"Engage more in the arts. It’s a deceptively simple recommendation, and probably one of the most enjoyable pieces of advice you could be given. But it’s one we rarely follow. Go outside and start asking US adults whether they did any arts yesterday, and 95 percent of them will say no."

What role have you seen social sector organizations and leaders playing? "Locally, I think they’re the ones making it happen. Nationally? I think it’s more of a mixed bag..." Read the entire interview with social movements expert Joe McCannon in yesterday's SSIR newsletter:

This week's SSIR newsletter includes an interview with Joe McCannon, an expert on social change movements and campaigns, about what's happening in Minneapolis:

This week's SSIR newsletter includes an interview with Joe McCannon, an expert on social change movements and campaigns, about what's happening in Minneapolis:

"Abundance and justice aren't mutually exclusive." Dr. Tiffany Manuel makes the case for equitable housing, including calling for Housing for All, Housing Justice, and Housing Abundance. Read more https://ssir.org/articles/entry/narrative-change-equitable-housing

Is low-cost AI an illusion? As AI shifts from experimental tool to core infrastructure, its underlying economics such as energy, hardware, privacy, and market power are beginning to assert themselves. That will have serious consequences for equity, public interest work, and organizations:

Drawing on decades of global experience, Nancy Lindborg, President and CEO of @packardfdn.bsky.social and Stanford PACS Advisory Board Member, outlines why and how funders should invest in #CivilSociety as the cornerstone of #democracy. Read on our #Philanthropy Innovation Summit blog ⤵️

In recent years, 3 major narrative movements have pushed the housing debate: - Housing for All - Housing Justice - Housing Abundance Each has distinct origins, strategies, and contributions, and each has sought to reframe housing as a collective good, a moral imperative, or a policy necessity.

"When policy makers and researchers focus solely on financial returns, they risk undervaluing education’s profound influence on personal empowerment, social equity, and collective well-being..."

Three strategies for nonprofit organizations to help them survive through funding disruption and uncertainty: 📈 Innovate to grow 🤝 Strategic partnerships 🏘️ Invest in assets

“Purpose before organization: prioritizing the organization's purpose, versus the organization itself.” ssir.org/articles/ent...

"Data is never neutral or objective. Data systems are designed by people working within institutions, and when those institutions are built on structural racism, patriarchy, and other systems of oppression, the data they produce will reflect and reinforce those same inequities."

🎉Our new piece on Iterative A/B Testing is out in @ssir.org with @noamangrist.bsky.social @mandabeat.bsky.social & Tendekai Mukoyi. A case & toolkit for rigorous, rapid, and regular testing to improve cost-effectiveness at scale👇 💡 ssir.org/articles/ent... 🛠️ www.youth-impact.org/insights/a-b...

📣 Passionate about closing the gap between evidence and day-to-day implementation? Check out our new article "Iterative A/B testing for Social Impact: Rigorous, Rapid, and Regular" now out in @ssir.org w/ @mandabeat.bsky.social @ccullen.bsky.social Tendekai Mukoyi ssir.org/articles/ent...

Sowing Backlash, One DEI Training at a Time ssir.org/books/excerp... - Lily Zheng, @ssir.org

Many nonprofits in LMICs face a critical mismatch: urgent social problems demand rapid program iteration, yet organizations often wait years for externally-produced evaluation results. When they do conduct rigorous evaluations, one-off studies rarely keep pace with evolving implementation contexts.

"In the same way that we now have nearly a thousand studies showing us the perils of solving workplace DEI problems with training alone, it turns out that we have scores upon scores of research and case studies showing us exactly what works instead." An excerpt from "Fixing Fairness" by Lily Zheng:

"In this moment of cascading climate shocks, adaptation looks more like a mangrove than a sea wall built out of concrete: nurturing the capacities, ties, and institutions that allow people and places to bend without breaking."

Accusations of hypocrisy are everywhere. Yet despite this noise, little seems to change. In an excerpt from his new book, "The Hypocrisy Trap," @mhallsworth.bsky.social introduces “induced hypocrisy,” a tactic that offers a new, more respectful way to help people live up to their commitments.

📢 “At its core, conservation is about behaviour change.” New @ssir.org article highlights why behavioural science must be central to conservation - from project design to evaluation and systems change. Read more 👉 ssir.org/articles/ent... #Conservation #BehaviouralScience #BehaviourChange

Fresh because it isn't new: Philanthropic investors can use patient and concessional capital (grants, cheap debt, generous equity) to prove the profitability of a business or a model. Then, let the commercial investors comes in when the math maths. ssir.org/articles/ent...

We’re honored to be featured in @ssir.org’s “Building an Adaptive Metanetwork to Fight Climate Change.” The piece shows how ecoAmerica’s broad, diverse network helps people take meaningful climate action. Now is the time for hopeful climate engagement. Read the article: ssir.org/articles/ent...

🗓️ 2025 Highlight: Stanford Social Innovation Review, @ssir.org, just named a piece by our chief impact officer, Mitchelle De Leon, as one of the top stories that inspired them this year! 🎉 Check out their list here: ssir.org/articles/ent...

The biggest achievement of the year was the publication of my book "You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem"... Here is an excerpt from @ssir.org that focuses on the shift from understanding to prediction and the effects on liberal democracy (5/5) ssir.org/books/excerp...

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."