Stanford Social Innovation Review

The Montana Meth Project’s graphic ads saturate TV, radio, billboards, and newspapers to portray the reality of methamphetamine use, in all its grit. Scabs and body sores are just the beginning. So far, the shock factor is working. 

To find out how best to stem corruption in development projects, a Harvard economist conducted a sophisticated experiment in 608 Javanese villages. His results challenge current wisdom: Send in the outside auditors, rather than rely on local monitors.

Many Iraq War veterans can’t shake the feeling of being constantly imperiled, and their therapists, in turn, may develop traumatic stress symptoms themselves. A new study tells how organizations can protect their frontline providers from psychic distress.

The Public Radio Fund gives investors a chance to protect nonprofit airwaves. With its help, KTOO-FM in Juneau, Alaska, recently debuted a 24-hour news show and two locally-hosted Alaska-flavored music stations. 

It’s summer. The wedding season is upon us, and many nonprofits are likewise feeling the urge to merge. But should nonprofits couple up, take the plunge, and get hitched? In this SSIR special, three articles explore whether, why, and how nonprofits should undertake mergers or other alliances.

The traditional approach among human rights groups in Nigeria had been accusatory: publicize injustices or sue the government. But in January 1998, on the eve of democracy, an NGO called the CLEEN foundation set out to reform law enforcement from within. 

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. 

Step aside, Stephen Covey. Kent Buse and Andrew M. Harmer have discovered seven new highly effective habits. And theirs may help rid the world of its more deadly diseases, rather than just upping people’s productivity.

Greenlight is a nonprofit catalyst: It identifes a local need, scours the country for the best program to meet it, and then establishes a chapter in its hometown.

Since 1970, more than 200,000 nonprofits have opened in the U.S., but only 144 have reached $50 million in annual revenue. They got big by doing two things: They raised the bulk of their money from a single type of funder. And just as importantly, these nonprofits created professional organizations that were tailored to the needs of their primary funding sources.

Grantees of foundations have little control over which program officer takes their case. Yet program officers make or break grantees’ experiences with foundations. To trigger social change, foundations must give program officers better training, clearer expectations, and regular performance feedback.

Most nonprofits don’t know how to lobby and, worse, think that it entails cutting shady deals with sleazy characters. Yet lobbying is nothing more than educating legislators – a right that our democracy guarantees. To make change, nonprofits must learn to lobby. And who knows? They may even learn to love it.

How CitiStat’s hard data and straight talk saved Baltimore.

MacArthur “genius” prize winner creates drugs for the developing world.