SSIR@PND

Through an agreement with the Stanford Social Innovation Review, PND is pleased to be able to offer a series of articles and profiles related to the "business" of improving society.

Renewing Philanthropy’s Commitment to Local Journalism
November 26, 2019The decline in local journalism is undermining our contributes and contributing to a national civic crisis, writes Sandorf, but philanthropy, in partnership with others, is taking steps to stem the tide....

Participant Media Creates Entertainment for Social Change
October 28, 2019The media landscape has changed dramatically in the years since Jeff Skoll founded Participant Media, writes Gilchrist, but like other Silicon Valley success stories, the company has demonstrated a consistent ability to adapt....

Eight Myths of U.S. Philanthropy
September 30, 2019By examining the eight common myths of philanthropy — including who gives, how they give, and to what end — we can better comprehend the breadth and diversity of giving....

When White Philanthropy Funded Black Power
August 30, 2019Harris, a journalist, shares details of a working paper authored by Claire Dunning, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, that examines a high-minded but "short-lived and largely forgotten" experiment aimed at improving race relations and the living standards of African Americans in 1970s Boston....

Creating New Pathways to Capital
July 30, 2019Lack of access to capital not only prevents business growth but also perpetuates cycles of intergenerational poverty and racial inequity that affect families and communities at all levels. Brulé and Warren report on one model that is helping to change that equation in New Mexico....

China’s New Model of Blockchain-Driven Philanthropy
June 27, 2019According to Wang and Desouza, social entrepreneurs in the world's most populous country are using blockchain technology to create a more decentralized and autonomous philanthropic sector....

How to Push DEI Conversations Out of the Comfort Zone
May 30, 2019As we work to advance racial equity in philanthropy, write Reid and Dean-Coffey, four practices can help us find our "learning edge" — the boundary of our comfort zone and competencies where change is truly transformative and freeing....

Forest Restoration for Fuel
April 29, 2019Is commercial-scale torrefaction — the process of turning wood scraps from forest-thinning operations into a coal substitute — a partial solution to climate change? Gaines, a freelance science journalist living in Seattle, reports....

Communities Need Neighborhood Trusts
March 29, 2019Low-income communities need ownership over the resources that flow into them and defenses to protect them from feckless funders and footloose capital, argues Margulies. In an age when the failure of unregulated capitalism is becoming more evident every day, options like the neighborhood trust cannot be implemented quickly enough....

The Cost of Financial Precarity
February 26, 2019With wages stagnating, benefits shrinking, and personal debt increasing, financial precarity has become widespread in the United States, writes Leana, but the philanthropic community has been and can continue to be a catalyst for solutions to the problem....

This Is What Democracy Looks Like: Five Lessons for Nonprofit Advocacy
January 30, 2019Whether you are doing advocacy for the first time or revamping an existing program, the recipe for success, writes van Geldern, requires a careful balance between analytical thinking and action....

The Power of Letting Go
December 27, 2018Honig looks at new research that explores when top-down control works best in international development work and when organizations should let employees in the field navigate challenges using their own judgment....

Time for a Three-Legged Measurement Stool
November 27, 2018Across the social sector, writes Twersky, there is a growing recognition of the importance of being human centered — of putting the people we seek to benefit at the center of our problem-solving efforts....

When Rapid Equals Urgent
October 24, 2018Movements such as #MeToo and Time's Up reinforce why a rapid-response fund might focus on women human rights defenders. Seo, the founder of ReaMedica and ReaMedica Health Care Kenya, reports on one such fund....

The #GivingTuesday Model
September 25, 2018Since its creation in 2012, #GivingTuesday has spread across the world, with official movements in forty-six countries and unofficial activity in dozens more. As Curran explains, there are important lessons all nonprofits can learn from its success....

A New Local Movement
August 28, 2018Freelance journalist Sarah Murray looks at an innovative fund in Chicago that is demonstrating how place-based impact investing can transform a community....

A New Form of Capitalism
July 26, 2018Social impact bonds (SIBs) do not offer a silver bullet for solving social problems, writes Murray, but they may represent the first expression of a new form of capitalism that optimizes risk for return and impact....

Is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative the Future of Philanthropy?
June 25, 2018Although they didn't originate the concept, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave the philanthropy LLC its "big reveal" when they launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015. Brakman Reiser, a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, explains why the vehicle is attractive to high-net-worth donors and, barring another round of tax reform, why it's here to stay....