Bridgespan: Knowledge/Articles

	Business Planning for Nonprofits
	Costs Are Cool: The Strategic Value of Economic Clarity
	Expanding the Supply of High-Quality Public Schools
	Funding: Patterns and Guideposts in the Nonprofit Sector
	Getting Replication Right: The Decisions That Matter Most
	Going for the Gold: Secrets of Successful Schools
	Going to Scale: The Challenge of Replicating Social Programs
	Growth of Youth-Serving Organizations
	Higher-Impact Philanthropy
	How Nonprofits Get Really Big
	In Search of Sustainable Funding
	Knowledge Sharing in the Social Sector
	Money Matters
	More Bang for the Buck
	Moving Eco-certification Mainstream
	National Networks
	Nonprofit Overhead Costs
	The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit
	RAPID^SM Decision-Making
	Reclaiming the American Dream
	Replicating High-Performing Public Schools
	Seeing the Internet's (Not So) Obvious Benefits
	Should Nonprofits Seek Profits?
	Strongly Led, Under-managed
	Toward e-Engagement
	Zeroing in on Impact


	Articles and Papers
	Business Planning for Nonprofits What it is and why it matters. Costs Are Cool: The Strategic Value of Economic Clarity When you've signed off on next year's budget, will it be supporting your organization's mission or inadvertently undermining it? Expanding the Supply of High-Quality Public Schools Everyone knows that individual schools work, but how can what works be effectively reproduced in other contexts? Funding: Patterns and Guideposts in the Nonprofit Sector Knowledge of other nonprofits’ sources of funding may help you create a stronger economic model for yours. Getting Replication Right: The Decisions That Matter Most Ultimately, a few key decisions will lead to successful organization replication, but they are more complex than they might at first appear. Going for the Gold: Secrets of Successful Schools A strong school design isn’t enough to drive student graduation and college acceptance rates. Getting to student results requires “sweating the details” of executing its most important elements. View full article available on the Education Next website. Going to Scale: The Challenge of Replicating Social Programs With few exceptions, most nonprofits in the United States operate in a single neighborhood, town, or city. How can proven nonprofit programs increase their reach? View full article available on the SSIR website. Growth of Youth-Serving Organizations What factors were critical in shaping how 20 youth-serving organizations grew, and what were the major consequences of their growth? Higher-Impact Philanthropy How you give is as important as what you give to. View full article available on the Philanthropy Roundtable website. How Nonprofits Get Really Big By defying conventional wisdom, 144 nonprofits went from founding to at least 50 million in revenue between 1970 and 2003. View full article available on the SSIR website. In Search of Sustainable Funding: Is Diversity of Sources Really the Answer? Does having a wide variety of funding sources make for a healthier organization? Conventional wisdom says yes. Data revealed by a preliminary research study suggests otherwise. View full article available on the Nonprofit Quarterly website. Knowledge Sharing in the Social Sector Where do nonprofit and foundation executives turn for new management ideas, and how do they translate insights into action? Money Matters How do funds flow within the nonprofit sector? What are the major sources of funds and which nonprofits receive the most funds? More Bang for the Buck As the experiences of Teach for America, Jumpstart, and Year Up attest, nonprofits can achieve significant productivity gains—reducing costs without compromising quality—even when prevailing funding practices and other sector-specific traits are working against them. View full article available on the SSIR website. Moving Eco-certification Mainstream When does certification make sense? And what steps can increase the odds that a certification program will succeed? National Networks: Planning Can Align a National Network for Full Impact How a network develops its strategic plan is as important as what that plan ultimately says. Nonprofit Overhead Costs: Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Misleading Reporting, Unrealistic Expectations, and Pressure to Conform Nonprofits and funders alike need to work to change the perception of overhead in the sector. Here’s why—and how. The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit The need for 640,000 new leaders over the next decade will shape the future of the nonprofit sector. RAPID^SM Decision-Making: What it is, why we like it, and how to get the most out of it Organizational decision-making can be complicated for many reasons. A tool called RAPID^SM is helping nonprofits simplify and clarify that process. Reclaiming the American Dream What kinds of supports make the greatest difference in helping low-income youth prepare for and enroll in college? Replicating High-Performing Public Schools: Lessons from the Field What are experienced school developers doing to maintain academic quality and financial sustainability as they expand? Seeing the Internet's (Not So) Obvious Benefits This opinion piece by Bridgespan's Don Howard and Network for Good's president Ken Weber suggests there's more value to a strong online presence than meets the eye. Should Nonprofits Seek Profits? Eager to reduce their dependence on fundraising, more and more nonprofits are launching earned-income ventures – with disappointing results. Purchase the full article from the Harvard Business School Publishing website. Strongly Led, Under-managed: How Can Visionary Nonprofits Make the Critical Transition to Stronger Management? Strong management drives, sustains, and improves results—but visionary leadership gets the kudos, and often attracts the funding. How can nonprofit leaders deepen management capabilities without diminishing the critically important mission-based leadership aspects of their organizations. Toward e-Engagement As part of the 2003 e-Philanthropy Conference, Network for Good and the Bridgespan Group presented their analysis of the current state and future of online engagement. Zeroing in on Impact What's the best way to make an inspirational mission actionable? Download the full article from the SSIR website.

	"For renewal, a tough-minded optimism is best."
	-- John Gardner

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