The Simplicity of Social Change
Given that Thanksgiving is this week, I wanted to share a great video from the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, a Washington DC area foundation that fosters women philanthropists to improve the lives of women and girls (HT PhilanTopic blog). It’s a really cool organization, doing some interesting things to encourage more giving overall, and more giving to nonprofits that improve the lives of women and girls. They recently launched a new campaign to support their work. I thought this video was a really great demonstration of how solutions to

A New Social Innovation Project Comes to Texas
There is something underway in Texas that I’m pretty excited about.  The OneStar Foundation, the Texas state office of nonprofit capacity building and social innovation and administrator of the state’s AmeriCorps grant, has just launched a new project called the Texas Social Innovation Initiative (TSI). TSI is a partnership with Root Cause, a national organization supporting social innovation and headquartered in Boston. The TSI creates an opportunity and a marketplace for social

Thoughts on Social Innovation
Last month I attended the Social Venture Partners International conference in Dallas. It was a great gathering of an organization that is helping to lead the movement for social innovation. In 25 chapters in the US, Canada and Japan, 2,000 social venture partners contribute time, money and expertise to the nonprofits in their communities. The goal is two-fold: 1

But Change We Must
The social sector, or perhaps more appropriately, those writing about the social sector, seem particularly analytical and reflective this past week. Perhaps its the looming end to a horrible year for the general economy, and nonprofits in particular.  Whatever the reason, the nonprofit sector and the philanthropy that funds it are at an important crossroads. First, the picture for the current state of the social sector continues to be bleak. A recent Foundation Center advisory reports that foundation giving will decline 10% this year and more next year. And a

Why Do People Give?
There is a great discussion going on at the Tactical Philanthropy blog centered around the new book The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan by Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon who argue that philanthropists (big and small) should take a more strategic approach to giving.  The discussion that has followed the three posts so far gives fascinating insight into the reasons that people give.  Katya Andresen at