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Digital Impact was created by the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford PACS and was managed until 2024. It is no longer being updated.

MFG Archive

ROI: Making Better Decisions

“With millions of Petabytes of structured and unstructured data being created each year, the volume will only continue to grow exponentially”, begins Daniel Newman in a recent Forbes article. This “leaves us as business leaders and consumers to figure out what potential lies herein.” Whatever that potential may be, he compares it to the emergence […]

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The Role of Data

Last week I published The Death of Program Evaluation, highlighting my firm belief that evaluation as it is today needs to change and evolve. Program evaluation is often not forward looking, over-focused on statistical proof, and actually undermines program improvement. The post sparked a debate across twitter, the website, and the Markets for Good community […]

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The Assist Goes To Big Data

Following on from our last post about data at the World Cup, which looked at Nike’s New Data Driven Football Jersey, we thought we would examine the role of data in performance management. In Information Week, Rob Kasabian reminds us that “it’s easy to overlook the fact that every kick, pass, steal, and goal is just one […]

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The Death Of Evaluation

Is program evaluation dying? This question has been swirling around my head the last few months. I don’t mean to imply that programs should stop evaluating their outcomes. I just find that the current framework of traditional, social science driven program evaluation is frankly not embracing the possibilities of today’s world. Put simply, program evaluation […]

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Nike’s New Data Driven Football Jersey

International football is a multi-billion dollar industry that produces a tournament watched by an estimated 2.2 billion people, with 750 million tuning in for the World Cup Final 4 years ago in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is no surprise that the team here at Markets For Good is gripped with football fever. This led us […]

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Are We There Yet?

Over the course of the last decade the case has been made repeatedly for placing impact centre stage in the decisions we make as investors, funders, responsible businesses, social mission organisations, as well as individual citizens. Let’s be clear, this vision championed by Markets for Good is truly an audacious one; challenging many existing interests […]

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Healthcare As Harbinger

Healthcare in America is a mess in many respects. The unsustainable rise in costs. The substandard care for so many Americans. The continuing “Animal House” food fight over Obamacare. But one of the very best places to look for insights on how to nurture a data-informed performance culture is, you guessed it, healthcare. Health is […]

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‘Geek Squad’ Coders

“If the geeks are to inherit the Earth, it’s positive that many are turning their coding skills to humanitarian ends – from voter e-registration to disaster management apps”. This article, featured in the Guardian Sustainable Business, provides a wonderful insight into the power of coding. Oliver Balch, the article’s author, introduces us to a brand new […]

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Design A Better Dashboard

Following on from last week’s introductory post, Beth Kanter continues her column, focused on the cultural change, capacity building, and practical tips and skills for using data for learning for nonprofits.   How Human-Centered Design Methods Can Help You Design A Better Dashboard Take a look at any nonprofit dashboard and the most effective ones […]

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#MFGLive – Seattle 2014

Last week we officially kicked off the next phase of Markets For Good. Not only did we launch our brand new website – you can read all about the website’s new features here – but our founding partners at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Liquidnet hosted #MFGLive in Seattle, Washington; the largest gathering […]

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