StephenAt Root Cause’s Social Innovator Showcase I was inspired by the things I learned. The hope at each event I attend is that I’ll make new connections or learn to think about things in a new way. The Showcase at the Microsoft New England Research & Development Center accomplished all of these things and more.
Stephen"What's your financial sustainability plan?" is one of those questions you know you're going to be asked by a donor at least once in the next month if you're responsible for raising money. For a long time, the question was a sort of code for "convince me that I'm not the only skin in this game."
AndrewEarlier this year, I asked everyone working within the social innovation field, why we were not spreading proven approaches faster. I also said that the answer lay in linking resources to performance. When we efficiently connect resources to the highest performing organizations, we can truly start to spread approaches that work. Today, I ask: How? How can we equip today's leaders in nonprofits, philanthropy, government and business to lead high performing organizations? Better yet, how can we help them optimize their role in spreading social innovation?
PauletteWhat if every citizen took a personal stake in addressing community need? What if every company embraced “service to others” as a core value, not just a marketing slogan? This is the world that Building Impact is actively creating.
Kate Youth career development is closely related to education and the dropout crisis. The research shows that young people will require a high school credential as well as some post-secondary training to earn a family-sustaining income in the emerging economy. Yet, high school dropout rates in the U.S. are staggering and stagnant.
Caroline After New York’s Marriage Equality Act took effect last summer, the New York Times published countless stories of long-term partnerships made legal. One profile, which ran in the Times’ “Vows” section, caught my attention. The incredibly poignant and touching piece chronicled the love of two older men who had waited until the Marriage Equality Act became law to admit themselves to a hospital.
MckenzieHere at Root Cause, we believe that social innovation spreads when resources are directed to high-performing approaches or programs. The platform that incentivizes this kind of behavior is called a social impact market. Our Social Innovation Forum acts as such a platform for donors, allowing them to direct resources toward emerging social innovators to scale impact.
AndrewWhen it comes to accelerating progress on difficult social issues, I believe that we must focus singularly on directing resources towards programs based on performance. I also believe that the funder is the central driver of this process. With limited resources trying to make progress on unlimited needs, “doing more with less” must focus on sound data to direct financial and non-financial resources toward high performance. However, this does not mean that funders should only direct resources to the “best” programs or to the ones that can “scale.” The limited number of high-performing organizations can neither grow fast enough nor do they have the critical community relationships to meet current demands. Therefore, funders must be willing to both devote their resources to high-performing programs and help the other million-plus programs improve their performance.
AnneHere at Root Cause, we believe that the key to social problem solving lies in the process of spreading approaches that work. This happens by directing resources to performance-based initiatives. Our Social Innovation Forum reflects this thinking in that it provides the infrastructure, information, and incentives for donors to give to emerging social innovators based on their performance. Thus, SIF functions as a social impact market where resources flow toward and further incentivize performance in order to scale impact. An example of one such player in this market is Cooking Matters Massachusetts, the Social Innovation Forum’s 2012 Innovator from the food, nutrition, and fitness track.
Andrew Root Cause and The Open Society Foundations’ Campaign for Black Male Achievement have launched a new website for the Leadership and Sustainability Institute, a national initiative to bolster the efforts of advocates and organizations working to improve the life outcomes of black males in the U.S. The Institute is currently in its developmental stages.
The ninth annual Social Innovator Showcase, modeled after venture capital forums, will highlight our six 2012 Social Innovators for potential investors, as well as spark conversations on the best approaches to developing and spreading innovation.
In this Stanford Social Innovation Review article, Andrew Wolk discusses how to create and invest in a social impact market.
