Stories of nonprofit heroes and social change innovators

Celebrating those with big hearts who are challenging the status quo, a roundup from around the web

Answering the "big questions”: Social change innovator Daniel Stid launched Lyceum Labs to try to answer some of the “big questions” about the essential components of democracy by focusing on the quality of the leaders and parties at the center of the American democratic system. Hat tip to Leap Ambassadors.

Solving wicked problems: Social change innovators Karol Boudreaux and Daniel Abrahams developed a toolkit for land and violent conflict for USAID. Valuable work that can empower people.

Philanthropy breakthroughs: “Out for justice: a league of Las Vegas philanthropists has uncovered a new way to cut through cold cases” in Las Vegas Weekly, hat tip to Chronicle of Philanthropy.

What I’m reading

Connect > Innovate > Scale Up: How Networks Create Systems Change, by Peter Plastrik, Madeleine Taylor, and John Cleveland.   

Lots of case studies and stories of how networks and ecosystems work in practice. I liked this interview from a Nebraska case study that demonstrates the importance of bottom up experiments.  “I don’t want to waste money,” says Jeff Yost, CEO of the Nebraska Community Foundation, “but I’m happy to spend money on experiments. That’s how we learn. Some should fail, or we’re not thinking expansively enough. You’re constantly in the process of not letting conventional wisdom eat you up.” 

Managing Your Nonprofit for Resilience: Use Lean Risk Management to Improve Performance and Increase Employee Engagement by Ted Bilich.

An experienced grant writer once told me that proposals (and nonprofits) often avoid talking about risk, which makes a nonprofit look naive. Acknowledging risk leads to some of our best strategic breakthroughs. Bilich states, "without effective risk management, a "strategic plan" is merely a strategic hope."

Exciting News for Innovation for Social Change

Innovation for Social Change is in 67 libraries around the world, including the excellent digital nonprofit library at Candid Overdrive.

Thrilled by the many touching reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. If you’ve read the book, would you please consider leaving a review? So grateful for this community of social change innovators!

Image source: Unsplash, Towfiqu Barbhuiya