Brian Walsh

“I believe that more informed decision making—with easy access to the right information at the right time—will help all those in the social sector generate more impact.”

“Ultimately, engaging in great giving requires thoughtful reflection. To be a great giver means giving with intention, giving with information, and giving with others.”

“Shared Insight will fund 14 one- to three-year grants designed to encourage and incorporate feedback from the people the social sector seeks to help; understand the connection between feedback and better results; foster more openness between and among foundations and grantees; and share lessons learned.”

“We call this effort ‘Markets For Good’ but let’s face it: markets are not perfect. ‘Market failures’ are part of the reason why the important work of the people and organizations in the social sector is so critical to a thriving society. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t market dynamics at work in the social sector.”

“Efforts to unlock and open ‘big data’ are great and sorely needed in the social sector, but if we can’t make sense of that data—if we can’t connect it with other data and turn it into useful information that is presented to the right people at the right time to help them make better decisions—then it’s all for naught.”

“Markets For Good aims to foster a robust conversation about how people in the social sector can better generate, share, and use information to make better decisions and improve lives.”

Brian Walsh of Liquidnet writes, “We hope that this site will serve as the ‘virtual water cooler’ for a sustained, thoughtful conversation about what is needed to improve the social sector’s ability to generate, share, and use information.”