SSIR academic editor Johanna Mair talks with Roy Steiner of Omidyar Network, Renee Kaplan of the Skoll Foundation, Jim Bildner of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and Christian Seelos, coauthor with Mair of the new book Innovation and Scaling for Impact.
How a structured but adaptable collaboration model is mobilizing organizations to achieve a common goal.
Everyone is talking about systems. Or at least, that's how it seems in my wonkish corner of the philanthropic world. You can't attend a conference or even have a meeting without hearing about systems, whether it's people trying to disrupt them, map them, learn from them, or catalyze them.
Making effective use of the creative power of design requires engaging entire organizations—from leadership to the front lines.
Starting a new organization to fill a gap in a field is a bold and difficult step, but four strategies can help ensure success.
Since 1970, more than 200,000 nonprofits have opened in the U.S., but only 144 have reached $50 million in annual revenue. They got big by doing two things: They raised the bulk of their money from a single type of funder. And just as importantly, these nonprofits created professional organizations that were tailored to the needs of their primary funding sources.
A decade of applying the collective impact approach to address social problems has taught us that equity is central to the work.
How do innovations move from the edges to the core of what an organization does? For maximum impact, innovations must cease to be innovative and become institutionalized and normalized.
Impact evaluations are an important tool for learning about effective solutions to social problems, but they are a good investment only in the right circumstances.
Scaling requires not only fidelity to core processes and programs, but also constant adjustments to local needs and resources.
