In this audio interview, Eric Nee, the co-host of Social Innovation Conversation, and managing editor of the Stanford Social Innovations Review, converses with William Foster, a partner with the nonprofit consulting firm Bridgespan Group, about his organization's research on how nonprofits get big successfully.
Drawing from data Bridgespan collected on organizations that have reached the $50 million mark, Williams offers nonprofits with growth on their mind, rules for the road about whether to diversify or concentrate funding sources; what types of funders might best fit with their mission; and the organizational changes a nonprofit needs to make if it truly plans to “go big time.” He also talks about what two organizations, the National Wild Turkey Federation and Youth Village, have done right to expand and maintain a large operation and funding base.
William Foster is a partner in the Boston office of Bridgespan, a consultancy that brings leading-edge strategies and tools to the challenges and opportunities facing nonprofit organizations and foundations. He works with direct service organizations and philanthropic foundations on expansion strategy, reorganization efforts, and advocacy initiatives. His clients have been education reform, youth services, community health, and aging-related organizations, including major national affiliate-based networks. Foster is also deeply involved in the firm's knowledge development, where much of his work focuses on issues related to funding and capital flows in the nonprofit sector. He is the co-author of the Harvard Business Review article, "Should Nonprofits Seek Profits?" and the recent Stanford Social Innovation Review article, "How Nonprofits Get Really Big."
Prior to joining Bridgespan, Foster worked at Bain and Company. He was active in the firm's pro-bono work for the nonprofit sector and helped found Bain's Silicon Valley office. Before Bain, he worked at management consulting firm Corporate Decisions, Inc., and at Goldman Sachs and Company. He has also been an advisor and board member of several nonprofits, and helped to plan and launch Silicon Valley's first charter school. Foster earned his undergraduate degree in social studies from Harvard College, and his MBA from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Resources
This free podcast is from our Stanford Social Innovation Review series.
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