Social Impact Markets 2015.11.11 152SIS13 Minjae Lee

Andrew Wolk Founder and CEO of Root Cause Boston University, MBA http://www.rootcause.org/home Founder and CEO of Root Cause Boston University, MBA Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Management. Lehigh University, BA

a nonprofit research and consulting firm that partners with nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and businesses to advance solutions to today’s toughest social issues.

Social Innovation Forum How resources can be allocated based on performance to accelerate progress on social issues. Resource Nonprofits Philanthropy Government Business Nonprofits

Social Innovation Forum Social innovations could find the support necessary to continue their development and spread their impact Apply market mechanism Nonprofits Philanthropy Government Business New kind of market in Boston

Social Innovation Forum’s Role & Result 〮 Pitch organizations’ missions and summarize the resources they need from donors, foundation, corporations, and in-kind service providers 〮 Change relationship between nonprofits with innovative ideas and the people who provide resources to them 〮 Make more informed decisions

Lessons learned how to develop social impact markets 〮 Nonfinancial resources 〮 Sound data 〮 Community focus 〮 Government involvement

Nonfinancial resources Ability to leverage volunteer time and use in-kind resources is often essential to building a sustainable nonprofit business model In the United States, volunteer time adds up to $169 billion-supplementing the $309 billion of philanthropic giving in 2009, in-kind donation is likely to be equally substantial

Sound data The more data gathered about the issue and information about the best approaches, the better it helped the investor community work together Provided common ground for them to have conversation with organizations and to set expectations about performance

Community focus People usually will rally around the communities they know and care about and the local programs that serve them The more social impact markets are linked to local issues where companies are working together, the more likely they are to take root and prosper

Government involvement Vast majority of nonprofit funding comes from government. And in many cases, the delivery of nonprofit services occurs through government systems, such as schools and prisons. Government policies often determine the ways in which these organizations operate and are measured.

Early signs of Social Impact Markets 〮 Social innovation funds 〮 Social issue-focused allocation of volunteers 〮 Access to information

Social innovation funds Funds that have been created to incentivize innovative, results oriented approaches are serving as excellent mechanisms to develop social impact markets Within government: Social Innovation Fund at the Corporation for National & Community Service, US Department of Education’s i3 Fund Outside government: Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, New Profit Inc., the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund, Venture Philanthropy Partners

allocation of volunteers Social issue-focused allocation of volunteers The OneStar Foundation of Texas committed to devoting all of its AmeriCorps volunteers to work in education City Year shifted from a general service program to allocating its volunteers to schools with sole purpose of helping to reduce the dropout rate and expand college access

Access to Information A number of initiatives and organizations focused on information and transparency have emerged The Youth Violence Prevention Funder Learning Collaborative has commissioned community based research studies and issued reports to ensure that members can make data driven decisions in their grant making

Actual cases National Asian Pacific Center on Aging How does a nonprofit advocacy organization expand the breadth and depth of its work intelligently and sustainably? Challenge The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) had reached an inflection point and was ready to offer a wider range of services to constituents. NAPCA needed help taking a hard look at its present and future, answering questions such as what new activities would help it better serve its constituents and what staffing, organizational structure, and revenue mix would best ensure growth and sustainability?

National Asian Pacific Center on Aging Project Overview To better understand the needs of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) elders and how best to serve them, Root Cause and NAPCA administered a needs assessment survey to 660 AAPI and/or elder-focused community-based organizations and analyzed the results. Root Cause also identified funders who could provide valuable feedback on the strategic business planning process and who might, as the relationships matured, invest in NAPCA.

National Asian Pacific Center on Aging Results Received a $750,000 grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to implement key components of the business plan Established and implemented a research, knowledge, and education agenda to help AAPI elders Received a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and became the first grantee funded by DOL to serve a targeted population NAPCA has also hired key new senior staff members and strengthened its outreach and communications efforts.

Thanks for listening!