Stanford Social Innovation Review


Stanford Social Innovation Review is a quarterly magazine-cum-website about social innovation published by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University. SSIR covers a wide range of topics, including nonprofit management, philanthropy, corporate citizenship, and social change. It also publishes a wide range of related videos, webinars, and podcasts.
The publication was founded in 2003 by the Center for Social Innovation, a Hewlett Foundation grantee at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Today, SSIR distributes its print version to over 400 retail locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
SSIR frequently publishes in-depth series in partnership with organizations such as the Bridgespan Group, Mission Investors Exchange, BBB's Give.org, Third Sector Capital Partners, and The Communications Network.

Mission

SSIR aims to advance, educate, and inspire the field of social innovation by seeking out, cultivating, and disseminating the best in research- and practice-based knowledge.

History and impact

SSIR was launched in 2003 by the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Beginning in 2010, SSIR has been published at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.
Nonprofit terms such as the nonprofit starvation cycle and collective impact were first given prominence by SSIR in 2009 and 2011, respectively. The latter term was introduced by John Kania and Mark Kramar in their article Collective Impact, and became the number two philanthropy buzzword for 2011, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. It has also been recognized by the White House Council for Community Solutions.

Current activity

Since 2006, SSIR has hosted the annual Nonprofit Management Institute conference, a 2-day conference for senior-level nonprofit executives. In 2015, SSIR hosted its first annual Data on Purpose conference, which was then combined with the Do Good Data conference in 2017. In 2016, SSIR hosted the inaugural Frontiers of Social Innovation, a forum for global leaders. SSIR has also hosted the "SSIR Live!" webinar series since 2009.

Awards

SSIR has won several Maggie Awards for Best Quarterly and Best Web Publication, Eddie Awards, an Ozzie Award for its website, and Min's Best of the Web Award for Redesign.