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Should Philanthropies Operate Like Businesses?
It’s your money, and you’re willing to give some of it away to a worthy cause. But you want to see results. Measurable progress toward agreed-upon goals. Regular proof that your investment is achieving maximum impact. That’s the way businesses operate, and charities should be no different. That’s one way to look at it, anyway. Others argue that things work differently in the world of nonprofits and social change. Tackling some of society’s biggest problems is u...
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Africa Can Make Significant Progress Towards the MDGs
Most African countries may not achieve all the MDG targets by 2015. What matters more is that they all make significant progress in all areas of the MDGs and sustain, or even accelerate, this progress in accordance with their national conditions. Arguably, the political and economic conditions in Africa in 2011 are a lot better than they were...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Diary of a Social Entrepreneur
Asister organization of the World Economic Forum, the Schwab Foundation has been awarding social entrepreneurs in South-East Asia for five years. It chose Neelam Chhiber of Industree Crafts Foundation as the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 in partnership with the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation (the foundation is the social wing of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, whose promoters are closely related to those of ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Dr. Yunus Inspires Students to Create Social Businesses
Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus brought to Georgia his vision for students to create businesses that would help alleviate some of the state’s most intractable social problems. And the visit has prompted the University System of Georgia to establish a fund to help finance student-inspired projects inspired by Dr. Yunus’ social business model. The fund was launched as a result of an economic development conference includin...
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Can Venture Capital Save The World?
Bahawalpur in eastern Pakistan is known for magnificent palaces built during the British Raj, but in the dusty part of town where most of the 400,000 residents actually live, four dozen farmers have gathered in the decidedly unpalatial concrete building that houses the local branch of the National Rural Support Programme Bank. Their darkened, sun-creased faces testify to the toll of tilling soil in one of the hotter places on Earth (at 11 a.m. in mid-June it’s alread...
- Region
- South Asia
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Four Companies Announce New Ventures to Promote Clean Energy
New York, Durban, 28 November 2011 -More than 12 million low-income people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America will gain access to clean energy following four companies’ commitments made today to the Business Call to Action , a global leadership initiative that promotes sustainable economic and social development. The companies also expect to create approximately 42,000 environmentally sustai...
- Categories
- Education
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Grads Do ’Good’ for a Profit
At first blush, it looks as though M.B.A.s aren’t doing much "good" upon graduation. Despite the fact that students sign up en masse for social-entrepreneurship classes, intern at nonprofits and participate in charitable extracurricular activities, fewer than 5% of graduates from many top business schools take jobs in nonprofit organizations right out of school, with some institutions placing just 1% or 2% in the field. Even the Yale School of Management, which has built a reputatio...
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China Raises Poverty Line: Is it Setting an Example for Poverty Alleviation?
China announced a new standard for defining poverty on Tuesday as it seeks to bridge the gap between the country’s wealthier and poorer classes. The central authorities have decided to raise the poverty threshold to 2,300 yuan ($362), in terms of a farmer’s annual net income, which marks an 80 percent rise from the 1,274 yuan standard in 2010. The 2010 figure was itself the result of marked revision; the standard was 206 yu...
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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