Research Insights

Rethinking Capacity Building: How Do Organizations Best Learn How to Use Data?

For nonprofits and mission-driven organizations, data is a tool for learning, improving programs, and making the best strategic decisions. Strong data practices can help organizations understand what’s working, adapt in real time, and demonstrate impact. Professional data use goes beyond basic reporting or compliance. It refers to how organizations actively embed data into the day-to-day decision-making process to enhance programs, allocate resources, guide strategy, assess outcomes, evaluate impact, and predict

Social Needs Navigation Decreases Expenditures and Improves Health Outcomes: The Results of the AHC Model Study

A person’s health is shaped by their surroundings long before they ever reach a doctor’s office. For our most vulnerable neighbors, daily hurdles like poverty, lack of transportation, and unstable housing (i.e., social determinants of health) create a “health gap” that is difficult to bridge. As the United States works to lower the rising costs of Medicaid and Medicare, it faces a critical challenge: finding the budget to address these

What We Learned from Listening to People Seeking Help in America

Each year, nearly half of Americans across the nation experience material hardship—food insecurity, housing instability, or a lack of access to healthcare. Yet only a fraction of those in need ever receive help from social service agencies. What accounts for this gap? Researchers at the Northwestern Network for Social Impact (NNSI) set out to investigate by listening directly to individuals’ experiences with seeking help in America. By centering on the

Letting Go to Grow: How Programmatic Asset Transfers Strengthen Nonprofit Impact

What happens when a program outgrows its original home, or when an organization’s priorities evolve, leaving successful programs in need of new champions? This is a challenge that many nonprofit leaders face, especially today as organizations navigate a turbulent funding environment and work to right-size their operations. A recent article by the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact (NNSI) Lab in Stanford Social Innovation Review explores a powerful but

Project DeLorean: A promising solution to the Veteran benefits take-up gap through an intentional outreach model

The “take-up gap” describes the disparity between individuals eligible for social support programs and those who ultimately receive benefits. This challenge is especially pronounced among Veterans, who often face barriers such as complex bureaucracies, stigma, and lack of awareness. Project DeLorean, initiated by Veterans Services of the Carolinas (VSC) under Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM), addresses this gap through a strategic and personalized outreach model to connect high-need Veterans

Why Systems of Care Aren’t Enough to Solve the Housing and Mental Health Crisis in the United States

By Michelle Shumate Most of our work in Systems of Care is centered on supporting people in finding the help they need to address their material hardship. We’ve focused on necessary outreach programs, systems that help identify and connect individuals to services, and innovative solutions to reduce the administrative burden of maintaining and renewing benefits. In the United States, however, there are two issues where better Systems of Care are