Issue
Winter 2022
Volume 20, Number 1
Read about how civil society offers an alternative to corporate models of data giving, how active listening techniques can improve relationships with stakeholders, why equity must be central to any collective impact effort, how science can become more democratic and equitable through community-driven initiatives, and other topics in the Winter 2022 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.
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Features
Philanthropy & Funding
The Looming Fight Over How We Give Our Data
By & Brigitte Pawliw-Fry
We face a choice between two models for donating data: one governed by corporations and one determined by grassroots civic action. The winner will decide how much control we have over our digital information.
Collaboration
Deep Listening
By Emily Kasriel 2
Developing active listening techniques is essential to creating understanding and the authentic relationships necessary for social change.
Collaboration
Centering Equity in Collective Impact
By John Kania, Junious Williams, Paul Schmitz, Sheri Brady, Mark Kramer & Jennifer Splansky Juster 2
A decade of applying the collective impact approach to address social problems has taught us that equity is central to the work.
Collaboration
The Promise of Community-Driven Science
By Louise Lief
A new generation of scientists and community activists is committed to making science more democratic and equitable.
What’s Next
Environment
Cleaning Up the Nile
By Marianne Dhenin
With the dual goal of protecting the vital waterway and supporting communities that depend on it, the Cairo-based, youth-led organization VeryNile is partnering with local fishers and crafters to collect, recycle, and upcycle plastic waste.
Leadership
She Should Run
By Priti Salian
Indian nonprofit Femme First Foundation aims to increase women’s political representation in the country.
Health
Going to Church for Health Care
By Victoria A. Brownworth
A Philadelphia-based health initiative has delivered COVID-19 testing and vaccinations to hundreds of thousands of people in underserved communities.
Design Thinking
Fresh Water From Light
By Agostino Petroni 1
A young architect is tackling water scarcity with a household desalination device.
Field Report
Economic Development
Restoring Communal Lands
By Caira Conner
Sustainable pine resin producer Ejido Verde uses an adaptive reforestation model to replenish supply and meet demand.
Collaboration
Sharing to Save the Planet
By Julie Zeilinger
Civic science platform ISeeChange mobilizes communities to take action on climate change.
Case Study
Nonprofits & NGOs
National Geographic Reinvents Itself
By Amanda M. Fairbanks
The National Geographic Society began as a Victorian-era institution of white gentlemen explorers dedicated to understanding the globe. To better reflect the world and thrive in the 21st century, it has diversified its leadership, transformed its internal culture, and created a media juggernaut.
Viewpoint
Health
Preventing the Next Pandemic
By Mark Smolinski
Governments, academia, civil society, philanthropists, and the private sector must jointly take five priority actions to stop the global spread of disease.
Philanthropy & Funding
The Promise of Outcomes Funds
By Jared Lee
Efforts at improving global education too often fail to have the desired impact. Outcomes funds can help shift funders and policy makers toward the most effective approaches.
Philanthropy & Funding
Endow Black-Led Nonprofits
By William Foster & Darren Isom 3
Endowments are often lacking for social change nonprofits—even more so for Black-led organizations. By closing this gap, we could radically transform how we confront society’s most
pressing issues.
Open-access to this article made possible by The Bridgespan Group.
Research
Scaling
Growing Locally and Deeply
By Daniela Blei
Social enterprises do more for communities by eschewing the Silicon Valley model.
Education
The Great Disrupter of Disadvantage
By Daniela Blei 1
Education stops intergenerational transmission of disadvantages, Danish administrative data shows.
Business
Punished for Pro-Social Work
By Chana R. Schoenberger
Employees who volunteer for social impact work may see careers harmed by sexist biases.
Education
The Unintended Impact of Diversity Awards
By Chana R. Schoenberger
Targeted scholarships may draw underrepresented groups away from more lucrative funding.
Book Reviews
Review
Advocacy
Justice Without Violence
Reviewed By Aida Mariam Davis
Arguing that police reform is impossible, Derecka Purnell charts an alternative path to building safer communities and a more just world.
Review
Environment
Getting to Zero
Reviewed By Auden Schendler
Authors Michael Lenox and Rebecca Duff call for disruptive innovations and radical reconfiguration of industries to decarbonize the planet by 2050.
Review
Collaboration
Embrace the Process
Reviewed By Alex Counts 3
Cynthia Rayner and François Bonnici recommend that organizations seeking systems change focus less on outcomes and more on principles and practice.
Editor’s Note
Collaboration
Collective Impact 2.0
By Eric Nee
Authors of a seminal article on collective impact explore what it means to put equity at the center of the practice and how that changes the collective impact process itself.
SSIR Online
Environment
SSIR Online, Winter 2022 Issue
By SSIR Editors
A collection of standout pieces published online about impact accounting, intersectional storytelling, NGO endgames, universal basic income in South Korea, and a social enterprise supporting coffee growers in Central America.
Last Look
Human Rights
A Perilous Crossing
By Marcie Bianco
The tens of thousands of Haitians who have migrated through Central and South America since 2010 have captured the attention of the media, immigration officials, and human rights advocates.
SPONSORED SUPPLEMENT
Centering Disability
There Is No Justice That Neglects Disability
By US Rep. Ayanna Pressley & Rebecca Cokley
Achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion means putting disability justice in every policy discussion and making it part of the continuing struggle for civil rights.
Time for Philanthropy to Confront Ableism
By Sandy Ho & Jen Bokoff 3
If philanthropy is to build a more just and equal society, it must combat ableism in its own institutions and practices.
Climate Change, Environmental Activism, and Disability
By Valerie Novack & Daphne Frias
People with disabilities are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Efforts to address the crisis must include them.
The COVID-19 Effect
By Richard E. Besser & Ryan Easterly
The pandemic has demonstrated that disability inclusion in philanthropy is more crucial than ever.
Advancing an Inclusive Workplace
By Jenny Lay-Flurrie 1
Empowering people with disabilities at work advances social inclusion and is good for business. Digital accessibility is essential to efforts at Microsoft to create opportunities for disabled talent.
Shrewd Awakening
By Avichai Scher
After many years of excluding the disability community, philanthropy is starting to make changes. The Ford Foundation’s awakening on disability inclusion offers a model for the rest of the sector.
Participatory Grantmaking Is Your Future
By Nikki Brown-Booker
Funders must abandon top-down, one-sided funding approaches in favor of partnerships with the disability community.