Nonprofits & NGOs Innovative ideas to help leaders of nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations work more effectively

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Robert Searle - Can Nonprofits Get More Bang for the Buck?

If you haven't bought a flat-screen TV yet, chances are you're waiting for the prices to drop. Technologies get cheaper by virtue of the "experience curve," a phenomenon where, as companies get better at what they do, costs become lower. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review sponsored audio lecture, Robert Searle argues that nonprofits also can have experience curves, achieving a greater volume of outcomes for the same cost. He discusses the types of outcome metrics on which nonprofits should focus.

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Offsetting Green Guilt

By Matthew J. Kotchen 6

Voluntary carbon offsets allow people to invest in projects that allegedly counteract their greenhouse gas emissions. But can voluntary offsets help slow global warming? Or are offsets a way for consumers to buy their way out of bad feelings?

Podcast

Brian Lehnen, Scott Morgan, Anne Marie Burgoyne - Year One in the Life of a Nonprofit Start-up

What fuels the creation of a nonprofit organization? In this panel discussion, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, panelists talk about their experiences founding an education-related nonprofit in the United States and a microenterprise in Africa. They explore how they came up with the ideas for their enterprises, how they focused and manifested those ideas, and what smart and not-so-smart choices they made along the way. A portfolio manager adds her insights on what elements make a startup appealing to potential funders.

Podcast

Elizabeth Hausler - Making Homes Safe from Earthquakes

When an earthquake hits, what should you do? Should you get out of the house? The answer, says Elizabeth Hausler, founder of Build Change, depends upon where you live. In this audio interview with host Sheela Sethuraman, Hausler describes how the strategies of Build Change are helping villages in Indonesia and China to build earthquake-resistant housing.

Podcast

Joseph Stiglitz - Globalization and International Development

In this audio interview, Asia Society President Vishakha N. Desai speaks with Nobel Prize winning economist and globalization "rockstar" Joseph Stiglitz on matters concerning international development. The conversation focuses on Stiglitz's concept of "the economics of information," and his latest book, Making Globalization Work. In this fascinating in-depth interview, Stiglitz discusses intellectual property rights, the shifting global balance of power, challenges facing Africa, and much more.

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Drowning in Data

By Alana Conner Snibbe 9

Funders are calling for more program evaluation, but nonprofits are often collecting dubious data, at great cost to themselves and ultimately to the people they serve.

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