innovation

This morning Seth Godin wrote about the charter that non-profits have to be innovators.  It is timely that this post came out; just yesterday I was chatting with a couple community investment professionals (one energy company and one media company) about their role as funders in the social innovation space and what failure looks like to them when charities cannot or are unable to deliver on what they received funding for. Read more »

During the course of my career I have had the privilege of meeting and conversing with some of North America’s leading business people, politicians, actors and philanthropists.  I know that I am lucky.  So when I received an email last month from W. Brett Wilson’s publicist to write a review on his book, Redefining Success: Still Making Mistakes I was intrigued and said yes.  I take these opportunities as ways to learn more about what others are doing in the world, but it is also an opportunity to gain professional insights that you don’t often get W. Brett Wilson exposed to.

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There have been a few blog posts about Steve Jobs' and his limited role in charity work. I would like to challenge these claims, not because I knew him personally, or because we were involved in the same projects. Rather, I suggest, the very culture of Apple was one that was striving towards stronger communities, by virtue of how he approached innovation and social interaction with technology. Read more »

At this past year’s SoCap, I led an Open Space conversation around the language that we are using in the social business/enterprise/venture space. I have observed over the past few years, as this sector evolves and pushes boundaries, there is much inconsistency in how we communicate what we are doing.  These organizations are generating revenue by tackling some of the world’s biggest problems, yet there seems to be much confusion in the marketplace from those who are building the businesses and those who are investing in them.

In the 1980's Wendy's ran a commercial with the slogan, "Where's the beef?"  I was reminded of this as the debate about CEO compensation in the charitable sector is raising its head again. Read more »

Attached you will find a copy of the G8 Young Business Joint Declaration encouraing our countries' leaders to support, invest and encourage economic growth through the entrepreneurship of young business owners.

 

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Over the past 24 hours the term innovation has been bantered about without clear definition.  Depending on who you ask at you will get the following feedback on what innovation means to them:

• Access to new knowledge
• Access to new markets
• Access to new suppliers

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Calgary, Alberta - Two of Calgary's emerging entrepreneurs will be joining a delegation of 10 other Canadian business owners at the inaugural Young Entrepreneur G8 Summit (YE G8) in Stresa, Italy. Gena Rotstein, Founder and Philanthropic Advisor, Dexterity Consulting and Derek Major, CEO of Eligeo IT, are bucking the trends of our current global economy - these two business owners have set high, yet achievable goals for their businesses, and are well on their way to meeting those objectives.

What makes these two individuals unique? Read more »

In the latest of Advancing Philanthropy magazine, a publication of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), there is a column by Jacklyn Boice, Miachel Nilsen and John Skendall about intentional innovation in the charitable sector. 

There are three main stakeholders for charitable organizations, the employees of the organization, the volunteers of an organization and the financial investors to the organizations.  These three groups feed into a system.  This system described in a report “Intentional Innovation: How Getting More Systematic About Innovation Could Improve Philanthropy and Increase Social Impact” released by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is one that “is not afraid to fail and tests new ideas before implementing them into the whole program.”

In previous posts I have discussed the role of collaboration between agencies and how donors can act as bridges between charities.  In this piece, the role of the donor can be seen as a change agent.  These individuals, “foster innovation throughout the organization, both on specific projects and in structural ways that impact daily operations.” (Great Idea!, Advancing Philanthropy, Jan./Feb. 2009)

How are you acting as a change agent for the agencies that you donate to?  Traditional models look at how community investors can act as connectors.  Morphing this traditional role to the resources available today, specifically the evolution of social-media technologies and Web 2.0, how have you adapted your role?

The Karma & Cents winter newsletter highlighted how organizations are going to have to start clustering and collaborating more in order to survive the recession.  What role are you playing in facilitating this?  How are you encouraging the organizations that you support in moving towards each other, perhaps in unique ways?  An example that I share with client is the Storehouse 39:3:10 group in Calgary, Alberta.  Storehouse is a group of four organizations, each with unique missions, who have banded together to share workspace and some human resources.  They even have a joint fundraising professional!

In today’s non-profit marketplace, the role of the donor or community investor is not only financial – the intellectual capital that you bring to the table is critical – AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO SIT ON THE BOARD!  Organizations that foster innovation will encourage you to try and test your ideas without having to be part of the decision making leadership.  They will encourage you to take on this role, because they are the type of organization that recognizes the need for new ways of thinking, doing, trying and testing.

I look forward to hearing how you have encourage innovation within the charities that you support.