Blog

Corporate leadership can learn a great deal from the social capital marketplace. But will they? Or will new leadership be required to ensure true sustainable change…? Currently, the world of corporate sustainability tends to fall, generally, into a few camps. One is the ‘do no harm’ principle. Another is government compliance- making sure no laws are broken. Read more...

We just heard from Brad Presner that Acumen Fund is launching a new San Francisco chapter! Following on the success of the New York chapter in helping to promote Acumen Fund, raise awareness, and fundraise, he says that San Francisco was the next obvious location to expand to. Read more...

The biggest barrier to progress can be success.

I do declare, on this here virtual soapbox, that the environmental progress made in the last few years is in danger. That danger, despite intense and positive environmental activity, is stagnancy. The biggest barrier to progress can be success.

It is not uncommon for leaders in a field make strides ahead of the competition, whether it be technology, consumer products, social impact, environmentalism, etc., get recognition for their efforts, and then rest on their proverbial laurels. Read more...

Imagine you are a computer and your job is to analyze information about investment opportunities. You have been programmed to scan reports that match a template your programmer gave you. If data fits into that template, you can understand it. If it does not, the programmer has to come adjust your template so you can make sense of the parts that do not fit. Read more...

I just read a great LA Times column by Michael Hiltzik that offers one of the most lucid definitions of a Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) I’ve seen. Read more...

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” Albert Einstein (or so the legend goes) Read more...

Few terms evoke such a passionate response in the impact management field as “social return on investment” or “SROI". It’s not so much the idea itself that sparks debate, but the varying interpretations of how the term should be translated into practice. Read more...

Imagine a big, 3-dimensional, digital globe, on which any nonprofit or business in the world could map its operations worldwide. Each company’s shareholders, or the company itself, could enter data estimating how much money the company is investing and where it’s being spent. Read more...

This week Brett is in London at an event our friends at New Philanthropy Capital have put on to launch a new Association of Nonprofit Impact Analysts. The aim is to build excitement around the notion that impact analysis is a discipline that can have much more powerful benefits if it gets organized.

NPC says “the proposed Association of Nonprofit Analysts would have several aims:
* To be a peer group, providing a forum for sharing and learning; Read more...

Meetings. Conferences. Dinners. Gatherings. Scheduling. Airlines. Hotels. Expenses. Such is life on the road.

Why do we do this? What draws us to go far out of our way to convene face to face? Is it the thrill of travel? The exotic locations? Meeting friends and colleagues in person? The ease of brainstorming in real time? Probably all of the above. They are key elements of convening great minds to address a challenge and at least in part, why we continue to do it. Read more...