What makes the best nonprofits so effective? We asked them.

A bottom-up revolution

The explosion of progress in Silicon Valley was the result of one thing: the design thinking revolution. 

What is this? Companies began to orient themselves around the customer, focusing on creating products that were meant to serve as solutions to their unique needs. It’s the epitome of bottom-up.

This innovation is typically missing in the nonprofit space. And that’s why so few nonprofits are actually effective.

Evan Feinberg, who leads Stand Together Foundation, shows that just 2% of nonprofits are making a real difference.

That’s based on a review by Arnold Ventures of over 3,000 rigorously tested, evidence-based programs. Only 14 nonprofit programs met the highest standard of success, and only 60 had strong evidence of a positive impact whatsoever.

Evan explains that the most effective nonprofits are innovating based on a deep understanding of their customers – like Silicon Valley. He says that if more nonprofits take this approach, they could finally help break the cycle of poverty trapping millions – and bring about a real bottom-up revolution.