Inside Social Innovation

In this session, Valerie Threlfall discusses the Fund for Shared Insight‘s largest grant program, Listen for Good, which provides grants and technical assistance to dozens of nonprofits to build high quality feedback loops with those they serve. Two Listen for Good grantees, Krystle Onibukon of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula and Brad Dudding of the Center for Employment Opportunities, also talk about their experience with the program.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/learning_to_listen_to_beneficiaries

Data has the potential to help fuel social change across the world, yet many relevant datasets remain locked away and siloed across government agencies, nonprofits, and corporations. What kind of collaboration does it take to make this data available to different actors working to create change?

In a series of TED-style talks, Melinda Rolfs of the MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth, John Wilbanks of Sage Bionetworks, Greg Bloom of Civic Hall Labs and Open Referral, and ST Mayer of Code for America talk about how to develop not only the right tools, but also the right relationships to make data collaboration happen. Jake Porway of DataKind then leads a discussion on how we can collectively harness data for the greater good.

View the slides from this session here.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/unlocking_data_and_unleashing_its_potential

This panel from our Do Good Data | Data on Purpose conference features conference co-hosts Lucy Bernholz of Stanford PACS and Andrew Means of Uptake, along with Stanford education professor Candace Thille, and Kristian Lum, lead statistician at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group. The discussion focuses on the advantages and drawbacks of using data to analyze social trends in areas including higher education and criminal justice.

View the slides from this presentation here.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/prediction_vs._bias_in_data_a_debate

Leading for-profit companies thrive by embracing data insights to drive increased efficiency, effectiveness, and scale. They view information and analytics as core strategic assets in running a modern business. In this talk from our 2017 Do Good Data | Data on Purpose conference, Jim Fruchterman, founder and CEO of the tech nonprofit Benetech, argues that the social sector must follow these companies’ lead. Drawing from his 2016 SSIR article “Using Data for Action and for Impact,” Fruchterman leads a discussion about how nonprofits can embrace the “Software for Good” movement characterized by data-driven decisions to better serve communities.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/software_for_good_empowering_the_social_sector_data_revolution

Building successful networks isn’t just about pairing organizations with similar missions. It’s also about human relationships. In this talk from our 2016 Nonprofit Management Institute, conservationist Steve McCormick looks at several common barriers to developing strong relationships—and ways to overcome them.

Steve McCormick is cofounder and CEO of The Earth Genome, a startup venture to create the first global, open-source information platform on ecosystem services and natural capital. He previously served as president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/get_out_of_your_own_way_challenging_your_mindsets_and_behaviors

In this podcast, Ernesto Sirolli, founder of the Sirolli Institute, considers how to decentralize, democratize, and empower local communities. Sirolli has been working in the field of local economic development since 1971 and has developed a philosophy and practice that allows communities to manage their own social and economic growth. Based on his experience, Sirolli argues that NGOs must incorporate local know-how and leadership into their operation, and that a key to successful development is listening to local communities.

Download the slide presentation that accompanied Sirolli’s talk here.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/there_is_no_geography_to_intelligence_and_passion

In his talk from SSIR‘s 2016 Nonprofit Management Institute, Derrick Braziel looks at how connecting people with the right resources and training, and building a culture of opportunity from within communities, can enable unlikely entrepreneurs, revitalize neighborhoods, and break the cycle of poverty.

Urban communities across America are experiencing an unprecedented renaissance. But this boom threatens to displace long-time residents, who are typically lower income and people of color. Braziel talks about how his organization, MORTAR, uses entrepreneurship to encourage redevelopment without displacement, providing the opportunity for long-time residents to grow with their swiftly changing communities. The organization offers business courses designed for under-served people who are low-income, unemployed, high­ school drop­outs, felons, homeless, or former gang leaders. The aim of this training is to support a new kind of entrepreneur—one focused on collaboration, connecting with people from different backgrounds, and maintaining a sense of community.

Download the slides that accompanied Braziel’s talk here.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/building_a_culture_of_opportunity_within_disadvantaged_communities

In this podcast, Jane Wei-Skillern, an adjunct associate professor at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, identifies four counterintuitive principles that are essential to effective collaboration:

• Trust, not control
• Humility not brand
• Node, not hub
• Mission, not organization

Based on 15 years of research on a range of successful networks, Wei-Skillern uses detailed case studies to illustrate these principles and offers insights for how nonprofit leaders can ensure their collaborations can have an impact that is dramatically greater than the sum of the individual parts.

You can view the slides that accompanied the presentation here.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/cultivating_a_network_leader_mindset

Smita Vadakekalam of Heller Consulting and Sandy Reinardy of the University of Wisconsin Foundation discuss ways to avoid some all-too-common pitfalls of nonprofit technology. And Amy Sample Ward of the Nonprofit Technology Network suggests strategies to organize for success in a new political environment.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_successful_tech_projects_and_social_networ

How can we reach people who don’t have home access to the internet? In this podcast, part of a partnership with Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio, three women who have each made digital inclusion a priority share their thoughts: Kami Griffiths of the Community Technology Network, Karen Lincoln of The Stride Center, and Alicia Orozco of the Chicana/Latina Foundation.

Martignetti also talks with Diane Leonard, president and owner of DH Leonard Consulting, about creating an annual grants plan. They start with the basics, then move into goals and metrics, and end with colleague engagement.

https://ssir.org/podcasts/entry/tony_martignetti_nonprofit_radio_digital_inclusion_grants