Monthly Archive for June, 2009

An Invitation to the White House

Published
by
Andrew
on June 30, 2009
in role of government
. Comments
The White House - Flickr: ~MVI~

Flickr: ~MVI~

Late Saturday night, I got home and checked my email for the first time that day to find an invitation from the White House to attend an event with President Obama to highlight the extraordinary efforts in communities to solve some of our country’s toughest problems.  Needless to say, it was an exciting moment for me.

I had known something was being planned. A few days earlier I received a call from Terri Steingrebe, the CEO of Bonnie CLAC.  Their founder, Robert Chambers, had been asked to say a few words about Bonnie CLAC at an event with the President on June 30, thanks in part to the good folks over at Civic Ventures where Bonnie CLAC won The Purpose Prize a few years ago.  Terri wanted some advice since Root Cause had developed the business plan for Bonnie CLAC a couple of years ago. (Their business plan is also featured in our book, Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact.)

As the next couple of days unfolded, it became clear that the day so many of us had been waiting for was upon us.  The President of the United States would formally speak about how government, non-profits, philanthropy, the private sector, and citizens can come together to scale the impact of proven solutions that are making a difference in communities across the country – and the President would issue a call to action.  As I write this, I can hardly believe it myself.

Too many people are asking: What will this mean? Who will it benefit?  To me, questions like these, while important, pale in comparison to the importance of a sitting president calling attention to an issue.  Call it social innovation, social entrepreneurship, social enterprise – we all know that we are talking about “investing in what works.” President Obama’s leadership in this area is changing the dialogue – you can feel it.   Too much money is being spent on too many models without enough progress on critical issues that we face in this country and around the world.  Today, Tuesday, June 30, a giant step is being taken to change that…and you can watch it live at 1:30pm here.

Late Saturday night, I got home and checked my email for the first time that day to find an invitation from the White House to attend an event with President Obama to highlight the extraordinary efforts in communities to solve some of our country’s toughest problems.  Needless to say, it was an exciting moment for me.
I had known something was being planned. A few days earlier I received a call from Terri Steingrebe, the CEO of Bonnie CLAC.  Their founder, Robert Chambers, had been asked to say a few words about Bonnie CLAC at an event with the President on June 30, thanks in part to the good folks over at Civic Ventures where Bonnie CLAC won The Purpose Prize a few years ago.  Terri wanted some advice since Root Cause had developed the business plan for Bonnie CLAC a couple of years ago. (Their business plan is also featured in our book, Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact.)
As the next couple of days unfolded, it became clear that the day so many of us had been waiting for was upon us.  The President of the United States would formally speak about how government, non-profits, philanthropy, the private sector, and citizens can come together to scale the impact of proven solutions that are making a difference in communities across the country – and the President would issue a call to action.  As I write this, I can hardly believe it myself.
Too many people are asking: What will this mean? Who will it benefit?  To me, questions like these, while important, pale in comparison to the importance of a sitting president calling attention to an issue.  Call it social innovation, social entrepreneurship, social enterprise – we all know that we are talking about “investing in what works.” President Obama’s leadership in this area is changing the dialogue – you can feel it.   Too much money is being spent on too many models without enough progress on critical issues that we face in this country and around the world.  Today, Tuesday, June 30, a giant step is being taken to change that…and you can watch it live at 1:30p

Volunteer Fire Departments: a Model of Social Innovation

Published
by
Andrew
on June 29, 2009
in Uncategorized
. Comments

This past weekend I was in Jackson, New Hampshire, where I attended the town’s Covered Bridge Dance. You might be wondering what a Covered Bridge Dance has to do with social innovation. The community gathering was to support the Jackson Firefighters’ Association, the volunteer organization that supports Jackson’s volunteer firefighters. Volunteer fire departments – seems like an amazing social innovation to me! With limited tax revenues, towns across the country have long been utilizing volunteers to perform this core service for their community. I recalled that the town I grew up in also had a volunteer fire department, and that some parents I knew volunteered with it.

When I did a web search for volunteer firefighting, I got thousands of websites including volunteerfd.org, the ‘top volunteer firefighting resource.’ I also found this amazing statistic: according to the National Volunteer Fire Council, 73 percent of firefighters in the United States are volunteers. This is, to me, a perfect example of a social innovation that has spread and become a core part of a town’s model to perform a community service. Volunteer fire departments are terrific public-private partnerships based not on one specific organizational model, but on an innovative approach that can and has been adapted in countless communities across the country. It saves the tax payers money, utilizes volunteers in the community, and provides a critical community service. We can learn a lot from how volunteer fire departments have leveraged volunteers and spread and adapted a model for distinct community needs.