What SSIR stories stuck a chord around the world this year? Our local-language partners in Brazil, Korea, China, Japan, and Latin America shared the social innovation topics and articles that were most resonant for their readers this year:

What did SSIR readers gravitate toward in 2025? Here are the 10(+ the next 10) most-read articles at ssir.org this year:

Building inclusive, useful, and transformative civic data systems relies on data equity, data justice, and data sovereignty. In @ssir.org, learn how the Modernized Anti-racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative applies these concepts to data transformation. ssir.org/articles/ent...

"The capacity to interpret, to disagree, and to withhold judgment is essential to any pluralistic society. But the consequences reach beyond cognition. When systems reward simulation over understanding, meaning begins to erode, and when meaning collapses, so does the self."

"Given the dramatic contraction of Big Aid, we need market-based solutions more than ever, and it’s a really bad time for impact investing to be failing us. Luckily, I have a solution to the myriad disappointments of impact investing: Get rid of it." New from @mulagostarr.bsky.social:

💡 Registering to vote is still harder than it needs to be for young people. It’s not a lack of interest — it’s a systems problem. 👉 Read the full article with @ssir.org : buff.ly/0IQSWfb

"Given the dramatic contraction of Big Aid, we need market-based solutions more than ever, and it’s a really bad time for impact investing to be failing us. Luckily, I have a solution to the myriad disappointments of impact investing: Get rid of it." New from @mulagostarr.bsky.social:

🇨🇮 In Côte d’Ivoire, the TRECC initiative enabled the government to test what works and scale TaRLAfrica’s approach nationwide. Read more via @ssir.org 🔗 ssir.org/articles/ent... #FoundationalLearning #SystemsChange

Diagnosing and redressing democratic backsliding. ssir.org/articles/ent...

Eight years in, one truth has carried our administration forward: real leadership is rooted in love. It’s designing systems that center community and share power. We didn’t just talk about equity. We built it. We changed how government shows up. When you lead with love, transformation follows.

For 60 years, USAID’s memory lived in PDFs. The agency commissioned over 100,000 evaluations, stacking up tens of millions of pages. But the system was human-bounded by three limits that defined it: - Cognitive load - Timing - Incentives So what do you find when you can finally read everything?

Among “Free” countries, lower levels of economic opportunity appear to be the biggest predictor of backsliding. You might be wondering about the United States. The United States scores lower on economic opportunity than “Free” countries that did not backslide since 2013.

Highly recommend reading this for valuable insights and potential interventions to preserve or improve democracies.

Where should pro-democracy forces focus their efforts? How can they distinguish causation from correlation? This new article examines potential leading indicators of democratic backsliding across five elements that scholars agree impact democratic health. THREAD

We need a data transformation — shifting power, resources, and governance to communities — to achieve health equity. A new series in @ssir.org from de Beaumont + @rwjf.org explores how data can be transformed for equity and justice. https://bit.ly/3KwFYNX

"One of the greatest obstacles to voter turnout in general, and youth turnout in particular, is registration... While 18- to 24-year-olds make up less than 12 percent of the adult citizen population, they comprise a much higher rate—17 percent—of those who are unregistered." ssir.org/articles/ent...

Starting in 20 minutes!

Online today—our new Winter 2026 magazine issue! Featuring new original articles on democratic backsliding, scaling education reform, rebuilding Ukraine, nonprofit resilience, and much more.

Our newest voters (18-year-olds) will graduate from from high school in a few short months. If we want them using their voices in the 2026 midterms, the time to register them is now. Read more in our cover story, out now! ssir.org/articles/ent... @ssir.org

Public health is profoundly informed and shaped by the diverse array of civic data that captures the life and well-being in communities. But data isn’t neutral or objective. In fact, it’s often rooted in structural racism, patriarchy, and other systems of oppression.

We're so proud to have a cover story in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2026 Edition. Going live tomorrow AM! Please join us for a webinar discussion with @ssir.org on Wednesday events.stanford.edu/event/youth-...

"While it has primarily been touted as a new driver of productivity and financial growth, AI is so much more than a profit-making tool. The current concentration of AI funding in profit-driven applications creates a troubling pattern of widening inequalities."

Four Lessons From $4 Billion in Impact-focused Giving ssir.org/articles/ent... - Alexander Berger, @ssir.org

"A good mission statement performs a similar function to the role the US Constitution plays (on a good day) for the American government: It helps to keep an organization grounded and offers an important reference point for resolving conflicts about vision and direction."

ACLU was founded at a similarly terrifying time as ours. This excellent piece updates us on how they're working to protect us now. ssir.org/articles/ent...

"To realize the potential of private sector investment in nature protection and conservation, governments must put in place policy measures—such as tax breaks, de-risking guarantees, and regulatory requirements—that induce the private sector to invest." ssir.org/articles/ent...

Today, I have an article in @SSIR.org on lessons from our first decade, including: (1) The importance of choosing causes (2) Field-building pays off hugely (3) Great philanthropy is possible anywhere on the risk spectrum (4) Balancing maximization and moderation is hard 🧵 ssir.org/articles/en...

While nature-based solutions can contribute about one-third of the climate change mitigation needed by 2030, nature receives only 2 percent of total climate funding. Why this disparity? The problem is we’ve expected private finance to shoulder the burden, and it hasn’t.

Low voter registration is a design choice. @thecivicscenter.bsky.social founder and CEO Laura W. Brill joins SSIR for a live conversation about her forthcoming cover story, “Getting Youth Engaged in Democracy.” Wednesday, December 3. ssir.org/youth-voters...

An excerpt of my book had just been published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review. @ssir.org We must either renegotiate the terms of our "contract" with engagement/surveillance algorithms or break the contract altogether....

Sharp insights and calls to action in this @ssir.org article by Deb Nelson of the Just Economy Institute, Nwamaka Agbo of the Kataly Foundation, and Deborah Frieze of the Boston Impact Initiative and the Unlock Ownership Fund ssir.org/articles/ent...

ACLU v. Trump ssir.org/articles/ent... David V. Johnson, Anthony D. Romero, A.J. Hikes & Aletheia Henry, Stanford Social Innovation Review - @aclu.org "As a 105-year-old organization, we were not created for Trump, but we are built for this moment, and we certainly know how to play the long game.

Where exactly are we in terms of civil liberties in the United States? We spoke with the leaders of the @aclu.org, who went deep on their battles with the Trump administration, how they are prioritizing issues, the Supreme Court, and implications for civil society.

A new excerpt of my new book on adapting to climate change, Sink or Swim, is now up on @ssir.org celebrating the North American launch this week! @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social ssir.org/books/excerp...

"As a city leader, I care about people in my community who are experiencing homelessness, but I’m frustrated that we keep being told the only solution is putting more money into the same system. We need to be able to show that this spending works or we will lose residents’ trust."

Women’s generative AI hesitancy is rooted in rationality, not hysteria. It is not risk aversion. It is risk awareness: AI hallucinations, biased outputs, privacy concerns, and (rational) expectations of being judged more harshly for using it on the job. ssir.org/articles/ent...

"Women predict AI will bring less benefit and do more harm across personal, professional, and public life." but "If [women] engage and advocate, their risk awareness can strengthen the technology itself." ssir.org/articles/ent...

An excerpt from Organize or Burn on how movement politics can respond to democratic crisis ssir.org/books/excerp...

In 2018, a group of funders established Farmed Animal Funders to accelerate progress toward a more humane, sustainable food system. It offers a case study for philanthropists and advocates working on other new, underfunded causes on how to coordinate effectively to create wide-ranging impact.

Financing community-led solutions requires shifting both money and power. @ssir.org explains how Community-Driven Outcomes Contracts do just that by putting communities in the lead to define problems, design solutions, and measure success. Read about it:

My work is featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review today @nyupress.bsky.social @publicpowerny.bsky.social ssir.org/books/excerp...

"Women’s generative AI hesitancy is rooted in rationality, not hysteria. It is not risk aversion. It is risk awareness."

"For years, I overextended myself in the name of purpose. I felt an unspoken pressure to keep going no matter the cost, to hold everything together because the stakes felt so high..." An excerpt from The Future Is Collective by Niloufar Khonsari, with a new, original introduction from the author:

Of 100,000 historic sites on the National Register, less than 1% are associated with Latinx histories. Latinos in Heritage Conservation asks “What would it be like if we ...reimagine [historic preservation] with Latino history, culture, and values at the center?” I wrote about the org for @ssir.org.

"I’ve been here before, having spent decades watching development institutions try and fail to catch up with tech. As the same story unfolds, this time, we have to rewrite the script: AI offers a path to do more with less, if we invest in the infrastructure that will make it work for everyone."

"Whether rooted in science or metaphysics, people throughout history have often held a belief that hidden patterns beneath everyday life set the world’s course, and that revealing those patterns can unlock flourishing and prosperity."

“After Trump was elected the first time, there was a whole lot of mobilizing, but it didn’t turn into building infrastructure to developing leadership. And unless you’re building at the same time you’re fighting, you wind up with nothing.” @ssireview.bsky.social ssir.org/articles/ent...

Annual US subsidies to #oil & #gas firms have risen from $5B to at least $12B following recent legislation. Meanwhile, the same firms eliminated 4.7k jobs in the first half of 2025, with big corp's. planning significantly more workforce cuts. Read @ssir.org: ssir.org/articles/ent... #government

Can AI speed up and strengthen social impact measurement and management? SSIR & Better Society Capital weigh in. #AIforGood #Impinv https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ai-assessments-impact-investing?mc_cid=0b806c21ca&mc_eid=103af9ff01#AIforGood