This paper analyzes underlying sustainability issues in the emerging social investment landscape. Deploying social enterprise as an umbrella term, it argues that when asking how to best finance a social venture, one first needs to gain clarity about the inherent sustainability of the underlying...

This paper analyzes the role of awards in accelerating positive social change. Awards are an expression of the fundamental human desire to share, celebrate and recognize. But what is the real impact an award has upon the recipient and upon the organization that grants it? And is the...

This paper introduces the concept of change communities in philanthropy. As they reshape social realities, many philanthropists realize that not everything can be accomplished alone. Increasingly, philanthropists therefore start to build quot;change communitiesquot; - groups of experts and...

This paper provides a conceptual framework for a social agenda for commodity businesses, mapping the different action options. Providing basic and high-value commodities, the extractive industry fulfills a fundamental economic need. Operating in a wide variety of geographical and climatic...

This paper analyzes the optimal division of labor between foundations and the public sector. Philanthropists enjoy more personal degrees of freedom than leverage over social systems, because public resources vastly exceed philanthropic resources. Given this dynamic, engaging the public sector is...

This paper analyzes philanthropic strategies to engage climate change. Since the turn of the millennium there has been growing venture capital interest in the broad area of clean technology. Much of that investment - over 50% - has been directed towards the energy sector on technology for energy...