Center for Social Innovation

Teaching the Teachers

A startup helps school-based instructors of math and English team up with digital teachers.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Increasing the Bandwidth

U.S. schools are badly lagging in web connectivity; not because they aren’t connected, but because their pipes are too small.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Offshore wind energy could power entire U.S. East Coast, Stanford scientists say

Adapting a sophisticated climate model, researchers show that there is plenty of wind available to supply half to several times the world's total energy needs within the next two decades.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Scientists predict major shifts in Pacific ecosystems by 2100

Scientific models suggest that major Pacific ecosystems will move hundreds of miles by 2100 as a result of climate change. The results of this research could help officials manage the potentially significant impacts – on sea creatures and humans – of marine habitat shifts.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Two Green Approaches

There are all manner of approaches to 'green investing,' and the folks at Carbon Lighthouse — recipients of an $80,000 Social Innovation Fellowship from the Center for Social Innovation at the Graduate School of Business — manage to combine two of them under the same roof.

Resource: News Article

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Stanford gathering explores why national security needs the humanities

Teaching the Teachers

A startup helps school-based instructors of math and English team up with digital teachers.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Government, Leadership

Military leaders, Stanford scholars and government officials contribute to a congressional report on how the humanities factor into international relations and national security.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Offshore wind energy could power entire U.S. East Coast, Stanford scientists say

Adapting a sophisticated climate model, researchers show that there is plenty of wind available to supply half to several times the world's total energy needs within the next two decades.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Increasing the Bandwidth

U.S. schools are badly lagging in web connectivity; not because they aren’t connected, but because their pipes are too small.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Scientists predict major shifts in Pacific ecosystems by 2100

Scientific models suggest that major Pacific ecosystems will move hundreds of miles by 2100 as a result of climate change. The results of this research could help officials manage the potentially significant impacts – on sea creatures and humans – of marine habitat shifts.

Resource: News 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 :

Environment, Government, Nonprofit Management

Research: Virtue or Else

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Under the EPA’s Audit Policy, violators who voluntarily report themselves can get certain penalties reduced or waived if they commit to ongoing self-regulation…. But is that promise any more than window dressing?

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

One Acre at a Time

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

One Acre Fund feeds the world’s poor by helping them feed themselves.

Research: The New Bottom Billion

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Government

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Aid is increasingly focused on the “bottom billion” in extremely poor, mostly African, nations. But according to a new analysis, most of the world’s poor no longer live in these countries.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

What’s Next: Thriving on Failure

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

Engineers Without Borders’ new website, Admitting Failure, gives new life to “good failures.” It aims to help organizations learn from others’ mistakes.

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Foundation Hoarding Backfires; Billions Lost

Scared foundations now regret hoarding their grants

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management

Speaking of Nonprofit Retirees…

Nonprofits need to think seriously about helping their employees’ with post-work survival.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Nonprofit Accounting Rules Not the Solution to For-Profit Accountability

Nonprofit accounting rules should not be forced on anyone.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Interview Collaboration Prize Co-Winners

Interview with Abby Suckow and Connie Torrey, Collaboration Prize co-winners from the JCC and YMCA of the Greater Toledo area.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

State of the Sector: Lots of Facts and a Few Thoughts

Tips for surviving as a Nonprofit during tough economic times.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World

Businesses are in the business of business. But they are beginning to be in the business of doing social good as well. As companies shift to incorporate environmental, social, and welfare-based themes into business plans and products, Aron Cramer points out a trend of decreasing poverty and improving the environment as corporations look to increase both profit and human development.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

The Future of the Healthcare Sector

How can the healthcare industry become more sustainable in the long term? In this university podcast, UnitedHealth Group executive Richard Migliori talks about what drives innovation in his organization, and how those lessons can be applied to the industry in general. Migliori spoke at the 2011 Stanford Global Healthcare Summit.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Education, Leadership

Education as Social Enterprise in Africa

How can one social enterprise help transform Africa into a peaceful and prosperous continent? By developing and supporting its future leaders, says Chris Bradford in this university podcast. Speaking at the 2011 Stanford Africa Forum, Bradford discusses his personal journey to co-found African Leadership Academy and how the organization is influencing the continent's future.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Technology in Healthcare Delivery Redesign

What does aerospace have to do with healthcare? In this university podcast, John Evans, a Lockheed Martin executive, talks about how technology in his sector can be applied to healthcare to improve performance. Evans spoke at the 2011 Stanford Healthcare Summit. He discusses how systems approaches can be used to drive efficiency and outcomes in intensive care, in particular.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Technology in Healthcare Delivery Redesign

How can technology can be used to help minimize some of the greatest bottlenecks in today's healthcare systems? In this university podcast, Jay Deady, CEO of Awarepoint Corporation, talks about how his company's software solutions provide enterprise awareness within hospitals, lowering costs and enhancing efficiency in the acute care environment. Deady spoke at the Stanford Healthcare Summit.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Healthcare

Changing Behavior and Changing Policies: Todd Park

At the 2011 GSB Healthcare Summit, Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, argued that now is the best time in history to be in the healthcare entrepreneur business.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Economic Development, Social Entrepreneurship

Innovative Design Saves Tiny Lives

Jane Chen, MBA '08, has a vision of a place “babies no longer die from being cold, where people no longer die from preventable causes. And where every person has the ability to choose [his or her] own fate.”

Resource: Video

Topic:

Leadership

New York Excellence in Leadership Award Dinner Honoring Jacqueline Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz, MBA '91, wins the 2011 Excellence in Leadership Award from the Stanford GSB.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Gaming for the Greater Good

What if games were used to solve real-world problems?

Resource: Video

Topic:

Leadership

Leading an Industry Turnaround: Lessons from Government Interventions at GM and Chrysler

How did an Obama administration task force turn around the auto industry?

Resource: Video

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.

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.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Rethinking Learning with Salman Khan

The Mastery in Communication Initiative and the Stanford GSB Education Club hosted Salman Khan, who spoke about the history and evolution of the Khan Academy and how it is reshaping the way people learn today.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Human Rights

Gloria Steinem: Ms. at 40 and the Future of Feminism

Stanford welcomes Gloria Steinem, co-founder and first editor of Ms. Magazine, in celebration of Ms.'s 40th anniversary. Steinem reflected on Ms. Magazine's role over forty years and looked ahead to what feminism may mean for future generations.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Healthcare

Medical Device Innovation

Entrepreneurs who have gone from concept to commercialization share their experiences with breakthroughs in medical science and technology that have transformed healthcare delivery across the care continuum -- providing patients with less invasive procedures, reduced recovery times, and lower costs. Paul Yock, Professor of Medicine and Founding Co-Chair of Stanford's Program in Biodesign, leads this interactive discussion on medical device innovation at the 2011 Stanford Graduate School of Business Healthcare Summit.

Resource: Audio

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:

Healthcare, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Building the Knowledge Base of the Health Care Fields

By 2005, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation had firmly established the importance of building a knowledge base and communicating its findings to external and internal constitutencies. The foundation faced the challenge of how to effectively execute its communications.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failures (B)

This case, part two in a two-part series, explores the challenge of distribution, particularly for nonprofit entities seeking to bring their products and services to hard-to-reach places around the world.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

SV2: Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund

The Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund provides Silicon Valley donors with philanthropic experience and education to empower their giving, and awards capacity-building grants to nonprofits. The fund’s leadership wondered how to improve the partner consulting program to better leverage partner expertise, and how to engage partners in grantmaking and educational activities.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Social Investing

In 2002, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, dedicated to building a better future for disadvantaged children, hired a director of social investments. The director faces challenges such as how to enable the long-term sustainability of grantees, track financial and programmatic performance of investments, and resolve the tension between social investment and programmatic strategies.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Government

The Competitive Advantage of India

India’s services sector had demonstrated that the country possessed the capacity to improve its global standing significantly. The question was whether India would capitalize on its success by addressing obstacles to growth, or miss the opportunity to enter the modern world.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

The Double-Goal Coach (A): Beyond "Sportsmanship"

In 1988, Jim Thompson founded Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit focused on helping overcome negative trends in youth involving bad sportsmanship. These cases detail PCA’s efforts to raise awareness of the issues among athletes and the general public with an eye toward changing behavior.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

2004 Venture Philanthropy Summit Overview

Practitioners and academics at a 2004 Stanford University conference discussed the field of venture philanthropy. The overview includes topics such as capacity building, relationships between grantors and grantees, and performance measurement.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Environment, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Acumen Fund and Mytry De-Fluoridation Filter Technologies

The chief investment officer of Acumen Fund, an international venture philanthropy fund, is reviewing the performance of a portfolio organization. Against the backdrop of Acumen’s own evolution, he is trying to determine how much additional support to provide an organization that has faced similar challenges.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Grove Scholars Program: Putting Rungs Back On The Ladder

The Grove Foundation's Grove Scholars Program promotes access to vocational education and training. Key foundation personnel consider how well they have been performing toward their mission.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Neighborhood Health Clinic

Neighborhood Health Clinic is a nonprofit health center located in an ethnically diverse, underserved, and complicated community. These cases explore the challenges that staff began to face in working together effectively and efficiently, and what course of action the executive team took to address the problems.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Environment, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

IDEAAS and PSA: Replication in the Amazon

Two social ventures collaborated with each other to help expand one’s solar energy services from southern Brazil into the Amazon region. The case highlights the core factors that led to the project’s ultimate outcome.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility

Industrial Products AG Thailand (B)

A shipment of industrial products gets waylaid by customs in Thailand, with a charge of smuggling. When the project manager refuses to pay an extortionary fee and is reported to officials, the company manager must figure out how to defuse the situation.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Khosla Ventures: Investing in Ethanol

Where in the ethanol value chain should Khosla Ventures consider investing? How should it get involved in strategic innovations? How should it leverage the non-market environment surrounding the ethanol value chain?

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Riders for Health: Health Care Distribution Solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Riders for Health is a U.K.-based nonprofit dedicated to the improvement of transportation systems for health workers in Africa. In 2007, after 11 years in existence, the organization was at a critical point and had to decide what strategies were necessary to expand.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility

Starbucks Corporation Building a Sustainable Supply Chain

Starbucks created a new program to support coffee farmers through a partnership with Conservation International. If Starbucks could overcome issues it faced with implementation of the program, the initiative could go a long way toward improving the sustainability of its coffee supply chain.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

Topics:

Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Reexploring Differences among For-Profit and Nonprofit Dialysis Providers

To determine whether profit status is associated with differences in hospital days per patient, an outcome that may also be influenced by provider financial goals.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Leadership

Psychological License: When It Is Needed and How It Functions

Differences among people in the actions they take or the opinions they express do not always reflect differences in underlying attitudes, preferences, or motivations.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Health Care

Innovating for the Health Care Safety Net: Sources of Funding

Medical Technologies with high "social value" can play an important role in helping safety-net providers use their resources more efficiently. However, traditional investors often see the total market potential for such technologies small relative to other, more immediate opportunities, leaving many companies struggling to secure capital, say researchers Stefanos Zenios and Lyn Denend.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Economic Development

Why Bank Equity Is Not Expensive

Since the 2008 market crash, banking interests and economists have clashed over how much of their operations banks should fund with equity as opposed to debt. Bankers and others often say that, "equity is expensive." A recent paper, coauthored by three faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, argues: "Quite simply, bank equity is not expensive from a social perspective, and high leverage is not required in order for banks to perform all their socially valuable functions."

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Health Care

The Effects of Offering Health Plan Choice

Employers may offer workers a choice of health plans either to promote competition among plans or cater to their preferences for different types of products. Associate Professor Kate Bundorf finds that employers who offer choice have lower average premiums, primarily because workers are enrolled in less generous plans, and cover a greater proportion of employees than those who do not.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

Topic :

Healthcare

Biodesign Innovation: OIT 581/3

The two-quarter Elective Course series provides lectures from a diverse group of faculty that expose students to the practical aspects of technology invention and development. The class features a presentation or discussion from one of the guest speakers or faculty. Students work in small project teams in the Biodesign prototyping lab or bench space, collaborating with the fellows of the program.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

The Power of Social Technology: GSBGEN 358

The goal of this seminar is to investigate how social technology (e.g., blogs, websites, podcasts, widgets, community groups, social network feeds) can change attitudes and behaviors in ways that cultivate social change. We study the strategies and tactics used by companies and causes that have successfully catalyzed social persuasion.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Economic Development

Strategic Thinking in Action - In Business and Beyond: STRAMGT 373

This seminar helps participants develop strategically informed action plans that are imaginative, inspiring, and workable in highly dynamic environments. Through informed debate and the writing and presentation of position papers, participants evaluate and hone their views on the seminar's critical themes.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Social Entrepreneurship: STRAMGT 369

This course focuses on the efforts of private citizens to create effective responses to social needs and innovative solutions to social problems. It equips students with frameworks and tools that will help them be more effective as a social entrepreneur.

Resource: MBA Course

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 :

Philanthropy & Responsible Investing

Arrillaga Book Offers Map for Successful Philanthropic Giving Today

Don't just feel good about philanthropic gifts, advises Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen in her book Giving 2.0. Put your mind to work as well as your heart.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

An interview with Hope Flammer (MBA '91)

Hope Flammer (MBA '91) and VoiceQuilt help families celebrate loved ones with voice-based toasts, tributes and favorite memories.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

An interview with Leena Ved (MBA '02)

Leena Ved provides high quality educational opportunities for under-served children, and addresses the financing gap in impact investing by supporting early stage companies.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Government

An interview with Peter Ohtaki (MBA '87)

As Executive Director of the California Resiliency Alliance (CRA), Peter Ohtaki has helped bring businesses and government together to improve disaster response and recovery.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

An interview with Dana Hendrickson (MBA '77)

Through Rebuild Hope, Dana Hendrickson and others help wounded veterans and their families overcome short-term financial obstacles.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Simple Interventions Bridge the Achievement Gap Between Latino and White Students, Stanford Researcher Finds

A study shows how the effects of "stereotype threat" can be overcome by assignments that foster a more supportive environment.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Creating Forces for Good in Nonprofit Management

Can smaller and local nonprofit organizations still have major impact? In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Heather McLeod Grant, senior consultant at the Monitor Institute and co-author of Forces for Good, shares successful strategies of high-impact nonprofits and how small and local nonprofits can apply them.

Resource: Audio

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.

Resource: Audio

Topic :