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New research on giving and philanthropy from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including fundraising, improving nonprofit performance, and measuring social impact.
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Why Giving to Others Makes Us Happy

by Michael Blanding

Giving to others is also good for the giver. A research paper by Ashley Whillans and colleagues identifies three circumstances in which spending money on other people can boost happiness.

How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Crushed Crowdfunding for Minority Entrepreneurs

by Scott Van Voorhis

When public anxiety about immigration surges, Black, Asian, and Hispanic inventors have a harder time raising funds for new ideas on Kickstarter, says research by William Kerr. What can platforms do to confront bias in entrepreneurial finance?

Using Design Thinking to Invent a Low-Cost Prosthesis for Land Mine Victims

Re: Srikant M. Datar

Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) is an Indian nonprofit famous for creating low-cost prosthetics, like the Jaipur Foot and the Stanford-Jaipur Knee. Known for its patient-centric culture and its focus on innovation, BMVSS has assisted more than one million people, including many land mine survivors. How can founder D.R. Mehta devise a strategy that will ensure the financial sustainability of BMVSS while sustaining its human impact well into the future? Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar discusses the importance of design thinking in ensuring a culture of innovation in his case, “BMVSS: Changing Lives, One Jaipur Limb at a Time.”

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

by Lane Lambert

Executives going back to George Cadbury and J. N. Tata have been trying to improve life for their workers and communities, according to the book Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership by Geoffrey Jones. He highlights three practices that deeply responsible companies share.

What Motivates People to Give Generously—and Why We Sometimes Don't

by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

Some people donate to get that warm-and-fuzzy feeling. Others do it to avoid being asked again. Christine Exley and Julian Zlatev delve into the psychology and economics of charity to explain why people give.

Giving Back: Consumers Care More About How Companies Donate Than How Much

by Pamela Reynolds

When it comes to corporate donations for brand enhancement, bigger isn't necessarily better. Research from Elizabeth Keenan and Leslie John offers new insights for companies trying to win the hearts of socially conscious consumers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

9 Tips from an Expert Fundraiser: Help Donors 'Invest in Their Passion'

by Danielle Kost

Seeking donations can feel like begging. In this excerpt from Effective Fundraising, F. Warren McFarlan offers advice to help trustees approach prospective donors with confidence. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Can the ‘Cummings Way’ Live On after the Founder Retires?

Re: Christina R. Wing

After 50 years at the helm of Cummings Properties, billionaire and philanthropist Bill Cummings is contemplating retirement. Christina R. Wing and Cummings discuss what's next for both the family business and foundation that he built. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Nonprofits Hurt by COVID-19 Must Hoard Cash to Hold On

by Danielle Kost

Experts from Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Initiative offer advice to nonprofits struggling to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

How Social Entrepreneurs Can Increase Their Investment Impact

by Rachel Layne

Grants or investments? Philanthropic organizations have multiple funding tools available, but choosing the wrong one can dilute the benefits, according to research by Benjamin N. Roth. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Why Does Business Invest in Education in Emerging Markets? Why Does It Matter?

by Valeria Giacomin, Geoffrey Jones, and Erica Salvaj

Drawing on 110 interviews with business leaders as part of the Creating Emerging Markets project at Harvard Business School, this paper represents the first systematic attempt to identify and compare investment in education across emerging economies, specifically in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf between the 1960s and the present day.

The Better is the Enemy of the Good

by Christine L. Exley and Judd B. Kessler

Previous research has shown that individuals’ self-serving responses to information may arise when payoff information is subjective or uncertain. This study, in the context of charitable giving, shows that individuals’ ability to respond to payoff information in a self-serving way even includes situations when information is complete and certain.

People Have an Irrational Need to Complete 'Sets' of Things

by Carmen Nobel

People are irrationally motivated to complete arbitrary sets of tasks, donations, or purchases—and organizations can take advantage of that, according to new research by Kate Barasz, Leslie John, Elizabeth Keenan, and Michael Norton. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Ominous Background Music Is Bad for Sharks

by Carmen Nobel

Experimental research reveals the influential power of music to help or hurt fundraising campaigns. Elizabeth Keenan and Andrew P. Nosal discuss how the scary music associated with sharks gives them a bad rap, which may hinder conservation efforts. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Finding Excuses to Decline the Ask

by Christine Exley & Ragan Petrie

An online experiment by Christine L. Exley and Ragan Petrie involving 6,000 potential donors to animal-rescue charities finds a 22 percent drop in interest in donating when individuals know “the ask” is coming and have time to develop excuses for not contributing. Results imply that nonprofits have a variety of options for better adapting how they solicit funds.

Four Questions Fundraisers Must be Prepared to Answer

by Julia Hanna

Howard H. Stevenson, a Harvard Business School expert on entrepreneurialism and himself a philanthropist, explains why people give and how fundraisers can reach them. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

by Julia Hanna

In this era of scarce economic resources, the pressure on nonprofit managers to show quantifiable results is greater than ever. Alnoor S. Ebrahim and philanthropist Mario Morino discuss the differences and similarities between performance measurement in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The Limits of Nonprofit Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance

by Alnoor Ebrahim & V. Kasturi Rangan

The social sector is in the midst of a search for metrics of impact. Over the past 20 years, there has been an explosion in methodologies and tools for assessing social performance and impact, but with little systematic analysis and comparison across these approaches. In this paper, HBS professors Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan provide a synthesis of the current debates and, in so doing, offer a typology and contingency framework for measuring social performance. Their contingency approach suggests that—given the varied work, aims, and capacities of social sector organizations—some organizations should be measuring long-term impacts, while others should stick to measuring shorter-term results. The researchers provide a logic for determining which kinds of measures are appropriate, as driven by the goals of the organization and its operating model. Key concepts include: With the contingency framework, organizational leaders and managers can clarify what types of results they seek to achieve, and thus for what they should be held to account. Doing so requires them to articulate a causal logic, or theory of change, that they expect will lead to long-term goals. This framework suggests that social sector organizations can increase their control over long-term societal impacts in at least two ways: by expanding their operations in order to reach a threshold population or critical mass (scale), and by offering more comprehensive services or partnering with others in order to tackle a problem (scope). It is not feasible, or even desirable, for all organizations to develop metrics at all levels on the logic chain. This contingency framework offers some general cautions about performance measurement. First, it suggests that measuring impacts makes sense under a limited set of circumstances—when an organization operates at an ecosystem level, and yet can exercise sufficient control over results to attribute impacts to its work. Second, many organizations face a double challenge of measuring performance in a variety of areas separately, while also integrating across them in order to gauge possible synergistic effects at the ecosystem level. Third, funders such as foundations, governmental departments, and international aid agencies are far better positioned than most nonprofits to measure impacts. Finally, given the diversity of actors engaged in social change, the four broad types of results in the framework should be taken as suggestive rather than as silver bullets. The very basis of the framework—contingency—suggests that there are no panaceas to results measurement in complex social contexts. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

by Julia Hanna

Donors are placing nonprofits on the hot seat to measure social performance. Problem is, there is little agreement on what those metrics should be. Professor Alnoor Ebrahim on how nonprofit managers should respond. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Sharpening Your Skills: Managing the Economic Crisis

by Staff

The economic crisis is tapping the inner reserves of experienced leaders and introducing a new generation of managers to crisis management. These previous WK articles explore leadership, the role of the Board, the emotional needs of managers, and the risk to corporate giving programs. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.