Stanford Social Innovation Review
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Stanford Social Innovation Review
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We're a self-funded nonprofit publication with a mission to inform and inspire leaders of social change.

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"A good mission statement performs a similar function to the role the US Constitution plays (on a good day) for the American government: It helps to keep an organization grounded and offers an important reference point for resolving conflicts about vision and direction."
The Seduction of Nonprofit Mission Creep (SSIR)
An excerpt from The Nonprofit Crisis on why nonprofits should resist the lure to extend their reach
ssir.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
ACLU was founded at a similarly terrifying time as ours. This excellent piece updates us on how they're working to protect us now. ssir.org/articles/ent...
ACLU v. Trump (SSIR)
The American Civil Liberties Union is leading the fight in the United States against the Trump administration's executive overreach. We asked them for a status update.
ssir.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
"To realize the potential of private sector investment in nature protection and conservation, governments must put in place policy measures—such as tax breaks, de-risking guarantees, and regulatory requirements—that induce the private sector to invest." ssir.org/articles/ent...
Business Won’t Save Nature (Until Governments Change the Rules of the Game) (SSIR)
If private finance is to shoulder the burden for nature conservation, government has to create the necessary incentive structure.
ssir.org
November 21, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
Today, I have an article in @SSIR.org on lessons from our first decade, including:

(1) The importance of choosing causes
(2) Field-building pays off hugely
(3) Great philanthropy is possible anywhere on the risk spectrum
(4) Balancing maximization and moderation is hard

🧵
ssir.org/articles/en...
November 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
While nature-based solutions can contribute about one-third of the climate change mitigation needed by 2030, nature receives only 2 percent of total climate funding. Why this disparity?

The problem is we’ve expected private finance to shoulder the burden, and it hasn’t.
Business Won’t Save Nature (Until Governments Change the Rules of the Game) (SSIR)
If private finance is to shoulder the burden for nature conservation, government has to create the necessary incentive structure.
ssir.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Low voter registration is a design choice.

@thecivicscenter.bsky.social founder and CEO Laura W. Brill joins SSIR for a live conversation about her forthcoming cover story, “Getting Youth Engaged in Democracy.”

Wednesday, December 3.

ssir.org/youth-voters...
November 21, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
An excerpt of my book had just been published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review. @ssir.org

We must either renegotiate the terms of our "contract" with engagement/surveillance algorithms or break the contract altogether....
Breaking the Algorithmic Contract (SSIR)
An excerpt from You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem on the internet’s social contract
ssir.org
November 19, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
Sharp insights and calls to action in this @ssir.org article by Deb Nelson of the Just Economy Institute, Nwamaka Agbo of the Kataly Foundation, and Deborah Frieze of the Boston Impact Initiative and the Unlock Ownership Fund ssir.org/articles/ent...
Advancing Economic Justice in Reactionary Times (SSIR)
A conversation with leading funders on effective responses to crisis, getting unstuck, and whether philanthropy is doing enough.
ssir.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
ACLU v. Trump ssir.org/articles/ent... David V. Johnson, Anthony D. Romero, A.J. Hikes & Aletheia Henry, Stanford Social Innovation Review - @aclu.org

"As a 105-year-old organization, we were not created for Trump, but we are built for this moment, and we certainly know how to play the long game.
ACLU v. Trump (SSIR)
The American Civil Liberties Union is leading the fight in the United States against the Trump administration's executive overreach. We asked them for a status update.
ssir.org
November 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Where exactly are we in terms of civil liberties in the United States?

We spoke with the leaders of the @aclu.org, who went deep on their battles with the Trump administration, how they are prioritizing issues, the Supreme Court, and implications for civil society.
ACLU v. Trump (SSIR)
The American Civil Liberties Union is leading the fight in the United States against the Trump administration's executive overreach. We asked them for a status update.
ssir.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
A new excerpt of my new book on adapting to climate change, Sink or Swim, is now up on @ssir.org celebrating the North American launch this week!

@bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social

ssir.org/books/excerp...
Locked In (SSIR)
An excerpt from Sink or Swim on adapting to the climate change we can't prevent
ssir.org
November 6, 2025 at 11:28 AM
"As a city leader, I care about people in my community who are experiencing homelessness, but I’m frustrated that we keep being told the only solution is putting more money into the same system. We need to be able to show that this spending works or we will lose residents’ trust."
Could We Radically Redesign Homelessness Services Around Outcomes? (SSIR)
Why the current system is broken and what local governments, nonprofits, and philanthropists could do to change it.
ssir.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
Women’s generative AI hesitancy is rooted in rationality, not hysteria. It is not risk aversion. It is risk awareness: AI hallucinations, biased outputs, privacy concerns, and (rational) expectations of being judged more harshly for using it on the job.
ssir.org/articles/ent...
The AI Gender Gap Paradox (SSIR)
A case for fierce ambivalence
ssir.org
November 2, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
"Women predict AI will bring less benefit and do more harm across personal, professional, and public life." but "If [women] engage and advocate, their risk awareness can strengthen the technology itself." ssir.org/articles/ent...
The AI Gender Gap Paradox (SSIR)
A case for fierce ambivalence
ssir.org
October 29, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
An excerpt from Organize or Burn on how movement politics can respond to democratic crisis

ssir.org/books/excerp...
A New Environment for Climate Politics (SSIR)
An excerpt from Organize or Burn on how movement politics can respond to democratic crisis
ssir.org
October 29, 2025 at 5:38 PM
In 2018, a group of funders established Farmed Animal Funders to accelerate progress toward a more humane, sustainable food system.

It offers a case study for philanthropists and advocates working on other new, underfunded causes on how to coordinate effectively to create wide-ranging impact.
Building Donor Communities for New or Underfunded Issues (SSIR)
Five ways to engage philanthropists and advocates in early-stage or overlooked causes, such as intensive animal agriculture, that have outsized potential for impact.
ssir.org
October 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
Financing community-led solutions requires shifting both money and power.

@ssir.org explains how Community-Driven Outcomes Contracts do just that by putting communities in the lead to define problems, design solutions, and measure success. Read about it:
How to Finance Community-Led Solutions (SSIR)
Raven Indigenous Outcomes Funds has pioneered community-driven outcomes contracts to center Indigenous communities in Canada as leaders in addressing health and social problems. They present a bold…
ssir.org
October 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
My work is featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review today @nyupress.bsky.social @publicpowerny.bsky.social ssir.org/books/excerp...
A New Environment for Climate Politics (SSIR)
An excerpt from Organize or Burn on how movement politics can respond to democratic crisis
ssir.org
October 28, 2025 at 12:35 PM
"Women’s generative AI hesitancy is rooted in rationality, not hysteria. It is not risk aversion. It is risk awareness."
The AI Gender Gap Paradox (SSIR)
A case for fierce ambivalence
ssir.org
October 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
"For years, I overextended myself in the name of purpose. I felt an unspoken pressure to keep going no matter the cost, to hold everything together because the stakes felt so high..."

An excerpt from The Future Is Collective by Niloufar Khonsari, with a new, original introduction from the author:
Boundaries as an Act of Collective Care (SSIR)
An excerpt from The Future is Collective on embedding care into how we work
ssir.org
October 22, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
Of 100,000 historic sites on the National Register, less than 1% are associated with Latinx histories. Latinos in Heritage Conservation asks “What would it be like if we ...reimagine [historic preservation] with Latino history, culture, and values at the center?” I wrote about the org for @ssir.org.
Preserving America’s Full History (SSIR)
Latinos in Heritage Conservation has grown from a grassroots volunteer-led network into the nation's foremost Latinx historic preservation nonprofit.
ssir.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM
"I’ve been here before, having spent decades watching development institutions try and fail to catch up with tech.

As the same story unfolds, this time, we have to rewrite the script: AI offers a path to do more with less, if we invest in the infrastructure that will make it work for everyone."
Rails, Not Rockstars (SSIR)
The Global South's AI revolution is here, if we bypass the hype and fund the infrastructure that will enable it.
ssir.org
October 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
"Whether rooted in science or metaphysics, people throughout history have often held a belief that hidden patterns beneath everyday life set the world’s course, and that revealing those patterns can unlock flourishing and prosperity."
The Impossibility of Automating Economic Flourishing (SSIR)
In contrast to the worldview shaping the AI era, the true value of an innovative economy lies not just in its outputs, but in the lived human experience of creating the new.
ssir.org
October 20, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
“After Trump was elected the first time, there was a whole lot of mobilizing, but it didn’t turn into building infrastructure to developing leadership. And unless you’re building at the same time you’re fighting, you wind up with nothing.”

@ssireview.bsky.social
ssir.org/articles/ent...
Are You Building Something? (SSIR)
An interview with Marshall Ganz on what the social sector gets wrong about power and structural change
ssir.org
October 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Stanford Social Innovation Review
Annual US subsidies to #oil & #gas firms have risen from $5B to at least $12B following recent legislation. Meanwhile, the same firms eliminated 4.7k jobs in the first half of 2025, with big corp's. planning significantly more workforce cuts.
Read @ssir.org: ssir.org/articles/ent...
#government
The Oil and Gas Industry Is Costing American Taxpayers, Consumers, and Communities (SSIR)
Investing in people and places is an antidote to the climate crisis.
ssir.org
October 9, 2025 at 10:28 PM