The collapse of the U.S. economy, and subsequent bailout of the financial sector has brought the phrase “too big to fail” into the collective social conscience. The argument goes that the economy should not be so dependent on any one company that without it, everything falls apart. It seems fairly clear in hindsight why making [...]
I have long believed in the power of market forces and the need for social sector participants to adopt proven practices from the business community for the purpose of achieving impact at an exponentially greater scale. Dan Pallotta’s Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential was a revelation for me. My head bobbed nonstop in [...]
What ever happened to thinking big? In the social sector, thinking small, micro to be exact, is all the rage, and perhaps with some reason. The blunt force of macro interventions like clumsy development aid have drawn the intense scrutiny of people like Bill Easterly. Failing the success of sweeping interventions, the sector has recently [...]
Over three billion people—almost half the world’s population—live on less than $2.50 per day. Nearly one billion people do not have access to clean drinking water. Even in the United States, more than three million people experience the indignity and desperation of homelessness each year and nineteen percent of children are living in households below [...]
I hate charity. People get the wrong idea about me, that because I’m in the social service sector somehow I like the idea of helping those less fortunate. I promise, I don’t. Christmas is a lot of things to a lot of people. To some it’s a reminder of how great they have it and [...]
