Independent Learning

Discover tools and resources for learning on your own time. Use the filter to search for a specific type of resource, or browse our case studies, toolkits, papers, and online courses at random.

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  • Framework
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Framework
Risk Assessment

Understand your risks and how best to manage them.

Case study
Launching an organization in the era of COVID-19
Staff picks
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
Staff picks
Black Philly Radical Collective List of Demands
Staff picks
Book Recommendation: This Book Will Make You Kinder: An Empathy Handbook
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Research paper
Sarah Dury, “Pathways to Late-Life Volunteering: A Focus on Social Connectedness”
Staff picks
Book Recommendation: Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity.
Staff picks
PBS Documentary Series: Reconstruction: America after the Civil War
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Research paper
Yuan (Daniel) Cheng, “Exploring the Role of Nonprofits in Public Service Provision: Moving from Co-production to Co-governance”
Staff picks
Anti-Racism Resources
Staff picks
Book Recommendation: Teaching to Transgress
Case study
AutonomyWorks

AutonomyWorks makes it possible for people with autism to find jobs that match their unique skillsets.

Case study
Creating inclusive public spaces in Memphis, TN.
Case study
Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia

Read how our Executive Program alum, Megan, used her learnings from the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy to support and expand the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition.

Staff picks
How can you be an ally to the Black Lives Matter movement?
Online class
Online Class in Social Impact Strategy
Staff picks
Teaching and Learning Online in Times of COVID-19
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Research paper
Anthony DeMattee, “Understanding Salary Differentials in Developing Countries”
Resource
Routine Reset for Social Impact Practitioners
Framework
Evaluating Alliances

Understand each partner’s incentives and contribution, and the social benefit your partnership will create.

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Research paper
Lindsey McDougle, “Understanding Public Awareness of Nonprofit Organizations: Exploring the Awareness-Confidence Relationship”
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Research paper
Sabith Khan, “The Secularization of Muslim-American Giving and New Styles of Community Building by Arab-Americans”
Staff picks
Book Recommendation: Lean Startups for Social Change. The Revolutionary Path to Big Impact
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Research paper
Jurgen Willems, “Don’t Change a Winning Team… or Should You? The Impact of Social Interaction Among Nonprofit Leaders on Organizational Effectiveness”
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Research paper
Marcelo da Costa, “What Influences the Location of Nonprofit Organizations? A Spatial Analysis in Brazil”
Case study
DSM

See how DSM, a multinational life science company, redirected their resources from merely selling nutritional products to customers toward offering nutritional solutions to communities via the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy.

Staff picks
I Am Not Your Negro
Case study
Clothing the Gap

A Case Study on how a small organization was able to mobilize over 100 volunteers to create three structures entirely made from textile waste. The structures were created over 10 days inside an abandoned factory, each representing the average amount one person will consume over a lifetime. In less than a week they reached over 1M views online. This project was a prime example of cross sector collaboration, a mixing of the creative and circular economies.

Staff picks
Have You Ever Protested, Rioted or Looted?
Staff picks
Echoing Green’s Meeting the Moment: Five Strategies to Move Forward Together
Staff picks
Notable Readings on COVID-19
Case study
Cafe Momentum

Cafe Momentum makes it possible for formerly incarcerated youth to achieve their full potential.

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Research paper
Jasmine Johnson, “The Young and Restless: Generation Y in the Nonprofit Workforce”
Staff picks
“When black people are in pain, white people just join book clubs”
Case study
Sukoon Active

Sukoon Active makes it possible for women of all faiths to live active, healthy lives.

Staff picks
Book Recommendation: Innovation and Scaling for Impact: How Effective Social Enterprises Do It.
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Research paper
Abhishek Bhati & Diarmuid McDonnell, “Success in an Online Giving Day: The Role of Social Media in Fundraising”
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Research paper
Christina Giannopoulou, “Leading for Impact: Learning, Innovation, and Effectiveness in Greek Nonprofit Organizations”
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Research paper
Marlene Walk, “Expectations and Experiences of Young Employees: The Case of German Nonprofits”
Online class
Online Class in Corporate Social Responsibility

Explore how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) creates shared value for firms, employees and society.

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Research paper
Arjen de Wit, “Heterogeneity in Crowding-Out: When Are Charitable Donations Responsive to Government Support”
Staff picks
U.S. Businesses Must Take Meaningful Action Against Racism
Framework
Quick Pivot: Organizational Adaption in the Times of COVID-19
Framework
Empathy Map

Put your beneficiary or another key stakeholder at the center by developing an understanding of their perspective.

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Research paper
Sophie Hersberger-Langloh, “Between Donors and Beneficiaries: A Conceptual Approach to Nonprofits Operating in Two-Sided Markets”
Case study
Balancing Work and the Side Hustle
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Research paper
Maoz Brown, “Cooperation, Coordination, and Control: The Emergence and Decline of Centralized Finance in American Charity”
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Research paper
Rebecca Nesbit, “Soldiers to Citizens: The Link Between Military Service and Volunteering”
Staff picks
For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies
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Research paper
Jun Han, “Social Marketization and Policy Influence of Third Sector Organisations: Evidence from the UK”
Resource
Belief is Complicated
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Research paper
Yuan Tian, “Can too much similarity between donors crowd out charitable donations? An experimental investigation of the role of similarity in social influence on giving behavior”
Staff picks
Petition to End Police State Collusion
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Research paper
Bethany Slater, “In Kind or in Cash? The Effectiveness of Public and Private Support of Nonprofit Food Provision”
Resource
Philanthropic Engagement: Principles and Adjustments
Framework
Logic Model

Learn how to clearly define and articulate how your venture will use its resources to make an impact (also known as your theory of change)