Ajay Menon, Sofia Nieto, Keiley Gaston, Manuel Hernandez April 24, 2019 I&E 510: Social Innovation Practicum Final Report

Durham SOUP Background

Detroit SOUP was established through Build Institute to celebrate social impact ideas

through community dinners: “Detroit SOUP is a microgranting dinner celebrating creative

projects in Detroit.” With a $5-$10 donation, participants get soup, salad, bread, and a vote in the

pitch contest. There are four presentations on various topics such as arts, urban agriculture,

education, technology, and social justice. The organization has hosted 176 dinners since its

inception and raised over $140,000 for community-based projects in Detroit. Now over 203

cities across the world have attempted to replicate the success SOUP has experienced in Detroit.

Scope of Work

The Durham SOUP team investigated the feasibility, sustainability, and value proposition

of the microgranting model pioneered by Detroit SOUP in the Durham community. Our final

goal was to pilot Durham SOUP on April 11th, collect data and feedback on the event, and

evaluate our results to make informed, data-driven decisions for future SOUPs.

Research Questions

● Is SOUP a feasible initiative in Durham?

● How can the successes and failures of other SOUPs inform the planning/management of

Durham SOUP?

● What value could it bring to the community?

● Who will manage Durham SOUP after this semester?

Methodology There were three main steps of the process to answer the research questions:

1. Conduct a feasibility / market analysis for Detroit SOUP in Durham;

- Literature Review

- Theory of Change

- Ecosystem / Market Analysis

2. Pilot build-out

- Formed partnerships

- Organized logistics

3. Analyze outcomes

- Assessed attendance and logistics of the event

- Did the event add value to Durham?

Literature Review

In this abbreviated literature review, find summarized the key findings from comprehensive

reports on different topics relevant to the creation of a SOUP in Durham. The successes and

shortcomings of similar ventures, in Durham and across the world, allowed us to delineate some

best practices to effectively pilot the Durham SOUP concept:

1. Detroit SOUP Case Study:

When building a leadership team, Detroit SOUP recommends creating a committee with the

specific committee chairs including a Facilitator/ Leader, Secretary, Outreach Chair, Proposal

Chair, Food Chair, Art Chair, and Diversity Chair. The creation of roles with specific

responsibilities is intended to empower members of committee to take ownership over certain

aspects of the project. Roles should be filled with members of the community where the SOUP is

held.

Choose a location that is frequented by all factions of the community; it must be easily

accessible.

A two-pronged approach to outreach is essential. Entrepreneurs must be contacted, often

through local incubators, as must be attendants with vested interest in the local community.

Marketing partnerships with local organizations, email lists, social media, and word of mouth are

proven outreach methods. It is essential to keep diversity in mind when designing the outreach

strategy.

Most SOUPs are no longer active, due to largely to inabilities to 1) maintain a fully volunteer

organization and 2) consistently secure funding/donations. A model in which University

students, through a club, volunteer to run the event -- coordinating everything from outreach to

fundraising -- has seen success in limited case studies. This might be a good fit for Durham.

2. Micro Granting Institution Case Study:

Kiva successfully pioneered a person-to-person, crowdsourced micro-financing model. Their

online platform connects individuals in need of small loans to others willing to make small

financial contributions, which will be repaid over time. Major factors that have enabled KIVA to

succeed include 1) encouraging lenders to make small loans of approximately $25, 2) partnering

with nonprofits globally to assist individuals in the creation of loan requests, and 3) emphasizing

that every dollar donated will go directly to the field.

NC IDEA was founded in 2006 to foster economic development in North Carolina by providing

seed grants of approximately $10,000 to emerging startups in the North Carolina area, working

with government grants. Factors leading to their sustainable success include 1) fostering

relationships with state governments to secure state funding, 2) providing pro-bono management

consulting services to grant recipients, and 3) frequently posting on a blog to engage community

members and build thought leadership.

Despite the differences that exist between KIVA, NC IDEA, and SOUP, we can take several

lessons from the case studies developed above:

● Encourage broad participation by keeping donor contributions small and maintaining

visibility into the allocation of these funds.

● Foster relationships with otherwise marginalized, underrepresented groups (low-income

Blacks/Latinos in Durham) by partnering with local community organizations.

● Provide long-lasting value to grant applicants through pro-bono consulting services

provided by Duke Community Consulting.

3. Community Engagement and Fundraising in Durham

Deborah S. Carr and Kathleen Halvorsen discuss the value of local decision making in “An

Evaluation of Three Democratic, Community-Based Approaches to Citizen Participation.” They

see community dinners as a natural social event to encourage wider participation in and

understanding of entrepreneurship in the city.

One pertinent model in Durham is the Durham Co-op Market’s Thursday $3 dinners. The

Co-op prepares a relatively simple hot meal every Thursday, with a vegan option available, for

all members of the community. On a typical Facebook event for the dinners, about 1,500 people

marked themselves as “Interested” or “Going,” demonstrating very high popularity.

The Durham Central Park “Parties in the Park” summer and fall fundraising series also highlights

a strong market in Durham for community support and engagement. The nonprofit hosts a

variety of dinner parties, food and drink tastings, and shows with ticket prices ranging from

$15-$150 to benefit their preservation of and programming in the park.

Overall, academic literature shows that Durham SOUP has the potential to really boost

community capital and citizen participation in entrepreneurship.

4. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Durham

Durham is home to some of the most innovative companies in the country, including IBM, Cisco

Systems, and Sony Ericsson; furthermore, Durham added the third most technology jobs in the

country in 2016. Durham’s downtown is currently home to more than 300 startups, and an

astounding 15% of the workforce residing there are employed by one of these startups. Factors

fortifying Durham’s status as a top tech hub in the country include it’s affordable real estate,

proximity to top talent, and funding and networking opportunities.

Some of the major players that enable Durham’s strong and collaborative network of

entrepreneurs include First Flight Venture Center, NC Idea, Triangle Startup Factory, American

Underground, the Council for Economic Development, and more.

The existence of these players creates an environment eager to embrace the entrepreneurial

ideals that SOUP aims to impart. Partnerships with any of these groups must be a component of

Durham SOUP’s sustainability plan.

Theory of Change Figure 1. Durham SOUP Theory of Change

While a full written explanation of this model is beyond the scope of this draft report (it can be found in our TOC papers), we used specific techniques we learned through class lectures and readings to construct this model. We found that Taplin and Clark’s method of “backwards mapping” worked best for us, after we attempted to construct the model from the bottom up at first. Ultimately, we started with our “long-term outcomes and work[ed] back toward the earliest changes that need[ed] to occur.” We originally did not know if piloting SOUP was feasible within one semester, and we also used this framework to make sure it was doable from each and every node of the diagram (Taplin and Clark). This process gave us confidence in our ability to pilot the program and move past our original plans of just a feasibility study.

Ecosystem / Market Analysis Figure 2. Durham SOUP Ecosystem

Pilot Planning

The pilot planning process was extensive and required many connections from the

professors and Katherine Black. A meeting with the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Initiative

helped guide the group towards contacting NorthStar Church of the Arts and partnering with

their team. The follow shows the potential locations, times, formats, food donations, pitches, and

partners that we considered throughout the process:

● Locations: Duke University, Fullsteam, Eastcut, Union MemberHouse, NorthStar

Church

● Times: 6-8, 6:30-8:30, 7-9

● Formats: Pitches → Dinner, Dinner → Pitches

● Food Donations: Loaf, Saint & Co., Panera, Toast, Parker & Otis, The Pit, The Durham

● Pitches: Helius Foundation, ReCity, Duke students, Durham high school students

● Partners: Helius Foundation, ReCity, American Underground, Union MemberHouse,

CEF, Duke DSB

● Marketing Channels: Facebook event, I&E newsletter, NorthStar Church mailing list

Pilot Final Details

The pilot was hosted at NorthStar Church on Thursday April 11, 2019 from 6:30-8:30pm.

Participants were served dinner that was donated by Toast (soup), 9th Street Bakery (bread), and

Geer St. Garden (salad). There were about 40 total attendees, with 33 that registered with us. The

follow demographic data was collected:

The four pitches were from:

● College Heights Community Initiative (Nicholas Levy)

○ The College Heights Community Initiative is a program dedicated to documenting

and sharing materials that showcase the history of College Heights, a district

recently added to the National Historic Register. Through this process the

initiative hopes to strengthen community ties and preserve College Height’s

unique character.

● Affordable Freedom Project (Ansar Footman)

○ The goal of the Affordable Freedom project is to build affordable single family 3

bedroom housing under $250,000 in and around Durham and help families from

the Durham community get one step closer toward financial freedom.

● The Renee (Whitney Robinson)

○ The Renee is a movement to equip women of color with the tools to have a

positive pregnancy/delivery experience. It provides a space for an ideation session

between 5-7 women to creatively problem solve the maternal health crisis.

● Audacity Labs (Quinci King)

○ Audacity labs is a program designed to democratize entrepreneurship by

equipping local high schoolers with the tools and modern skills in coding and

entrepreneurial thinking.

The attendees donated a total of $267 dollars. The College Heights Community Initiative

received the most votes. A statement of Nicholas Levy plans to do with the funding is included

below.

“OpenDurham.org is honored by the support of Durham's first community-funded SOUP dinner

microgrant, and excited to apply the money raised to work on its College Heights Community

Initiative in the historic neighborhood around North Carolina Central University. One matching

grant has already been secured - doubling the impact of the SOUP funds. Our plan is to use

these resources to create a paid internship for a current NCCU student with the skills and

interests to push the project forward in creative ways.”

Pilot Analysis Overall, the pilot ran very smoothly. We left feedback forms on the tables for attendees to fill out

and received the following information (averaged from a 1-5 scale):

“I am satisfied with the level of organization of the event” - 4.81

“I enjoyed the food and refreshments offered for my donation” - 4.77

“I am satisfied with the voting system” - 4.86

“I enjoyed the pitches and the pitch process” - 4.91

“I would attend another Durham SOUP event” - 4.95

The food and refreshments got the lowest scores, with people suggesting we warm the soup more

and provide cookies. The cold soup was due to the late arrival of the chafer and the wrong size

ordered to properly warm the soup before everyone arrived. Otherwise, people wrote that they

loved the sticky note wall, the diversity of the entrepreneurs, and the great conversation they

experienced.

Recommendations

Our overall costs amounted to $422 (See Appendix A). We would like to drive this

number down as much as possible, and feel that entering into a long-term partnership with an

organization like Northstar could help us do so. If we believe Durham SOUP can go on for a

long time, it may even be wise and cost-efficient to buy capital (like tables) that we would have

to rent each time. We also want to form partnerships with local eateries to secure food donations

for each event. Once Durham SOUP is more established and reaches a wider audience, we plan

to try and offer marketing and promotions for eateries in exchange for food donations. We also

plan to explore accepting donations from individuals, as we had a few people come up to us at

the event wanting to support the program further. Lastly, we feel that our feedback survey did

not give us the information that would help us most in the future. When looking back on our

results, we thought about what we had learned this semester about assessing impact. Specifically,

we thought about Teresa Chahine’s advice to “define what success looks like” to us, and work

backwards from there to create metrics for evaluating success. For our team, success was highly

dependent on whether the experience was valuable to those who came. We felt that our current

questions about satisfaction regarding food, organization, and voting did not accurately capture

whether people derived value from the event, but focused on how well we did setting it up. In the

future, we plan to ask about which parts of the event were most valuable to people and whether

they were able to make meaningful connections with others.

Implementation Plan

The current implementation plan is to establish Durham SOUP as a Student Organization

Funding Committee (SOFC) recognized club on campus. As a SOFC recognized club, Durham

SOUP will have access to funding from SOFC. We decided to implement SOUP as an SOFC

recognized organization rather than an SOFC chartered organization because recognized

organization can be selective with membership. As soon as we are recognized as an organization,

we plan to send out applications for “SOUP Interns.” In exchange for their work to plan events,

we hope to ensure that the “Internship” meets the 150 hour experience requirement for the I&E

certificate. This organizational decision was made because student commitment to clubs is

extremely variable. The goal is that the additional motivation will improve members’

commitment to Durham SOUP and planning the events. In the future, we also hope to partner

with a community organization such as ReCity or NorthStar Church of the Arts. We believe this

step is very important to ensure the longevity of SOUP in Durham given that our literature

review revealed that all university run SOUPs are no longer active. Additionally, we hope to

continue working closely with Duke’s I&E department. By becoming an SOFC chartered

organization and affiliating with Duke I&E, we feel we can increase our “potential for central

coordination” and also add a dimension of “affiliation” to be part of “an identifiable network”

(Dees et al). By doing so, we hope to add organization and structure to SOUP, and also tap into a

network of potential student volunteers/interns who will be crucial to our success in the future.

Appendix Appendix A. Budget

Item Cost

NorthStar Church: 2 hours $200

Table & Chafer Rentals $180

Voting supplies $16

Utensils & other supplies $26

Total $422

Appendix B. Photos

References

1. Chahine, Teresa. Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.

2. Dees, J. Gregory, et al. “Pathways to Social Impact: Strategies for Scaling Out Successful Social Innovations .” CASE Working Paper Series.

3. “How SOUP Dinners Work,” Detroit SOUP, 2015: https://detroitsoup.com/. 4. Taplin, Dana H., and Helene Clark. “Theory of Change Basics.” ActKnowledge. New

York, Mar. 2012.