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kevin starr

@mulagostarr.bsky.social

Reposted by kevin starr

Katie Matthews, PhD @katieocean.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

You don't hear this called out often. But it should be. Appreciation to @mulagostarr.bsky.social for doing so. Funders holding themselves and their grantees accountable would also force right-sizing of grants and inclusion of dedicated M&E/impact analysis $ as needed. ssir.org/articles/ent...

"In the for-profit world, firms are accountable to their customers. If customers don’t value their products, the firm doesn’t make a profit. If the firm doesn’t do better, it goes out of business and investors lose their money. Both firms and investors are accountable to the customer. Provide value or die.

The nonprofit world doesn’t work like that. The customers—we presume to call them “beneficiaries”—pretty much have to take what they’re given. There’s no meaningful way for them to signal whether the “product” has value for them or not. There are no direct consequences for a failure to benefit the beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the investors—funders of all stripes—are even more insulated from consequences. We can fund whatever ineffective crap we want. Blindly funding stuff that doesn’t work won’t sully your image as a generous champion of the poor (or the environment, or whatever). Your reputation—the one thing funders really care about—doesn’t suffer." from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/funders-do-your-job

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kevin starr @mulagostarr.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

the beauty of Scott grants is not that they skip diligence, but that they rely on that of trusted co-funders and don’t put orgs thru another gratuitous process. we’d love to see a lot more of that.

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kevin starr @mulagostarr.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Unsolicited reminder that “cost effective” doesn’t necessarily mean “consequential”, and “sustainable” doesn’t = “scalable”

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kevin starr @mulagostarr.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

our recent SSIR piece is about making the most of XL "Big Bet" grants. organizations should use them to make a transition from do-it-yourself to recruit-and-enable-others-to-do-it—and should not get any bigger than they have to before making that transition. ssir.org/articles/ent...

ssir.org

Big Bet Bonanza (SSIR)

Turning a one-time score into an impact jackpot.

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kevin starr @mulagostarr.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

it's nice when the smart thing is the right thing.

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kevin starr @mulagostarr.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

nice to see nick kristof discover muso and co-founder/mulago fellow ari johnson. as kristof says, muso is "a triumph of public health nerdiness." www.nytimes.com/2024/11/23/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Donate This Holiday Season: Women and Children Need Your Help

Give a woman her life back, save a child’s life or help a child read, with my annual holiday giving guide.

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