Guest post by Phil Buchanan, president of The Center for Effective Philanthropy

This is the final installment in a series of six blog posts, which were originally featured on the CEP Blog.

Why are we, in the nonprofit sector, putting corporations on a pedestal? The recent damage caused by the unethical, if not illegal, practices of many of this country’s largest financial institutions needs no recounting. Nor does the environmental destruction wrought by a wide range of companies over the decades.

Yet, as I have discussed on this blog over the past six weeks, many continue to hype boundary-blurring, beat up on the label “nonprofit,” advocate the adoption of “business thinking,” and promote corporations as the solvers of our toughest social problems. All this without sufficient acknowledgment of the vital role of nonprofits – organizations that do not have to answer to investors pushing for a financial return.

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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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