Author Archives: Brad Michaels

Time for disruption of the “Philanthropic Market”

Recent provocative articles and TED talks suggest many reasons why charities are geared to underperform. Some say its goes all the way back to our Calvinist roots, which created US philanthropy as “a form of penance.” The root cause for underperformance is that nonprofits have a hard time finding donors that will fund their organization’s… Read More

New days for Africa: investments and whistle-blowing

Sub-saharan Africa is finally seeing the higher investment levels sorely needed: As reported by the Financial Times, “The first $1bn-plus Africa-focused private equity fund has been raised by Helios Investment Partners, a London-based group founded almost a decade ago by a pair of Nigerian-born dealmakers. The record size of the fund signals the growing appetite… Read More

Will the Affordable Care Act goals be achieved? From theory to reality.

The success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is dependent on whether it can achieve two potentially opposing goals: reducing costs while improving care. The ACA program works at two levels: the government program level and the health delivery level, in hospitals and clinics. At the government level, the ACA aims to succeed with changes… Read More

Will “digital health” go big or small?…or German?

With the advent of smartphones, there are now thousands of health-related apps. Leading edge health information technology (HIT) startups are launching not just in the “hot” tech hubs of India and Israel, but also in countries like Germany. Most of the new HIT companies are going in one of four directions: 1. A very discrete… Read More

US Income Mobility is Stagnant, and Worse Than Europe’s

A large new study by economists from UC Berkeley and MIT shows that “The odds of moving up — or down — the income ladder in the United States have not changed appreciably in the last 20 years.” In fact, according to one of the key authors, “the studies suggest that rates of intergenerational mobility… Read More

SociaLab is Partnering with Givkwik for “Giving Tuesday”

It’s officially #GivingTuesday! Go to our partner, Givkwik’s website to help decide which nonprofits get donations from SociaLab and other socially-minded companies. SociaLab is working with Givkwik to help make giving easier than ever. Givkwik’s GivingTuesday campaign shows how easy and efficient online giving can be. Through these campaigns, companies – like SociaLab – connect… Read More

Who Cares About the “Social Cost” of Pollution?

Determining the “social cost” here means putting a dollar amount to the burden that results from pollution, such as greenhouses gases. The social cost of carbon can even be used to calculate the real environmental cost of household appliances that have varying levels of efficiency. The Obama administration is making a second attempt to institute… Read More

Creating Impact Investing Efficienecies

Another blog talked about the new ImpactSpace “which track(s) …’impact investing’ deals”, and “a related site, ImpactIQ, which provides news and other posts about the world of impact investing.” ImpactSpace does fill a critical need: mapping deal flow and broadcasting investment opportunities. Even with these new entrants, however, companies offering “Impact investing” opportunities still face major barriers and… Read More