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

The Value of High Stakes Donor Collaboration

Collaboration is a hot topic in philanthropy and a common practice, but one form remains uncommon. Few foundations and philanthropists pool their time, expertise, and financial resources around multiyear goals beyond the reach of any one participant. When they do, their unified action can yield impressive results. So why don’t such collaborations happen more often? Join Willa Seldon, a partner at Bridgespan, when she reviews the barriers to high stakes collaboration and how to work around them, and discusses the three types of collaborations that work best. She will be joined by Oak Foundation’s Kristian Parker, a founding board member of the European Climate Foundation and the Oceans 5 donor collaborative. Parker will add first-hand insights and explain how new donors can benefit from joining forces with those, like the Oak Foundation, that have expertise in a particular area.

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Listening to Beneficiaries

To become more effective, nonprofits and foundations are turning to various sources for advice. Some look to experts, others turn to crowdsourcing. Experts and crowds can produce valuable insights, but too often nonprofits and funders ignore the constituents who matter most, the intended beneficiaries. Join Fay Twersky, Phil Buchanan, and Valerie Threlfall as they discuss the reasons why surveying beneficiaries is so important, how the feedback can be used, and some of the challenges to doing this and how to overcome them. They will also provide real-world examples of organizations that are effectively surveying beneficiaries, including their own experience trying to elicit the voices of high school students through YouthTruth, a nonprofit that the three of them co-founded. YouthTruth has gathered feedback from close to 150,000 students across the United States.

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How to Use Social Media to Engage Donors

Social media and the Internet have permanently disrupted the traditional donor-engagement process through online competitions, viral video campaigns, and mobile giving, to name a few. With each new way for organizations and donors to interact come increasingly complex entry points into the traditional models of donor engagement, greater variation in movement along the pathway to deeper engagement, and more opportunities for a person to be influenced by forces outside an organization’s control. Join Georgetown University’s Julie Dixon and Denise Keyes as they discuss this impact. They’ll also provide insights on these trends gleaned from a nationwide research project that their Center for Social Impact Communications conducted with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, and will explain a new model of donor engagement they have created that takes advantage of social media and the Internet—one that is more fluid and continuous, and that better reflects the growing importance that a person’s influence plays in the process.

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We’re Getting Data, Now What?

Thanks to rapid advances in computer and communication technologies, it is possible for stakeholders in the nonprofit sector to disclose more, to know more, and to demand more through increased transparency and collaboration. In October, a group of the largest US foundations committed to release their grant information in a consistent, open, and frequent manner. Dubbed the “Reporting Commitment,” 15 large foundations have agreed to report at least quarterly to the Foundation Center’s transparency-centered website, Glasspockets.org. In addition, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the financial firm LiquidNet announced in October a “New Markets for Good” effort, focused on helping donors—individuals and foundations—use data about different organizations to inform their giving choices. This webinar will explore the repercussions of these moves toward big and open data. Presenters will analyze how more timely grant reporting from foundations can allow other foundations and nonprofits to look for relevant patterns, identify potential partners, scan a field of activity, and potentially develop strategies that take into account other philanthropic resources.

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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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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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Catalytic Philanthropy

In conversation with Thomas M. Siebel, Chairman of the Meth Project Foundation, Siebel Foundation, and First Virtual Group; and Diana Aviv, President and CEO, Independent Sector
A new breed of philanthropic leader is emerging among high-net worth donors, foundations, and corporations: the “catalytic philanthropist.” These innovative funders don’t just give away money—they solve social problems, and they deliver the kind of impact that most nonprofit donors can only imagine. Listen as Kramer overviews the four practices of catalytic philanthropy and then turns to Siebel and Aviv for their insights into the practice and practical aspects of applying catalytic philanthropy in the real world.

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