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.)

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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.

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“Bet on good people doing good things,” was the advice Jeff Skoll received from Independent Sector Founder John W. Gardner as he moved from his life as a tech giant at eBay into the world of philanthropy. Now almost 12 years later, Jeff Skoll will join us at the Independent Sector Annual Conference in San Francisco to accept the 2012 John W. Gardner Leadership Award.

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Guest post by Jitinder Kohli, Douglas J. Besharov, and Kristina Costa

Social Impact Bonds are the #1 philanthropy buzzword of 2011 according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. So what’s all the fuss about? And how can the concept help the nonprofit sector?

In essence, Social Impact Bonds are an arrangement between government and an outside organization in which the government defines one or more outcomes and promises to pay a sum of money if they are achieved. The government commits to cooperate with the outside organization’s efforts to achieve the outcome, and also promises to leave it free to devise and implement its strategy.

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In Diana's blog, read a Q&A with Luz Vega-Marquis, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation.

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