Publications

March 2018
Case

GiveDirectly

By: John Beshears, Joshua Schwartzstein, Tiffany Y. Chang and Brian J. Hall

How should nonprofits design compensation systems to attract and retain talent? GiveDirectly is a respected charitable organization with an unconventional approach. Instead of spending on traditional aid programs in areas such as health care and food access in... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofits; Charity; Effective Altruism; International Aid; Compensation; Goals; Bonuses; Incentives; GiveDirectly; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives; Recruitment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

December 2017
Case

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Sarah Mehta

It is July 2017, and Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, the director general of the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), is making progress toward two of his primary strategic objectives for the nonprofit research Institute: 1) to scale the impact... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Technologies; Youth Unemployment; Innovation In Nonprofits; Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Cash Flow; Labor; Employment; Commercialization; Problems and Challenges; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa; Nigeria

22 Sep 2014
News

Why We Should Teach Entrepreneurship to Disadvantaged Students

Keywords: entrepreneurship; Nonprofit; disadvantaged youth; income disparity

10 Mar 2021
News

Turning Point: Coming to Cambodia

Illustration by Gisela Goppel Illustration by Gisela Goppel By Connie Baher (MBA 1980) I was standing in New York’s Asia Society Museum when I saw it. A high school kid from Connecticut, I’d taken the train to the big city and was nosing around an exhibition of... View Details

Keywords: mentorship; nonprofit management; retirement; leadership

01 Dec 2019
News

Turning Point: Living History

Mallika Ahluwalia (MBA/MPA 2011) (illustration by Gisela Goppel) Mallika Ahluwalia (MBA/MPA-ID 2011) (illustration by Gisela Goppel) I’d never thought of myself as someone who would work in a museum. I’ve always been a very mission-motivated person; for most of my... View Details

Keywords: museums; India; nonprofits; career paths; leadership; Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions; Arts, Entertainment

19 Feb 2021
News

Boston City Hall Vet Named New Chief of Staff

Keywords: Boston; COVID-19; local government; nonprofit; communication; leadership; Government

August 2021
Supplement

Shorefast: A Strange and Familiar Way to Reimagine Capitalism: Zita Cobb, Founder and CEO

By: Brian Trelstad

Video Supplement for HBS Case No. 320-098. In 2006, Zita Cobb and two of her brothers, Alan Cobb and Tony Cobb, native Newfoundlanders, launched Shorefast to help grow another leg of Fogo Island’s economy. Like so many rural communities, Fogo Island’s fate was tied... View Details

Keywords: Place Making; Nonprofit; Hotel; Economic Development; Tourism; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Development Economics; Economic Systems; Tourism Industry; Canada

09 Nov 2022
News

Public Good

“I’ve got to listen and learn before I make major changes.” Hudson’s background includes 25 years of experience in the corporate world, most recently in the field of medical technology. After a year-long break following a successful IPO, she made the switch to the... View Details

Keywords: nonprofit management; social enterprise; leadership; United Way; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

July 2017
Background Note

An Overview of the NGO and Philanthropy Sectors in India

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Shashank Shah

The note provides an overview of the size and structure of India’s philanthropic sector. It describes the evolution of the sector and its size in numbers and money. It also provides brief descriptions of selected NGOs/Nonprofits in India in different categories to give... View Details

Keywords: Social Sector; Nonprofit Sector; Philanthropic Sector; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Nonprofit Organizations; India

June 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Boys & Girls Clubs of America: Driving Impact

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Lisa C. Cox

With $1.8 billion in 2015 revenues, Boys & Girls Club of America had evolved over its 155-year-old history to occupy the lead position in the Youth Development space in the United States. Its new CEO Jim Clark had initiated yet another change process in 2015 to ensure... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Strategy; Planning Process; Transformative Impact; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Growth Management

March 2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Doug Rauch and the Daily Table

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Peter Zimmerman and Penelope Rossano

Former Trader Joe’s President Doug Rauch developed an innovative idea to address the challenge of food insecurity, food waste, and nutrition. His concept was a new retail grocery model, offering nutritious affordable food to a food insecure population in the inner city... View Details

Keywords: Food Waste; Poverty; Food Security; Food Labeling; Nonprofit; Food; Social Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Nutrition; Health

February 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Akshaya Patra: Impact at Scale

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

Akshaya Patra, an Indian NGO, had set an ambitious goal of serving 5 million free meals daily to India's schoolchildren. Founded in 2000, Akshaya Patra had thus far opened 25 high-capacity kitchens in 10 different States to provide a midday meal to nearly 1.65 million... View Details

Keywords: Scaling; Public-private Partnership; Operational Excellence; Nonprofit Scaling; Social Impact; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; India

September 2016
Case

Health Leads: Reaching for Impact (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sarah Appleby

Explores strategies to achieve system-level impact for a nonprofit focused on addressing patients' basic social needs through healthcare institutions. Founded in 1996 with a volunteer-staffed help desk at Boston Medical Center connecting low-income patients with basic... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Social Impact; Nonprofit; Healthcare; Health Care Outcomes; Health Care Reform; Health Care Delivery; Scaling Social Enterprise; Social Enterprise; Health; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

March 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

CareerWise Colorado

By: Rawi Abdelal, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

CareerWise Colorado (CWC) is an organization that equips high school students with the skills to build successful careers through apprenticeships. Founded in 2016, the young organization has attracted interest from different groups and civic leaders from across the... View Details

Keywords: Apprenticeship; Nonprofit; Not For Profit; Labor Markets; Skills; Nonprofit Organizations; Education; Competency and Skills; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy

01 Dec 2000
News

Opening Doors: Inside the World of Museum Management

operations of their complicated, not-for-profit institutions. "The job of running a museum is much bigger and broader than it once was," observes HBS marketing professor emeritus Stephen A. Greyser, an expert on nonprofit management who... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; museums; marketing; management; nonprofits; education; facilities; Internet; Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions; Arts, Entertainment; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

01 Dec 2020
News

In the Zone

When Kwame Owusu-Kesse (MBA/MPP 2012) was in his last year of graduate school, he got a call from Geoffrey Canada, founder and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), a nonprofit that takes a comprehensive, cradle-to-career approach to... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; nonprofit management; urban development; leadership; public education; Educational Services

2017
Supplement

Uncommon Schools (B): Seeking Excellence at Scale through Standardized Practice

By: John J-H Kim and Sarah McAra

The (B) case provides an update to the (A) case by illustrating how charter school management organization Uncommon Schools responded to the disparity in its students’ 2013 standardized test results. In 2015, CEO Brett Peiser and his management team decided to align... View Details

Keywords: Charter Schools; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Teaching; Talent And Talent Management; Innovation; Education; Early Childhood Education; Middle School Education; Organizational Structure; Performance Consistency; Growth and Development Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry