"More than a single answer, we need a conversation with many voices—some aligned, some dissenting, but all thinking hard about what public schools are for."

Impact investors can successfully serve as a counterbalance to governments that are ambivalent, obstructionist, or even hostile to refugees. SSIR’s David Johnson speaks w/ Christine Mahoney and John Kluge Jr. about their new feature article, “Building the Refugee Economy.” Tuesday, July 14:

Impact investors can successfully serve as a counterbalance to governments that are ambivalent, obstructionist, or even hostile to refugees. SSIR’s David Johnson speaks w/ Christine Mahoney and John Kluge Jr. about their new feature article, “Building the Refugee Economy.” Tuesday, July 14:

Successful advocacy requires not only increasing support on our issues, but inspiring people to believe that they can win. ~ @ssir.org We Need to Close the Hope Gap

In the United States, arts and culture work has long relied more on philanthropy and civil society than government support. The organizations that support bookstores usually do so within the constraints of the for-profit model.

"The defining challenge for this new generation of billionaire philanthropists is therefore not simply determining what to fund but how to exercise influence in a society where trust is fragile and legitimacy cannot be bought." — Priya Shanker of @stanfordpacs.bsky.social

New in @ssir.org, Stanford PACS Executive Director Priya Shanker discusses the roles of civic leadership and foundation expertise in this evolving era of billionaire #philanthropy ⤵️

"The big thing that has changed is we do not know what to teach our children anymore. During the era of job training and apprenticeships, we knew what to teach our children. During the era of Sputnik, we knew what to teach our children..."

"The defining challenge for this new generation of billionaire philanthropists is therefore not simply determining what to fund but how to exercise influence in a society where trust is fragile and legitimacy cannot be bought." — Priya Shanker of @stanfordpacs.bsky.social

This thorough SSIR article (free link) features our refugee investment funds at Kiva Capital, which has sought to demonstrate the creditworthiness of refugees and internally displaced people, and expand their access to legitimate and fair capital markets

"We hadn’t done user research or tried to optimize an experience. We had identified an invisible social rule that every previous intervention had either missed or accepted as fixed. And then we designed a mechanism that worked with the culture, instead of against it. That’s norm design."

Investing in refugee-led enterprises, companies supporting refugees, and the communities welcoming them can transform tragedy into economic and social gain for all. Read this new in-depth feature from our Summer 2026 issue.

"Our schools of education must be explicit with students and faculty that they educate as if democracy depends on it." —Opinion by @catherinelhamon.bsky.social, Executive Director of the Edley Center on Law and Democracy via @ssir.org: https://bit.ly/4uMoEpS

Starting soon! Join us live at 9 PT, or register now to watch the recording later.

How can today's mega-rich philanthropists build a new generation of civic institutions and infrastructure? Join us tomorrow for an SSIR author conversation with Sarah Cone, author of our latest cover story "Why Don't Philanthropists Build Anymore?" stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

If you read Ross Douthat's column in the NYT this weekend, you might be interested in our latest cover story: "Why Don't Philanthropists Build Anymore?"

@marksidel.bsky.social recently published "Compliance as Resistance" in the @ssir.org. The article discusses how regulatory compliance can aid civil society and nonprofit resistance to the state. Read more: buff.ly/Moil3Hs. #FridayReads

"To invoke the term now is not to romanticize the first Gilded Age ... It is rather to note a structural resemblance: extraordinary private wealth amassed amid public strain, and a corresponding question about what, if anything, that wealth owes the society from which it was extracted."

'That’s the only real indicator: I have kids, are the kids in this village getting access to the same vaccines my kids have access to? That’s the only indicator.' Same for education. If the bare minimum isn't good enough for your kid, why's it good enough for 'theirs'? ssir.org/articles/ent...

"A good place to start is by asking 4 foundational questions that clarify opportunities, assess organizational readiness, and help determine the right boundaries & pacing." 1. AI for What? 2. What Will It Take? 3. How Do We Lead Through This? 4. What Pace Is Right for Us? ssir.org/articles/ent...

The pressure to adopt AI is everywhere. In @ssir.org PJMF's Jacqui Watts and Duke CASE's Kimberly Bardy Langsam and Erin Worsham offer a board-ready framework for social impact leaders: four foundational questions to ground AI strategy in mission: https://tinyurl.com/4r59672x

"I believe schools have oriented young people to almost a democratic cosplay: we know how to make signs; we know to protest what we don’t like. But it is very different from the problem-solving that previous generations were prepared to undertake."

This fits into the United States not making much of anything now. It's become all about using money to double itself endlessly. The very concept of value is archaic.

"Today’s billionaire philanthropists operate in a different mode. Rather than creating new institutions, they overwhelmingly donate to existing ones, including those built by the Gilded Age philanthropists more than a century ago."

A peculiar irony sits at the heart of modern philanthropy: The richest generation in history, commanding more wealth than the pharaohs, Medicis, and Carnegies combined, has proven surprisingly unwilling to convert that wealth into new, durable civic institutions. Our new cover story asks why...

Reminds me of this essay. Not only are shortcuts doomed to fail, as they don't address the roots of the issues, but we waste precious resources which could be used to tackle complex social issues. ssir.org/articles/ent...

If an investment is making something happen that otherwise would not—for example, funding new climate technology or building social housing where the market has failed—it is less likely to have a ready-made, liquid market. And therein lies the problem...

What is education for? What kind of citizen should education aim to cultivate? In a moment when curricula are contested and civic life is shot through with conflict, @dsallentess.bsky.social calls for a rethinking of the role education plays in our democracy:

Compliance as Resistance, publishing today in the Stanford Social Innovation Review @ssir.org. Thanks to Latitude Global and SSIR for initiating this series on nonprofit and philanthropic compliance, and to Jenifer Morgan for great editing. ssir.org/articles/ent...

Catch up on the conversation: Kevin Starr responds to what he calls the "predictable backlash [against scale at SSIR], ranging from the plaintive 'Does Everything in the Social Sector Have to Scale?' to the unhinged 'Scale is a Myth! Embrace the Long Defeat!'" ssir.org/articles/ent...

For decades, most organizations treated major giving as a specialty function: important but separate from the broader fundraising operation. But that logic no longer holds. In a new excerpt from "A Better Way to Fundraise," Derric Bakker explains why.

Continuing this forum on the purpose of public education: Kim Smith, CEO of LearnerStudio, writes about choice, agency, and balancing justice with freedom. "A new social contract is not only a set of promises from the system to families. It is also a set of obligations that flow the other way."

NEW from our forthcoming summer issue: Nimesh Ghimire profiles Ashesi University in Ghana. Beginning in 2002 with a class of 30 Ghanaian students, the school now enrolls over 1,800 students from more than 30 nations across Africa.

NEW from our forthcoming summer issue: Nimesh Ghimire profiles Ashesi University in Ghana. Beginning in 2002 with a class of 30 Ghanaian students, the school now enrolls over 1,800 students from more than 30 nations across Africa.

This piece from @ssir.org challenges funders to rethink how they approach risk, embrace flexibility, and act with courage to support those on the front lines. https://bit.ly/3R4fq9D

"Today, teachers are expected to guide students through complex, interdisciplinary challenges; to help them use technology and AI ethically and creatively; and to cultivate curiosity, compassion, and critical thinking. But the systems around them haven’t evolved to match those expectations."

Thanks to @ssir.org for publishing an excerpt from BEYOND BELIEF: the story of how evidence came to shape policy in Washington, inspiring "the most evidence-based administration in history.” A contrast to today. ssir.org/books/excerp... @jonbaronformd.bsky.social @princetonupress.bsky.social

In an excerpt from her new book, "Beyond Belief," @helenpearson.bsky.social tells the story of how evidence-based policy gained a foothold in Washington, and how a small nonprofit group influenced "the most evidence-based administration in history.”

In a time of widespread change, what is public education for, and how can it evolve to meet its promise? In a new SSIR series, authors agree that public education needs to transform, but there is far less agreement on what transformation looks like.

Join @ssir.org today at 10am PT ⤵️

Tomorrow, SSIR speaks w/ Mark Dobosz about his article, “Beyond the Mega-Gift.” Sign up to join us live tomorrow Apr 29 at 10am PT: stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Nonprofits Need Enterprise Capital to Succeed @ssir.org

The traditional approach to due diligence, which stems from a widespread corporate mindset, perceives risk primarily as a threat that funders should identify and mitigate, if not avoid. What if funders viewed due diligence principally as an opportunity to develop deeper relationships with grantees?

What will it take to reverse the recent increasing concentration of charitable giving? SSIR’s David Johnson speaks w/ Mark Dobosz about his SSIR feature, “Beyond the Mega-Gift.” Wednesday, April 29 Register here: stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Growth ≠ Scale. That distinction, Kevin Starr argues in Stanford Social Innovation Review, is what separates the organizations that dent big problems from the ones that don't. Scale ideas, not organizations. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/scale-really-matters #Philanthropy #ImpactInvesting

What will it take to reverse the recent increasing concentration of charitable giving? SSIR’s David Johnson speaks w/ Mark Dobosz about his SSIR feature, “Beyond the Mega-Gift.” Wednesday, April 29 Register here: stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

"Everybody’s getting ready for the annual social sector lollapalooza in Oxford, and there have never been so many sessions with the word “scale” in the title..." ssir.org/articles/ent...

Important: When Compliance Aims to Silence: A look at the motivations behind and impact of a new law limiting nonprofit fundraising in Ecuador, and how civil society organizations are coming together to reclaim their agency. ssir.org/articles/ent... - Tania Dávila Paredes, @ssir.org

"Growth and scale are not the same thing. Confusing the two comes at a cost—you only have so much bandwidth, and they require different activities and skillsets. Growth and scale can even be in opposition, especially when working with governments."

What comes after a "big bet" grant? With the acceleration of big bet philanthropy in the past decade, the sector now has a rich dataset of “sunsets” to learn from.