Publications

February 2023 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Moleskine Foundation: Can Creativity Change the World?

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Alexandra C. Feldberg and Sarah Gulick

The Italy-based Moleskine Foundation worked with young adults in Africa and Europe to inspire social change through art and creative projects. Adama Sanneh, the newly appointed CEO of the Moleskine Foundation, faced several challenges: First, he had to make his own... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Leadership; Identity; Strategy; Education Industry; Italy; Africa; Europe; United States

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

and local governments will reach approximately $450 billion. Although per-pupil spending has more than doubled in real dollars over the last thirty years, student achievement has remained stagnant. U.S. students look mediocre, or worse, in comparison to students in... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

Why companies support nonprofits and other socially responsible activities is an intriguing question for both academics and practitioners. After all, there is no clear-cut evidence that corporate "do-gooding" results in greater... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2024
Case

Negotiating the Gift of Life (A)

By: Alex Chan

Describes a negotiation where lives are truly at stake, where key lessons on persuasion and the role that identity might play in a negotiation are on display through an effort by a frontline negotiator from OneLegacy, the US's largest organ procurement organization. As... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Negotiation; Communication; Diversity; Nonprofit Organizations; Emotions; Health Industry

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

AOL Time Warner Foundation

Focuses on B. Keith Fulton, vice president of the AOL Time Warner Foundation, who is analyzing the results of a new partnership between the foundation and the National Council on Aging. Fulton is considering ways to build upon the partnership's initial success. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Partners and Partnerships; Communications Industry; Communications Industry; Communications Industry

01 Jun 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Reporting

Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills. Questions To Be Answered: What's the best way to report nonfinancial metrics? How can nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

organizations in private industry could learn from the example of Data.gov to the extent of unlocking data from individual silos in their firm even though data remain protected within firewalls. HBS assistant professor Karim R. Lakhani,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

May 2003
Case

Environmental Defense

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Analyzes the strategy and management of Environmental Defense, a leading environmental advocacy group, emphasizing the group's activity in the energy and agribusiness industries. From a strategy formulation standpoint, the case encourages students to think of the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Energy; Relationships; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

February 2020
Teaching Note

Ariadne Labs: Building Impactful Partnerships

By: Ariel D. Stern and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-017. View Details

Keywords: Health; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Industry; Boston

April 1996 (Revised June 1996)
Case

City Year Enterprise

City Year, a national, nonprofit, youth-service corps, decided to diversify its funding base by seeking opportunities to gain "earned income." In 1995, the initiative, dubbed "City Year Enterprise," had already launched its first project, a collaboration with the... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Partners and Partnerships; Joint Ventures; Social Entrepreneurship; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

May 2013
Supplement

From Little Things Big Things Grow: The Clontarf Foundation Program for Aboriginal Boys (B)

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Michael Vitale

This case focuses on the growth of an innovative non-profit institution that motivates aboriginal children to attend school by harnessing their love of football. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations; Education; Sports; Education Industry

July 1972 (Revised November 1980)
Case

Richardson Center for the Blind

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Social Enterprise; Health Industry

08 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

A Bold Proposal for Investment Reform

should be a nonprofit organization, with responsibility for rating the performance of financial analysts from the viewpoint of retail investors. We believe that there are costs as well as benefits from liquidity in the capital market. The... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

December 1986 (Revised August 1988)
Case

LifeSpan Inc.: Abbott Northwestern Hospital

Raises the powerful issues of measuring marketing performance in a not-for-profit services setting. Also raises several interesting ethical issues. LifeSpan Inc., a Minneapolis based not-for-profit organization is the parent holding company of three hospitals and... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Ethics; Marketing Communications; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Service Industry; Minneapolis

May 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Teaching Note

Jumpstart TN

By: Allen S. Grossman

Teaching Note for (9-301-037). View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Nonprofit Organizations; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Growth and Development; Success; Education Industry

12 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

One Report: Better Strategy through Integrated Reporting

Report begins with identifying the most important financial and ESG metrics for the company in its given industry and the strategy it is pursuing to achieve its goals. In some cases, revenue growth may be critical; in others, earnings... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2003 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Performance Pay for MGOA Physicians (A)

Examines the transition of an orthopedic surgical group at a premier teaching and research hospital from a system in which the surgeons are compensated with flat salaries to a system where they are compensated based on profitability. Allows for an examination of... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Compensation and Benefits; Health Industry

February 2009 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Investing in Early Learning as Economic Development at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank

By: Stacey M. Childress and Geoff Eckman Marietta

In his role as Senior Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (Minneapolis Fed), Art Rolnick and his colleague, Rob Grunewald, had written "Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return." The... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Early Childhood Education; Investment Return; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

July 2021
Teaching Plan

Shorefast: A Strange and Familiar Way to Reimagine Capitalism

By: Brian Trelstad, Wendy Smith and Natalie Slawinski

Teaching Plan 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; Non-profit; Hotel; Economic Development; Tourism; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Development Economics; Economic Systems; Tourism Industry; Canada