Publications

March 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Teach For China and the Chinese Nonprofit Sector

By: William C. Kirby and Erica M. Zendell

Teach For China was founded in 2008 with the mission of expanding educational opportunity across China. By 2013, Andrea Pasinetti's lofty dream had taken flight: over 300 graduates from top American and Chinese universities were participating in its 2-year teaching... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit; China; Business And Government Relations; Business And Poverty; Business And Society; Emerging Market Entrepreneurship; Emerging Market; NGO; Education; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Emerging Markets; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; China

April 2017
Teaching Note

Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health (Abridged)

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli, Ai-Ling Jamila Malone and Jonathan Cohen

Sesame Workshop was in the middle of a turnaround in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This Teaching Note helps instructors teach the abridged and full-length versions of... View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; NGO; Non-profit; Organization Alignment; Managing Change; Philanthropy; Media; Television; Reorganization; Talent; Innovation; Risk Aversion; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Restructuring; Identity; Transformation; Education Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Research Summary

Of Measurement and Mission: Accounting for Performance in Non-Governmental Organizations

By: Debora L. Spar

As members of civil society NGOs would seem to have a built-in proclivity towards representation: towards working on behalf of some group of people, or toward some specific goal. Yet in practice such moments of accountability are rare. Unlike other social agents,... View Details

25 Jan 2008
Working Paper Summaries

What Do Non-Governmental Organizations Do?

Keywords: by Eric D. Werker & Faisal Z. Ahmed

Naina Lal Kidwai

Keywords: Financial Services, Banking, Sanitation

09 Nov 2020
Video

Muhammad Musa

Muhammad Musa, the Executive Director of the BRAC International since 2015, explains that the NGO does not make all its operations in one country financially self-sustaining as it considers outside funding can be a source of new knowledge. For the same reason BRAC... View Details

2007
Chapter

Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores the linkages between information systems and accountability in nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs). The information systems in four NGOs are introduced: two Indian NGOs engaged in natural resource management and rural development, an... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Accountability; Information Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Information Technology; India; District of Columbia

Article

Strategies and Tactics in NGO-Government Relations: Insights from Slum Housing in Mumbai

By: Ramya Ramanath and Alnoor Ebrahim

Relationships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies have been variously described in the nonprofit literature as cooperative, complementary, adversarial, confrontational, or even co-optive. But how do NGO-government relationships emerge... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Housing; Corporate Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Change Management; Business Strategy; Growth and Development; Non-Governmental Organizations; Accommodations Industry; Mumbai

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March 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Alleviating Poverty and Malnutrition

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Kerry Herman

Deals with approaches to alleviating poverty and how firms, governments, and NGOs are able to work together to accomplish these goals. View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Nutrition; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Poverty; Welfare

2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Alberto Mora and the Costs and Consequences of Torture

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Benjamin Summers

Alberto Mora's time as General Counsel of the Navy from 2001–2006 greatly influenced his mission to illuminate the policy consequences of torture. Mora's drive to restore the nation's awareness and conscience against torture was gaining traction. Prominent... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Skills; Torture; Costs And Consequences; Humane; Restraint; Human Dignity; Treatment Of Prisoners; Prison; Repression; Opposition; Revolution; Democracy; Communism; International Affairs; Public Service; September 11; War On Terror; Operation Enduring Freedom; Guantanamo; Cuba; Coalition; Working Group; Cruelty; Interrogation; Memorandum; American Law; Authority; Authoritative; Quadrennial Defense Review; National Defense Authorization Act; Public Engagement; Advocacy; Law; Accountability; Center For The Victims Of Torture; Human Rights; Public Policy; Legality; Morality; Legal System; Tactical Military Operations; West Point; NGO; Human Rights First; American Civil Liberties Union; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty International; Constitution Project; Center For Constitutional Rights; Strategic Military Effect; National Security; Weapon; Terrorism; Prisoners Of War; Abu Ghraib; Pentagon; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Leadership; Rights; Policy; Public Opinion; United States

March 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

El Sistema

By: Tarun Khanna and Jenn Chang

El Sistema explores an NGO that changes the life of thousands of young people in Venezuela and around the world through musical education. View Details

Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations; Education; Music Entertainment; Venezuela

Video

Runa Khan

Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Friendship, an NGO supporting some of the poorest regions in Bangladesh, outlines her development of Friendship International as a means to increase funding and improve talent acquisition. View Details

Video

Narayanan Vaghul

Narayanan Vaghul, Former Chairman of ICICI Bank Limited, recounts discovering and establishing strong financial backing for Pratham, an NGO that seeks to improve the quality of education for children throughout India (Filmed October 26, 2017). View Details

October 2008
Article

Risk Frameworks and Biomonitoring: Distributed Regulation of Synthetic Chemicals in Humans

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

The ability to detect and measure the presence of synthetic chemicals at trace levels in humans coupled to increased environmental NGO mobilization concerning chemical exposure has challenged risk and regulatory frameworks built up over the past quarter-century. This... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Non-Governmental Organizations; United States

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Awards

Outstanding Book in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research

Winner of the Outstanding Book Award in 2004 from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action for NGOs and Organizational Change: Discourse, Reporting and Learning (Cambridge University Press, 2003). View Details

October 2009 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Carolina for Kibera

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Cailin B. Hammer

A growing NGO based in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, is facing a complete change in leadership as the founders step back. At the same time, a $1 million grant presents new opportunities and challenges. View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Negotiation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Non-Governmental Organizations; Power and Influence; Nairobi; North Carolina

21 Jan 2021
Video

Laila Tyabji

Laila Tyabji, Chairperson of Dastkar, an NGO supporting traditional Indian craftspeople, describes the challenges she faced securing a home in India in the late 1960s as an unmarried woman and without an employer’s guarantee. View Details

Article

What Do Nongovernmental Organizations Do?

By: Eric D. Werker and Faisal Z. Ahmand

Nongovernmental organizations are one group of players who are active in the efforts of international development and increasing the welfare of poor people in poor countries. Nongovernmental organizations are largely staffed by altruistic employees and volunteers... View Details

Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations; Growth and Development; Welfare or Wellbeing; Poverty; Service Delivery; Crime and Corruption; Social Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Framework