Featured Research

  • Jan 2018
  • HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL WORKING PAPER, NO. 18-062

Zig-Zagging Your Way to Transformative Impact

by V. Kasturi Rangan & Tricia Gregg
  • Spring 2014
  • California Management Review 56, No. 3

What Impact? A Framework for Measuring the Scale & Scope of Social Performance

by Alnoor Ebrahim
  • Dec 2013
  • The Conference Board "Giving Thoughts" Blog Series

Let's be Realistic about Measuring Impact

by Alnoor Ebrahim
  • 2011
  • Jossey-Bass

Joining a Nonprofit Board: What You Need to Know

by F. Warren McFarlan & mepstein@mba1958.hbs.edu
  • Jun 2008
  • Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-103

The Future of Social Enterprise

  • 2008
  • Harvard Business Publishing

Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework

by schildress@mba2000.hbs.edu & Allen S. Grossman
Subjects covered include: change management, improving performance, nonprofit organizations, organizational structure, stakeholders, and strategy.
  • 2008
  • Harvard Business Publishing

Note on the Nonprofit Sector

by Allen Grossman & Naomi Greckol-Herlich
Subjects covered include: nonprofit organizations, social capital, and social enterprise.
  • Jan 2006
  • Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice

Social & Commercial Entrepreneurship: The Same, Different, or Both?

by James E. Austin, Howard H. Stevenson & Jane Wei-Skillern
  • Mar 2004
  • Harvard Business Review 82, No. 3

Lofty Missions, Down-to-Earth Plans

  • 2004
  • Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Social Partnering in Latin America

by James E. Austin, Ezequiel Reficco, Gabriel Berger, Rosa Maria Fischer, Roberto Gutierrez, Mladen Koljatic, Gerardo Lozano, & Enrique Ogliastri
  • Mar 2000
  • Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly 29, No. 1

New Directions in Nonprofit Strategy

  • Nov-Dec 1999
  • Harvard Business Review 77, No. 6

Working on Nonprofit Boards: Don't Assume the Shoe Fits

  • 1999
  • New York: John Wiley & Sons

High Performance Nonprofit Organizations: Managing Upstream for Greater Impact

by William P. Ryan, Allen S. Grossman & Christine W. Letts
  • 1998
  • Harvard Business Publishing

Overview of the Nonprofit Sector

by James E. Austin & Elaine V. Backman
Subjects covered include: entrepreneurship, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropies.
  • Jan 1998
  • Harvard Business Review

Enterprising Nonprofits

by J. Gregory Dees
  • Jul-Aug 1994
  • Harvard Business Review 72, No. 4

Effective Oversight: A Guide for Nonprofit Directors

Classic Cases

  • 2018
  • CASE

City Year at 30: Toward Long-Term Impact

by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and James Weber
Subjects covered include: Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Efficiency; Resource Allocation; Change Management
  • March 2018 (Revised May 2018)
  • Case | HBS Case Collection

Background Note: Examining the Case for Investing for Impact

by Vikram S. Gandhi, Shawn Cole and Caitlin Reimers Brumme
  • 2016
  • CASE

KaBOOM!: Play at Scale

by V. Kasturi Rangan & Sarah Appleby
Subjects covered include: Scaling Social Impact; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development Strategy
  • 2009
  • Case

Endeavor: Creating a Global Movement for High-Impact Entrepreneurship

Subjects covered include: social enterprise.
  • 2008
  • Case

Year Up: A Social Entrepreneur Builds High Performance

by Allen S. Grossman & Naomi Greckol-Herlich
Subjects covered include: board of directors, children and youth, nonprofit organizations, and strategic planning.
  • 2008
  • Case

Youth Villages

by Allen S. Grossman, William Foster, & Catherine Ross
Subjects covered include: growth strategy, health, health care policy, and nonprofit organizations.
  • 2006
  • Case

Habitat for Humanity—Egypt

by Jane Wei-Skillern & Kerry Herman
Subjects covered include: entrepreneurship, innovation, networks, nongovernmental organizations, and social enterprise.
  • 2006
  • Case

Manchester Bidwell Corp.

Subjects covered include: business growth, entrepreneurial management, and social services.
  • 2003
  • Case

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

by Allen S. Grossman, Jane Wei-Skillern, & Kristin J. Lieb
Subjects covered include: implementing strategy, leadership, organizational change, and social enterprise.
  • 2003
  • Case

The Nature Conservancy

by Allen S. Grossman , Jane Wei-Skillern, & Kristin J. Lieb
Subjects covered include: environmental protection, globalization, reorganization, social enterprise, and success.
  • 2002
  • Case

ApproTEC Kenya: Technologies to Fight Poverty & Create Wealth

Subjects covered include: economic development, entrepreneurs, fraud, innovation, and nonprofit organizations.
  • 2000
  • Case

National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

by John C. Sawhill & Susan S. Harmeling
Subjects covered include: change management, social enterprise, and social issues.
  • 1996
  • Case

Mt. Auburn Hospital

by F. Warren McFarlan & jelias@phdob1995.hbs.edu
Subjects covered include: mergers and social enterprise.
  • 1996
  • Case

Trinity College

by F. Warren McFarlan & jelias@phdob1995.hbs.edu
Subjects covered include: crisis management, social enterprise, and succession planning.
  • 1993
  • Case

Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight

Subjects covered include: goal setting, nonprofit marketing, social enterprise, and strategy formulation.
  • 1990
  • Case

Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh

Subjects covered include: developing countries, exchange rates, marketing management, and marketing planning.