Archive for September, 2008
Becoming Great
Jim Collins, author of a pivotal business text Good to Great (about what differentiates companies that just survive from those that thrive and become great), wrote a short monograph on the social sector a few years ago called Good to Great and the Social Sectors. If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend it. He clearly and articulately lays out what, he suggests, makes a great social sector organization. It is not, as many have argued in the last decade or so, that it becomes more like a business. Rather, as Jim writes, “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” To be a great social sector organization you must be disciplined about the talent you hire, the decisions you make, the actions you take, the strategies you create, the results you attempt to achieve, the mission you seek. As Jim puts it, “To do the most good requires saying “no” to pressures to stray, and the discipline to stop doing what does not fit.” To be a great social sector organization you must focus on what you can be great at and create a disciplined strategy to get there. A really interesting read. Some excerpts are here.
Clinton Global Initiative Coming to Austin
In the midst of an historic week focused on the bailout of the American economy, the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting was going on in New York City last week. Former President, Bill Clinton, launched the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005 in order to bring world leaders together to take innovative action to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. At the meeting last week, Clinton announced plans for the coming year that will invest $8 billion globally and impact 158 million lives. Some of the new programs include: school feeding programs, access to healthcare, new vaccines, distribution of safe drinking water, microcredit programs, etc. The details on the new initiatives are here. But the really exciting thing is that the University of Texas at Austin will be host to the second meeting of CGI University, an initiative that brings students, faculty and staff from universities across the country and the world together to come up with plans to tackle global issues. The first CGI U was held in New Orleans in March 2008. Attendees agree to commitments to change the world. So far, commitments from the New Orleans innaugural meeting have totaled over 1,000. The Austin CGI U will be held this coming February.
Leading the Charge
At the forefront of the movement for bringing new ideas to bear on the social sector is America Forward. Launched earlier this year by New Profit, a 10-year old venture philanthropy fund in Boston, America Forward seeks to make the social and the government sectors work more closely together. America Forward is a coalition of 70+ social entrepreneurial organizations that are solving the toughest issues facing America today. The coalition seeks to harness the enormous resource of government (city, county, state and federal) to scale their effective programs. America Forward worked with all presidential candidates in this election cycle to encourage them to put ideas like citizen service for all Americans and a government-funded social innovation fund, among other ideas, into their platforms. You can read about America Forward’s policy ideas and what they are doing to bring them to fruition. It is a really exciting organization that has, I think, the potential to revolutionize how government and nonprofits work together to solve the unprecendented challenges facing our country.
A Call for Growth Capital
In recent months there has been an increasing call among writers and thinkers in the social sector for growth capital in the nonprofit sector. In the for-profit sector, successful businesses reach a point at which they need significant investment capital (separate from operating revenue) to grow their business to the next level. Successful nonprofits have similar needs. However, foundations and individuals, for the most part, are hesitant to fund something other than program or general operating expenses. A handful of foundations, though, are starting to realize that making a significant ($1 million+) one-time investment in a nonprofit that has proven success and needs capital to scale their program makes a lot of sense. In the most recent issue of the Standford Social Innovation Review, you can read more about Money to Grow On. Their online articles are for subscribers only, so if you aren’t already, you should consider becoming one. Money very well spent.
Google’s Social Innovation Competition
Google has just announced the ultimate social innovation competition: a $10 million prize for up to 5 of the most innovative ideas to help the world. Their “10 to the 100th Project” encourages people to submit an idea to improve people’s lives. Broadly, it can be any idea that improves education, the environment, communities, etc. An overview of the competition is here and the competition site is here. Submissions are accepted until October 20th, so get thinking.
Welcome to the Social Velocity Blog
Welcome to the Social Velocity blog. Here I’ll be writing about what is going on throughout our region, country and world in social innovation. The field, concepts and terms are being defined so it is an exciting time.
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