REDF Publications
REDF invites you to look through our publications. They are listed in order of date published.
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2010 Social Impact Report and Summary
Published in 2011
REDF is dedicated to using data and evidence to improve its practice and the field of social enterprise. Our measurement and evaluation work includes tracking of social enterprise employees over time, development of Social Return on Investment methodology and reporting, and other efforts that capture development of non-profit capacity and other key indicators... More »
A Snapshot of the Field: Social Enterprises Employing People with Barriers to Employment
Published in 2011 | Download [PDF] 356 KB
In summer 2008, the Social Enterprise Alliance, with support from REDF, partnered with Community Wealth Ventures and Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship to assess the state of social enterprise in the nonprofit sector in the U.S. and Canada. ... More »
Evidence Scan of Work Experience Programs
2 votes
Published in 2010 | Download [PDF] 1.51 MB
Mathematica and REDF present evidence on the effectiveness of interventions that include work experience as a strategy to improve employment outcomes for populations with barriers to employment. REDF commissioned this work asking Mathematica to screen studies using stringent impact and evidence standards. The study reviewed 26 years of rigorous research, gathering information from 27 evaluations... More »
- Tags: Measurement
REDF's "Stepping Out of the Maze" Series:
SROI Act II: A Call to Action for Next Generation SROI
42 votes
Published in 2009 | Download [PDF] 1.31 MB
SROI Act II: A Call to Action for Next Generation SROI
Readily available, commonly accepted systems that enable nonprofits to compare their results to their costs do not currently exist. Despite advances in knowledge about what the social sector does and how it does it, we really do not know what it costs to accomplish social mission goals. Until we have systems that address this need... More »
Supportive Housing Property Management Business Practices and Resident Employment
Published in 2009
In the fall of 2008, REDF, the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the Enterprise Community Partners engaged VIVA Consulting to conduct a study on best practices in the management of supportive housing. VIVA conducted a survey and a series of interviews with providers from across the country to ask about a range of business practices and recommendations, including staffing, hiring... More »
Carla Javits’ speech to the Goodwill Industries Delegate Assembly on June 30, 2009
Published in 2009 | Download [PDF] 44 KB
Carla Javits, REDF's President, spoke at the 2009 Goodwill Industries International Delegate Assembly. In this transcript of her speech, Carla explains how Goodwill may consider building on their reputation to make an even greater impact for those faced with the most urgent and compelling problems... More »
- Tags: Employment Strategies, Other
The Origin and Future of Social Entrepreneurship
5 votes
Published in 2008 | Download [PDF] 1.81 MB
REDF Advisory Council Greg Dees presented “The Origin and Future of Social Entrepreneurship” at an event convened by REDF, The San Francisco Foundation, Tides Foundation and Silicon Valley Community Foundation... More »
- Tags: Social Enterprise
REDF's "Stepping Out of the Maze" Series:
Out of Philanthropy's Funding Maze
11 votes
Published in 2008
Out of Philanthropy's Funding Maze
This is the first article in REDF’s “Stepping Out of the Maze” series, which has developed out of our concern for the funding environment in which nonprofits carrying out critical social change work must operate. The series of three articles explores ways... More »
Nonprofit Profile - REDF
1 vote
Published in 2008 | Download [PDF] 523 KB
San Francisco Business Times
REDF’s president, Carla Javits, was profiled in the San Francisco Business Times... More »
- Tags: Other
REDF’s Current Approach to SROI
21 votes
Published in 2008 | Download [PDF] 38 KB
This update by Carla Javits summarizes what we’ve learned about SROI, and lays out the next steps that REDF will be taking to build on this earlier work... More »
Green Collar Jobs: Pathways Out of Poverty for Bay Area Residents with Barriers to Employment
1 vote
Published in 2008 | Download [PDF] 150 KB
A REDF-commissioned paper
Written by Raquel Pinderhughes, Ph.D., and David Schecter, MCP
REDF engaged San Francisco State researcher Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes and David Schecter to write this paper on green collar job opportunities for low income people with multiple barriers... More »
Teach the Homeless to Work, and Then...
1 vote
Published in 2006 | Download [PDF] 240 KB
San Francisco Chronicle
An Open Forum article, written by Cynthia Gair, REDF’s Managing Director of Programs, offered a perspective in response to the Chronicle’s “Shame of the City” series... More »
If the Shoe Fits: Nonprofit or For-Profit? The Choice Matters
90 votes
Published in 2005 | Download [PDF] 1.26 MB
Entrepreneurs who aim to combine social and financial goals in their new ventures often debate which legal structure — nonprofit or for-profit — is most appropriate. This publication addresses this question by drawing upon examples... More »
- Tags: Nonprofit Capital Market, Other
Social Impact Report
7 votes
Published in 2005 | Download [PDF] 401 KB
REDF supports an ongoing assessment process that involves face-to-face interviews with every enterprise employee at the time they are hired. Follow-up interviews continue at six-month intervals for up to two years after hire... More »
- Tags: Measurement
An Information OASIS
9 votes
Published in 2002 | Download [PDF] 803 KB
REDF published this paper on OASIS (Ongoing Assessment of Social ImpactS) as an invitation to other funders to examine their requirements and practices around social outcome measurement... More »
- Tags: Measurement
From Opening Doors to Closing Shop: A Case Study on Youth Industry’s Impact on Homeless Youth
8 votes
Published in 2002 | Download [PDF] 960 KB
Why does an organization serving 100 homeless youth per year close? This case study is about Youth Industry, its origins and development, and ultimately how and why it closed its doors... More »
- Tags: Social Enterprise
When is it Time to Say Goodbye? Exit Strategies and Venture Philanthropy Funds
5 votes
Published in 2001 | Download [PDF] 162 KB
Written by Kim Alter, Paul Shoemaker, Melinda Tuan, Jed Emerson
This paper discusses various exit strategies within the context of venture philanthropy... More »
Social Return on Investment (SROI) Collection
49 votes
Published in 2000
The term SROI has been used in various contexts to mean that nonprofits create social value. However, there have been limited efforts to date to quantify and monetize this social value creation... More »
REDF Box Set — Social Purpose Enterprises and Venture Philanthropy in the New Millennium
27 votes
Published in 1999
REDF and its Portfolio members produced this three volume set to answer three questions. First, practitioners within social purpose enterprises were asked... More »
The Venture Fund Initiative: An Assessment of Current Opportunities for Social Purpose Business Development and Recommendations
Published in 1998 | Download [PDF] 436 KB
Writen by Jed Emerson
The Venture Fund Initiative was a six-month
strategy and mapping process in six cities. The goal was to support
community and regional efforts... More »
Beyond Welfare Reform: Moving from Rhetoric to Reality
Published in 1998 | Download [PDF] 59 KB
Writen by Jed Emerson
This is a briefing memo on unemployment, public assistance, and the role of business in creating exits from poverty... More »
New Social Entrepreneurs
9 votes
Published in 1996
New Social Entrepreneurs: The Success, Challenge, and Lessons of Nonprofit Enterprise Creation was written to provide a report to the growing number of people interested in nonprofit business development... More »
- Tags: Social Enterprise, Finance
"The idea of social return on investment was pioneered by a US venture philanthropy fund called REDF in the 1990s.'
The Wall Street Journal, March 2010
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