The Future of Financing Impact: An Interview with Kevin Jones

I am launching a new regular interview series on the Social Velocity blog that will feature discussions with the leading thinkers and doers in the social innovation space. I will talk with philanthropists, social investors, social entrepreneurs (from the nonprofit and for-profit side) and others leading the way in this new space. What they all have in common is that they are doing really exciting,  interesting, provocative, challenging things that are pushing the social innovation movement forward.  We will discuss what they are contributing to the space, what excites them, what concerns them, what we should be thinking about, and what’s next.

Our inaugural interview is with Kevin Jones. Kevin is a visionary in the social investing and social entrepreneurship arenas having launched two important entities in the field. He co-founded both Good Capital, one of the first venture capital funds that invests in social enterprises, and the Social Capital Markets Conference (SoCap) which marks its third year with the upcoming October event. He is also part of the team launching the first US node of The Hub, a network of more than a dozen work spaces for social entrepreneurs in cities across the world from Cairo to London.

Nell: This is the third year of the Social Capital Markets conference. You have said that the first year defined the social enterprise landscape and the second year validated the space, so what are you hoping that this year accomplishes?

Kevin: We want to find out what the next thing is that this community, this movement, this asset class should do, the next big obstacles to overcome, the place where we could put our efforts to make the biggest difference. Now that people are taking us seriously there is a need to understand how we fit into the landscape and how impact investing can leverage its, uh, impact by partnering with nonprofits, foundations and public sources of funding.

Nell: There are an increasing number of conferences in the social innovation/social entrepreneurship space. How is SoCap different? What is the value add of this conference?

Kevin: SoCap brings together more people from a broader perspective and approach to the intersection of money and meaning than any other conference. It’s the place your most likely to run into people you don’t know but should know. Cross pollination and expanding the dialogue while keeping the conversation focused on making a difference in an increasingly intelligent, and increasingly collaborative way is what SoCap10 is about.

Nell: It’s true that SoCap brings together an amazing group of thought leaders, social entrepreneurs and social investors for 3 days in San Francisco, but what happens after the conference ends? What changes to the social enterprise/social investing space have you seen as a result of the past two SoCaps?

Kevin: I’ve seen startups get funding. I’ve seen people from the corporate world get jobs in social enterprise, I’ve seen funds raise multiple millions to achieve scalable social impact. I’ve seen deep and lasting partnerships form between people making a difference. I’ve seen the market fragment and pieces of SoCap pop up in either regional approaches or specific vertical markets, from community activists to nonprofit funders, to technology conferences about money. The market at the intersection of money and meaning is a meme, an idea that I see growing and finding a home within a lot of other groups’ frame of reference.

Nell: This year you have made a deliberate effort to include nonprofits and philanthropy in the conference with the new Tactical Philanthropy track, as opposed to a greater focus in past years on the for-profit side of social entrepreneurship and social investing. Why the shift and what are you hoping comes out of this widening of the net?

Kevin: Well, nonprofits and philanthropy are a big part of the market of money and meaning, now that’s been established as a real place, this intersection of money and meaning. You could even say the new for-profit impact investors have crashed a party long established by philanthropy. It was past time to acknowledge that, and by bringing in Sean Stannard-Stockton [CEO of Tactical Philanthropy], we’ve got an expert and convener with far deeper knowledge than I have in the area to lead the way. SoCap10 is a lot about translation as people learn to work together across boundaries and frames of reference to build a bigger social capital market than either philanthropy or for-profit impact investing could do on their own. And of course, we also have a much bigger public sector funding participation than we have before. Some of the practical thought leaders are joining us to think and talk about what the next thing to do is.

Nell: How has the social enterprise space changed in the last three years and where do you see it going?

Kevin: It’s bigger. People are taking it seriously. We are starting to see some of its limitations, and some of the areas where it needs to grow. It used to be the cutting edge, out there doing this new thing. Now it’s the leading edge, connected to other groups and partners. I think I see the old hero myth dying out and people recognizing that we need enterprises that go beyond the heroic visionary founders, that deal with necessary founder transition issues to grow organizations with scalable impact. Or maybe that last part is wishful thinking.

Nell: What do you hope the social enterprise landscape looks like when SoCap 2015 rolls around?

Kevin: I do hope we have grown beyond the heroic visionary entrepreneur as our model. I hope the cutting edge, change making, risk taking aspects of the movement meets asset class are still intact while it becomes more tightly coupled to public sector and philanthropic efforts to make a difference. I hope it has found a room for the crowdsourced capital, like more lending platforms, in new areas like fair trade, and beyond microfinance. I hope there is a deeper linking between efforts to eradicate poverty in the U.S. and internationally, market growth while preserving the upstart innovation nature of what makes social enterprise a great positive force for disruptive innovation.

Tags: Good Capital, Kevin Jones, Sean Stannard-Stockton, SoCap, Social Capital Markets conference, Social Entrepreneurship, social investors, Tactical Philanthropy, The Hub

Social Innovation Comes to Texas with a Bang

As I wrote in an earlier post, I have been part of an exciting new project that is bringing social innovation to Texas.  The Texas Social Innovation Initiative is a partnership between Dallas Social Venture Partners, the OneStar Foundation, and Root Cause in Boston to help seven innovative Dallas-area nonprofits prepare a pitch for growth capital to social investors.

Social Velocity has been one of three consulting teams working with these seven nonprofit organizations to create a compelling growth capital pitch. I have been working with Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas helping them prepare a compelling pitch to grow their one-to-one mentoring program for children of imprisoned parents.  I’ve also been working with H.I.S. Bridge Builders to grow their education and employment training program in the poorest parts of Dallas.  Both organizations have demonstrated an ability to change lives in critical ways, they just needed help articulating their work, their results and their plans for growth to an audience of savvy social investors.

Both nonprofits will join five other nonprofit organizations to present their growth pitches to an audience of 300+ potential investors on June 10th. The pitch stage will be the featured component of a day-long showcase of social innovation, called the bigBANG!, at Union Station in Dallas.

The bigBANG! will bring together social investors, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders and others who are interested in connecting money and social change in Texas. The day will feature a socially conscious marketplace, profiles of lessons learned by social entrepreneurs, the fast pitch stage and much more.

But the best part is that this momentum around social innovation in Texas doesn’t have to end on June 10th. OneStar is currently looking for funding to take this project around the state, giving many more innovative nonprofits the opportunity to seek growth capital for their proven solutions. I am so excited to see momentum around social innovation growing in Texas.  It just makes sense that this great big state with a commitment to social issues, a strong entrepreneurial spirit and plenty of cash would be ripe for the social innovation movement to take hold.

If you’re going to be in Dallas on June 10th, come join us!

Tags: Big Brothers Big Sisters North Texas, bigBANG!, Dallas Social Venture Partners, H.I.S. BridgeBuilders, OneStar Foundation, root cause, social entrepreneurs, social investors, Social Velocity, Texas Social Innovation Initiative

A New Social Innovation Project Comes to Texas

There is something underway in Texas that I’m pretty excited about.  The OneStar Foundation, the Texas state office of nonprofit capacity building and social innovation and administrator of the state’s AmeriCorps grant, has just launched a new project called the Texas Social Innovation Initiative (TSI). TSI is a partnership with Root Cause, a national organization supporting social innovation and headquartered in Boston.

The TSI creates an opportunity and a marketplace for socially innovative nonprofit organizations to present a compelling case for support to scale their programs.  OneStar will pick six nonprofit organizations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to receive consulting, networking and other assistance to create an investor pitch for growth capital to scale their results-driven program. The award for each nonprofit totals about $25,000 in money and services.  The project is modeled on Root Causes’ Social Innovation Forum, where nonprofits are given strategy consulting, executive coaching, and introductions to social investors.  Their goal is to “build a philanthropic investment community that will invest and re-invest resources based on performance, in order to increase progress in solving pressing social problems.”

OneStar’s TSI will similarly offer this introduction to social investors when the project culminates in June with a Fast Pitch event where these six nonprofits will present their growth pitches to Dallas Social Venture Partners and other individuals with money to invest in nonprofits.

Aside from the fact that it is so exciting to see this kind of social innovation activity in Texas, I’m particularly excited about this project because Social Velocity is involved.  We helped to review applications (which were amazing by the way–I was so impressed with what these nonprofits are accomplishing) from the 60+ nonprofits who applied.  And Social Velocity will be one of the consultant teams working with the six nonprofits to craft their growth plans and pitches.  I love helping a nonprofit organization take the results they are achieving  and translate those into a compelling ask of people who have money to invest.  Bridging that gap between work that creates social change and those who have money to invest in social change is a thrilling experience.

The six social innovators that will participate in this year’s TSI will be notified by OneStar today, and announced publicly at the Governor’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference on December 9th.  The work crafting their pitches will begin in January.  If the project is a success, there is potential to expand it to other parts of the state.  That would be amazing.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Tags: Dallas Social Venture Partners, Fast Pitch, Governor's Nonprofit Leadership Conference, nonprofit, OneStar Foundation, philanthropic investment, root cause, scale, Social Innovation Forum, social investors, Social Velocity, Texas Social Innovation Initiative