(Illustration by Nyanza D)
The most popular articles published by SSIR online in 2021 focused on some of the most difficult problems facing the social innovation sector today. Several, including three from SSIR’s “This Is What Racism Looks Like” series, explored the pernicious effects of systemic racism inside organizations. The urgency and resonance of this topic was also reflected in the continued popularity of the 2019 feature, “The Bias of ‘Professionalism’ Standards,” which was the most-read SSIR article of all this year. Other popular articles questioned the values and assumptions of major movements like cash transfers, corporate sustainability, and ESG investing. We hope all of them provide important insights and nourishing food for thought as you continue your work in 2022 and beyond.
1. The Racism of the ‘Hard-to-Find’ Qualified Black Candidate Trope
The beliefs that qualified Black candidates are rare and that Black employees are not as qualified for promotion as their white colleagues are real and far more common than many may realize. Author Autumn McDonald explains the four foundational fallacies that drive this myth, and how it harms both individuals and organizations. Part of the “This Is What Racism Looks Like” series.
2. The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership
“A board can be redesigned in any number of ways, provided it has the collective will to do so. This is both the beauty and the challenge of a board structure: only a board has the power to change itself, and boards can interpret and apply their own expectations of their roles and responsibilities. In most of the ways that matter, boards are their own accountability mechanism. This structure can work beautifully or fail miserably, depending on how a board is populated and self-managed.”
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3. Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Give a Family Cash, and You Feed Them for…a While
For all the glowing press that unconditional cash transfers have gotten, Mulago Foundation director Kevin Starr argues, cash is still a long way from living up to the hype and transforming the development sector.
4. The Next 10 Years of Impact Investment
To get an idea of where impact investment might be headed over the next decade, the authors examine where the field has been in three areas that play an outsized role in its goals and practices.
5. The World May Be Better Off Without ESG Investing
With environmental devastation and social injustices pushing the planet to the breaking point, NYU business professor Hans Taparia argued a stronger environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings system is needed to ensure investors get the positive impact they're paying for.
6. The Complicity of Corporate Sustainability
“Systemic change is the only path to climate stability. But what the corporate sustainability movement has truly succeeded at is ensuring that everyone works within a narrowly defined playing field that leaves the one thing we need to upend—the fossil-fuel-based economy—intact and unthreatened.”
7. The ‘Not Here’ Syndrome
What’s the “Not Here” Syndrome? As Professor Charlice Hurst explains, far too many individuals are still denying that racism is a problem in their own organizations, even when they are willing to acknowledge it as prevalent in the rest of society. Part of the “This Is What Racism Looks Like” series.
8. Dignity Is the Bedrock for Workplace Belonging
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been woefully insufficient in addressing the individual and institutional challenges in workplaces—particularly assaults to personal dignity,” argued author Aida Mariam Davis. “Efforts done in the name of DEI can reinforce patterns of tokenism, assimilation, and disrespect that oppress Black and Indigenous employees and leave all employees without the proper tools to dismantle discriminatory organizational and practices.” Part of the “This Is What Racism Looks Like” series.
9. Indigenous Feminism Is Our Culture
Artist, writer, and activist Jihan Gearon issues a call to bring back matriarchy in Indigenous communities to rebuild and decolonize the foundation of Native community life. Part of the “Decolonization and Radical Indigenous Futures” series.
10. Decolonize Your Board
“Each board culture is uniquely shaped by board members’ ideologies and beliefs, as well as their relationships with nonprofit leadership and staff, external partners, and one another.” The cover story from SSIR’s summer issue offered nine examples of how nonprofit boards may be colonized—and strategies for liberating them. (Available to print and digital subscribers only. Subscribe here for access.)
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