The solution to gridlock can be found in the voices of ordinary citizens who want something different from their government than recent years have delivered.
Guest post by Peter Drury, development director, Splash
Is
"impact" simply quantifying your efforts to report to donors -- or is
impact something far more? This is the question posed in the Impact Master Class session, fielded by Ellen Alberding, president of The Joyce Foundation, Jeff Edmondson, managing director of the Strive Network, John Van Camp, president of Southwest Solutions, and John Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises.
Guest post by Malik S. Nevels, J.D., Executive Director, Illinois African American Coalition for Prevention
Are you changing the game? How do you balance organizational legacy with the need to grow, adapt, and transform? What organizations are effectively tackling issues big enough to matter yet small enough to change? When is it ok to fail?
Guest post by Phil Buchanan, president of The Center for Effective Philanthropy
This is the second in a series of six blog posts, which were originally featured on the CEP Blog.
It has become an article of faith that the “boundaries are blurring”
between nonprofits and companies, and that this is inarguably positive.
But what we need, today, is a clarifying – not a blurring – of what
differentiates the sectors.
The proponents of boundary-blurring
are often business school faculty, and they’ve been at it a while.
Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor James Austin predicted,
hopefully, more than a decade ago that, “We’ll see the stark
differences between NPOs and business diminish, revealing a new world of
integrated, rather than independent, sectors.” (Note: I feel compelled
to say that I took a course with Professor Austin while a second-year
student at HBS and he was among the best professors I had during my time
there, but I disagree with him on this issue.)
Guest post by Phil Buchanan, president of The Center for Effective Philanthropy
This is the first in a series of six blog posts, which was originally featured on the CEP Blog.
One of the great puzzles of the day is that we increasingly look,
starry-eyed, to business and markets to address or even solve our social
problems.
We idealize companies and markets in a way that defies reality, creates
unrealistic expectations, diminishes the contributions (past, present,
and future) of nonprofits, and confuses our conversation about the very
challenges we face. We do so despite the unrelenting procession of
examples of the downsides of unchecked pursuit of profit. And in so
doing, we run the risk of dismissing the vital role of nonprofits:
organizations seeking to make a difference without the pressure and
potential conflicts that come with the profit motive.
