Nonprofit - Publications - Faculty & Research

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan

Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently... View Details

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12 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Solving COVID'S Mental Health Crisis

deliver essential services. The problems remain severe but with concerted efforts across public, private, and nonprofit sectors and the leadership of committed individuals, there is an opportunity for overdue and lasting change. About the... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Health

August 2022
Teaching Plan

Janet Ames (A), (B), (C), (D)

By: Brian Trelstad

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 320-076, 320-077, 320-078, and 322-051. The series of Janet Ames cases follow a fictional alumna of Harvard Business School into her consulting career in Boston. Over the series of cases, Ames is first offered the opportunity to join... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Board; Non-profit Management; Career Changes And Transitions; Evaluation; Personal Development and Career; Opportunities; Decision Choices and Conditions; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; United States

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February 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Mistry Architects (C)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Robert G. Eccles and Mona Sinha

This case is a follow-up to "Mistry Architects: Innovating for Sustainability (A)" (Case 609-044) and (B) (Case 609-064). In Case (A) Sharukh and Renu Mistry founded and run an architectural firm dedicated to being both client-oriented and environmentally responsible.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Environmental Sustainability

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22 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 23

characteristics for investors that could act as stewards of the commons. Social pressure fueled by small socially responsible investment funds and nonprofit organizations and customer pressure from individual investors are critical in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2011 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Hassina Sherjan

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim and Pippa Eccles

Hassina Sherjan was born in Afghanistan but grew up and was educated in the United States. A trip to Afghanistan when she was an adult inspired her to move back to her home country with two missions. The first was to educate young women through a non-profit... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Non-Governmental Organizations; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Innovation Leadership; Development Economics; Growth and Development; Problems and Challenges; Retail Industry; Afghanistan; United States

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10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

globally when carrying out such a worthy but ambitious goal. And the whole story points to the personal challenges that face the originator of a cool nonprofit idea when "me-too" for-profit companies seek to compete for the same... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

04 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

The Business of Global Poverty

"A Conference on Global Poverty: Business Solutions and Approaches," with a goal of beginning to identify the characteristics of successful enterprises and leaders in this realm. The nearly 100 academics, business practitioners, and View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

26 Feb 2001
Research & Ideas

Evolving for Success [Part One]

other people can also send us their reactions, feedback, and requests. There's direct access everywhere, and that is transforming even for businesses and nonprofit organizations that are never going to sell a single thing on the Web. They... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

03 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017

constructively replicate and extend these findings with a supplemental analysis of a second sample, the full population of new nonprofit organizations founded during a two-year period in the United States (n = 31,160). By highlighting how... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

May 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way

By: Christina R. Wing, Robert F. White and Michael Norris

In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward? View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Philanthropy; Family Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Management Succession; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston

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November 1974
Case

Job Corps

Describes the efforts of the director of Job Corps to stave off the destruction of his agency by the Nixon administration. In this process, the director built extensive power bases which he mobilized in support of Job Corps. The end result was that Job Corps was not... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Power and Influence; Business and Government Relations

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March 2023
Case

Between Two Minds: The Staglin Family

By: Lauren Cohen, Ronnie Stangler and Grace Headinger

Garen Staglin, Founder and Chairman of One Mind, reflected on his life’s work in brain health. As he contemplated stepping down in the next few years, he weighed how to pass along this legacy to his son, Brandon Staglin, the impetus behind and next generation of the... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Well-being; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Mission and Purpose; Health Industry

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August 2020
Case

This Old House of Worship: St. Anthony Shrine (A)

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This multimedia case asks students to consider how leaders of non-profit organizations manage difficult financial, operational, and cultural turnarounds. Since its founding in 1947, St. Anthony Shrine had been a central partner in serving the Downtown Boston community.... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Turnarounds; Non-profit Management; Leadership; Change Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Religion; Mission and Purpose; Transformation; Organizational Culture; United States

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April 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Ariadne Labs: Building Impactful Partnerships

By: Ariel D. Stern and Sarah Mehta

In September 2018, the executive team at Ariadne Labs (Ariadne), a Boston-based organization dedicated to improving health systems through the discovery and implementation of simple tools, faced a number of strategic decisions. Chief among them, the seven-year-old... View Details

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

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March 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Teaching Note

ProPublica (TN)

By: Michel Anteby and Ryan Johnson

Teaching Note for #410-140. View Details

Keywords: Markets; Finance; Competency and Skills; Knowledge; Nonprofit Organizations; Resource Allocation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Journalism and News Industry

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05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

How to Tap the Talent Automated HR Platforms Miss

As the global staffing shortage grinds on, corporate recruiters everywhere are relying on their online hiring platforms and automated systems to deliver the candidates they need. Too often, these tools will fail them, sidelining many qualified workers in the process.... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller

14 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 14

relational context of trust and facilitating learning from failures. Book: Enacting Our Field Author:Alnoor Ebrahim Publication:Nonprofit Management and Leadership (forthcoming). Abstract This keynote address, delivered to the Nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: The Business of Crowdsourcing

example. Many nonprofits and other organizations can't afford to hire data scientists, so DrivenData taps into college students and professionals who are looking to work with real-world data sets. For instance, the company is seeking a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

December 2011
Case

Negotiating the Path of Abraham

By: James K. Sebenius and Kimberlyn Leary

The Abraham Path Initiative board faces strategic and negotiating challenges in revitalizing a route of Middle East cultural tourism following Abraham's path 4000 years ago. The Path begins in the ancient ruins of Harran, in modern-day Turkey, where Abraham first heard... View Details