Stanford Social Innovation Review : Informing and inspiring leaders of social change

Exploring Social Impact Markets: Examples from the Field

With more than a trillion dollars being spent annually on millions of American nonprofit and government institutions—and federal and municipal budget crises coming into full flower—the time has come for social impact markets. Drawing on his Winter 2012 article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Root Cause founder and CEO Andrew Wolk will explore examples of incipient social impact markets: the Social Innovation Fund administered by the US Government’s Corporation for National and Community Service, the Youth Violence Prevention Funder Learning Collaborative, and Root Cause’s Social Innovation Forum.

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Foundations

Living with the Gates Foundation

Drawing from a recent special issue of Alliance magazine, thought leaders representing a variety of sectors will discuss the impact that the Gates Foundation has had on global social change and how social initiatives may change as a result. During this live webinar, authors Ed Skloot, Megan Tompkins-Strange, Laura Freschi, and Bruce Sievers will share their perspectives on what large institutions like the Gates Foundation mean for democracy, whether the organization is becoming a “benevolent dictator” in global public health, how the Gates Foundation is reinvigorating discussion around the role of foundations in society, and more.

Moderator Tim Ogden, Stanford Social Innovation Review contributor and the Alliance special issue guest editor, will lead this lively discussion. Attendees will receive electronic access to the Alliance special issue upon registration and are encouraged to read the Gates Foundation section prior to the webinar.

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Fundraising

Building the Right Funding Model for Your Organization

Nonprofit funding strategy and financial sustainability are central to creating a vibrant and effective sector. Yet our understanding about these issues remains far less sophisticated than our understanding of programs. Too often, conventional wisdom, such as “diversification is good,” substitutes for thoughtful planning. Building upon years of primary research and consulting experience with dozens of nonprofit clients, The Bridgespan Group has developed an approach for how an organization can identify and develop a funding model that will allow it to achieve its programmatic aspirations. In this webinar Peter Kim, a manager in Bridgespan’s New York City office, and Gihani Fernando, a manager in Bridgespan’s San Franscisco office, will provide practical guidance on the steps you need to take to create a funding model for your organization, and review the types of decisions and tradeoffs that nonprofit leaders need to make along the way.

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Related Story: Finding Your Funding Model

Nonprofits

Implementing Organizational Learning

Join Katie Smith Milway and Ann Goggins Gregory, both from The Bridgespan Group, for a lively interactive dialogue about how your organization, small or large, can bridge the gaps between goals, incentives, and processes when it comes to organizational learning. Milway and Goggins will present examples of nonprofits that have successfully implemented organizational learning, such as the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), World Vision, the Arizona Children’s Association, and the Nature Conservancy. The dialogue will be based in part on Milway’s recent article about creating a knowledge-sharing process (see “The Challenges of Organizational Learning,” Summer 2011 Stanford Social Innovation Review), and Gregory will present findings from a learning lab on incentives and processes that she and Milway held during the Stanford Nonprofit Management Institute in September.

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Related Story: The Challenge of Organizational Learning

Social Entrepreneurship

Nonprofit, For-profit, or Something in Between?

Social entrepreneurs who want to start a new venture quickly confront an important question: What type of legal structure should I create? Should I start a traditional nonprofit, a for-profit, or something in between? This is not a simple question to answer. Join veteran social entrepreneur Jim Fruchterman, founder and CEO of Benetech, as he guides you through the issues you need to consider before choosing an attorney. He emphasizes that a legal structure is simply a tool for accomplishing your goals, and explains that first a social entrepreneur must explore four basic issues: the motivation for starting the venture, the market being targeted, how capital will be raised, and what type of control is wanted. He then reviews the five basic legal structures and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of each. Fruchterman has unique insight into legal structures, having started successful and unsuccessful for-profit and nonprofit ventures.

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Related Story: For Love or Lucre

Technology & Design

The Future of Green Tech

Corporate executives, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, and concerned citizens alike know that the key to solving business, environmental, and societal problems over the next generation rests on the success of green tech. But which green energy technologies will provide solutions to harness power from renewable, sustainable sources or reduce adverse human impact on the environment? Will solutions come from technologies such as solar, wind, and geothermal power, biofuels, and smart power grids, or hydrogen and electric vehicle propulsion? Join Clayton M. Christensen, Robert and Jane Cizik professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and L. Hunter Lovins, president and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, for an interactive dialogue about the complex landscape of green tech investment, application, and implementation.

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Related Story: Picking Green Tech’s Winners and Losers

Philanthropy

Philanthropy and Social Investing

What really matters for philanthropy and social investing for the rest of 2011? Which industry issues do you need to understand to achieve your social goals this year? Lucy Bernholz, described by The Huffington Post as a “philanthropy game changer,” will outline current global trends in philanthropy and discuss what they mean to foundations, philanthropists, and nonprofits. Her presentation will draw from her highly regarded monograph, Philanthropy and Social Investing: BLUEPRINT 2011, an annual industry forecast. She will also update her predictions based on the first five months of the year. Registrants will be provided a link to purchase a copy of Bernholz’s monograph at a 20% discount.

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Technology & Design

The Dragonfly Effect: Harnessing Social Media to Drive Social Change

People are clamoring for ways to use social media for social change. Join Jennifer Aaker, veteran of consumer psychology, marketing, and entrepreneurship, as she explains how to harness the incredible power of social media to make a difference by applying the ideas of The Dragonfly Effect. Aaker will discuss how to tap social media and consumer psychological insights to achieve a single, concrete goal.

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Related Story: The Dragonfly Effect

Technology & Design

Design Thinking for Social Innovation

Design thinking allows organizations to be more innovative, differentiate their offerings, and bring products and services to market faster. Nonprofits are also finding that design thinking encourages high-impact solutions to bubble up from below rather than being imposed from the top. Join Jocelyn Wyatt, coauthor of SSIR‘s “Design Thinking for Social Innovation,” as she updates her popular article from the Winter 2010 issue, drawing on new case studies from the work of IDEO, a design and innovation consultancy. Wyatt discusses the importance of innovation in the social sector and shares the process and tools of design thinking.

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Related Story: Design Thinking for Social Innovation

Nonprofit Management

Collective Impact: Creating Large-Scale Social Change

The potential to create large-scale social change exists when multiple organizations can combine their efforts. Join as FSG’s John Kania and Mark Kramer speak with Strive Partnership’s Jeff Edmondson about the conditions of a collective impact initiative and present their argument that large-scale social change comes from better cross-sector coordination rather than from the isolated intervention of individual organizations.

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Related Story: Collective Impact