Stanford Social Innovation Review

Some books ought to be read as pairs. Joel L. Fleishman’s and Martin Morse Wooster’s recent offerings are such a duo, offering sometimes diametrically opposed perspectives on philanthropic successes and failures. 

Despite the hoopla over microfinance, it doesn’t cure poverty. But stable jobs do. If societies are serious about helping the poorest of the poor, they should stop investing in microfinance and start supporting large, labor-intensive industries.

SSIR Managing Editor Eric Nee met with Emmett Carson to discuss his bold plans for the newly merged Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which is now the fourth largest community foundation in the country.

To ensure that baby boomers’ wealth does not fall short of its philanthropic potential, Randall Ottinger suggests applying portfolio theory to make wiser social investments.

Most Americans give roughly the same percentage of their incomes.

Few microfinance institutions articulate what, exactly, their ultimate goals are and how to achieve them. If the goal of microfinance is to alleviate poverty, the authors say, then MFIs should focus on helping their clients build successful enterprises, rather than on making more and bigger loans.

President of the Ford Foundation.

Artists for Humanity students are also employees.

When couples haggle over charity, total giving drops.

Muhammad Yunus was getting nowhere in
Bangladesh – so he opened his own bank.

Nonprofits are buying Ben & Jerry’s franchises
to help train at-risk youth.

New mechanism allows private investors to back
socially responsible startups.

Gifts are not an incentive for donors to give, they’re an excuse.

Waste, failure, and Bosnia’s lessons for Iraq.

A power imbalance undermines the social sector.

Nonprofits use metrics to show that
they are efficient. But what if donors don’t care?

Founder, D.C. Central Kitchen.

Top foundation leaders reveal how they set
payout rates, executive salaries, and trustee compensation.

Retiring baby boomers are dying to retool their professional skills to help society. How can society help them do so?