According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 65 million people around the world have been forced from home—the highest levels of displacement on record. In her recent SSIR article, “ Let Refugees Be Their Own Solution ,” Emily Arnold-Fernandez, executive director of the nonprofit Asylum Access, and Brian Rawson, the organization’s associate director of advocacy and communication, make the case that better policies in host countries can enable refugees to rebuild thei...
Jun 19, 2018•33 min
As director of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Silicon Valley-based Center for Technology and Society , Brittan Heller oversees efforts to track cyber-hate, and works in partnership with technology companies and law enforcement agencies to reduce bigotry and promote justice and fair treatment in online environments. At a time when tech companies are struggling to respond to the rise of online hate speech and cyber harassment, the ADL is attempting to take a proactive approach. At SSIR’s 2018 ...
Apr 19, 2018•38 min
To solve “ wicked problems ” like deforestation and persistent poverty, we not only need better data but also better indicators to identify problems and patterns in real time. Planet Inc., a geospatial organization that has deployed the largest constellation of Earth-observing satellites in history, is leading the way—using data insights to help solve these complex global problems. At our 2018 Data on Purpose conference, Andrew Zolli, Planet’s vice president of global impact initiatives, discuss...
Apr 05, 2018•52 min
Good ideas and intentions are not enough to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Many early-stage organizations fail because they lack the tools they need to grow—especially when it comes to collecting data and measuring impact. Data is essential for nonprofit scaling because it not only attracts funders but also allows organizations to prove and improve on their mission. In this recording from our 2018 Data on Purpose conference, Kathleen Kelly Janus, a social entrepreneur, Stanford lectur...
Mar 22, 2018•33 min
Social sector organizations are increasingly under pressure to better protect the privacy and security of their data. How should they examine their data governance practices to align with the demands of governments, their constituents, and their mission? At our 2018 Data on Purpose conference , Lucy Bernholz, a senior research scholar at Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and the director of the Digital Civil Society Lab explored this topic with Alix Dunn, executive director and...
Mar 08, 2018•59 min
Given the largely unaccountable position of power held by philanthropists, what role should they play in democratic societies? In this recording from the 2017 Philanthropy Innovation Summit , hosted by Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Rob Reich, a Marc and Laura Andreessen faculty co-director of Stanford PACS, facilitates a conversation with Reed Hastings, cofounder and CEO of Netflix, and Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. They discuss their differing approache...
Jan 25, 2018•46 min
Nonprofit leaders can’t continue to do the same things and expect different results in their work to help move the United States toward greater equity. In this podcast from our 2017 Nonprofit Management Institute , PolicyLink President Michael McAfee ( @mikemcafee06 ) shares his perspective on being both angry and excited about the changes America needs to make—and using both of those emotions in a productive way. Before taking the helm of PolicyLink, McAfee was the inaugural director of the rac...
Dec 28, 2017•43 min
Since its founding in 1913, the ADL has fought against the defamation of Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. That mission has kept Jonathan Greenblatt ( @JGreenblattADL ) very busy over the past two years. His tenure has coincided with the 2016 US election, a rise in hate crimes and hate groups, and an increase in cyber-hate. In this podcast from our 2017 Nonprofit Management Institute , SSIR Senior Editor David Johnson ( @contrarianp ) interviews Greenblatt about le...
Dec 14, 2017•41 min
Youth, families, and residents are the leaders of their own destinies, and yet public institutions oftentimes don’t reflect the demographics of their communities and are not guided by strategies defined community members. In this podcast from our 2017 Nonprofit Management Institute , Paola Peacock Friedrich, a consultant with Achieve Mission, interviews Dorian Burton ( @Dorian_Burton ), assistant executive director and chief program officer at the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, and Bria...
Dec 01, 2017•40 min
Our Winter 2018 cover story, “ The Investment Gap that Threatens the Planet ,” takes a detailed look at investments in discovering and developing new solutions to address climate change. It finds that such investments are woefully low and have even been falling in recent years. The article concludes that philanthropists are particularly well-suited to bridging this investment gap in the market. On this related podcast, David Johnson ( @contrarianp ), senior editor of Stanford Social Innovation R...
Nov 15, 2017•27 min
In this session, Valerie Threlfall discusses the Fund for Shared Insight ‘s largest grant program, Listen for Good , which provides grants and technical assistance to dozens of nonprofits to build high quality feedback loops with those they serve. Two Listen for Good grantees, Krystle Onibukon of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula and Brad Dudding of the Center for Employment Opportunities, also talk about their experience with the program. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/learning_to_liste...
Jun 26, 2017•1 hr
Data has the potential to help fuel social change across the world, yet many relevant datasets remain locked away and siloed across government agencies, nonprofits, and corporations. What kind of collaboration does it take to make this data available to different actors working to create change? In a series of TED-style talks, Melinda Rolfs of the MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth , John Wilbanks of Sage Bionetworks , Greg Bloom of Civic Hall Labs and Open Referral , and ST Mayer of Code fo...
Jun 05, 2017•1 hr 36 min
This panel from our Do Good Data | Data on Purpose conference features conference co-hosts Lucy Bernholz of Stanford PACS and Andrew Means of Uptake , along with Stanford education professor Candace Thille, and Kristian Lum, lead statistician at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group . The discussion focuses on the advantages and drawbacks of using data to analyze social trends in areas including higher education and criminal justice. View the slides from this presentation here . https://ssir.org/...
May 29, 2017•13 min
Leading for-profit companies thrive by embracing data insights to drive increased efficiency, effectiveness, and scale. They view information and analytics as core strategic assets in running a modern business. In this talk from our 2017 Do Good Data | Data on Purpose conference , Jim Fruchterman, founder and CEO of the tech nonprofit Benetech , argues that the social sector must follow these companies’ lead. Drawing from his 2016 SSIR article “ Using Data for Action and for Impact ,” Fruchterma...
May 15, 2017•41 min
Building successful networks isn’t just about pairing organizations with similar missions. It’s also about human relationships. In this talk from our 2016 Nonprofit Management Institute , conservationist Steve McCormick looks at several common barriers to developing strong relationships—and ways to overcome them. Steve McCormick is cofounder and CEO of The Earth Genome , a startup venture to create the first global, open-source information platform on ecosystem services and natural capital. He p...
May 01, 2017•50 min
In this podcast, Ernesto Sirolli, founder of the Sirolli Institute , considers how to decentralize, democratize, and empower local communities. Sirolli has been working in the field of local economic development since 1971 and has developed a philosophy and practice that allows communities to manage their own social and economic growth. Based on his experience, Sirolli argues that NGOs must incorporate local know-how and leadership into their operation, and that a key to successful development i...
Apr 18, 2017•49 min
In his talk from SSIR ‘s 2016 Nonprofit Management Institute , Derrick Braziel looks at how connecting people with the right resources and training, and building a culture of opportunity from within communities, can enable unlikely entrepreneurs, revitalize neighborhoods, and break the cycle of poverty. Urban communities across America are experiencing an unprecedented renaissance. But this boom threatens to displace long-time residents, who are typically lower income and people of color. Brazie...
Apr 10, 2017•43 min
In this podcast, Jane Wei-Skillern, an adjunct associate professor at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, identifies four counterintuitive principles that are essential to effective collaboration: Trust, not control Humility not brand Node, not hub Mission, not organization Based on 15 years of research on a range of successful networks, Wei-Skillern uses detailed case studies to illustrate these principles and offers insights for how nonprofit leaders can ensure t...
Mar 27, 2017•1 hr
Smita Vadakekalam of Heller Consulting and Sandy Reinardy of the University of Wisconsin Foundation discuss ways to avoid some all-too-common pitfalls of nonprofit technology. And Amy Sample Ward of the Nonprofit Technology Network suggests strategies to organize for success in a new political environment. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_successful_tech_projects_and_social_networ...
Mar 13, 2017•59 min
How can we reach people who don’t have home access to the internet? In this podcast, part of a partnership with Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio , three women who have each made digital inclusion a priority share their thoughts: Kami Griffiths of the Community Technology Network , Karen Lincoln of The Stride Center , and Alicia Orozco of the Chicana/Latina Foundation . Martignetti also talks with Diane Leonard, president and owner of DH Leonard Consulting , about creating an annual grants plan. ...
Mar 06, 2017•58 min
How do you know if your idea will work, without burning through all your time and money? To solve this problem, many nonprofits are turning to the “lean startup” approach, which emphasizes flexibility, pragmatism, and experimentation. The method, pioneered by entrepreneurs such as Steve Blank , allows organizations to learn as quickly as they can about what works, so that they can build and scale successful programs while avoiding huge up-front investments that might lead in the wrong direction....
Aug 22, 2016•55 min
In a time of profound and sustained disruption and volatility, organizations need greater agility, innovation, and creativity than ever before. In this talk from our 2015 Nonprofit Management Institute , Andrew Zolli provides a big-picture view of critical trends and forces of change that will shape the decade to come. He discusses the biases that limit our understanding and explores new ways that organizations can create more resilient organizational strategies and cultures. Zolli is the co-aut...
Aug 11, 2016•1 hr 14 min
How can the social sector develop to meet new and ongoing challenges in the 21st century? And how can individual social entrepreneurs and organizations find their place within this changing environment? In the concluding session of our Frontiers of Social Innovation forum, Zia Khan, vice president for initiatives and strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, discusses questions such as these with Johanna Mair, academic editor at SSIR and professor of management, strategy, and leadership at the Her...
Aug 02, 2016•38 min
Health is more than health care. It’s also a product of several social factors, including education, income, race or ethnicity, and neighborhood environment—which means that attaining health equity will require addressing many larger social and economic issues. How can we accomplish this goal? That’s the topic of this panel from our Frontiers of Social Innovation conference , featuring Faith Mitchell, president and CEO of Grantmakers In Health , Dr. Robert Ross, president and CEO of The Californ...
Jul 19, 2016•38 min
In this panel from our Frontiers of Social Innovation forum in May, Rob Reich, professor of political science at Stanford University and faculty co-director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, moderates a discussion about how foundations, which are arguably the product of marketplace excess, can nevertheless be a vehicle to remedy inequality and advance social justice. The first panelist is Darren Walker, who as president of the Ford Foundation has spearheaded the organizat...
Jul 05, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Organizations around the world spend billions of dollars each year trying to lift people out of poverty. Despite the best of intentions, many of these efforts fail, and many others achieve less than optimal results. But some organizations have successfully designed, funded, implemented, and scaled impressive anti-poverty interventions. In this panel, SSIR’s Eric Nee talks to leading experts from three. Asif Saleh, senior director of strategy, communications, and empowerment at BRAC , talks about...
Jun 20, 2016•1 hr 27 min
In this talk from our Frontiers of Social Innovation forum in May, Trabian Shorters offers perspective and perception tools that we all can use to update our narratives on race, communities, and America’s future. He demonstrates how far too often, we focus on negative statistics about groups such as Black men, rather than emphasizing their strengths, positive contributions, and future potential. And he shows how a technique called “asset-framing” can help us tell positive stories about people an...
Jun 06, 2016•50 min
In this recording from our recent Frontiers of Social Innovation conference, Angela Glover Blackwell talks about why, for United States to grow and prosper, policymakers must adopt new approaches to produce good jobs, ensure reinvestment in low-income communities, upgrade the education and skills of an increasingly diverse workforce, and create opportunities for everyone to apply their talents. She also shows how equity, inclusion, and fairness are no longer just moral issues but also economic i...
May 27, 2016•55 min
In the opening keynote at SSIR ‘s February 2016 Data on Purpose conference , Jake Porway shares best practices for data storytellers and shows why knowing what the data is or is not saying is critical to creating ethical and accurate visualizations. Among other things, he explains the pitfalls of pie charts, why you should be wary of word clouds, and why good data storytelling ultimately means good statistics. He also argues that the real power of data storytelling lies not just in reporting on ...
May 10, 2016•37 min
In the closing keynote of SSIR ‘s February 2016 Data on Purpose conference , which was themed around “Telling Great Stories With Data,” Andrew Means looks at the importance of using storytelling to raise funds and motivate teams—but also the risks of telling the wrong stories. He argues that in a world increasingly reliant on data, we need to be able to accurately quantify organizations’ impact, and be careful about when and how we turn to dramatic, unrepresentative stories. Andrew Means is the ...
Apr 28, 2016•36 min
