From Stanford Social Innovation Review: A recent study uncovers what drives successful mergers and suggests that more nonprofits should consider mergers as a useful tool to increase impact. In 2013, United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), a $9 million nonprofit, joined with Seguin Services, a $27 million operation, creating UCP Seguin Chicago. Looking back, it’s clear that […]
Social Enterprise
Solving the World’s Biggest Problems: Better Philanthropy Through Systems Change
From Stanford Social Innovation Review: It’s one of the perennial questions facing the nonprofit world: Why, despite the sector’s collective resources and best efforts, do so many social problems remain so persistent? This stubborn gap between intentions and outcomes is drawing increased attention from across the philanthropic community. Many within the sector are coming to […]
Capital, Equity, and Looking at Nonprofits as Enterprises
From Non Profit Quarterly: This article comes from the summer 2013 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly, “New Gatekeepers of Philanthropy.” It was first published online on August 16, 2013. The F. B. Heron Foundation is an investor—a capital investor—in enterprises where we see opportunity for mutually productive social and financial gain. As is the case […]
How Charity: Water Uses Data To Connect Donors And The People They’re Helping
From Fast Company Most philanthropic galas are designed to celebrate the year’s accomplishments and generate a new round of donations. But for Charity: Water’s annual Charity: Ball last December, CEO Scott Harrison had something unique planned. “There is a big binary risk,” he said as he watched attendees who had paid $2,500 per ticket stream […]
From Peter Drucker’s Musings Came The Makings Of Modern Management
From Investors.com: Peter Drucker had an erratic early career that appeared to make him an unlikely candidate to be the most influential management thinker of the 20th century. Apprenticing as a clerk in the late 1920s, and by his account “learning absolutely nothing,” he became a financial journalist who forecast the continued health of Wall […]
How Impact Investing Can Reach the Mainstream
From McKinsey & Company: Clear measurement standards, high-grade operations, specialized products, and more training for entrepreneurs can make impact investing a more influential practice. Click here for full article
Small Business Today, Social Enterprise Tomorrow
From Stanford Social Innovation Review: Much has been written about mergers and acquisitions within the nonprofit and charitable sectors. Many have explored these mergers’ pros and cons, and there are toolkits to guide leaders who are considering whether to merge their organization with another nonprofit. However, with few exceptions, much less has been written about […]
8 VCs Explain How (And Why) They Assess Founders’ Emotional IQ (Fast Company)
These are five key questions investors ask to determine whether they’re being pitched by emotionally intelligent founders. Eight VCs Explain How (And Why) They Assess Founders’ Emotional Intelligence
Resources for Inner-City CEOs
ICIC’s CEO Series is a free, interactive webinar with senior executives who share their unique expertise. Focusing on different topics, from pricing to marketing to financing options, these discussions will help your company succeed in today’s urban marketplace. Click to learn more: Resources for Inner City CEOs
Atlas Network: Doing Development Differently
Today’s top-down, economic development aid model is unavoidably flawed. The nature of economic development requires idiosyncratic solutions that can’t be successfully designed or administered by outsiders. Instead, locally grown solutions aimed at transforming the institutional environment in favor of market growth, primarily through securing economic rights for the poor, represent the best chance for accelerating […]