Jul 30, 2010

Further Thoughts on Unitus/SKS

Some conversations and reactions to my earlier post have made it clear to me that I need to clarify some points and my thoughts on Unitus and SKS.The key issue for me is not that something “wrong” was done; it’s certainly not that people are profiting by serving the poor. The key issue is how we as a society handle the cross-overs between the public interest and private interest. We debate these issues endlessly when it comes to economic stimulus, bailouts, and government contracts. It’s time for the social entrepreneurship sector to debate these issues too—and to come up with some very good answers that ensure the public maintains confidence in social enterprise as a way of solving our pressing problems.

Jul 28, 2010

Why Every Social Entrepreneur Should Be Paying Attention to SKS and Unitus

There are some very real issues for the social entrepreneurship community raised by the SKS IPO and the Unitus shutdown. Issues that social entrepreneurs have, to date, been able to ignore. No longer. We are for the first time, I believe, seeing what the endgame for social entrepreneurship can look like. The social entrepreneurship space is still the wild west—everyone is making it up as they go along. I suspect that is going to rapidly change as the details about SKS and Unitus slowly trickle out.

Jul 28, 2010

A Guide to the SKS/Unitus Story

Given that stories about the SKS IPO and the Unitus shutdown, how the two are interrelated and what it all means for the social entrepreneurship community are spread across the web, I thought it would be useful to publish a mostly comprehensive guide here. Please suggest anything that I’ve missed in the comments. I’ll add to it as I see new material.

Jun 29, 2010

U.S. Lagging, Not Leading, Social Entrepreneurship

May 31, 2010

Patient Optimism In Other Words

May 14, 2010

Fifth Annual Index of Global Philanthropy Now Available

May 05, 2010

Better Ways to React to Rigorous Evaluation

A few weeks ago I wrote a post criticizing the reaction of microfinance organizations and the City of New York to rigorous evaluations of their programs. This week, I’ve seen two pieces of writing in reaction to evaluation of programs that I think provide positive examples.

Apr 27, 2010

Thoughts from the Council on Foundations Annual Conference

I’ve been in Denver for a few days at the Council on Foundations annual conference. I’ve been unable to post updates as I did at the Global Philanthropy Forum because the technology infrastructure available here is, frankly, terrible. With that said, some brief thoughts, which I hope to follow-up with more detailed posts over the next few weeks.

Apr 23, 2010

Esther Duflo wins John Bates Clark Medal

Today Esther Duflo was announced as the winner of the John Bates Clark Medal. The award is granted to the economist under age 40 who has “contributed the most to the profession.“ The increasing recognition of Duflo’s groundbreaking work to bring experimental economics to bear on real world questions is a ray of hope that philanthropy and public policy can learn from what works.

You can read an extensive interview with Esther Duflo here.

Apr 22, 2010

Global Philanthropy Forum: Day 3

Some thoughts on Day 3 of the Global Philanthropy Forum including sessions on “flexible funding” and on measurement and metrics. I came away from the latter more discouraged than encouraged because it seemed that everyone needed to genuflect to the idea that randomized control trials, the gold standard of measurement, were too expensive, too narrow, too hard or just useless. If the sector continues to cast aspersions on the best tool we have for measurement, I despair that metrics will ever be used to make wise decisions rather than to justify what we already want to do.