Conference Overview
In recent years, more and more people in the social innovation ecosystem have begun to ask questions about the role of power in creating a more just, sustainable, and equitable society. At our Frontiers of Social Innovation 2022 conference, Stanford Social Innovation Review will use power as a lens to examine the strategies and practices commonly used in the field of social innovation today, as well as those emerging approaches that may be more widely used in the future.
At the conference we will discuss critical questions such as: How is power used responsibly, and what happens when it is abused? How are individuals and organizations in positions of power held accountable? How do we recognize and understand the power structures that may reinforce systems of oppression and inequity? What is the impact of power dynamics on different social issues, such as the environment and health, for example? How will the current examinations of power shape the field of social innovation in the future?
Last year at our Frontiers conference we examined the ways that major technological, political, and economic changes were causing shifts in people, resources, and power around the globe. Those discussions, coupled with many of the events that have transpired since then, led us to focus our 2022 gathering on “Power at Play in Social Change.”
Be a part of the exchange of ideas as we examine important topics, such as…
- Shifts in power: Worker-owned co-ops, indigenous climate activism, and BIPOC-led intermediary organizations are just some of the new approaches that seek to empower those whose wisdom and experience have long been discounted or ignored.
- Place-based solutions: Ideas like “restorative economics” and the growth of community investment trusts are focusing attention on local areas and empowering the people living there to create lasting change.
- De-institutionalizing philanthropy: Seismic shifts in the way philanthropy is perceived and operates are bringing about more transparent, more equitable, trust-based approaches to funding social change.
- Models of citizen/government co-creation: New modes of civic activism and alternative perspectives on the role of government are changing the ways that citizens and government interact and making government more responsive to the needs of the people.
- Public-interest technology: A growing chorus of voices from inside and outside the technology industry are calling for changes that give individuals and society greater control over the technologies that are reshaping the way we live and work.
Join us for Frontiers of Social Innovation 2022 as we examine these topics and other critical issues related to the role of power in social change.
Sessions
“Power for All: Harnessing Power for Positive Impact”
We face today a multidimensional crisis: the intersection of a global public health pandemic, increasing gaps in income and wealth, and continued racial and gender inequalities, all happening in front of the backdrop of worsening global warming. This multidimensional crisis is fundamentally a crisis of “power concentration.” To better understand how we have reached this point, changemakers need to develop a deep understanding of the innerworkings of power, which is an essential ingredient for effecting change. Harvard Professor and co-author of the book Power for All Julie Battilana, in conversation with SSIR Academic Editor Johanna Mair, will discuss the fundamentals of power, debunk the common myths surrounding it, and discuss how to harness power for positive impact in our lives and in the world. By explaining what power is and what it is not, this discussion will help the audience understand and navigate power in their relationships, organizations, and society. We will discuss how to identify one’s own sources of power, and see power not as dirty business, but instead energy than can be used for good. This talk will dive into what changemakers must know about power and how to use that knowledge to change our social and economic systems to make them more fair, more green, and more just.
“Redefining Power: The Emerging Field That Puts the Public Interest in Front of Technology”
Public interest technologists recognize that technology is never neutral. It is never enough to say tech is “for good.” We must always ask: “good for who?” But what does it mean to be a “public interest technologist?” What is this emerging field of public interest technology and why is it critical to center values like equity, transparency, and accountability in tech practices? This session, led by Jenny Toomey, the Ford Foundation’s international program director for technology and society; and featuring Charlton McIlwain, vice provost and professor of media, culture, and communication at NYU; Hana Schank, senior advisor for Public Interest Technology; and Divya Siddarth, associate political economist and social technologist for Microsoft and the RadicalXChange Foundation, will introduce the field of public interest technology and share perspectives from several speakers who represent the sectors that are key to the growth of the field – academia, government, civil society, and business. The session will explore ways in which public interest technology is making critical contributions to designing systems that are more equitable than those commonly used today and help expose the power dynamics at play in the current tech field.
“The Good Lobbying Movement: Reclaiming Lobbying as a Social Innovation Practice”
Lobbying is one of the most effective ways to enact social change. By advocating for new rules of the game with policymakers, it enables society to tackle the root causes of the major challenges facing us, not their symptoms. Yet, as it is currently practiced, lobbying is also what blocks progress today on numerous critical issues ranging from climate inaction to offshore tax evasion. This session, led by Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of Law & Public Policy at HEC Paris, challenges today’s negative conception of lobbying in an attempt at unleashing its social change potential. Alemanno reclaims lobbying not only as a legitimate form of participation, but also as necessary to the good function of our democracy. A ‘good lobbying’ movement – made of a wave of organizations, predominantly civic tech, nonprofits, and a handful of sympathetic philanthropies – is translating this new, positive public understanding of lobbying into a series of operational solutions aimed at boosting individual and collective lobbying action capabilities of marginalized and under-represented interests and claims.
“Trust Between Government and Citizens: The Key to Responsiveness?”
How do we ensure governments respond to the needs and requests of citizens? New evidence has highlighted the importance of the role played by trust between citizens and government, who can together – under the right conditions – identify shared problems and collaborate on solutions. So what implications does a collaborative approach to accountability have for the power dynamics between citizens and the people who serve and govern them? In this session Jasmina Haynes, CEO of Integrity Action; Arman Azizyan, project management and development specialist at the Armavir Development Center; and Aidan Eyakuze, executive director of Twaweza East Africa, will explore how we can scale up this thinking from problem-solving within communities to tackling some of the biggest challenges facing societies, such as COVID and climate change – moving from a transactional social contract to a collaborative “social compact.”
“Tackling Income and Wealth Inequality: In Conversation With La June Montgomery Tabron”
Despite diverse attempts by organizations across many sectors of society to address income and wealth inequality, the gap has continued to widen, especially for marginalized workers such as Black women, immigrants, and other people of color. Why have these problems continued to worsen, and given the systemic nature of these issues, what can the social sector do to catalyze a more equitable society? In this session, La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Eric Nee, editor in chief of Stanford Social Innovation Review, will discuss income and wealth inequality, what interventions are working and what are not, what the Kellogg Foundation is doing to address this problem, and what it has learned that other organizations might benefit from.
“Race to Power: Dismantling Global White Privilege”
White privilege is one of the best lenses to understand the power gradient that exists between the West and the rest of the world, and how this power differential is perpetuated in the post-colonial era. Across nine spheres – from business to the environment to sport and entertainment – white privilege is woven into the very fabric of global structures and societies. In each case, the objective remains the same: maintaining white Western economic superiority. Chandran Nair, founder and CEO of Global Institute For Tomorrow, will lead this session inspired by his most recent book: Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World. Nair who resides in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur will discuss white privilege’s pervasive global reach and aims to create a new space for discourse on worldwide racial equality.
“Funding BIPOC Communities Through Intermediaries – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
In the last few years, there has been an explosion of interest from donors and foundations in funding intermediary organizations that prioritize giving to social change nonprofits led by and accountable to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). This session, moderated by Aaron Dorfman of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, will explore the forces driving this trend and dig into the benefits – and the potential disadvantages – of funding through intermediaries. The session will also introduce structural ways to ensure that communities will truly benefit from funding, and to mitigate the potential disadvantages. Dorfman will be joined by panelists Crystal Hayling of The Libra Foundation and Democracy Frontlines Fund, Michael Roberts of the First Nations Development Institute, and Gloria Walton, of The Solutions Project.
“Shifting Power through Place-Based, Community-Governed Investments”
Redefining who controls investment decisions is a core component of shifting power – one that mission-aligned investors and philanthropic actors are poised to support. Decades of past efforts to achieve economic self-determination have led to new approaches to building power that center organizing and grassroots voices in the initiation, design, and governance of community investment. These approaches seek to counter the top-down decision making models that remain prevalent, tapping into the current reckoning with power and the roles of philanthropy, which has developed in response to current economic and public health crises and racial injustice. In this session, presenters Andrea Armeni, executive director of Transform Finance, Aditi Vaidya, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Aaron Tanaka, executive director of Center for Economic Democracy will showcase community engaged approaches – ranging from direct democratic voting over investments to having community representatives on boards – and their potential to create social change. They will highlight concrete examples of collaborations between communities, philanthropic institutions, and other investors, and touch on research and action that is informing innovative thinking among grassroots leaders, funders, and investors.
“Envisioning an Equitable Future – Sustainable Funding for BIPOC-led Social Change”
In the SSIR article, “Endow Black-Led Nonprofits,” authors Darren Isom and William Foster note that endowments are not only a gift of money, they are also a transfer of power. This practice however, is rarely deployed, particularly to BIPOC-led social change organizations. We saw a surge in new philanthropic donors to racial equity in 2020, however currently only a fraction of that money can be tracked to recipients. Against the backdrop of historical and ongoing racial bias in philanthropy, it is critical to seize this moment, to bolster the case for a robust, sustainable movement for racial equity fueled by doers and donors to achieve structural change and results for communities of color. And, to offer practical ways to unlock capital for social change, particularly for Black-led organizations, many of which are most proximate to the communities they serve and have the most to offer donors seeking social impact. In this session, presenters Darren Isom, partner at The Bridgespan Group; Lyell Sakaue, principle at The Bridgespan Group; and Tarik Ward, director of music programs at the ELMA Philanthropies Services, will facilitate a group reflection on a future in which BIPOC-led efforts to build racially equitable systems are abundantly resourced and deliver impact for all of us. Building on their collaborations with field leaders, they will offer some initial ideas for what that future might look like for different stakeholders – BIPOC-led organizations, white funders, and BIPOC donors – as well as some of the things that need to be true to move us closer to that vision.
“How Restorative Economics Can Lead Us Towards a Just Transition”
As inequality deepens, climate chaos spirals out of control, and a global pandemic becomes endemic, the most directly impacted grassroots communities are experimenting with creative economic models and democratic governance structures that collect their power so that they can survive, and thrive, with dignity throughout these transitions. In this session Nwamaka Agbo, CEO of the Kataly Foundation and managing director of the Restorative Economies Fund, will share her restorative economics framework and its origin story as a tool she created to guide her own movement building work. She will also detail how the framework has grown to inform the design of the Restorative Economies Fund at the Kataly Foundation.
“Trust-based Philanthropy in Practice: In Conversation with Rohini Nilekani”
Over the past two decades, Rohini Nilekani has been a strong influence in the Indian social sector ecosystem. A noted activist, writer, and philanthropist (whose foundation–Nilekani Philanthropies–is located in Bangalore), Nilekani’s efforts support organizations that work towards healthy, vibrant, active communities and networks. She has direct lived experience building organizations, and her philanthropy now focuses on emerging themes that are essential to an equitable, inclusive society. As a philanthropist, Nilekani has been a long-time advocate for having more open conversations about trust, failure, co-creation and difficulties in collaboration. In this fireside conversation with Stanford PACS executive director Priya Shanker, Nilekani will share her thinking on the role of trust-based philanthropy in building effective and ethical solutions to social and environmental challenges. Whether it is work on environmental sustainability, independent media, gender equity, or social justice, Nilekani believes it is time for innovative philanthropy to take bigger risks.
“From Hunger to Health: Democratizing Development With Data”
In what amounts to a quiet revolution, a small group of NGOs and pioneering governments are upending decades of development practice to more equally distribute power. This shift is particularly striking in the field of health and hunger, where power determines who eats and who goes hungry, who lives and who dies. Drawing on data-driven innovations in global health and hunger as a lens for examining broader issues of power and social change across the philanthropic sector, Action Against Hunger Canada CEO Onome Ako will lead this session featuring speakers Hajir Maalim, regional director for the Horn and Eastern Africa; Heather Stobaugh, senior research and learning specialist; and América R. Arias Antón, country director for Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The panel will share experiences from the frontlines of efforts to develop evidence-based plans for transferring power, examine the ripple effects of power redistribution, and illuminate ways that the analysis of power structures can become routine philanthropic practice.
“To Unlock the Power of Data, First Build Trust”
Data holds the power to tackle society’s greatest challenges and improve lives across the globe. But this transformation and impact will not happen overnight. Building just, equitable, and sustainable data ecosystems requires time, resources, and strategic deliberations in recruiting talent, designing architecture, defining standards, and implementing governance. It also requires trust, a fundamental asset that is instrumental to the success of data science’s ability to drive social impact and to dismantle power structures that reinforce systems of oppression. In this panel Ginger Zielinskie, data.org chief strategy officer; Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, National Alliance against Disparities in Patient Health chief data governance officer; and Rey Faustino, Alluma interim CEO, will share the findings of RECoDE, the Rising Equitable Community Data Ecosystems project. The panelists will discuss the impetus for the project, which reached nearly 500 people through a series of surveys, interviews, and convenings; the thought behind the novel methodology; and the potential impact of their real-world application.
“Bolstering Fragile Neighborhoods: How ‘Going Local’ Helps Disadvantaged Americans”
Indicators show that everything from life expectancy to crime rates to student test scores to social mobility are not only correlated with each other but with a physical location. Yet, few public or private initiatives focus on comprehensively strengthening neighborhoods and, in particular, neighborhood social systems. Many initiatives focus narrowly on improving individual lives through access to basic material goods. How can we think beyond established silos and commonly used metrics? Seth Kaplan, professorial lecturer in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, will moderate this session featuring Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone; Othello Meadows, managing director, Portfolio Strategy & Initiatives at the Blue Meridian Partners; and Shirley Franklin, the 58th mayor of the City of Atlanta. The four will explore the idea that a “prevention society”—a strong society that supports and advances all its members—is only possible when philanthropists, policymakers, and local leaders collaborate across sectors to catalyze lasting change.
“Workplace Democracy Doesn’t Happen by Accident: Collective Bargaining as a Powerful Tool”
In the wake of the pandemic, workers across the economy have the most bargaining power they’ve had in decades and are demonstrating a demand for better quality jobs. But how are workers harnessing their power in this context, and what can this and other recent worker struggles tell us about how we must evolve our ideas about collective bargaining and direct action? In this session, Sarita Gupta, vice president of US programs at the Ford Foundation, and Erica Smiley, executive director of Jobs With Justice, will explore case studies and theories around collective bargaining in the workforce, focusing heavily on dismantling white supremacy and gender discrimination culture in the labor force and in approaches to building worker power. They’ll discuss the critical role of economic power for workers in building a healthy democracy, while exploring new ways to change the collective bargaining process, including diving deeper into the movement that will evolve the legal, policy, organizing, and cultural frameworks of the last century.