Stanford Social Innovation Review

SSIR Managing Editor Eric Nee spoke with the X Prize Foundation’s president, Thomas Vander Ark, about how prizes can stimulate social innovation.

An innovative federal project turns retiring military personnel into teachers.

How Sustainable Conservation unites all sectors for the environment.

How clear, brief mission statements inspire progress.

Flattery, not good governance, reaps corporate directorships – especially for white males.

Five tips for designing workplaces that nurture great ideas. 

How the vocal few can skew perceptions of public opinion.

You can learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. Paul Schmitz, president and CEO of Public Allies, gives a sampling of classic foibles of not only social entrepreneurs, but leaders in general. 

A growing number of foundations are offering low-interest loans, buying into green business ventures, and investing in other asset classes to advance their missions. To bring about real change, foundations need to make strategic mission investments that complement their grantmaking and leverage market forces.

As the wall between the nonprofit and corporate worlds crumbles, many social change organizations are asking themselves: Do we stick to our activist guns, or do we cross the divide and work with business? Research suggests that social movements need both kinds of organizations to make the changes they seek.

How nonprofits win the dedication of their volunteers.

Where have all the public servants gone?

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.

Human-caused climate change, sharply declining conventional energy sources, and population growth are threatening the very platform of human life. Yet only 5 percent of U.S. foundation spending goes to the environment, and a paltry 2.9 percent goes to science and technology.

Which woman is more likely to attract unpleasant sexual attention: the office sweetheart or the ambitious upstart? A new study by social psychologist Jennifer Berdahl points to the upstart. From her findings, Berdahl concludes that “men aren’t harassing women to get into their pants, but to put them down....”