The changing landscape of global philanthropy leaves us with the question of what if we cannot measure social change with the tools of the business world or with numbers.

A lot of good is being done around the world and lots of people want to support those good works. But it's hard to expose grassroots organizations to ...

Today's favorable income tax rates make it attractive for the mega-rich to give their dollars away. But how much of this private funding for social good wields influence over public policy?

As we begin the Twelve Days of Christmas, and mark the fifth night of Hanukah, here are some organizations I recommend that help create sustainable change for women and girls worldwide.

This week marks the heaviest monsoon season to hit Thailand in 50 years. An estimated 2.5 million have been affected or displaced by the flooding, and...

We now have an enormous responsibility to the people of Japan and to the donors trusting us to allocate the more than $1.3 million collected in GlobalGiving's Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

A small group of us meet occasionally over dinner, ostensibly to talk about new ideas in international development. Mostly we just have a good time; sometimes we forget to talk about development.

The whole system disguises rather than navigates complexity, and it does so at various levels - in developing countries and within the aid system. ...

BerlinHere is one of the best lectures of all time. It should be required listening for anyone interested in better understanding the world - or tryi...

"René Le Berre, a French entomologist who helped inspire an international campaign that saved millions of West Africans from the parasitic disease r...

"Transparency" has (re-)emerged as a buzzword in the development sector and is taking center stage in many development initiatives. Having measured t...

"I mean, S&P, Moody's, Fitch, these people all rated securities that apparently completely tanked. So there's obviously something in the demand fo...

Someone sent me a link to Peter Buffett's Advent Calendar. It brought a smile to my face. It's quirky and funny and personal. It has links to some g...

"The larger lesson is that the brain is a deeply constrained thinking machine, full of cognitive tradeoffs and zero-sum constraints. Those chess prof...

"In the final chapter, Seeley suggests five lessons we could learn from bees.• Compose a decision-making group of individuals with shared interests....

One day, aid agencies will brag about the bloggers they have on staff. This will happen when they realize the best aid agencies are platforms for conversations and learning.

The best aid projects I have seen have result from a conversation between community members and aid workers. All involved in the conversation bring unique information, perspectives, and desires.

"Professionalism may have less to do with your job title/organization and whether you are paid staff or a volunteer, and more to do with how you appro...

Here is a nice paper from Homi Kharas of Brookings on how transparency can transform accountability in the official aid sector.

Aid is made less effective by the incentives which aid agencies face, which they in turn transmit to their staff. In large part, these unhelpful ince...