September 4, 2013
Conversations on nonprofit information usually branch out quickly to talk on impact. But what about process? Performance measurement along the route? Less common is the talk of what the steps are that lead up to impact on a real-time and day-to-day basis. Not paying attention to daily practice in this respect is to build a […]
September 3, 2013
A guiding ethic at Markets For Good is to keep even the most theoretical discussions aimed at what we can actually do as we offer a wide-ranging set of voices in open discussion. Today’s post, by Sally Bagwell of NPC, travels that space in microcosm on the subject of donors, segmentation, and moving from proof […]
August 28, 2013
Nadira Hira is a journalist and author who has written for Fortune, Essence, and Smithsonian, among other publications. She is known as the go-to source for the doings of “Generation Y,” also known as “millennials.” Her forthcoming book is entitled Misled: How a Generation of Leaders Lost the Faith (And Just What You’ll Need to […]
August 27, 2013
WorldofMoney.org is recognized as one of “top social good organizations in America,” and they take financial education seriously. Nice, but not uniquely interesting until you get a closer look at how they do it, with a model that hinges on measurable accountability from all constituents: youth, parents, partners. With respect to nonprofit decision-making, our theme […]
August 22, 2013
“Stop. Check capacity.” How can we talk about decision-making without a serious look at the quality of inputs, in this case, the capacity of the organization itself? Just a quick note here to highlight one example of work to move us forward in that respect in the social sector. [image: ejh] Full text below from: […]
August 21, 2013
Say the words “exciting” and “insurance.” I think that’s the third time in history they have appeared in the same sentence. Our loss. Investors don’t want to lose money and, thus, take a full enterprise view in due diligence, enabling informed decision-making not just at the point of investment but also in the management going […]
4 Big Things You Need To Do Now To Prepare A Successful “Giving Day” by Beth Kanter and Bahia Ramos We’re glad to welcome back two previous contributors to Markets For Good: Beth Kanter (Doing The Math Ourselves) and Bahia Ramos (Methods & Tools For ‘Giving Days’”). Having spent the prior month exploring the topic […]
August 20, 2013
In a recent article for Forbes/Skoll World Forum, Can Financial Markets Be Good?, Steve Wright, Vice President, Poverty Insights for Grameen Foundation, proposes “coronating value (dethroning profit)” as a way to correct the “profit v. social impact” debate. There is a lot of theoretical discussion on the business models implied by this thought, but what’s […]
August 14, 2013
We know (intellectually) not to rely on magical solutions to drive our work. In practice, however, we sometimes fall into the trap of unwitting, magical assumptions. The reality is that underlying any amazing feat we might accomplish, you can bet on solid infrastructure, process and groundwork to account for it. Andy Isaacson, Forward Deployed Engineer […]
August 13, 2013
“Although the cultural, legal and technical barriers to releasing data within government are real and need to be negotiated, there has been a clear public commitment to doing so. And when we started talking to the Ministry of Justice a couple of years ago, we found we were pushing at an open door.” Squarely on the […]
