Russ Wood’s Post

Funders and others interested in systems change should check out this piece from Susan Misra and Marissa Guerrero in Stanford Social Innovation Review. It focuses on the importance of investing in systems capacity. #systemschange https://lnkd.in/dGnDWsyg

"The gifts of time, respect, and trust, and the ability to focus on what an individual or organization most needs to do may be the most powerful investment funders can make in communities." The ways in which public and private funding unduly influence community school implementation highlights an ironic paradox. Community school strategies are about being intentionally responsive to the priorities of students and their communities, and yet, when available (& needed) funding -- and those " in charge" of the funding -- are the primary drivers, we should examine the underlying motivations and assumptions behind "WHAT needs to change," "WHO needs to change," and "HOW change needs to happen." Community schools work takes time, respect, and trust. And that commitment has to be courageously modeled from the "top." Thanks Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. for sharing this important invitation for reflection, dialogue, and action.

Appreciated this recent article from Stanford Social Innovation Review that dives into the topic of unrestricted funding barriers. The article highlights some of the common challenges faced by organizations seeking unrestricted funding and offers insights on how to move past these barriers. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gnaP4nQ9

By all means, let's keep infantilizing nonprofit organizations with burdensome, overly-restricted grant awards as opposed to treating them like the professional problem-solvers that they are. The greatest irony is that with unrestricted funding, NPOs can actually build their internal capacity to "absorb more funding" and grow more programs and services. The fact remains that capacity building and organizational effectiveness drive programmatic excellence, and rely on fiscally healthy, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure, operations, administration, and systems. These in turn rely on unrestricted funding that nourishes the roots of our work so that our programmatic branches can thrive, reach out, and achieve mission-focused outcomes. Philanthropy should not be a zero sum game with grant award winners and losers populating the funding landscape. And people with money are not smarter than the people pursuing money. (Indeed, you want a lesson in how to stretch a dollar, follow a nonprofit finance person around for just one day.) Funders: if you are truly concerned about an organization's ability to "absorb more funding," then provide them with resources to build their capacity to do so. https://lnkd.in/dWFKHH4S

There were once active governmental institutions set up to advance #socialimpact in this country, such as the Office of Social Innovation and the Social Innovation Fund. How closely do we as CSR practitioners align with the work they began 15 years ago? In the international development arena, often the gov’t interventions are the first step, with national objectives being set, regulatory agencies put in place, cross-sector partnerships pursued, and fiscal incentives added to encourage investment and innovation. Do we align ourselves in this model or do too many of us go-it-alone? We should pursue relationships with the long-standing stakeholders in the social impact space like gov’t, nonprofits, academia and foundations. To inform our efforts, we should seek collaborations with traditional innovators at universities. How many of us are leveraging the research, faculty, visiting professors and students at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy? Some of our conferences can also expand to include not just social innovators in the corporate space, but leading social researchers from academia, like the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS). Networking events are great, but where are the brainstorming rooms where we work across sector to develop new models of giving? And the discovery rooms to research how other countries and cultures implement social impact strategies? There’s a bifurcation happening in #CSR, with focus being split between workforce engagement and social impact. If we’re asking people to take our claims to the latter seriously then we’ve got to evolve our efforts.

In case you missed it, an article I contributed to with Allison Fine and Beth Kanter for the Stanford Social Innovation Review made it to their Top 10 in 2023! Let's see if we can do even more in 2024! https://buff.ly/3tuxaQl

“If we intend to continue changing the world, we must prepare to change ourselves, our institutions, and our ways of being in the world.” — A Revolution of the Soul Interested in creating a society where everyone can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential? This free article from Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) offers insights, ideas, and resources for those looking to build a nation that truly works for all—by transforming our institutions, our relationships, and ourselves. Authored by Doug Hattaway, it’s the first in a three-part series exploring ideas from leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and other fields gathered by SSIR and PolicyLink, the national research and action institute. #Client Click here to read the article: https://lnkd.in/d5A95Mkr

Good one from Justin Milner and the Urban Institute, covers a lot in a short amount of time. . Until the priorities and experiences of community are (deeply) reflected in research agendas (as well as the design of strategies/programs/practices) and the investments that build/drive those agendas, we will continue to wring our hands about demand, uptake, scale, saturation, sustainability, outcomes and ultimately policy. . Community controls uptake, scale, saturation, sustainability, and outcomes, not us - we think we're in control. . Implementation Science can't just be a one way-street. Its not just the the translation of evidence and research into practice, It also must be the translation of community priorities and experiences into research, evidence, design, and investment. . Gonna start all my meetings and conversations with the question - whose priorities do you represent and how do you know that - . #evidence #evidencebased #implementation #evidencebasedpolicy #implementationscience

Have you read our most recent blog piece, written by our CEO, Zoe Raven, explaining our newly revised social impact model? Click here: https://lnkd.in/eQhSNzDJ

Would recommend this excellent article from Jamie Allison in Stanford Social Innovation Review covering strategy development and the work involved in turning strategic intent into operational reality. Written from the perspective of a grantmaking foundation, though very relevant in any organisation change context - https://lnkd.in/eUyfDgpd