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Summer 2012/13: Leadership and Systems Thinking
‘If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.’ – Robert Pirsig (1974 p92) In the quintessentially ‘70s book Zen and … Continue reading
Posted in Issue 16: Summer 2012/13, Issue Front Page, Leadership
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Spring 2012: Why does philanthropy matter?
As guest editors of the Spring 2011 edition of Knowledge Connect on Philanthropy: Impact over Intentions, Paul Flatau and Elena Douglas at CSI (UWA) examined the emergence of a generation of philanthropists who value impact and effectiveness over intentions. They looked at the principal global forces guiding these changes and how that was impacting Australian philanthropy. In the then Federal Government’s 2005 Giving Australia: Research on Philanthropy in Australia, it was estimated that a total … Continue reading
Posted in Issue 15: Spring 2012, Issue Front Page
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Issue 14: Winter 2012: Fair Trade (the movement) and Fairtrade (the label)
Fairtrade’s roots can be traced back as far as 50 years ago, anchored in a mixture of charity and solidarity, and what has become known as the Fair Trade movement. Before looking deeper into the topic of Fairtrade, I would like to establish an important distinction the public may not have yet fully grasped: the distinction between Fair Trade (2 words) and Fairtrade (1 word): Fair Trade is a … Continue reading
Posted in Corporate Responsibility, Ethics, Issue 14: Winter 2012, Issue Front Page
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Autumn 2012: Design and Social Innovation
There is a growing interest in the role that design can play in catalysing, harnessing, spreading and scaling social innovation around the world. This is expressed in two key ways: • by a growing number of professional designers and design disciplines applying their skills to addressing social issues; and • by the adoption of design tools, techniques and methods by a growing number of other disciplines focused on developing social innovation. Perhaps the most recognisable … Continue reading
Issue 12: Summer 2011-2012: Social Entrepreneurship – The Revolution Matures
The discourse around social entrepreneurship continues at a pace: more international conferences, research interest, journals and university courses are some of the identifiers. Alongside the continuing emergence of innovative start-up social enterprises and businesses is the reality that the field has matured sufficiently to begin to measure impact: some established social ventures have scaled up and succeeded and some have failed. Hence I have included the recently published case study of … Continue reading
Winter 2011: Social Impact Investing
Governments, third sector organisations and business are all beginning to re-examine the way in which they each contribute to finding, implementing and participating in solutions to address social and environmental challenges faced by our local and global communities. As philanthropic and government capital is increasingly insufficient to address these challenges discussion more often than not is turning to market-led approaches. One such approach under exploration and gaining momentum around the world is social impact investing … Continue reading
Autumn 2011: Volunteering
2011 is the tenth anniversary of the international year of volunteering. Ten years ago, the United Nations declared 2001 to be the international year of volunteering and this had a strong impact on enhancing volunteering in developed and developing countries. In 2011 the UN will commemorate the 10 year anniversary by publishing the World State of Volunteering. As such, it is appropriate that the first Knowledge Connect in 2011 is dedicated to volunteering. As Prof. … Continue reading
Summer 2010-2011: Ethics in the Third Sector
In this issue we take a look at ethics in the Third Sector, from a broad discussion of the ideas underpinning civilisation, to the values each of us brings to decisions and we then explore the link between personal values and corporate responsibility. Recent developments such as the unethical conduct of some financial institutions during the global financial crisis as well as the recent example of the BP ‘Deepwater Horizon’ oil spill have resulted in … Continue reading
Winter 2010: Leadership and Creating Social Movements
Welcome to the seventh issue of Knowledge Connect. The following selections revolve around the topic of leadership. Leadership is often equated with power. In practice, the true power of any leader is not determined by his or her position alone; it depends upon the economic, political and social forces over which he or she presides. Leaders in the social impact sector often deal with complex and sticky social problems. Making headway on these problems is … Continue reading