Annotated Bibliography

RESOURCES for Practitioners, Researchers, Educators & Students:

Top 10 Key Sources on Scaling Social Impact:
(alpha by author, see bibliography for abstracts)

• Banerji, Rukmini, Madhav Chavan, Paresh Vaish, and Atul Varadhachary, “A point of light in Mumbai”

• Bradach, Jeffrey, “Going to Scale: The Challenge of Replicating Social Programs”

• The Bridgespan Group, “Growth of Youth-Serving Organizations”

• Campbell, Kelly, Rita Louh, “Case Study: Managing Growth - How a Boston educational-services nonprofit is realizing its own potential for growth so that its scholars can realize theirs,”

• Dees, J. Gregory, Beth Battle Anderson, & Jane Wei-Skillern, “Pathways to Social Impact: Strategies for Scaling Out Successful Social Innovations,”

• Moss Kanter, Rosabeth, “Even Bigger Change: A Framework for Getting Started at Changing the World,”

• O’Flanagan, Maisie and Lynn K. Taliento, “Nonprofits: Ensuring that bigger is better,”

• Taylor, Melissa, J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson, “The Question of Scale: Finding an Appropriate Strategy for Building on Your Success,” Ch.10, Strategic Tools for Social Entrepreneurs.

• Uvin, Peter, Pankaj Jain, L. David Brown, “Think Large and Act Small: Toward a New Paradigm for NGO Scaling Up,”

• Zald, Mayer N., “Making Change: Why does the social sector need social movements?,”

This Annotated Bibliography on scaling social impact includes the following sections:

• Literature Review: brief, summary literature review on the topic of scaling social impact

• Key Sources: quick reference guide to a short list of recommended key sources

• Annotated Bibliography: more extensive annotated bibliography of 60+ sources organized by a range of sub-topics related to scaling social impact. Includes web links to most sources.

CASE welcomes suggestions on additional sources to add to the bibliography. (Email recommendations to case@fuqua.duke.edu.)

In practice and in research, the base of knowledge about scaling social impact is interdisciplinary and evolving. A range of scholars, researchers, consultants, funders, social sector observers, and practitioners – social entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders – are at work generating knowledge relevant to scaling social impact. Through this summary literature review and annotated bibliography, CASE has begun to create a working resource for researchers and social sector leaders that frames, identifies, and inventories knowledge and research about scaling social impact. Our assumption is that, when oriented toward practical analysis and action, stronger knowledge about scaling social impact can improve the practice of scaling social impact.

For complementary resources that illustrate scaling examples, see CASE’s database of case studies on scaling social impact.