Pathways to Social Impact

Related in the library

• 2.5C205

  Three Questions for Nonprofits That Want to Solve Social Problems at Scale

  Marina Fisher, Alyson Zandt, Angie Estevez Prada, Paola Jimenez-Read, Bradley Seeman · The Bridgespan Group · 2025

  A free Bridgespan article for nonprofit and NGO leaders who want impact at scale without building an ever larger organisation. Drawing on advisory work and interviews with 11 organisations, it poses three questions: what is the highest-impact role your organisation can play, what capabilities and structures that role needs, and how you will learn and adapt as conditions change. Teams use it to frame a scaling strategy before choosing tactics.

  Start hereCurrentShort readFree
• 2.5C206

  A New Look at Strategic Pathways for Solving Social Problems at Scale

  Marina Fisher, Alyson Zandt, Angie Estevez Prada, Paola Jimenez-Read, Bradley Seeman · The Bridgespan Group · 2025

  The research companion to Bridgespan's "Three Questions" article. The team reviewed the strategies of about 80 organisations in the US, Asia and Africa and interviewed leaders of 11, then grouped what they found into eight main pathways to impact at scale, from expanding direct services to shifting policy and practice. Leaders and funders use it to see which routes exist and which fit their model. It updates Bridgespan's 2014 work with new cases.

  CurrentResearch and evidenceFree with sign-up
• 2.5C207

  Big Enough. Simple Enough. Cheap Enough.

  Kevin Starr · Stanford Social Innovation Review · 2019

  A short article by Kevin Starr of the Mulago Foundation on how to judge whether a solution can scale. Real scale usually depends on a "doer" and a "payer" other than the founding organisation, often government. Starr tests each model three ways: is the market big enough, is it simple enough for the doer to deliver, and is it cheap enough for the payer, benchmarked against what payers already spend. Founders use it to redesign models before scaling.

  CurrentShort readFree
• 2.5C208

  Scaling Out, Scaling Up, Scaling Deep

  Darcy Riddell, Michele-Lee Moore · J.W. McConnell Family Foundation; Tamarack Institute · 2015

  A free report prepared for the McConnell Foundation and Tamarack Institute, drawn from a decade of the foundation's Applied Dissemination grants and peer learning group. It sets out three ways to spread a social innovation: scaling out to more people and places, scaling up into policy and law, and scaling deep into culture, values and relationships. It shares lessons and strategies from grantees, plus what made the peer learning process work. Teams use it to plan beyond simple replication.

  ClassicKey manual or guideFree
• 2.5C209

  Scaling Pathways: Pivoting to Impact

  Erin Worsham, Catherine Clark, Robyn Fehrman · CASE at Duke University · 2017

  The opening report in the free Scaling Pathways series. It follows three organisations, Imazon, Evidence Action and VisionSpring, through their scaling journeys: the unit they scaled, the pathways they chose and how they changed course. It then names five common roadblocks, such as scaling without the right people and systems or without metrics and trip wires, with advice for leaders and funders. Teams use it to prepare for scale and expect pivots.

  CurrentCase study or exampleFree