Stanford Social Innovation Review Podcast

“Crisis and Change: Conversations With Leaders” is produced in partnership by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Stanford Social Innovation Review. In this final episode of this special series, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, share how they're redefining the role of philanthropy in addressing public health crises and preparing for future pandemics.   A full transcript is available here.

“Crisis and Change: Conversations With Leaders” is produced in partnership by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Stanford Social Innovation Review. In this episode, Larry Kramer, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, discuss the origins of wealth inequality and its impact on American democracy. They also share how their institutions are creating new pathways for all communities to access secure and vibrant futures. A full transcript is available here.

“Crisis and Change: Conversations With Leaders” is produced in partnership by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Stanford Social Innovation Review. In this episode, Tonya Allen, president of the McKnight Foundation, and John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, address the growing threat of a changing climate. They discuss how they're answering the global call for solutions that promote equity and protect vulnerable communities and encourage others in the philanthropic sector to act at this critical time. A full transcript is available here.

Powering Needs, Empowering Lives from Uncharted Ground, a podcast series produced by SSIR and Jonathan Levine. Each episode of Uncharted Ground tells a documentary-style story about one nonprofit or social entrepreneur's journey to solve a daunting global problem. This episode travels to India where a social enterprise called SELCO has been transforming the lives of the rural poor with affordable solar power for 25 years. Now, SELCO is expanding its impact by helping other entrepreneurs replicate its model around the world. It's a story full of lessons about how to design products and services that dramatically improve lives and build sustainable businesses at the same time. Listen and subscribe to Uncharted Ground here, and leave us a review or a comment letting us know what you think. For show notes and a full transcript of this episode go to ssir.org/podcasts.

“Crisis and Change: Conversations With Leaders” is produced in partnership by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Stanford Social Innovation Review. In the series, leaders from across the social sector share insights about how they are innovating during challenging times and societal division. In this episode, Crystal Hayling, executive director of The Libra Foundation, and Sonal Shah, founding president of The Asian American Foundation, discuss how their organizations are transforming the way race is discussed in America and how to improve understanding about racial concerns that will lead to a more inclusive society.

“Crisis and Change: Conversations With Leaders” is produced in partnership by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Stanford Social Innovation Review. In the series, leaders from across the social sector share insights about how they contend with challenging times and societal division. In this episode, Susan Urahn, Pew's president and CEO, and Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, discuss the deepening political polarization, increasing misinformation, and growing mistrust that has affected public debate—and how they find common ground to forge meaningful change for the good.

Political polarization. Climate change. Racial reckoning. Income inequality. A global pandemic. Since 2020, all five of these immense challenges have emerged or deepened, commanding our attention and prompting major societal and cultural shifts. In this special series produced in partnership by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Stanford Social Innovation Review, we talk with leaders from across the social sector. They take us behind the scenes, sharing approaches and case studies of innovation and resilience during these unprecedented times. 

The entertainment industry has become an important partner to the nonprofit sector, inspiring people to become active around social issues such as climate, poverty, and human rights. What can campaigns for change learn from narrative storytelling experts? How can nonprofit leaders successfully partner with entertainment companies? In this recording from SSIR’s 2019 NMI conference, the writer, director, and actor Jessica Blank moderates a discussion with Nicole Starr, vice president for social impact at Participant Media; Marya Bangee, executive director of Harness; and Courtney Cogburn, associate professor at Columbia University School of Social Work. “It's about how you create an ecosystem that can allow for authentic stories to be told,” says Marya Bangee. “Culture change precedes policy change."

Even as nonprofits are put on the defensive by political polarization, inequality, climate change, and other threats, many of them still seek out opportunities to expand their impact. For those dissatisfied with small steps forward, mergers present the chance to leap ahead. But it won't be easy.   "It takes a lot of time," says David La Piana, managing partner of La Piana Consulting. "There are opportunity costs, things you could be doing but you won't because you're dedicating energy to the merger. And it is risky." In this recording from SSIR's 2019 NMI conference, La Piana discusses common roadblocks to successful mergers and strategies for surmounting them.

Scholars have noted that most new ideas are poor ones that won’t be adopted. So how can organizations integrate innovation productively and prevent it from having unintended consequences?  In this recording from SSIR’s 2019 NMI conference, Christian Seelos, coauthor of the best-selling book Innovation and Scaling for Impact and co-director of the Global Innovation for Impact Lab at Stanford PACS, explores the “innovation pathologies” that can derail the best intentions. He also discusses the ways organizations such as Aravind and BRAC have sidestepped these threats by blending innovation with scaling. Seelos argues that process is what's important: "If you operate innovation from an attitude of learning ...  you cannot be frustrated and you will never fail. Innovation is just replacing uncertainty with knowledge.”

What do mayors look for and ask from nonprofit managers? What do they wish leaders in the sector would ask of them, and how can public servants and nonprofit leaders learn to better communicate and collaborate? In this recording from SSIR’s 2019 NMI conference, Mayors Libby Schaaf of Oakland and Michael Tubbs of Stockton spoke with Autumn McDonald, director of New America CA, about the best ways to build mutually beneficial partnerships between local government and nonprofits. "I've seen fear around collaboration—how is this going to take something away from me?” Mayor Schaaf says. “We have got to think big. We have got to be less afraid."

Predictive analytics can help organizations iterate rapidly, become more transparent and precise, and pinpoint opportunities to address inequities in their work. In this recording from our 2019 Data on Purpose conference, Parag Gupta, vice president of the Stupski Foundation, and Jeff Gold, assistant vice chancellor at California State University, share a case study of how public higher education institutions are successfully using predictive tools to increase graduation rates and close the achievement and opportunity gaps between low-income and underrepresented minority students and their peers. In 2018, after using these tools, Cal State graduation rates were the highest they’ve ever been while equity gaps also narrowed. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/transforming_programs_through_predictive_analytics

Blockchain can help with a variety of social and economic challenges—from securing identity for refugee or homeless populations to minimizing the presence of conflict diamonds in the industry’s supply chain. But at the end of the day, technology is just a tool serving an end, and one that must be handled carefully to manage the values embedded within it. In this recording from our 2019 Data on Purpose conference, Cara LaPointe, senior fellow at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University, shares questions and concepts from her Blockchain Ethical Design Framework to help practitioners interrogate whether a technology is created with ethics in mind. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/building_a_more_ethical_blockchain

What can help the social sector go big on data in the right ways? For one, organizations should stop underestimating their capabilities. And for another, they should build their data strategy around deeper strategic goals as opposed to funding opportunities. In this recording from our 2019 Data on Purpose conference, Kevin Miller, civic technology manager from the Microsoft Cities Team, Aman Ahuja, a data consultant, Kathryn Pettit, principal research associate at The Urban Institute, and Kauser Razvi, principal of Strategic Urban Solution, share their advice and concerns, emphasizing the importance of building a data culture over technical expertise. Scaling up the social sector's data capacity requires champions at every level, be that a school district, state government, or national network, Razvi says. “That person doesn’t have to be a technologist” but they need to understand how data can help solve social problems. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/strengthening_data_capacity_in_the_social_sector

What responsibilities do we have as individuals, organizations, and a society for how we conduct ourselves online? In this recording from our 2019 Data on Purpose conference, Henry Timms, president and CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and former president of 92Y, offers a pledge—a Hippocratic Oath of sorts—to help social sector leaders create digital communities that give people a meaningful role in our society. “We need to move past the 'move fast and break things' philosophy and shift to 'move thoughtfully and improve things,'” Timms says. “People want to be part of a larger mission and larger idea.” https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/a_hippocratic_oath_for_our_digital_lives

In a world where the pace of organizational learning is often slower than the pace of technological change, activists and nonprofit leaders must develop their “technical intuition.” Not everyone needs to become a tech expert, explains Alix Dunn, of the consulting firm Computer Says Maybe, but this ongoing process of imagining, inquiring about, deciding on, and demanding technological change is critical. In this recording from our 2019 Data on Purpose conference, Dunn walks through her guidelines to help anyone to develop these skills. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/critical_skill_for_nonprofits_in_the_digital_age_technical_intuition

In 2016, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, launched 100&Change—a new grant competition, that would award $100 million to an organization with the best proposal to help solve a critical social problem. The foundation awarded the grant to Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street and other children’s educational programs, in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. The grant supports programming to educate young children displaced by conflict and persecution in the Middle East. MacArthur is now accepting applications for a second $100 million grant. In this episode, Priss Benbow, a fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute speaks with Cecilia Conrad, managing director at the MacArthur Foundation, who leads 100&Change. They cover the ins and outs of running a big bet competition, addressing the lack of diversity in philanthropic big bets, and a new spinoff organization working to match donors with promising proposals for social change. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/macarthur_foundation_program_leader_reflects_on_lessons_from_100change_grant_competition

In 2016, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, launched 100&Change—a new grant competition, to award $100 million to an organization with the best proposal to help solve a critical social problem. In 2018, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street and other children’s educational programs, was named the winner in partnership with the International Rescue Committee. The grant supports programming to educate young children displaced by conflict and persecution in the Middle East. In this episode, Priss Benbow, a fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute, speaks with Sherrie Westin, president of Global Impact and Philanthropy at Sesame Workshop, about the process of applying to a “big bet” grant competition, developing new culturally appropriate Sesame Street characters, and how the two partner organizations will measure program impact. On our next episode, you’ll hear from Cecilia Conrad, who leads 100&Change, to get the grantmaker’s perspective. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/sesame_workshop_winner_of_100change_grant_competition_discusses_whats_next

Communication strategy can’t be an afterthought for organizations that want to fully embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. It requires a careful examination of words, images, ideas, and narrative framing. Where should you start? Using insight from systems thinking and social, behavioral, and cognitive science, Ann Christiano and Annie Neimand describe how to craft stories and multimedia experiences that disrupt bias and drive social change. They present four questions to help develop an effective communication strategy—a “back-of-the-envelope” framework they also outlined in an article for SSIR. Christiano holds the Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications at University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications and is director of the school's Center for Public Interest Communication, where Neimand is research director. They offer tips such as trying to connect a nonprofit’s messaging to conversations that are already happening in the broader culture and finding respectful ways to tap into the stories of those your organizations seeks to help. “The most affected are the most effective,” Christiano says. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/building_a_communication_strategy_for_diversity_and_inclusion

“Community-centered” approaches to social change are nothing new. But the term has become a buzzword in the professionalized social impact world, and strategies intended to elevate the needs of grassroots movements often miss the mark. How can nonprofits do better at treating the people they’re trying to support as partners instead of patients? How can organizations shift their approaches from advocating for a population to advocating with them? Darnell Moore, head of strategy and programs for the US office of the human rights organization Breakthrough discusses these issues with: Coya White Hat-Artichoker, founder of the First Nations Two Spirits Collective and the community health and health equity program manager at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota; Mauricio Lim Miller, founder of Family Independence Initiative; and Fresco Steez, the minister of training and culture at Black Youth Project 100. “We have to be thinking about ways that our work moves us from the very cozy spaces that we tend to exist in, and out into the communities, into the streets, into the places with the people that we serve,” says Moore. “That hasn’t been the case for a lot of us, often because it’s sort of not made a priority.” https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/getting_local_collaborating_with_communities_of_color

Research shows that when talented social innovators lack “invisible capital”—the so-called right pedigree, right passport, right skin color, right gender—they may fail to get the attention and investment they need to succeed. How can leaders in philanthropy improve access to capital? What tools can help nonprofit leaders overcome these barriers and get the support they need? Social entrepreneur, author, and Stanford University lecturer Kathleen Kelly Janus leads a discussion about these questions with Echoing Green President Cheryl Dorsey, Whitman Institute Co-executive Director Pia Infante, and California Endowment CEO Robert Ross. “Philanthropy is reinforcing many of the very forms of inequality that we are all working so hard to solve,” Janus says. Dorsey identifies three main systemic barriers—a lack of access to capital and opportunities, psychological stress from social exclusion, and the unequal control of resources and political power in society—as some of the challenges to achieving more equitable investment. Funders have to take a structural response to addressing these barriers, says Ross. Solutions might include changing the makeup of board rooms, staffs, and leadership teams. Or it might mean looking out for emerging leaders who haven’t already received major investment, and supporting them or having funders participate in implicit bias training. “You can’t see what you can’t see,” Infante says. “It’s important who’s in those choosing seats.” https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/dismantling_invisible_barriers_to_capital

Black women face racial and gender stereotypes and biases that often keep success in the hands of the few—and their experiences working in the social sector are no exception. To understand the unique set of racial and gender barriers—coined “double jeopardy”— that stymie black women, listen to this discussion from Makiyah Moody, senior consultant at La Piana Consulting; Tyra Mariani, executive vice president of New America; Crystal German, principal of Prosperity Labs; and Ify Walker, founder and CEO of Offor. They provide insight into everything from survival strategies to creating more inclusive work environments. “In my daily life, being black and being female comes into play on a constant basis, and that takes a toll,” German says. “It gives me a different level of appreciation. It gives me a different level of empathy.” The conversation was based on Moody’s interview series, “Black & Bold: Perspectives on Leadership,” which she expanded upon in her 2018 SSIR piece about black women’s use of kinship to overcome career barriers in the social sector. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/navigating_double_jeopardy_in_the_social_sector

Due to her father’s work as an engineer, Paula John moved around a lot in her youth. She often felt seen but not heard in the relationship with her dad. With her own family, she tried hard to listen, and she expected the same consideration from her local Houston health agency, she told former NPR host Bill Littlefield. When she reached out to the agency for help with an illness, and it sent her home empty-handed after a four-hour wait, she gave it harsh feedback. “She was right,” said Cathy Moore, executive director of Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services (ECHOS). “Some of the things she said were some of the things we focused on most.” Through a Listen for Good grant, ECHOS began regularly surveying clients like John and responding to their feedback to transform the way ECHOS works. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/how_client_feedback_helped_transform_a_houston_health_agency

What practices make the arts more or less inclusive? At Stanford Social Innovation Review’s 2018 Nonprofit Management Institute conference, leaders from three San Francisco Bay Area arts organizations discuss how they are shaping both their organizations and their performances to make them more diverse and welcoming to all. “That's the next big shift if we are to survive—to go into the community, knock down those norms, and be something that is accessible,” said panelist Tim Seelig, artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. Nayantara Sen, manager of cultural strategies with Race Forward moderates the conversation with Seelig, Judith Smith, founder and director of AXIS Dance Company, and Sherri Young, executive director and founder of the African-American Shakespeare Company. They discuss the meaning of equity within their respective communities, learning from failures, and building sustainable partnerships. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/increasing_equity_and_inclusion_in_the_arts

When Shannon Revels came home to Oakland after nearly 15 years in prison, he found his criminal record made it difficult to get a job. But through the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), he found a role first as a janitor then resident services counselor in transitional housing for the formerly homeless. In this interview with former NPR host Bill Littlefield, Revels discusses the importance of his being heard by a teacher he met in prison, giving feedback to CEO and seeing it acted upon, and how he created ways to listen to his residents and dignify their suggestions with action. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/former_prisoner_pays_forward_the_gift_of_being_heard

The nonprofit Color of Change was formed after Hurricane Katrina to use online resources in the fight for the rights of Black communities in America. Since then, Color of Change has grown into the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, with more than 1.4 million members. Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, spoke at our 2018 Nonprofit Management Institute conference about the nature of political and cultural power and the importance of continually assessing the nonprofit sector's efforts to bring about change. Robinson says, “We have to continue to challenge and ask ourselves, ‘What are we winning?’” Additional Resources View a PDF of Robinson's Nonprofit Management Institute presentation. @rashadrobinson on Twitter @colorofchange on Twitter https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/rewriting_our_cultural_narrative_for_a_more_just_society

Technology can magnify the power of grassroots organizing and social innovation, but it can sometimes bring about societal harm, whether intentionally or not. At SSIR’s 2018 Frontiers of Social Innovation conference, Rob Reich, a Marc and Laura Andreessen faculty co-director of Stanford PACS, explores the implications for the social sector and free speech in conversation with Kelly Born, a program manager at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Madison Initiative, and Arisha Hatch, a managing director of campaigns at Color of Change, the largest online racial justice organization in the United States. They touch on topics including election integrity in the United States, online organizing around discriminatory policing, and the spread of hate speech and false information on social media platforms. “Our democracy, our informational ecosystem, has been outsourced to a very few, very powerful platforms,” says Reich. “We don’t really know how the algorithms that power them are working to facilitate the very communication that we all depend upon.” https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/tenuous_relationship_between_tech_and_social_innovation

Artificial intelligence (AI), once a niche discipline within computer science, has blossomed over the past decade—including in the social sector. In this recording from our 2018 Frontiers of Social Innovation conference, Johanna Mair, academic editor at SSIR and a professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, speaks with AI expert Lab Fei-Fei Li about the growing importance of AI to the social sector and the imperative to improve representation within the community of AI technologists. Li is an advocate of “human-centered AI”—an approach emphasizing human psychology, augmentation rather than replacement, and social and human impact—and in 2017, she co-founded AI4ALL, a nonprofit organization working to increase diversity and inclusion in AI. Li argues that including people of diverse backgrounds is important to putting fears about the technology at bay. “We know AI will change the world,” Li says. “The real question is who is going to change AI?” https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/fostering_a_human_centered_approach_to_artificial_intelligence

Emerging technologies like biotech and artificial intelligence have the potential to transform so many of the systems that make up the world around us.           At our 2018 Frontiers of Social Innovation conference, Katherine Milligan, who directs the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship spoke with a few savvy social entrepreneurs who are harnessing these tools for social impact right now. Milligan speaks with Keller Rinaudo, CEO and cofounder of Zipline, which is using drones to deliver blood and medicines to remote parts of the world; Kristin Richmond of Revolution Foods, which is using data and technology to increase access to fresh, healthy food to underserved communities and schools; and David Risher, CEO and co-founder of Worldreader, a global nonprofit that provides people in the developing world with free access to culturally relevant, digital books via e-readers and mobile phones.   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/embracing_emerging_technology_for_social_change

In the mid-1990s, NGO activists began shining a spotlight on the concentrated use of slave child labor in Pakistan to produce soccer balls for the global market. The attention prompted the industry to make deep changes in its supply chain to eliminate the problem. Today, the campaign is viewed as a model for improving labor standards, with the gains a result of government, NGO, and donor involvement.                         And yet human trafficking, modern slavery, and child labor remain pressing concerns in many industries’ global supply chains. At SSIR’s recent Frontiers of Social Innovation conference, Siddharth Kara, who directs the program on human trafficking and modern slavery at the Harvard Kennedy School, spoke with Nina Smith of Goodweave International, Leslie Johnston of C&A Foundation, which works to transform the fashion industry, and Bama Athreya of USAID, about how their organizations and sectors are addressing these issues.   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/ending_slavery_and_child_labor_in_global_supply_chains

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 their own lives and contribute to host economies. Priss Benbow, a fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute, interviews Arnold-Fernandez about what enabling environments look like in practice and how nonprofits and other social sector players can help create them. Additional resources:@EDAsylumAccess   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/creating_enabling_environments_for_refugees

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 Data on Purpose conference, Kim Meredith, executive director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, spoke with Heller about the ADL’s data-driven tactics as well as Heller’s background in international criminal and human rights law, and her role in one of the first high-profile, cyber-harassment cases in the United States. Additional resources:@brittanheller Leading Through Turbulent Times   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/tackling_cyber-hate_in_silicon_valley

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, discusses what he sees as the coming age of “big indicators.” Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, computer vision, crowdsourcing, and other related analytical approaches are converging, allowing us to detect patterns in data that would elude even the most sophisticated human analysis—collectively, these tools are known as big indicators. We have the tools to help us monitor the health of our planet instantaneously, and we are on the cutting edge of being able to predict crises like flood or famine thanks to big indicators, Zolli says. He argues that the next step is to restructure data-collection funding to create instruments that will allow us to intervene in extremely precise ways. Additional Resources:After Big Data: The Coming Age of “Big Indicators” Andrew Zolli - Globeshakers with Tim Zak The Mismeasure of Impact @Andrew_zolli   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/how_big_indicators_can_help_solve_global_problems

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 lecturer, and author of Social Startup Success: How the Best Nonprofits Launch, Scale Up, and Make a Difference, shares insights on the strategies organizations need to succeed. As Janus writes, 75 percent of organizations report that they collect data, yet only 6 percent feel they use it effectively. Data is only as good as an organization’s ability to use it. Janus argues that the nonprofit sector as a whole has a responsibility to help organizations improve in this regard. To do this, funders must end the “nonprofit starvation cycle” by supporting data collection. And nonprofits must focus their data collection on long-term outcomes and instill the importance of data collection within their staff and organizational culture. Not every outcome can be measured, but every nonprofit can find metrics that fit its services and goals. Additional resources: Creating a Data Culture Social Startup Success: How the Best Nonprofits Launch, Scale Up and Make a Difference Three Things Every Growing Nonprofit Needs to Scale @kkellyjanus https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/how_nonprofits_can_find_data_driven_success

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 co-founder of the Engine Room, a nonprofit that helps activists and other organizations make the most of data and technology to increase their impact, and Amy O’Donnell, the information communications technology program lead at Oxfam.             The speakers argue that civil society organizations have an opportunity to positively model responsible data use and offer some tips for getting started. For most nonprofits, a rights-based approach to data governance requires a culture shift and involving staff from all parts of an organization, Dunn and O’Donnell explain. In this podcast you’ll also hear from conference participants who help underline the knotty ethical considerations responsible data governance often involves. Additional resources: Corporate Social Responsibility for a Data Age Using Data for Action and for Impact @p2173 @alixtrot @engnroom @amy_odonnell https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/data_privacy_and_security_from_mandate_to_mission

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 approaches to charitable giving and grantmaking and how in their own ways they aim to inspire public confidence that they are learning from mistakes and improving their effectiveness.      Says Walker, “I’m less obsessed with ‘Are we holding these rich people accountable?’ than I am in saying, ‘Are we helping philanthropists have the right approach to their philanthropy,’ and ‘Are we pushing back?’ because there is a lot of arrogance.” Additional resources: Does Philanthropy Threaten Democracy? Democracy and Philanthropy @darrenwalker @reedhastings @robreich https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/debating_the_role_of_philanthropy_in_democracy

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 racial- and economic-justice research organization’s Promise Neighborhoods Institute. Before that, he was a senior community planning and development representative with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Here he offers advice on thinking big and having the courage to lead and advance systemic change. Additional resources: Bringing Soul to the Work of Collective Impact The Curb-Cut Effect The Role of Public Policy in Alleviating Poverty @mikemcafee06   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/reigniting_leaders_passion_to_advance_equity

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 leading the organization through turbulent times and fostering a culture of innovation within an established organization. During the conversation, Greenblatt draws from his background in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. During the Obama administration, he served as special assistant to the President and head of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation at the White House. He previously cofounded Ethos Water, a bottled water company that donates a portion of its profits to help clean water initiatives around the world, and ran the media company GOOD. Additional resources: Speaking Out When Our Values Are in Play The Lean Startup Goes to Washington @JGreenblattADL   https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/leading_through_turbulent_times

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 Brian Barnes (@BCBBarnes), a speaker on the topic of responsiveness to education and health in communities.       Barnes and Burton argue for the importance of shifting the philanthropic sector’s framework from one grounded in traditional notions of charity to one centered on justice and addressing economic, social, and political inequalities holistically, an idea they outlined in their SSIR article, “Shifting Philanthropy From Charity to Justice.” They are co-founders of TandemEd, which aims to put this justice-minded agenda into practice, supporting youth and communities to reclaim leadership of strategies and actions for communal progress. “It’s extremely important that communities are their own heroes of their own stories,” Burton says to foundation leaders. “We are not the saviors of communities.” Additional resources: “Paying in Full” “Shifting Philanthropy From Charity to Justice” @Dorian_Burton @BCBBarnes https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/shifting_philanthropy_to_a_justice_minded_approach

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 Review, interviews Sarah Kearney (@swoodkearney) and Scott Burger (@burgersb), who co-authored the article along with Fiona Murray and Liqian Ma. Kearney is the founder and executive director of PRIME Coalition, a public charity that empowers philanthropists to inject charitable capital into market-based solutions to climate change. Burger is a doctoral candidate in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT and the technology investment advisor to the PRIME Coalition.                   They discuss why we need to continue developing new solutions to climate change in addition to harnessing existing solutions, why agriculture—one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions—gets so little investment compared to other sectors, and why the venture capital industry in the United States is not in the business of solving social problems. “Most [venture capital] funds are in a race to go first for the next Instagram,” Kearney says, “but no one wants to go first for the grid capacity energy storage company or industrial waste heat-to-electricity conversion company that might take longer and cost more and have uncertain exit options than the 10-year venture fund structure can afford.” Additional resources: The Investment Gap that Threatens the Planet A New Vision for Funding Science 10 SSIR Articles on Climate Change Solutions @swoodkearney @burgersb https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/bridging_the_climate_change_investment_gap

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_listen_to_beneficiaries

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 for America talk about how to develop not only the right tools, but also the right relationships to make data collaboration happen. Jake Porway of DataKind then leads a discussion on how we can collectively harness data for the greater good. View the slides from this session here. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/unlocking_data_and_unleashing_its_potential

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/podcasts/entry/prediction_vs._bias_in_data_a_debate

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,” Fruchterman leads a discussion about how nonprofits can embrace the “Software for Good” movement characterized by data-driven decisions to better serve communities. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/software_for_good_empowering_the_social_sector_data_revolution

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 previously served as president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/get_out_of_your_own_way_challenging_your_mindsets_and_behaviors

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 is listening to local communities. Download the slide presentation that accompanied Sirolli’s talk here. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/there_is_no_geography_to_intelligence_and_passion

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. Braziel talks about how his organization, MORTAR, uses entrepreneurship to encourage redevelopment without displacement, providing the opportunity for long-time residents to grow with their swiftly changing communities. The organization offers business courses designed for under-served people who are low-income, unemployed, high­ school drop­outs, felons, homeless, or former gang leaders. The aim of this training is to support a new kind of entrepreneur—one focused on collaboration, connecting with people from different backgrounds, and maintaining a sense of community. Download the slides that accompanied Braziel’s talk here. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/building_a_culture_of_opportunity_within_disadvantaged_communities

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 their collaborations can have an impact that is dramatically greater than the sum of the individual parts. You can view the slides that accompanied the presentation here. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/cultivating_a_network_leader_mindset

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

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. They start with the basics, then move into goals and metrics, and end with colleague engagement. https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_digital_inclusion_grants

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. In this podcast, Blank and fellow author-entrepreneur Giff Constable lead a discussion of the lean process at our 2015 Nonprofit Management Institute. Chase Adam, founder of global healthcare crowdfunding platform Watsi, and Alethea Hannemann, who formerly served as vice president of product and national programs at the Taproot Foundation, share their personal experiences with the methodology.       https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/lean_experimentation_for_the_social_sector_build_smart_to_learn_fast