Innovation and Collaboration

Stacy Palmer

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

May 18, 2013

Office Depot Foundation

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Collaboration at Nonprofits

• Hard times require more creativity and more partnerships

• Nonprofit Finance Fund's new survey finds that 39% of all nonprofits are pursuing collaboration as a coping technique in the new economy.

• How many of you are doing so?

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How Nonprofits Collaborate and Innovate

• Leadership is changing to emphasize coalition building skills

• Peer networks sprouting to give nonprofit executives safe space to build forces

• Some groups hiring innovation officers or developing innovation teams

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Community Collaboration

• White House report last year shows what works by building from within a community vs replicating an idea from elsewhere

• Among those featured: Strive Partnership expanding in 10 cities

• Bridgespan Group: Of 500 efforts only a dozen managed to move key social indicators by 10 percent or more.

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Innovation Requires Data

• An emphasis on data is helping nonprofits innovate better and faster

• First Place for Youth: Grew from $2-million to $11-million group by emphasizing data collection.

• Didn't do it just for donors; made the program better

• Resources on data available at philanthropy.com

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Innovation Requires Data

• An emphasis on data is helping nonprofits innovate better and faster

• First Place for Youth: Grew from $2-million to $11-million group by emphasizing data collection.

• Didn't do it just for donors; made the program better

• Resources on data available at philanthropy.com

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Harnessing Technology

• Crowdfunding and Kiva inspire a new effort to help the poor: Benevolent works with charities to find people with small needs – a refrigerator, a car payment and solicits online gifts

• What makes it work: Social-services are vetting so expertise provided to donors – but appeals to people who like that one on one connection with no overhead

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Financial Innovation 

• Pay for success bonds: Donors put money up front; nonprofits figure how to help people in ways that save money in long run, like reducing number of people who return to prison. If it works, government pays donors back. If it doesn't work: It's a charitable gift.

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Growing Your Own Staff

• Zumix in Boston brings music to young people; couldn't afford a fundraiser to help it expand

• Hired a former Vista volunteer who had helped with fundraising. Nonprofit pledges to invest in her training if she helps them grow.

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Donors and Collaboration

• Donors collaborate: Draper Richards Kaplan

• Soros's Open Places Initiative making grants to collaborative efforts nationwide

• Boston Foundation: Boston Collaborates gives $100,000 to two groups

• Robert Wood Johnson: Collaborative learning

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Donors and Innovation

 Impact investing: Heron puts 100% of assets in social-impact efforts

Crowdsourcing: Bill Conway asks the public how to give away $1-billion

Greenlight imports best charities to specific cities

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What We Don't Need

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To forget that we already know what works in many cases. Social Innovation Fund gets this

What We Don't Need

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To forget that we already know what works and to be too impatient. Philanthropy is about the long run.

Stop Risking and Failing

 

Case Foundation runs a Be Fearless campaign

FailFaire: Talk about failure

Engineers Without Border issues a failure report

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