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The Downside to Being Nice: Why is the Social Sector Allergic to Comparative Advertising?
Unlike retailers and manufacturers that use advertising to build their brands and generate sales, the nonprofit and social business sectors are curiously allergic to spending money on advertising – and, more specifically, to saying, "We're better than our competitors, and this is why!" According to Charlie Bresler, former Men's Wearhouse president, this is a major mistake: Now executive director of the nonprofit The Life You Can Save, Bresler explores the reasons for this reluctance – and imagines what could happen if the social sector used comparative advertising to attract donors and investors.
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- Entrepreneurship
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Bandhan-Konnagar expected to get Rs900 crore from World Bank, 3 states
The World Bank, governments of Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand to fund Bandhan-Konnagar’s programme for poverty alleviation to benefit at least 300,000 families.
- Region
- South Asia
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High-Tech Healing: How Salesforce.org And Other NonProfits Are Tackling Human Crises
From data analysis that alleviates human trafficking to crowdsourcing that maps remote regions, these breakthroughs are improving lives.
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- Technology
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Living Right: Buen Vivir Fund Heralds a More Democratic Kind of Impact Investing
“The Buen Vivir Fund,” notes Reines, “has created a system, referred to as Aportes, whereby borrowers make a solidarity contribution of their choosing that will remain in the fund for current and future projects. The structure of Aportes contrasts with the conventional investment operation of interest, in which money is paid at regular intervals at a particular rate and accrues earnings for the purpose of increasing return on investment to investors.”
- Categories
- Investing
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Viewpoint: What impact investors can learn from activists
The good news is that, just as there are thousands of professionals globally dedicated to the fine art of money management, there are just as many people dedicated to social justice, whether taking action in their own communities or working within non-profit organizations. Impact investors can learn from these activists how to ensure their investments are actually doing social good.
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- Investing
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Viewpoint: Foundation Impact Investing Is Gaining Steam. But Can Proponents Answer These Four Questions?
This week, it’s the Nathan Cummings Foundation making a move. And it’s going all in, pledging to “align 100 percent of our nearly half-billion dollar endowment with our mission.” NCF is the largest foundation to take this step, and it follows most directly in the footsteps of the F.B. Heron Foundation, which made the shift to 100 percent alignment under the leadership of Clara Miller. In contrast, the other major foundations engaged in impact investing—an increasingly long list—have mostly committed only small portions of their endowments to this approach.
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- Investing
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Impact Investing Lessons for NGOs: Mercy Corps’ Scott Onder Discusses its Social Venture Fund
We don’t typically associate NGOs, particularly humanitarian organizations like Mercy Corps, with impact investing. But since 2015, Mercy Corps has run the Social Venture Fund, which invests in and accelerates the growth of innovative, scalable ventures that can positively impact millions in the developing world. NextBillion interviewed Scott Onder, managing director of the fund, about Mercy Corps' experiences as an investor, the rationale behind this ground-breaking approach – and lessons for other NGOs that may be considering a similar move.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Press release: Common Cents Report: Hacking Human Behavior to Improve Financial Health
Common Cents, a financial research lab at Duke University supported by MetLife Foundation, today unveiled its 2017 Annual Report. The report details behavioral interventions aimed at improving financial health for low- to moderate-income people with more than 27 organizations over the course of 2017, including startups, credit unions, non-profits, and local governments.
- Region
- North America
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