Reading List: Bridging Divides to Create Social Change

(Illustration by iStock/ajijchan)

Stanford Social Innovation Review’s 2022 Nonprofit Management Institute (NMI) will focus on opportunities to bridge the divides that exist in society. How do we encourage greater cooperation and collaboration in what can feel like an increasingly divisive world? The conference will explore the role of civil society organizations in finding common ground, ways to facilitate collaboration, combatting disinformation, and other topics.

To help NMI attendees make the most out of this hybrid event, SSIR's editors have assembled a list of articles exploring topics related to each panel. There’s still time to register and be part of these critical conversations.

DAY 1

How to Have Better Political Conversations

September 13, 2022 at 9:05 a.m. Pacific

Speakers: Kristin Hansen, executive director of the Civic Health Project, and Robb Willer, director of the Polarization and Social Change Lab at Stanford University, will discuss why and how the nonprofit sector is poised to play a leading role in bridging America’s divides.

• How Can Philanthropy Help Rehabilitate US Democracy? by Mohit Mookim, Rob Reich, Nadia Roumani, and Ayushi Vig
• Podcast: Crisis and Change: Conversations With Leaders—Political Polarization featuring Susan Urahn of The Pew Charitable Trusts and Sarah Rosen Wartell of the Urban Institute
• From Gulf to Bridge: When Moral Arguments Facilitate Political Influence by Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer

Deep Listening Is Necessary for Social Change

September 13, 2022 at 10 a.m. Pacific

Speaker: Emily Kasriel, head of Special Projects, BBC World Service, will explore how to use deep listening to find common ground with those with different views, unpacking and examining the attributes and challenges of the process.

• Deep Listening by Emily Kasriel (Subscriber-only article temporarily open. Subscribe to SSIR here.)
• Nonprofits Must Listen With Their Ears, Not With Their Eyes by Kaitlyn Ram Bo

Social Justice Organizations at a Crossroads

September 13, 2022 at 11:15 a.m. Pacific

Speakers: Carmen Rojas, president and chief executive officer of The Marguerite Casey Foundation, Glen Galaich, chief executive officer of the Stupski Foundation, Dimple Abichandani, executive director of the General Service Foundation, and Adrian Haro, CEO of The Workers Lab, discuss what grantmaking organizations can do for themselves and the organizations that they support to better uphold these institutions for long-term social change.

• Bringing Organizational Well-Being to Life by Linda Mitz Sadiq
• A ‘Balancing Test’ for Foundation Spending by Dimple Abichandani
• What Everyone Can Learn From Leaders of Color by Darren Isom, Cora Daniels, and Britt Savage

How to Manage Internal Conflicts

September 13, 2022 at 12:10 p.m. Pacific

Speaker: Priti Pradhan Shah, associate professor in the Department of Work and Organizations at the Carlsen School of Management, University of Minnesota, will lead a solutions-oriented discussion about managing and resolving workplace conflict.

• The Upside of Conflict by Alan Fowler, Elizabeth Field, and Joseph McMahon (Subscriber-only article temporarily open. Subscribe to SSIR here.)
• The Office Door by Jennifer Outlaw

In-Person Workshop: Cultivating Compassion, Belongingness, and Health in Teams

September 13, 2022 at 2:15 p.m.

Speaker: Leah Weiss, mental health expert at Stanford and co-founder of Skylyte, will share research-backed methods for cultivating compassion and belongingness within teams at their organization.

• Dignity Is the Bedrock for Workplace Belonging by Aida Mariam Davis
• Burnout From an Organizational Perspective by Leah Weiss
• Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations (Read a review in SSIR by Beth Kanter)

In-Person Workshop: Curious Conversations

September 13, 2022 at 3:30 p.m. Pacific

Speaker: Jonathan Gruber, strategy lead at Einhorn Collaborative, Lennon Flowers, cofounder of The People’s Supper and cofounder and executive director at The Dinner Party, and Jason Marsh, executive director at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, will share real-life practices behind our deeply rooted human propensity for connection.

• The Relational Work of Systems Change by Katherine Milligan, Juanita Zerda, and John Kania

Register Now for NMI 2022: Bridging the Divide

DAY 2

The Ties That Bind? What Social Media Companies Are Doing to Fight Disinformation and Weaponization of Their Platforms

September 14 at 9:05 a.m. Pacific

Speaker: Toussaint Nothias, associate director of research at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab, will moderate this panel where speakers Nate Persily, the James B. Clatchy Professor of Law at Stanford University, Sarah Shirazyan, content policy manager, misinformation and algorithm, Meta, and Chris Roberts, integrity and authenticity policy lead, TikTok, will come together to talk about the ongoing digital challenges that continue to inflame a divided world.

• The Good Web by Ethan Zuckerman
• Combatting Abortion Disinformation in the Post-Roe Era by Liv Kittel

Navigating Intergenerational Conflict

September 14 at 10 a.m. Pacific

Speaker: Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy and author of Wisdom at Work, will examine best practices for collaboration across generations in the workplace.

• The Power of Multigenerational Teams in the Social Sector by Jim Emerman, Gina Cassinelli, and Greg Burnett
• Four Ways to Age-Integrate National Service by Marc Freedman and Phyllis Segal

Case Study: Businesses and Nonprofits Working Together to Help the Environment

September 14 at 11:15 a.m. Pacific

Speakers: Learn how Jason Milks of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas and Wilbur Peer of The KKAC Organization came together to bring sustainable agricultural practices to the Arkansas Delta region.

• Foundations Can Unlock a Food System to Feed the World by Meredith Storton and Jennifer Astone
• Excerpt from The Intersector: How the Public, Private, and Nonprofit Sectors Can Address America’s Challenges by Daniel P. Gitterman and Neil Britto

Building a Thriving Multiracial Democracy

September 14 at 12:10 p.m. Pacific

Speaker: Angela Glover Blackwell, founder in residence at PolicyLink, will explore how embracing our differences—acknowledged and equal—and seeing them as the principal source of our power and creativity, allows us to begin to create new and improved systems of governance and key institutions that will enable democracy to grow, stretch, and serve the interests of all.

• Civil Society and Authentic Engagement in a Diverse Nation by Angela Glover Blackwell
• Building Public Trust Through Collaborative Governance by Hollie Russon Gilman and Mark Schmitt

In-Person Workshop: Bridging Is Systemic Change

September 14 at 2:15 p.m. Pacific

Speakers: Join Habib Bako of Independent Sector, Imran Khan of Embarc, and Celeste C. Smith of 1Hood Media will discuss how to begin the work of building bridges and building community.

• How Listening to Constituents Can Lead to Systems Change by Mary Marx, Lymari Benitez, Yessica Cancel, and Katie Smith Milway
• Connecting Individual and Societal Change by Linda Bell Grdina, Nora Johnson, and Aaron Pereira

In-Person Workshop: Getting Proximate to Advance Real Change Together

September 14 at 3:30 p.m. Pacific

Speakers: Amy Badiani of Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, Jennifer Bautista of One Life Counseling Center and Una Vida, and Justin DeMartra of Code Tenderloin will discuss aspirations, challenges, and the power of embedding principles from the “Get Proximate” initiative in their work.

• Effective Change Requires Proximate Leaders by Angela Jackson, John Kania, and Tulaine Montgomery

DAY 3

Case Study: Building Trust Between Organizations and the Communities With Whom They Work

September 15 at 9:05 a.m. Pacific

Speakers: Nicholas Lalla of Tulsa Innovation Labs and David Hall of Rise of the Rest Seed Fund will discuss how organizations can develop trust within the diverse communities they serve.

• Listening to Black Parents by William Jackson and Kristine Andrews
• Ukrainian Civil Society Needs Your Support—And Also Your Trust by Eugenia Mazurenko and Asha Curran

Fearless Conversations in Divided Times

September 15 at 10 a.m. Pacific

Speaker: Mónica Guzmán, author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times will discuss ways to have productive conversations with those with views different from your own, crossing partisan divides, and ultimately strengthening our democracy.

• Review of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Megan Wildhood

Bridging the Board-Staff Relationship

September 15 at 11:15 a.m. Pacific

Speakers: Anne Marie Burgoyne of Emerson Collective, Julie Mikuta of Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children will discuss their experiences, ideas, and perspectives on ways that leaders and boards can build meaningful relationships that amplify an organization’s potential.

• Spotting and Fixing Dysfunctional Nonprofit Boards by Alex Counts
• How to Be a Super Board Chair by Jon Huggett and Mark Zitter

Case Study: Unexpected Political Collaboration on Immigration Policy

September 15 at 12:20 p.m. Pacific

Speakers: Ali Noorani of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Zack Huffman of Stand Together, and Lauren Higgins of New Pluralists will discuss how to bridge entrenched differences, collaborate, and realize a shared agenda.

• How to Use Stories to Bring ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Together by Annie Neimand and Samantha Wright
• Civic Virtues and the Healing of Partisan Divides by Robert A. Boisture

Read more stories by SSIR Editors.