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Nonprofits

A False Dichotomy: Non-profit vs. For-profit Solutions

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In a recent blog post, Tony Wang, a brilliant researcher at Lucy Bernholz’s  Blueprint Research & Design, a strategy consulting firm for philanthropy in the Bay Area, makes a thought-provoking, yet ultimately flawed argument about the social impact of nonprofits (which he calls charities) versus social businesses. Tony and I have sparred before on PRIs […]

A Strategic Approach to Generating Revenue

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The one common frustration shared by the various organizations I work with is money.  How do we get more of it, how do we use it more effectively, how do we generate it more easily, how do we make it sustainable?  My answer to all of these questions is to take a more strategic approach. […]

Innovation is the Answer

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There’s a really great recent post on the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog by Mario Marino, founder of Venture Philanthropy Partners, a venture philanthropy fund in Washington, DC. Mario’s post is the best attempt I’ve seen yet to frame the current state of America (deepening recession, crumbling institutions, etc.) as a tremendous opportunity to reinvent […]

Working Towards Scale in Austin

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Something pretty interesting is happening in Austin around growth, social entrepreneurship and investment capital.  The KDK Harman Foundation, launched in 2004 by Janet Harman with a $26 million endowment, is spearheading an effort to get the social sector here talking about and thinking about how to grow and replicate successful nonprofit models.  The mission of […]

5 Ways to Scale

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Key to the entire social entrepreneurship movement is the idea of scale.  If we are truly going to solve a social problem, right a disequilibrium, or fix a crumbling institution the solution has to grow to scale.  It cannot stay small and secluded; it has to grow until it has changed the underlying system.  But […]