Posts filed under ‘Article’
Bridgespan – Designing Effective Organizations
Framework for effective organization that includes 1) Leadership, 2) Decision Making Structure, 3) People, 4) Work Process and Systems, and 5) Culture. Five models are presented and compared: 1) Functional, 2) Geographic, 3) Program / Product, 4) Customer / Market, and 5) Matrix
SII in the News
Thanks to Andy Cutler and Company for the amazing showcase of innovation and entrepreneurship happening in Providence – and for including the Social Innovation Initiative among this amazing list of change leaders!
The charismatic entrepreneur – Rod Schwartz, Social Edge
Check out this Rod’s entry on Social Edge – it hits home many of the questions around the role and personality of an entrepreneur in a venture – and raises the question about the qualities that help build and sustain a high-performing organization.
http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/social-entrepreneurship/the-charismatic-entrepreneur
Please comment!
Why Overhead Isn’t Evil in the Non-Profit World – by Nancy Lublin
Fast Company article by Brown alum Nancy Lublin challenges the conventional wisdom that not for profit spending on overhead is bad…
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/137/do-something-good-vs-evil.html?1246458194
Newsweek Blog – “Microfinance: The Next Bubble?”
Interesting questions about the impact of Microfinance… does anyone know of any data / studies about long term impact to support Yunus claims that 5% of Grameen borrowers emerge from poverty every year?
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/wealthofnations/archive/2009/06/29/microfinance-the-next-bubble.aspx
History of Microfinance
Great article from Global Envision about the history of microfinance and recent innovations in the field
Serve America Act – Huffington Post
Alan Khazei, Founder of BeTheChange.org writes on the Huffington Post about the Kennedy Serve America Act that will:
- Increase the number of Americorps volunteers from 75,000 to 250,000
- Establishes a new “Social Innovation Fund” to take promising innovative organizations to scale.
- Provides “Fellowships” to seed new generations of social entrepreneurs, who will invent the next Habitat for Humanity, Harlem Children’s Zone, Share Our Strength, Teach For America or Youthbuild.
President Obama will soon sign this historic bill and usher in a new era in Social Innovation!
Foundation Center – Guide to Fiscal Sponsorship
Since most foundation funding is awarded to nonprofits rather than to individuals, affiliating yourself with an organization or obtaining a fiscal sponsor can increase your likelihood of receiving funding. Most such affiliations with fiscal sponsors are rather formal, based on a written contract that spells out who will do what, and some sponsors will extract a fee for this service. This guide is a detailed look at the affiliation possibilities for individual grantseekers.
Study Shows First-Time Online Donors Often Do Not Return
New York Times (3/18/09) – By Stephanie Strom
People who go online to donate to charity for the first time often do not return to the Internet to make later gifts, according to a new study examining the experience of 24 nonprofit groups.
