"The benefits of clean energy are well documented and have become manifestly evident for many Americans, but it is no longer enough to simply promote renewables and hope policy catches on."

How can nonprofits and funders maximize the effectiveness of litigation? "The takeaway here is *both-and*: Fund the best legal teams to develop the best legal theories and pursue litigation where necessary. But don’t only do that part of the puzzle."

Community health workers are the bedrock of healthcare around the world. Over 70% are women, and 86% aren’t paid. Yep, most of our healthcare delivery relies on unpaid women ssir.org/articles/ent...

"Oil and gas's dominance over American life can feel like a David vs. Goliath story. Despite the odds, growing pushback in red, blue, and purple states shows that the Davids have more power than we might think—and philanthropy can help them win." ssir.org/articles/ent...

Should RCTs be the gold standard of impact measurement? SSIR’s Aaron Bady speaks w/ Nicole P. Marwell and Jennifer E. Mosley about their new article, “The Nonprofit Sector Has an RCT Problem.” Join us tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT! ssir.org/live-rct-conversation

There’s a lot to worry about right now. The quiet part is a U.S. oil & gas renaissance. As extreme weather rocks the country, it’s time to invest in brass tacks planning, deep organizing, and the essential state and local fights to achieve clean energy transition … in time. ssir.org/articles/ent...

Can generative AI help evaluate social impact investments? The @bettersocietycapital.com team designed an experiment to test this question on their own portfolio. They found some promising results—and some clear lessons learned that might be helpful to others.

👇👇👇 Important read @abbiedillen.bsky.social @earthjustice.org #climateemergency #nofossilfuelinfrastructure #stopLine5

Hollie Russon Gilman provides an insightful review of Celina Su's new book Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities for @ssir.org. Exploring how budgets are more than just spreadsheets, but moral and political documents: ssir.org/books/review...

Our new fall print issue is online! Subscribe now for full digital access. On the cover: An updated collection of essays on philanthropy's challenges in responding to government threats and funding cuts, including a brand new concluding essay from MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey

"Who should pay for the sustainability infrastructure that companies are using to measure, improve, and report on their ESG performance—and can they do so in a way that is sustainable for the tool developers and preserves the objectivity these tools were built on?" @ssir.org ssir.org/articles/ent...

"The scale and urgency of the current threat should settle a long-simmering debate about the strategic value of targeting oil and gas production directly." @earthjustice.org president @abbiedillen.bsky.social writes in SSIR on the next chapter of the climate fight:

Come join the conversation!

What does it do to social change organizations when RCTs aren’t just the best option, but the only option? SSIR speaks w/ Nicole Marwell and @jenmosley.bsky.social about their article, “The Nonprofit Sector Has an RCT Problem.” Join us Wed., Sept. 17 at 10 am PT: ssir.org/live-rct-conversation

Open Board Search: How a new approach to recruiting board members can transform nonprofits. - @clevelandjustis.bsky.social, Susan S. Boren, Stephanie Duncan Karp & Daniel Student ssir.org/articles/ent... - @ssir.org

ssir.org/articles/ent... “For years, we’ve compounded financial capital. It’s time to compound impact. The longer we wait, the more lives, ecosystems, and possibilities we may lose.” If you have a DAF and use it to save for rainy days - it’s pouring outside now. Give. Now.

Worker shortage threatens renewable energy deployment. Climate philanthropists focus on policy wins while neglecting "human infrastructure" - the workers needed for energy transition. Read how to fix it: ssir.org/articles/ent... #EnergyTransition #WorkforceDevelopment #CleanEnergy

Real progress on climate change is more attainable than ever. Yet powerful forces are pulling the other direction. Today we're launching a new series, sponsored by the Funder Collaborative on Oil and Gas, tackling the outsized influence of the oil and gas industry on American life

We’ve heard a lot about “clean tech,” “sustainable finance”, “speed & scale,” and far less about the people implementing these ideas—the leaders building scrappy nonprofits, the wonks drafting policy frameworks, the electricians installing infrastructure ssir.org/articles/ent...

American research science is facing an unprecedented crisis as federal grants get canceled & scientists are being laid off. A new @ssir.org article outlines how foundations can deploy their resources through social investments to stabilize research while building a more resilient system.

"The greatest worry that many people have about such an egalitarian future is that it would lead to an economic system in which these elements are precisely missing: innovation and change." In an excerpt from her new book, @lisamherzog.bsky.social responds to the critics of egalitarianism

Not sure how to act most effectively as a funder or donor right now? These 10 questions from @catherinecf.bsky.social and Philippe Sion might help you get started.

Is a gallon of water in a rich country worth more than a gallon of water in a poor country? That's what at least one impact accounting methodology seems to imply. But if that's the case, what does it reveal about the very concept of impact accounting?

"Evidently, the state capacity needed to generate this abundance won’t just be a top-down federal imperative...We need to take an Everything Everywhere All at Once approach to building the institutional capacity required for an abundance of economic prosperity." @ssir.org ssir.org/articles/ent...

@ezrakleinbot.bsky.social & @dkthomp.bsky.social's Abundance has become a Rorschach test among policy analysts w/ much discussion focusing on the impediments that government may have imposed upon itself. But beyond that conversation is a more expansive state capacity project ssir.org/articles/ent...

"The state capacity needed to generate this abundance won’t just be a top-down federal imperative. It’ll involve building out the capabilities of a range of local public and private institutions, the system hubs and their spokes." New piece from @rohansandhu.bsky.social

My new piece in @noemamag.com explores how modern air conditioning technologies helped remake the Gulf. It's one for my environmental and urban historian colleagues — please check it out! Let me know what you think. #skystorians #envhist #envhum

"If relationships and community are so central to recovery, why aren’t they already embedded across homelessness systems? We’ve built our systems to count things, not to connect people."

What if nonprofits treated board recruitment more like a job posting? Organizations who have tried the approach say it helps attract new talent and resources, increase board engagement, and improve strategic thinking.

"About 25 percent of Woods Fund Chicago grantees have already lost federal funding and had to shrink services this year...to meet this moment, we must increase our giving, and reject a narrow definition of fiduciary responsibility." —Michelle Morales ➡️ @stanford.ssir | ssir.org/articles/ent...

Nice piece in Stanford Social Innovation Review by discussing the work that Global Forest Watch (the "other GFW") and Global Fishing Watch are doing to find ways for industry to more directly support our open data work that helps industry to meet their ESG commitments ssir.org/articles/ent...

Building stronger pathways out of homelessness means prioritizing not only shelter, but also belonging. In this sense, if housing is the foundation, relationships are the thing that keeps people in homes. From this, five key principles emerge.

@ssir.org explores how tools like Global Forest Watch Pro and @globalfishingwatch.org’s Vessel Viewer, now a critical part of infrastructure for many companies, may scale beyond philanthropic funding. 🌳 🔗 Read more ⤵️

Powerful piece by @mulagostarr.bsky.social on how #nonprofits should think about scaling through govt. Key thing to consider: marginal cost per beneficiary if the govt delivered your intervention. Also, cost effective ≠ cheap enough! @ssir.org bit.ly/3GYHV40

This week, in my free biweekly newsletter, The Queer Friendly Nonprofit, I look at three journal articles which have come out recently in a Research Rodeo. These three articles look at 1) trans-affirming care in eating disorders, sethjmeyer.substack.com/p/research-r...

Mergers, acquisitions, and other organizational transitions are difficult for nonprofits no matter what—but especially when done under duress. Former GuideStar CEO @jacobharold.bsky.social has experienced and studied these restructurings and shares 7 principles for making them successful:

As somebody once said, "You didn't build that."

From natural disasters to local school info, access to accurate, timely information is essential to community safety. In @ssir.org the team at @documentedny.bsky.social shares their special sauce for mixing local digital spaces like Nextdoor and WhatsApp with on-the-ground community reporting.

In the past 6 months, funding cuts have hit nonprofits hard. While financial support is still critical, now's the time for funders to invest in coalition-building and grassroots leaders who understand their communities best. More in @ssir.org.

MVCLT plans to purchase a 10- to 15-unit building and rent apartments at below-market rates to local working-class families within the next two years.

"Different people in organizations will always get different things for various reasons, but the people in an organization must trust that the processes allocating opportunities and benefits are fundamentally fair and legitimate." New article by Ahmmad Brown and @femlaw.bsky.social:

NEW: As Senate Republicans approach the Friday deadline to pass Trump’s rescissions package, voters reject the proposed billions of dollars in cuts to global aid and public broadcasting. We find that less than 30% of voters want cuts to these programs. www.dataforprogress.org/datasets/pol...

Mismeasuring Impact explores why randomized controlled trials are being embraced as the "gold standard" for nonprofit evaluation, despite the high cost and time investment required and the serious problems with using RCTs in a nonprofit context. www.sup.org/books/bu...

What's the path forward for the global development sector? Philosopher Peter Singer argues the answer lies in consequentialism: ssir.org/articles/ent...

"'Foreign assistance'" implies charity to strangers, prompting policymakers to ask how much altruism they can afford. In contrast, a vocabulary rooted in reciprocity—global health security, climate resilience, and mutual investment—highlights the benefits that flow in every direction.

NYC experimented with new window heat pump models in some public housing units. in winter, "The window unit-heated apartments used a whopping 87% less energy than the rest of the building’s steam-heated apartments did, cutting energy costs per household in half." heatmap.news/sustainabili...

At RWJF, this includes partnering with organizations to protect existing federal data, investing in strengthening local and community-driven data systems, and not wavering from our mission to create a future where health is a right for all. See what other members are doing: ssir.org/articles/ent...

Reaching underserved communities is not about being on a particular platform. It’s not about a checklist. It’s about your community understanding that you understand them through a continuous process of listening and responding ssir.org/articles/ent...

“Since its founding, our country has depended on a vibrant and independent philanthropic sector that often espouses and supports ideas at odds with the norms of the day and with the preferences of those in power.” The ongoing MAGA assault on civil society aims to end this: ssir.org/articles/ent...