Earlier this year, I asked everyone working within the social innovation field why we were not spreading proven approaches faster. I also said that the answer lay in linking resources to performance. When we efficiently connect resources to the highest performing organizations, we can truly start to spread approaches that work. Today, I ask: How? [...]
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When it comes to accelerating progress on difficult social issues, I believe that we must focus singularly on directing resources towards programs based on performance. I also believe that the funder is the central driver of this process. With limited resources trying to make progress on unlimited needs, “doing more with less” must focus on [...]
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Exploring Social Impact Markets: Examples from the Field Presented by: Andrew Wolk, founder and CEO, Root Cause In Conversation with Sheila Cody Peterson Shawn Dove, vice president of corporate citizenship, State Street Corporation Shawn Dove, campaign manager, Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Open Society Foundations, US Programs Bob Giannino-Racine, CEO, ACCESS Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 [...]
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From The Gathering of Leaders – A Conversation about Collaboration with Cities
Posted on Feb 13, 2012
Last week at New Profit’s Gathering of Leaders conference, I had the privilege of facilitating a session with Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Jim Anderson, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. The conversation revolved around collaboration between mayors’ offices and private and public sector organizations. More specifically, it presented lessons on how mayors [...]
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Last week marked a milestone for social impact markets. Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to issue an RFR (Request for Response) for Social Impact Bonds or ‘Pay for Success’ contracts as dubbed in the RFR. While not as sexy a term as ‘Social Impact Bond’, ‘Pay for Success contract’ serves as a more appropriate title, as it orients government towards the need of allocating resources based on performance. This orientation towards linking resources to performance will in turn further solidify the infrastructure and tools for social impact markets. In the past few months, the concept of Social Impact Bonds or Pay for Success contracts has garnered an enormous amount of attention. While I have already written about Social Impact Bonds, and Root Cause has also hosted a forum featuring Kennedy School Professor Jeffrey Liebman – an advisor for the state – it is important to mark this milestone. It represents enormous change, and signifies the hope I have of being able to continue this momentum.
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Why is it that in a country with so many resources, and government and nonprofit programs devoted to education, economic prosperity, and health and well-being—social issues we know to be essential to our success—are we unable to spread what works faster? As of 2008, nearly one-quarter of the American population failed to finish high school, 21 percent of American children lived below the poverty line, and the U.S. health care system ranked 37th in the world—lower than any other developed nation. With 1.4 million tax exempt organizations in the country working towards these social issues, why are we not spreading what works faster?
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Starting with the Obama administration including Social Impact Bonds in the FY12 budget to the Rockefeller Foundation’s recent $500,000 grant to Social Finance US, Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have become the newest frontier of public innovation and an excellent way to further build social impact markets.
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The establishment of the Social Innovation Fund last year marked a great milestone for the field of social innovation in the United States. As the Corporation for National and Community Service is receiving applications for its 2011 Notice of Funds Opportunity, I want to share a few insights that I believe are relevant to any [...]
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As 2010 draws to a close, I have found myself reflecting on the journey that the field of social innovation and entrepreneurship has experienced. In February of 2011, Root Cause will celebrate its seventh birthday. It is amazing to me to consider how far we have come as a community working to advance the field [...]
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With the establishment of the White House Office of Social Innovation, the announcement of the Social Innovation Fund awardees earlier this summer, and last week’s article on social innovation in the Economist, social innovation is now officially the hot term of the day – so hot that there is a danger that it will end [...]
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ericverhaeghe: Very clear and precise. But... you seem to forget ...
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Joy: Many wonder what it means to get involved with pro...
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tbg: HI Andrew, Thank you for your analysis of Massa...
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Lawrence Baker: Social Innovation? What a concept! What we need in...
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JBRootCause: Hi Rhesa, You can find the interview here: ...
