Everyone knows that Harvard University has the Harvard Business Review, but did you know that on the opposite coast, Stanford University has an equivalent for non-profit organizations called the Stanford Social Innovation Review?  Both have been useful to me because along with the magazine, they offer webinars led by authors of their articles or who are leaders in the field.  Here are a couple coming up from the Stanford Social Innovation Review that you might find useful for your museum or historic site:

Overcoming the Overhead Myth

Presented by Jacob Harold, Ann Goggins Gregory, & Jan Masaoka
September 2, 11 a.m. – 12 noon PDT / 2 – 3 p.m. EDT

A dangerous myth prevails among funders that overhead can be used as a proxy for efficiency. In fact, research shows that under-investing in administrative overhead is often linked with poor performance by nonprofits. Ann Goggins Gregory and Don Howard dubbed this process “the nonprofit starvation cycle” in the eponymous Stanford Social Innovation Review article. In this webinar you will learn:

• Why the nonprofit starvation cycle exists in the sector
• How organizations that invested in administration subsequently improved their programmatic work
• Strategies for explaining to funders the importance of overhead costs for future success
• Tips for evaluating whether grantees are skimping on crucial investment areas in their budgeting

Price: $49, which includes access to the live webinar; unlimited access to the webinar as many times as you’d like for twelve months; and downloadable slides. Learn more about this webinar and register here.

Valuing Frontline Work

Presented by Lehn Benjamin, Katya Fels Smyth, Maria Peña, & Jesús Gerena
September 23, 11 a.m. – 12 noon PDT / 2 – 3 p.m. EDT

An increasing focus in the social sector on performance-driven frameworks can make it difficult for direct-service organizations to measure their impact. Some nonprofits are using creative strategies to measure and communicate their work’s value to funders. This webinar will:

• Explain how some of the most popular performance models used in the nonprofit sector fail to measure the true impact of what nonprofit professionals do
• Examine the reasons why it can be so difficult—yet so important—to recognize the value that on-the-ground work delivers to beneficiaries and their communities
• Explore examples of nonprofits that have succeeded in capturing and conveying the full value of frontline work

Price: $49, which includes access to the live webinar; unlimited access to the webinar as many times as you’d like for twelve months; and downloadable slides. Learn more about this webinar and register here.