10 Great Social Innovation Reads: December 2014

December is often a fairly quiet month in the world of social change writing because of the holidays and time off, but there was still some great stuff to read. From Giving Tuesday, to Teach for America’s 25th anniversary, to philanthropy buzzwords, to social media trends to watch, to a critique of Charity Navigator’s naughty and nice list, there was a good bit to think about in the world of social change.

Below is my pick of the 10 best reads in December. But please add to the list in the comments. And if you want a longer list of picks, follow me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.

You can read past months’ 10 Great Social Innovation Reads lists here.

1. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Umair Haque provides a scathing critique of American politicians and pundits and the dirty little secrets they are harboring about our economy. As he puts it: “We don’t live the lives we were meant to by merrily shoving Artificially Fried Chicken Flavored Dorito Slurpees down our gullets while watching our societies crumble. We live them when we build things. Great things. Worthy things. Noble things. And the greatest, worthiest, and noblest of all things that mankind has ever built are not apps, drones, corporations, or profits. They are societies in which every life counts. In which every life is truly, fully lived.” Wow.
2. And speaking of the disparities in our economy, there is growing concern that wealth inequality is making its way into philanthropy. The super rich are disproportionately making up American giving and are supporting their own self interests (i.e. their alma maters, donor advised funds that provide personal tax benefits but no social benefits) as opposed to a redistribution of wealth to the poor.
3. Teach For America, the often heralded nonprofit that sends recent college graduates into challenged schools to teach for 2 years, marks its 25th anniversary this year. NPR reports on the challenges the organization faces, including a “self-described TFA resistance movement [with] former corps members [who] say their youthful idealism was cynically co-opted by a group that, in the big picture, acts to the detriment of public education.” Yikes.
4. Amazing blogger David Henderson from Full Contact Philanthropy took a writing hiatus earlier this year, but he’s back with a vengeance, and I am loving every one of his posts, especially December’s critique of Charity Navigator’s “naughty and nice list”.
5. As is her annual tradition, Lucy Bernholz offers her 2015 philanthropy buzzwords. My personal favorite are “artivists” and “citizen science.”
6. I would love to see more nonprofits (and foundations) getting into the advocacy game. Rick Anderson, writing on the Markets for Good blog, provides a really interesting case study of how Washington Nonprofits, the state association for the 58,000+ charitable organizations in Washington State, has been using data to better coordinate with state agencies, elected officials, other nonprofits and foundations.
7. December marked the third annual Giving Tuesday, and it was the most profitable yet, raising over $45 Million. Perhaps we have a movement?
8. The Wild Apricot blog offers 5 Social Media Trends That Could Impact Nonprofits in 2015.
9. Kate Barr from the Nonprofits Assistance Fund encourages nonprofit leaders to stop fearing money. As she puts it, “Let’s eliminate the fear of finance from the nonprofit sector. It doesn’t serve us personally or organizationally. Why? Because nonprofits with strong financial leadership are better equipped to deliver on their promises to the community, explore new territories and foster innovation.” Amen to that!
10. The fundraising anomaly of last summer’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge left a lot of outstanding questions. Not least of which is whether ALS would be able to retain any of those new donors. Beth Kanter talks to ALS CEO Barb Newhouse about exactly that question.

Photo Credit: US Department of Agriculture