Results for GSBGEN 367

(Also GSBGEN 367). Stanford graduates will play important roles in solving many of today's and tomorrow's major societal problems -- such as improving educational and health outcomes, conserving energy, and reducing global poverty -- which call for actions by nonprofit, business, and hybrid organizations as well as governments. This course teaches skills and bodies of knowledge relevant to these roles through problems and case studies drawn from nonprofit organizations, for-profit social enterprises, and governments. Topics include designing, implementing, scaling, and evaluating social strategies; systems thinking; decision making under risk; psychological biases that adversely affect people's decisions; methods for influencing individuals' and organizations' behavior, ranging from incentives and penalties to "nudges;" human-centered design; corporate social responsibility; and pay-for-success programs. We will apply these concepts and tools to address an actual social problem facing Stanford University. (With the exception of several classes on strategy and evaluation, there is no substantial overlap with Paul Brest's and Mark Wolfson's course, Strategic Philanthropy and Impact Investing (GSBGEN 319), which has a different focus from this one.)

The course will be structured around the perspective of a foundation or a high net worth individual who has decided to devote substantial resources to philanthropy and wishes to decide which philanthropic goals to pursue and how best to achieve them. Although there are no formal prerequisites for the course, we will assume that students have experience working at a foundation, nonprofit organization, impact investing fund, or similar organization, or have taken an introductory course in strategic philanthropy such as GSBGEN 381. (With the exception of several classes on strategy and evaluation, there is no substantial overlap with Paul Brest's course, Problem Solving for Social Change (GSBGEN 367) , which has a different focus from this one.)

Stanford graduates will play important roles in solving many of today's and tomorrow's major societal problems-in areas such as education, health, energy, and domestic and global poverty-that call for actions by nonprofit, business, and hybrid organizations as well as governments. This course teaches skills and bodies of knowledge relevant to these roles, covering topics such as designing, implementing, scaling, and evaluating social strategies; systems thinking; decision making under risk; psychological biases that adversely affect people's decisions; methods for influencing behavior; and pay-for-success programs. The large majority of the course will be devoted to students' working in teams to apply these concepts and tools to an actual problem, with teams choosing whatever problem interests them.