Publications

Research Summary

Cross-Sector Partnering

By: James E. Austin

This on-going research project is examining the motivations, dynamics, and effectiveness determinants of partnering between nonprofit organizations, businesses, and government entities. The first major output of the research focusing on nonprofits and businesses was... View Details

January 2020
Teaching Note

How to Encourage Others to Give and When to Pass the Torch? Insights from The Philanthropy Connection

By: Christine Exley and Kathleen McGinn

This case follows the co-founder and president, Marla Felcher, of The Philanthropy Connection (TPC). TPC is a nonprofit organization that centers around collective giving: members of TPC make an annual contribution that is then distributed to select nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Giving And Philanthropy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations

02 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 2

equity-bondholder conflicts are economically important, determine capital structure choices, and affect welfare. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-070.pdf The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability Author:Alnoor... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May–June 2023
Article

Should Your Start-up Be For-profit or Nonprofit?: A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs

By: Cait Brumme and Brian Trelstad

Years ago the line between nonprofit and for-profit enterprises was clear, but that has changed. Nonprofits now offer products that compete with those of the best for-profits, and for-profits can deliver as much social value as charities. Despite the blurred... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Nonprofit Organizations; For-Profit Firms; Decision Choices and Conditions

Register to Read

October 2002 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Starbucks and Conservation International

By: James E. Austin and Cate Reavis

Starbucks, the world's leading specialty coffee company, developed a strategic alliance with Conservation International, a major international environmental nonprofit organization. The purpose of the alliance was to promote coffee-growing practices of small farms that... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Production; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Alliances; Nonprofit Organizations; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

October 2021 (Revised August 2022)
Exercise

Janet Ames (D)

By: Brian Trelstad

The final case in the series of Janet Ames looks at the challenges of managing a nonprofit and what to do in the instance of suspected fraud. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Crime and Corruption

October 2001
Case

TIGR and ILRI: Solving Problems with Genomics

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

Discusses nonprofit institutional leadership applying advances in genetic science to solve health and animal problems in industrial countries and the developing world. View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Health; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Emerging Markets; Genetics; Non-Governmental Organizations; Technology Adoption; Biotechnology Industry

Video

Michael Brown-MPEG-4 _WMV 512Kbps

May 2004 (Revised July 2004)
Case

IBM On Demand Community

By: John A. Quelch

The vice-president of IBM Corporate Community Relations is developing the launch program for IBM On Demand Community, a suite of 140 technology tools designed to enable IBM employees to assist nonprofit community organizations and schools worldwide. View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Social Marketing; Computer Industry

12 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

‘Hybrid’ Organizations a Difficult Bet for Entrepreneurs

Consider two organizations with the same noble purpose: to solve the problem of poor eyesight in developing countries. The first, the Centre for Vision in the Developing World, follows a traditional nonprofit model, soliciting donations... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

10 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Cross-Sector Collaboration: Lessons from the International Trachoma Initiative

Cross-sector partnerships between for-profit and nonprofit organizations are increasing in frequency and importance. Such collaborations, write Diana Barrett, James Austin and Sheila McCarthy, "are moving from an arm's-length... View Details

Keywords: by Diana Barrett, James Austin & Sheila McCarthy

Career Coach

Mimi Sax

socially positive applications of AI. She can also support students in pursuing strategy roles in both the private and nonprofit sectors and networking for internship roles. Mimi has experience conducting behavioral and case-based mock... View Details

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Keywords: Microfinance, Development

Spring 2014
Article

What Impact? A Framework for Measuring the Scale & Scope of Social Performance

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

Organizations with social missions, such as nonprofits and social enterprises, are under growing pressure to demonstrate their impacts on pressing societal problems such as global poverty. This article draws on several cases to build a performance assessment framework... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Performance Evaluation

Find at Harvard

Read Now

July 2011
Case

Edna McConnell Clark Foundation-Enabling a Performance Driven Philanthropic Capital Market

By: Allen Grossman and Aldo Sesia

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, focused on building the organizational capabilities of nonprofits that served the disadvantaged youth in the United States, has recently been named an intermediary in the federal government's new social innovation fund (SIF), which... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Strategy; Performance Improvement; Capital Markets; United States

04 Aug 2020
Video

Learn From The Leaders

June 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

ACCION International

By: John A. Quelch

ACCION International is a major nonprofit player in microfinance. Reviews the organization's history and evolution, details current activities and relationships within its network, and assesses the organization's challenges moving forward. View Details

Keywords: Networks; Nonprofit Organizations; Microfinance