Graddy-Reed’s study is the first of its kind to examine how organizational identity—including nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid models—impacts decisions around risk and innovation.

Social Innovation
Traditional policy approaches have failed to catalyze significant and lasting change for many complex social problems, such as homelessness, justice involvement and reentry, and educational achievement. Social innovation, which is an iterative, inclusive process using innovation frameworks to achieve more effective and just solutions to solve complex social problems, provides an alternative to traditional problem solving approaches. The Price Center conducts research on all aspects of social innovation, which offers both new processes and new models for solving society’s most persistent social challenges.
Report: Decisions of firm risk and the role of organizational identity
USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation
Year: 2021
The risk-averse nature of nonprofit organizations has led many to believe that these firms are slower to innovate than their for-profit counterparts. As a result, hybrid firms have arisen as a new type of organization that combine a for-profit structure—often … Continue reading
Social Impact Bonds 2.0? Findings from a Study of Four UK SIBs
Policy Evaluation and Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University and USC Price Center for Social Innovation
Year: 2020
This briefing paper draws together ideas about the next generation of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) that will be better placed to deliver more innovative approaches and act as positive disruptors in local public services.

Towards a Theoretical Framework for Social Impact Bonds
Nonprofit Policy Forum
Year: 2020
Governments in some of the world’s richest nations appear to be caught in a double challenge of declining social budgets even as social needs are increasing. In this context, Outcomes Based Commissioning (OBC), has been suggested as one way in … Continue reading
The Difference Between Citizen Control and Co-Production
USC Sol Price Center for Social Innovation
Year: 2019
Read the One-Pager on the difference between Citizen Control and Co-Production.
From Citizen Control to Co-Production: Moving Beyond a Linear Conception of Citizen Participation
Journal of the American Planning Association
Year: 2019
Sherry Arnstein’s classic “A Ladder of Citizen Participation” still shapes our understanding of citizen participation within and beyond planning. However, Arnstein’s citizen control offers communities only partial authority. Rather, community control does not fundamentally alter the political and economic power … Continue reading