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President Obama has sent a powerful message to the American public since taking office: Social innovation can play an important role in rebuilding a stronger country. With the passage of stimulus packages in areas such as clean energy, national service, and climate change, it's clear that the White House is approaching national challenges in new ways. In this panel, hosted by Full Circle Fund and sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, key staff in the Obama administration provide the broad outlines for these exciting changes.

When it comes to online giving market places, the adage is: If you build it, few will come. So how do you drive enough people to such online spaces to make them work? In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, William Meehan, McKinsey senior director, talks about the opportunities and challenges in making online giving marketplaces successful, and what lies ahead in this area for organizations dedicated to making a genuine sustained impact in communities.

Kiva has created an online marketplace that allows ordinary citizens to help specific entrepreneurs around the world thrive with as little as $25. How did Kiva get the critical mass it needed to make its operations a go? How does it work with nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and lenders through the online format? In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Kiva President Premal Shah talks about how the organization got started, how it functions, and how it plans to grow.

How do we create an efficient capital market for philanthropy? What are the best ways to marry program evaluation with powerful dynamics among online giving places? What role should public policy take in all this? In this free-ranging talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Randy Komisar offers a venture capitalist's perspective on these questions and more.

Given current tax laws, $300 billion in charitable dollars can end up costing the U.S. Treasury $50 billion in lost income. Should taxable income exclude charitable contributions? In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Stanford political philosopher Rob Reich asks some tough questions, ultimately proposing a new way of looking at tax incentives to support the nonprofit sector.

At its worst, program evaluation is a useless activity that generates lots of boring data and irrelevant conclusions. But at its best, argues Mark Kramer in a talk he gave at the 2008 Nonprofit Management Institute, it can be a strategic tool for the genuine improvement of a nonprofit. He offers exemplars of organizations that have used evaluation effectively to advance their missions.

MySpace, Flicker, YouTube, and Facebook are big brands and major movers in the commercial, social networking world. In this 2008 Nonprofit Management Institute talk, an event convened by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Jeff Patrick of Common Knowledge shares how nonprofits can use such tools--and customize their own--to capture constituencies and raise funds. He further shows where social networking is headed so that nonprofits can begin to incorporate it into their long-term horizons.

Research shows that spending time and money on others makes people happy--so why don't more people donate to or volunteer for nonprofits? In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Stanford marketing professor Jennifer Aaker offers insights into the phenomenon. She then turns those insights into lessons nonprofits can use to create compelling ways for more people to give financially and personally to the causes they care about.

The key to success in any team or enterprise is to develop good working relationships. In this talk, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, consultant Diana McLain Smith, author of Divide and Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict into Strength, shows how those who care about performance and relationships can simultaneously nurture both. She offers tips for seeing work relationships in new ways, and practical suggestions for enhancing them.

Fraser Nelson, a consultant to nonprofits, gives an entertaining lesson on the why and how of nonprofit lobbying. Most nonprofits do not lobby government for a variety of reasons, but Nelson explains that it is legal, effective, and powerful. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review sponsored talk, Nelson concludes with ways to get the most out of your lobbying efforts and five rules to follow.