneurship mission? In this panel discussion at the Skoll World Forum, experts talk about how to combine for- and nonprofit activities for greatest effect. They show that business and nonprofit can mix, drawing on examples such as efforts to profitably provide water to poor villagers by training street children to run businesses, and franchising medical care to creating a transparent market place for handmade goods.
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Resource: Audio
![[photo - Gene Sykes]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/gene-sykes.jpg "[photo - Gene Sykes]")
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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Resource: Audio
![[photo - Laura Arrillaga]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/3718%5B1%5D.jpg "[photo - Laura Arrillaga]")
Venture philanthropy and other new products and trends indicate that philanthropy has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. Donors are younger than ever before and foundations have become increasingly professionalized. In this audio interview, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, philanthropy expert Peter Hero interviews Laura Arrillaga, a leader in Silicon Valley, about developments that are now making philanthropy a powerhouse for social change.
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Resource: Audio
![[Video-Using Entrepreneurial Approaches to Solve the Problems of Global Poverty]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/DJKD7jYyOmk/0.jpg "[Video-Using Entrepreneurial Approaches to Solve the Problems of Global Poverty]")
In turbulent times like ours, we need “hard-edged hope,” says Jacqueline Novogratz, the much-celebrated founder of the Acumen Fund. Affirming that the world is indeed a better place now than it was 40 years ago, she traces her own journey from a childhood witnessing racial inequities all around her in Detroit to a career leading the field of social impact investing. Novogratz rallies the community of Stanford business graduates to be part of the new generation of innovative problem solvers.
Resource: Video
![[Video-Opportunities In Environmental Area]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/pxAR0qZzS3Y/0.jpg "[Video-Opportunities In Environmental Area]")
How do environmental challenges create growth opportunities, new markets, and 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.
Resource: Video
![[Video-Community Foundations]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/xws0z0-GlxA/0.jpg "[Video-Community Foundations]")
Community foundations have become an increasingly common outlet for charitable giving in the United States. In this panel discussion, led by Julie Juergens, the director of the Center for Social Innovation, community foundation leaders discuss innovative models for foundations as well as challenges faced by this sector.
Resource: Video
![[Video-Value Creation]](http://img.youtube.com/vi/dN0jL1ACCYg/0.jpg "[Video-Value Creation]")
The nonprofit sector delivers social value and the for-profit sector delivers economic value, right? Wrong! Jed Emerson argues that value is nondivisible, whole, and blended. He invites us to think beyond philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, and other limiting mindsets.
Resource: Video
![[photo - Dr. Elizabeth Hausler]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/podcast_img/Dr.%20Elizabeth%20Hausler.jpg "[photo - Making Homes Safe From Earthquakes]")
When an earthquake hits, what should you do? Should you get out of the house? The answer, says Elizabeth Hausler, founder of Build Change, depends upon where you live. In this audio interview with host Sheela Sethuraman, Hausler describes how the strategies of Build Change are helping villages in Indonesia and China to build earthquake-resistant housing.
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Resource: Audio
What does it take to keep a large foundation focused on evaluation for self-improvement? As part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Carol Larson, CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, shares tools, lessons, and strategies for assessing performance to create a "culture of inquiry." Organizational qualities such as innovation, collaboration among stakeholders, and freedom to make "mistakes" are critical elements to foster an effective learning enterprise.
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
Evaluation is one of the most powerful mechanisms a nonprofit organization can use to unlock its potential, become more effective, and achieve success. But traditional evaluation methods are expensive, require thorough knowledge of the social sciences, and take a good deal of time to perform. In this part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Mark Kramer details how nonprofits can better incorporate evaluation to achieve their mission and bring about social change.
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
How do you use for-profit activities to fund your social entrepreneurship mission? In this panel discussion at the Skoll World Forum, experts talk about how to combine for- and nonprofit activities for greatest effect. They show that business and nonprofit can mix, drawing on examples such as efforts to profitably provide water to poor villagers by training street children to run businesses, and franchising medical care to creating a transparent market place for handmade goods.
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
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.
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
Case Studies : All | Academic Cases
No Results Found
![[photo - William F. Meehan III]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/meehan-william-f_0.jpg "[photo - William F. Meehan III]")
Upon her death, Beryl Buck left $7.6 million for various charitable purposes in Marin County, Calif. The case discusses what happened to the Buck Trust money and the constituents involved.
Resource: Academic Case
![[photo - Daniel P. Kessler]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/kessler-daniel-philip_2.jpg "[photo - Daniel P. Kessler]")
The executive director of Asian Neighborhood Design, a housing and community development organization, attempts to quantify the potential financial and social return for investors in his nonprofit enterprise. The director applies innovative tools, including a true cost accounting framework and a social return on investment analysis.
Resource: Academic Case
![[photo - Laura K. Arrillaga]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/arrillaga-laura-kathryne_8.jpg "[photo - Laura K. Arrillaga]")
The Skoll Foundation funds individuals and organizations with good ideas that can quickly grow in scale and impact. In 2002, as the leaders looked to the future, they pondered how they could act as leading social entrepreneurs themselves in terms of how they structured the foundation’s work.
Resource: Academic Case
![[photo - Laura K. Arrillaga]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/arrillaga-laura-kathryne_10.jpg "[photo - Laura K. Arrillaga]")
The Broad Education Foundation was established in 1999 to focus on K-12 public education reform. As the foundation sought to expand its reach, its ability to transition the management of its flagship investments would become increasingly important, and maintaining accountability to stakeholders would also be critical.
Resource: Academic Case
In April 1999 the leaders of a nonprofit that acquired private land for transfer to public use met to discuss their latest internal auditors’ report. They wanted to decide how best to analyze the findings in order to explain to the board why the results did not appear as good as they actually were.
Resource: Academic Case
![[photo - Rick Aubry]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/aubry-rick_0.jpg "[photo - Rick Aubry]")
The community development arm of The Roberts Foundation must decide whether to continue its investment in Asian Neighborhood Design. The housing and community development organization has been experiencing operational challenges due to rapid growth.
Resource: Academic Case
![[photo - William F. Meehan III]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/meehan-william-f.jpg "[photo - William F. Meehan III]")
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has approved a $110 million nursing initiative to improve patient care in hospitals. The case addresses how the Foundation can determine which grants to make under the initiative, and how it may most effectively allocate funds.
Resource: Academic Case
Research Papers : All
Young companies trying to enter parts of the health care industry by focusing on helping patients stay healthy and allowing safety net providers to use their resources have a hard time attracting venture capital funds that focus more on traditional profit. A recent article by two Stanford Graduate School of Business researchers argues that it's time to change this pattern.
Resource: Research Paper
![[photo - baron]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/baron-david-p_24.jpg "[photo - baron]")
Social pressure plays a major role in determining corporate strategy and performance according to an award-winning paper coauthored by Professor David Baron. The researchers find that social pressure and social performance reinforce each other, greater social pressure is associated with lower financial performance, and financial and social performance are largely unrelated.
Resource: Research Paper
Asking would-be donors for their time, not their money, is a better way for charities to increase donations, says professor Jennifer Aaker. Asking donors first to volunteer their time can positively shift their willingness to give both time and money.
Resource: Research Paper
![[photo - James E. Emerson]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/2929_1.jpg "[photo - James E. Emerson]")
This study presents fundamental concepts of markets, capital markets, and social capital markets. It also highlights select initiatives underway in early 2007 that sought to improve the functioning of social capital markets.
Resource: Research Paper
![[photo - James E. Emerson]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/James-E.-Emerson_7.jpg "[photo - James E. Emerson]")
This essay explores how the lines are blurring between for-profit businesses and nonprofits that do social good. It outlines examples of companies that embody "blended value" and discusses barriers to sustainable capitalism, and the role of philanthropy in supporting it.
Resource: Research Paper
Courses : All
No Results Found
Innovators : All
![[photo - Roger Coates]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Roger%20Coates.jpg "[photo - Roger Coates]")
Roger is currently starting an investment partnership for affordable housing in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Resource: Alumni
![[photo - Jacqueline Novogratz]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/novogratz.jpg "[photo - Jacqueline Novogratz]")
In turbulent times like ours, we need “hard-edged hope,” says Jacqueline Novogratz, the much-celebrated founder of the Acumen Fund. Affirming that the world is indeed a better place now than it was 40 years ago, she traces her own journey from a childhood witnessing racial inequities all around her in Detroit to a career leading the field of social impact investing.
Resource: Alumni
![[photo - Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/LauraArrillagaAndreessen_0.jpg "[photo - Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen]")
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen explains how to make your giving matter more.
Resource: Alumni
![[photo - Brian Cox]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Brian%20Cox_0.jpg "[photo - Brian Cox]")
The poorest regions of the world pose high risks for microfinance. Brian Cox, President of MFX Solutions, discusses how currency risk education can increase the flow of resources to Africa and other high-risk regions.
Resource: Alumni
![[photo - Daryn Dodson]](http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/sites/csi.gsb.stanford.edu/files/imagecache/img75x75/social_innovator_picture/Daryn%20Dodson_0.jpg "[photo - Daryn Dodson]")
Daryn Dodson is passionate about identifying and developing leaders with a social conscience. He has turned that passion into action by promoting entrepreneurship in post-Katrina New Orleans and in his current impact investment consulting role.
Resource: Alumni
In this Spring 2011 Prosocial Behavior Research Column, Frank Flynn explores research showing that the most generous, trusting, and helpful people are not those with more money, but, rather, those with less. Individuals in lower socio-economic classes tend to act in a more prosocial fashion because of a greater commitment to egalitarian values and heightened feelings of compassion for others. Put simply, the life stressors and challenges faced by those who struggle economically often spur greater social cooperation. Might the "haves" take a lesson from the altruism of the "have nots?"
Resource: News Article
Want to make sure American schoolchildren have enough pencils for a poetry writing unit, violins for a school recital, or microscope slides for a biology class? Go to DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that makes it easy to support any classroom project request nationwide. In this audio interview with host Ashkon Jafari, CEO Charles Best talks about the organization's humble beginnings, its use of cross-sector collaboration, its current initiatives, and the impact it is having in America's classrooms.
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Resource: Audio
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011
GlobalGiving’s storytelling project turns anecdotes into useful data.
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
Connecting good, effective nonprofits and other organizations that get the job done is the mission of Craigconnects, the latest enterprise of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. In this audio interview with host Ashkon Jafari, Newmark discusses the organization's philosophy, primary activities, and future plans.
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Resource: Audio
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011
DO MORE THAN GIVE: The Six Practices of Donors Who Change the World by Leslie R. Crutchfield, John V. Kania, & Mark R. Kramer
Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article
