Date: 2024-04-28 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00004143
Initiatives ... USA
Social Impact Exchange
About the Social Impact Exchange ... material from the website
Burgess COMMENTARY
I have seen quite a lot of initiatives that mean well, and have what appears to be a lot of competent people associated with the effort ... but they come and go, and not very much of substance gets left behind.
There are serious structural problems with how these initiatives get organized, and what they are able to do.
While there may be many other deficits, one that is recurring is that they do not have any clear way of measuring what they are trying to do ... and how they are progressing towards this.
My impression is that most initiatives tend to focus much too much on the top of the organization rather than understanding what they need to do at the bottom of the organization.
As they say it is at the bottom of the organization where 'the rubber hits the road'. Get what goes on at the bottom to work, and everything will fall into place.
Years ago when I was a corporate controller ... a financial job ... I argued that it was not my responsibility to make the financial reports look good, this was going to get done by the factory working right. Subsequently I was given the job of actually running the factory. Since I only knew the factory from the 'top', I took steps to empower all the key figures in the factory to do the best they could do. In a matter of weeks the factory was producing about three times as much as it was before these guys were given the space to do an excellent job.
Peter Burgess
http://www.socialimpactexchange.org/exchange/about-us
ABOUT US
The Social Impact Exchange is a national membership association dedicated to building a capital marketplace that scales proven solutions to improve the lives of millions.
THE PROGRESS WE NEED
Communities across America are struggling to overcome pressing social problems. Fortunately, there are leaders who are pioneering new and effective ways to solve these problems by:
- Launching initiatives that improve the health and well-being of vulnerable children and families.
- Reforming school systems in poor neighborhoods that make college a possibility for every one of their students.
- Creating programs and policies that provide job skills and opportunities for people who are the most difficult to employ.
WHEN WE FIND SOLUTIONS THAT WORK, WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BRING THEM TO SCALE SO THEY REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.Doing everything we can implies that we all work together. Traditionally, there has been no easy way for funders, researchers and practitioners to combine their knowledge and resources to tackle the biggest problems and advance the most effective interventions. That is where Social Impact Exchange comes in. SOCIAL IMPACT EXCHANGE The Social Impact Exchange creates the conditions for breakthroughs to go big in order to deliver impact where it is needed most.
Together, our members are building a marketplace to scale-up solutions to significant social problems. We make it easier for philanthropic giving to achieve major positive change by supporting strategies that improve lives and change systems. Specifically, we:
- FIND nonprofit initiatives that consistently get great results and are ready to grow their impact.
- CONNECT funders with trusted solutions to the problems they care about.
- ENABLE foundations to create systems change locally and nationally.
- FOSTER collaboration among funders, business and government that increases the power of giving and achieves greater social good.
Our ultimate goal is to create a marketplace that efficiently delivers capital to the most effective nonprofits so they can spread their impact in cities and states across the country. Such a marketplace has the potential to direct billions of dollars each year to hundreds of high-impact nonprofits that will improve the lives of millions of people.
DON’T LET GOOD SOLUTIONS GO TO WASTE
With so many families and communities falling further behind each day, we cannot afford to miss opportunities to make things better. When scientists discover a new vaccine that can prevent a serious illness, they do all they can to get it to the people whose lives it can save. In philanthropy, our fundamental charge is the same.
Don’t let good solutions go to waste. Become part of Social Impact Exchange today. Together, we can build a marketplace that delivers exponentially more good to more people in need. Get Involved!
WHAT WE MEAN BY ‘SCALE’
Bringing solutions to scale is about making meaningful and sustainable impact – about finding what works and getting it out to the people and places that could benefit the most. The term ‘scale’ has a number of definitions, connotations and applications.
We prefer to think of it as broadly as possible, since our overarching goal is to scale impact. Though people typically talk about scaling as growing or replicating programs or even entire organizations (e.g., reproducing a model in different locations or within different organizations), scaling also takes other forms and encompasses strategies that generate impact through products and technology platforms, practice dissemination, advocacy and public policy, and systems change. Throughout this site the terms 'growth,' 'scale,' 'replication,' 'expansion,' 'dissemination,' and 'spread' are all used to describe increased activity in pursuit of increasing impact.
http://www.socialimpactexchange.org/exchange/whats-new/announcements
SOCIAL IMPACT EXCHANGE COLLABORATES WITH GEO ON NEW SCALING RESOURCE
As part of Grantmakers for Effective Organization's Scaling What Works initiative, the Social Impact Exchange participated in a joint research collaboration with Ashoka, Taproot Foundation, and TCC Group to explore the question: How can grantmakers best support high-performing nonprofits in their efforts to grow their impact? The resulting publication, Pathways to Grow Impact, shares new learning about the variety of ways nonprofits are creating more value for communities and how funders are supporting their work. This publication offers a framework for understanding different approaches to scaling impact, stories from nonprofit leaders who have successfully grown their organization's impact, and practical recommendations for grantmakers seeking more effective ways to achieve better results.
SOCIAL IMPACT EXCHANGE AND VERIS CONSULTING RELEASE STUDY ON NONPROFITS' STATUS IN SCALING IMPACT
Please join us in reading and sharing the first-of-its-kind study of nonprofits that are scaling impact – how practitioners view scaling, their motivations and readiness to grow, the strategies they are deploying to achieve scaled impact and the challenges they face in moving forward with their plans. We hope you agree that the findings are quite interesting, with very important implications for both funders and nonprofit organizations alike. Click here for The State of Scaling Social Impact: Results of a National Study of Nonprofits and to view the press release.
THE S&I 100 INDEX RECEIVES NATIONAL PRESS ATTENTION
We are excited to share that the S& I 100 Index is getting mentioned in the media, in nonprofit sector newsletters, and on philanthropic websites since its launch on November 15, 2012. Most notably, the S&I 100 and Social Impact Exchange President, Alex Rossides, was featured in a segment about Giving Tuesday that aired as part of the PBS Nightly Business Report. The Index was also profiled in a Chronicle of Philanthropy article.
To see a list of press coverage of the S&I 100 and collateral materials provided for use in promoting the Index, please visit the press page.
http://www.socialimpactexchange.org/exchange/market-creation/marketplace-initiatives/standards-development
MARKET CREATION We have learned to create the small exceptions that can change the lives of hundreds. But we have not learned how to make the exceptions the rule to change the lives of millions. — Lisbeth Schorr, Social Analyst
Social Impact Exchange members and Funder Working Groups are collaborating to develop common investment standards for conducting due diligence, providing transparent information, and reporting performance to funders.
An expert team of Exchange member, in collaboration with the Alliance for Effective Social Investment, has developed a common Due Diligence Framework for funders to use when considering a scaling investment. For the first time, this work provides a common, detailed methodology for evaluating scaling investments. The framework is geared toward program replication and practice dissemination models of scaling. Additional due diligence frameworks for policy initiatives, systems change efforts, and other models of scaling are currently being developed.
In addition, Funder Working Groups are developing criteria and guidelines for determining which scaling initiatives are ready for deeper due diligence consideration. These criteria will draw a distinction between innovation initiatives and those initiatives that are scalable and evidence based. Funder Working Groups are also developing common reporting guidelines to provide investors with consistent feedback on the results of their funding. Due Diligence Framework DueDiligenceFramework_beta.pdf Alliance for Effective Social Investment http://www.alleffective.org/Home_Page.html Our Mission:
To drive more funds to high performing nonprofit organizations by helping donors adopt sound social investing practices.
The Issue:
Each year billions of dollars flow into the human services sector to address some of the world's most pressing issues. Much of this giving is based solely on anecdotes and basic financial information. While this information is important, it fails to provide insight into the ability of an organization to positively impact its target population. Assessing an organization's ability to generate social value is critical to understanding the risks and responsibilities associated with an investment. Without this knowledge, organizations that are unable to effectively manage their performance, or that unknowingly conduct programs that cause harm, tap finances that could have gone to high-performing organizations capable of generating social value.
To learn more, send us an email by clicking here.
BACKGROUND
After becoming increasingly frustrated by the ineffective manner in which funds are allocated to nonprofit organizations Jeff Mason and David Hunter decided to do something to help bring about a change. With a shared belief that the most effective organizations are those that actively manage their performance, David and Jeff created the Alliance for Effective Social Investing. This diverse group of sector thought leaders works collaboratively to drive more funds to high-performing nonprofits. The idea is that if more money goes to high-performers than more will strive to be high-performing. High-performing nonprofits have the following characteristics:
- They have clear and reasonable goals that are in-line with the organization's available resources.
- They have a well conceived strategy for reaching their goals.
- They have identified key milestones/indicators that can be used to measure their progress towards their goals.
- They collect quality data that relates efforts taken to desired outcomes to understand which of their efforts are working to move them closer to their objectives and which are not.
- They use data to make ongoing adjustments to their approach to continuously improve.
- They can provide meaningful reports on the results that they have achieved as well as the mistakes they have made and how they have rectified their mistakes.
- Diana Aviv, President & CEO, Independent Sector
- Ken Berger, President & CEO, Charity Navigator
- David Bonbright, CEO Keystone Accountability
- Elizabeth Boris, Director of the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy
- Steve Butz, Founder, Social Solutions
- Paul Brest, President, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
- Laura Callanan, McKinsey & Company
- Ellie Cox, Escape for Good
- Robert Egger, Founder, DC Central Kitchen & V3 Campaign
- Karen Epstein, Vice President, Growth Philanthropy Network
- Carla Javits, President, REDF
- Jacob Harold, Program Officer, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
- Charles Harris, Director of Capital Aggregation, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
- David Hunter, Hunter Consulting
- Thomas Jenkins, President & CEO, Nurse Family Partnership
- Holden Karnofsky, Co-Founder, GiveWell
- Patrick Lester, Vice President Social Impact, Social Solutions
- Tris Lumley, Head of Strategy, New Philanthropy Capital
- John MacIntosh, Partner, SeaChange Capital
- Jeff Mason, Chair, Alliance for Effective Social Investing
- Chuck McLean, Vice President of Research, GuideStar
- Kristin Moore, Senior Scholar & Program Area Co-Director, Child Trends
- Debra Natenshon, CEO, The Center for What Works
- Perla Ni, CEO, Great Nonprofits
- Bob Ottenhoff, CEO, Guidestar
- George Overholser, Founder, Third Sector Capital
- Robert Penna, Independent Consultant, International Coordinator, Charity Navigator
- Kate Robinson, Executive Producer, Saving Philanthropy
- Katherina Rosqueta, Executive Director, Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania
- Alexander Rossides, President & Co-Founder, Growth Philanthropy Network
- Paul Shoemaker, Executive Director, Social Venture Partners
- Edward Skloot, Director, Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society, Duke University
- Sean Stannard Stockton, Founder, Tactical Philanthropy Advisors
- Bill Strathmann, CEO, Network for Good
- Cynthia Strauss, Director of Research, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
- Geri Summerville, Summerville Consulting Services
- Kate Tansey, Executive Director, St. Louis County Children's Fund
- Art Taylor, CEO, BBB Wise Giving Alliance
- Nick Torres, Co-Founder, Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal
- Brian Trelstad, Chief Investment Officer, Acumen Fund
- Eden Werring, Executive Director, Tauck Family Foundation
- Mary Winkler, Senior Research Associate, Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy
- Andrew Wolk, Founder & CEO, Root Cause
- Pete York, Senior Vice President & Director of Research, TCC