Our weekly blog, Social TrendSpotter provides you with the latest trends and ideas within the social sector. It merges current thinking with the edge of innovation to inspire, to encourage, to take action so we can all ultimately create a better sector. Social TrendSpotter includes original analysis, but also highlights the latest sector-wide thinking into a user-friendly resource where social sector professionals and students alike can draw inspiration, share ideas and develop new thinking on best practices.
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5 Truths about Solving Social Issues
There have been rumors lurking in the corners of social entrepreneurship gatherings. I heard them whispered: “There are investors who want to pursue impact investing and social impact bonds, but we don’t have the right deal flow.” We didn’t know for sure –...
What’s in a Name? Buzzwords in the Social Sector
What’s in a name? This famous phrase from William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, speaks to an important truth. In order to work toward our collective vision as a sector, it is important that we share a common language by using common definitions of the words we...
How Nonprofit Leaders Can Ensure Every Part of Their Organization Advances Social Change
We have achieved a landmark shift in our culture – corporations are joining nonprofits in the effort to create positive social change. What started with conscious capitalism and Benefit Corporations has now rippled into full-blown philanthropic efforts by Fortune 500...
How Do You Take Your Social Sector Organization from Good to Great? A Checklist for Attracting, Hiring and Keeping the Best Talent
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child, you likely heard this question. As adults, we still ask children this question as a way to better understand their creative young minds along with their hopes and dreams for the future. We – and they, even from a...
Why Turnover Should be a Key Metric for the Social Sector – Our Collective Canary in the Coal Mine
If you want a heartwarming movie to watch in these final days of summer, I highly recommend “The 33,” which is a real-life account of the mining disaster in Chile in 2010. Stories above and below ground intertwine to make the movie compelling and...
What Are PRIs (Program-Related Investments) & MRIs (Mission-Related Investments)?
Americans contribute more than any country per capita – both in time and treasure. In fact, the U.S. philanthropic sector is extraordinary by any world standard. This is as much a product of our national charity-driven culture as it is a result of our...
Can Your Nonprofit Manage a Crisis? Follow These 5 Tips to Hold onto Your Halo in a Crisis
As professionals in the social sector committed to doing good, we’d like to think we’re immune to public relations crises. But, just like corporations, socially minded businesses and nonprofit organizations are susceptible to events, be they natural...
Is Pay for Success Making an Impact?
Innovation researchers have conclusively proven what I have seen over a lifetime as an entrepreneur – in every innovative effort, there comes an innovation chokepoint. It’s at this moment when fatigue can set in. When critics are often the loudest. When the idea alone...
Is Your Nonprofit Guilty of Neglecting Vision-Mission-Values?
Henry David Thoreau was spot on: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” When I work alongside social sector organizations, this is where I start. For me, the foundation of...