Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 450. Innovation Panel: How to Harness Innovation and Embrace Risk - Alison Moore, Iara Peng and Sarah Lee

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450. Innovation Panel: How to Harness Innovation and Embrace Risk - Alison Moore, Iara Peng and Sarah Lee · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Philanthropy was designed to take risks.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: That was the culture, that was the whole point of having a philanthropic system and industry is that we are the one entity that can take risks not business, not government, but philanthropy can, and that's how we solve systemic problems.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We're not gonna find a cure for cancer if we like, okay, we're only gonna fund you if you find the cure Like.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: That's not how it works, right, everyone's trying and innovating, experimenting and figuring it out, and that's how we're gonna solve these big problems.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Same thing in social justice, in our communities that are suffering whether you wanna talk about gun violence, all of our major crises in the US and big problems, small problems.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We need to be able to take risks and innovate and we've got to lean into that culture.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And philanthropy is the one place where you don't have to have an ROI right, you don't have to have a return on it.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We're creating that culture, but that's our choice.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Hey, I'm John.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: And I'm Becky.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: And this is the we Are For Good podcast.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: Non-profits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: So welcome to the good community.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: We're non-profit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: So let's get started.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Hey Becky, what's happening?
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Hey, john.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: We are here in the summer of evolution and this week we're focusing on one of our favorite topics it's Innovation Week.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: And I mean we are replaying a panel discussion that happened at the Responsive Non-profit Summit that we co-hosted with Virtuous earlier this year, and I love this because we get to stack the deck with some of the most innovative people that are actually doing this out, living this out in real time right now, and so I'm so excited about the panelists that we got to assemble.
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, even just looking at these individuals and sitting in the what is our life knowing these individuals?
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: And I just really think their missions are, you know, a perfect execution of seeing that, and so it's really a delight to have Allison Moore.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: She is the CEO of Comic Relief USA.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: You may know it better as Red Nose Day.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: We also had Yada Ping, who is the CEO of Just Fund, and she is one of these incredible innovators that has coined this phrase we use very often that money moves at the speed of trust.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: And then, rounding out the panel, we also have Sarah Lee, who is the COO of New Story, and we are straight obsessed with New Story in the way that they are using innovation to fuel not only, you know, building 3D structures to eradicate homelessness in Central America and South America, but just in the way that they use it to push the team on.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: How are we innovating our relationships or messaging every part of it?
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: So three incredible panelists.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: So okay, before we hop in.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: You know we love to give a good tone set.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Innovation we really believe starts from within each of us, and you know we had a conversation just yesterday about leadership, what that looks like today and really having an evolved mindset.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: But to have an innovation mindset and a culture of that, we have to like pour in intentionally into that, and so that conversation is gonna span from that to just like hacks of how people like New Story and Comic Relief are doing this in real time, and I'm just so excited to get all these insights.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: So, without further ado, let's jump in here.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: I wanna start with a question for all the panelists.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: This is where you can jump in.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: We wanna hear each of your perspectives and take on innovation in the nonprofit sector today and Allison, you got my first.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Allison, let's start with you.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Great great.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks again for having us here.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I love this topic and this one in particular is really resonant with me.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, coming from different sectors you said my background is commercial and sort of, you know, media and entertainment space, you know, jumping into philanthropy and just the sector overall.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: It's not talked enough about.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Not talked about enough innovation.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: It's just, it's not an assumed state of being.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: It's sort of like a rarity that it's assumed to be a rarity of findings in this sector, and I just couldn't tell you.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: It's the complete opposite.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Innovation is everywhere and nonprofits are innovative.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: We're experimental, we are thinking about, you know, trying to have impactful solutions to some of the world's most stressing problems.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: And then there's a huge need for the public, for the capital markets, for places that are investing in innovation, to understand that it is actually happening here.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Because I think the barrier to innovation is, yes, there's thinking, there's cultures, there's mindsets, there's all the innovative thinking and sort of processing, but it's also access to capital.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: You know, material investment.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is what's predicated in the commercial markets, this is what allows people to get wired $7 million for a little idea on a PowerPoint that's, you know, meant to scale like a hockey stick later on.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Why can't that also be applied within the context of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector?
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Because that access to that capital is what's going to drive the ideas.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: So for us, you know, I think we occupy this interesting space of entertainment, engagement and impact and it really requires a constant, a constant finished vision and a constant innovation focus To be able to meet audiences where they are because that's how we do it through public fundraising and to be able to scale that kind of construct through just more and more initiatives that can go out there and kind of put in moments of magic and joy for like a Red Nose Day or like a kids relief to individuals that are meeting in places of scale.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: But that all costs money to build and support.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: And then you know raising dollars and then taking those dollars to invest it back into organizations who are doing really innovative work on the ground.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: So it's not just like innovations in fundraising and tech and all that kind of stuff, but it's also innovation in reimagining the grant making and like where are the places that we are investing, in putting support in and thinking about, you know, community leaders and thinking about leaders who have proximate experience and some of the innovations that they're coming up with.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's innovative thinking that needs to be funded too.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: So I think that's, for me, it's so much about and I know we're going to talk more about this just you know, building cultures and doing that with your teams and thinking about ideas and fresh ways of thinking and all of that.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: But I, I want to be able to have the space to be able to incubate new ideas and to operationalize them and take some risks and See some failures, but do that in the spirit of, just you know, doing more and doing more to create material change.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: And I just think less strings, less paperwork, less conditional access rules, less you know, more trust and more investment will drive more.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Preach button on the car.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: Sector, specifically on releasing the strings of type to grant making.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: So thank you for all that.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Yada, you want to hop in?
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: next.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I just can't wait to, after this conversation, google what scaling like a hockey stick looks like and what that means.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm first-generation American, so I get all of these things mixed up at any time I I hear these expressions.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to Google that later.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: I love it, allison, and I think you know you, you knit that.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: You hit the nail on the head where this is to me, about at risk tolerance and our appetite for failure.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: You know, and we have a culture, I think in nonprofits, where we're leaning more into this culture of Measuring success.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: What are your impacts?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You know, where are your benchmarks, how are you hitting your targets, and that is not a culture that does not facilitate a culture of innovation, and we have to be be ready to lean all the way into failure.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: You know, for us to be able to innovate and take risks, and that's how we're gonna learn.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, I remember talking to one of the founders of one of the biggest online platforms that we all use here in our every day and and he I said tell me your story, how'd you get here?
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: And he said you know, I failed five times Before I figured out this model and I was so naive about how venture capital works and I was just, you know, thinking it was like philanthropy and said, well, wow, how did you get investors to like new investors every time you failed?
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And he just like belly, laughed and said, oh no, these investors invest in me to fail Because they know the faster I fail, the closer I'm gonna get to the winning solution.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Right, that's how innovation works and that is just the antithesis of how we're funding and philanthropy.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: And in nonprofits, we want to see a return on our investment in six months.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: How come you didn't hit your target?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: How come you didn't get this idea off the ground?
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: And we need to create more spaciousness and more of an appetite and more Really warm environment for failure, because that's how we're gonna get to winning solution.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: So I can't wait to drive that change.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: You know, among all of us here and here in our beautiful sector where there is, like Allison said, so much innovation and hey, it's not that complicated, let's just fund people closest to the issues.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: They are closest to the solutions.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: You fund people with direct lived experience.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: They're gonna get us our winning answers.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: We just are not Flowing resources to those communities.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's atrocious when you look at the numbers and we can dive more into that.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: But it's just not that complicated and we can do it.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: So I'm excited to to get there together.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, you can tell from the chat, this is what the sector has needed to hear, and if I could drop this microphone I would, but I think Tyler's gonna get upset with me because those are great mic drop moment.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: I think we've got a great start here, because both of you mentioned culture as being a part of the movement, and I do think that scarcity mindset and the way that we've always done it, these are like these grounding principles that stall our work and they have just been Hibitually perpetuated.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: So I want to talk about how do you foster cultures of innovation, and we have two powerhouses, non-profit powerhouses in Sarah and in Allison, who have done this, and I wanted you to talk about how innovation has manifested within your organizations.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: How have you seen it on the bottom line?
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: How has it been represented?
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: And Allison, I'll think I'll start with you and Sarah will cross our fingers when we come back to you.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: Got some sound.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Sure, you know my, I think I've always Gravitated towards roles, just historically in my background, whether it was, you know, at HBO and on digital and SoundCloud and Kandey and NBCU that just had a healthy amount of innovation as an expectation For the work.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: And so when you start to think about that and just building like new business models or units or that kind of thing, they're sort of challenging status quo you have to put together a team and a mind set and a thinking and then build a culture to actually support that and do so, particularly if you're in like a Sort of small startup in a larger organization.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I think just those principles got applied for me here In the same way when I started with comic relief and really building a culture of innovation anywhere.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: So whether it's there or here, requires vision but also a Can do versus can't or, you know, mindset and really being able to see, not only see the big ideas and talk about them and intellectualize them, but Importantly and I think importantly for nonprofits operationalizing them right.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: And it really requires a lot of.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, our team is small.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I'm sure everyone else is on this screens.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Team is small.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: It's not meant to have like a lot of different people working on every piece of the machinery.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: So collaboration and teamwork is, but also Shoulder shoulder with our partners.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: You know our grantee partners are not just places that we, you know, give a funds and then We'll call you all next year.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: We really do partner together to kind of think about the solutions and innovations and where we can help them, even operationalize, when we can, all the different facets of their work.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: So For us it's day one that we kind of started on on innovation and I think when we started to change our lens from, or really deepen our lens in our work from, you know, our broad vision of a just world free from poverty, we, through our theory of change work, dug into that and really identified Breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Is that as our lens?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: And that was a really a Very, you know, new focus for us.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: But what it required for us is to just completely operationalize in a different framework and it was exciting but it was a really complex challenge that that had to.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: We had to dive into it a little bit In a more, in a deeper way, you know.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: So we started to think about our values and started to think about how we ensure that every, every kind of action that is involved, that we are working on, particularly in our, in our grant making, aligned with the values that we find core here and so, and align that to our kind of new vision and lens.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: So obviously, you know, just by way of example, our diversity and inclusion values were a centerpiece in all of that work, and so we launched an empowerment pillar in 2021 that we had not.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: We had four pillars safety, health, education and add an empowerment, so where we could start to think about youth leadership and economic development for young people.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Much of our portfolio had focused on children only, but you know, in the US Particularly, when you get to age 18, there's a tendency to it's well, you're not a, you're not a kid anymore.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: So the programs that were supported and you know, up to 18 and good luck to you, and we knew currently, when you start to think about generational poverty and you start to think about the cycles, would keep groups of folks and communities Systemically in that space.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: You need to unlock and unblock empowerment for young people in a really Material way, and so that really changed our Work and in and thinking about innovation differently, in the way we invest, and so we've increased investment in BIPOC led and community led organizations.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: We've increased the number of grantees from 10 to about 40 in the last three and a half years small, medium and large.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: You know scaled organizations like the global fund and you know large organizations like Covenant house, but organizations like Glasswing and Groudat and the Lala fund and a wide table of Doing very different work.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: And then we've actually increased our investment in those BIPOC led Organizations from 6% to 42% over the last two and a half years, and that you know, these are all just examples of having to shift.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I, you know you can shift the mindset, but you got to shift the work too, you know, and that that really is the only way you can do that is have a Everybody in stem to stern in the organization is breathing innovation and innovative thinking and solution making and problem-solving, and I feel like we've done that.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: I mean this team.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: They're just, they're brilliant, they're small but mighty.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: So and I don't know that anyone would have thought red-nosed team is so small, because it feels like a brand that is so prolific Globally, and I think that adds a lot of humility to this conversation.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: That I thank you.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: And it also Talks about how innovation is core.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: As you continue to iterate and add pillars.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: We did the exact same thing.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: We started with seven core values.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: We realized we were missing the biggest core value and we had to add it midway through our first season, adding that community is Everything, and so I want to kick this to Sarah.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: I wanted to answer this question as well, but we've got a great question in the chat, yada, that I think you have an answer for and we're gonna come back to that.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: So, sarah, what about you with your culture?
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that there's a couple things and I'm glad you guys can hear me now Thought about when it comes to operationalizing innovation within cultures, and that is number one focus.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: If you don't have focus Organizationally, you cannot innovate, because you will constantly be spread and trying to try new things everywhere which.
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: Likely nothing will work, and so I think that the reason why organizations who really have Innovation at the forefront of all they do is because they have focus, and so that focus we use the phrase a lot around here focus will set you free, and Focus is what enables us to be free to try new things, to actually innovate in our work.
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: Like Allison was saying, it has to be more than just words on a wall or words in a paper.
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: It has to be actually.
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: How are you showing up as an organization?
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: And I think the other place that it has really impacted our organization and a place that we haven't always gotten it right, is Really creating a foundation for risk-taking, right?
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: Everybody mentioned this in the beginning.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: With what?
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: How do we see innovation in the nonprofit sector right now?
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: And I think that you really have to create an environment and a culture where it's okay to fail, and that's that's something that's really easy to say out loud like take risks, be willing to fail.
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: But as leaders, when we're on the hook for impact numbers and metrics and growing and hockey sticks, it's a lot easier to actually back that up with actions.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: That gives your team the psychological Safety that they need to feel like they can experiment.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: One of the the big kind of innovations that put new story on the map was doing the first 3d printed community in the world.
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: For some of you know the poorest families in the world in Mexico, and we were going back and forth with our board and donors on.
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: Was this like a wise decision?
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: For us, right?
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: It was super risky, and one of our donors asked us the question of like, what's on the line if you don't try, or what's on the line if this works, and so that really bred this question in us, or this thought in us, of what is Irresponsible not to try.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: And so for some of the questions I'm seeing in the chat, I'm like what do you do when people are reluctant to innovate across the organization and the time that you really need it?
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: For me, it comes down to the question of how much you care about your mission, right, and how might Innovation help you go so much further, faster?
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: Because there is a point that it's irresponsible Not to try new things when the world's biggest problems are, in many cases, just getting bigger.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh, all right y'all.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: I mean I'm kind of feeling exposed in some of this too, as like a founder, so I appreciate the is the wisdom.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: I want to kick it to yada because I think this, this comment from Nan in the quote in the chat, I think we can all relate to.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: And what do you do when your founder, or maybe your ed, is Relected to some of this?
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: And I want to give space to just you know, surround her and support right now.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Such a great question in a real situation for so many of us.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: And you know I'm a big fan of quick wins, you know, and I learned agile business planning later in my career.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, I went to to, to business school.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: You know, have a master's in nonprofit management.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: I never learned any of this stuff until, like, I started building nonprofits right, which I've been building nonprofits for 25 years, and it wasn't until I started building a tech Based nonprofit that I was introduced to agile based business planning, which is a really beautiful model of trying to experiment in sprints, right, you maybe set up two-week sprints and in those sprints you're going to experiment.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: You're going to be doing some really focused to Sarah's point like A-B testing.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to send this email with this content.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to send this email with that content let's see which one performs.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: This is what people are doing all day long when it comes to lead generation or more tech-savvy companies are doing a lot of this work.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: We can do it too.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And these quick wins are really important for NAN because you can experiment with small little bites versus we're going to do an 18-month strategic plan.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: We're going to shift culture.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you can have that work.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: That works really hard for an organization to go through that kind of change management.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: But if you start experimenting and getting some quick wins under your belt, people start to feel it and feel that momentum and want to welcome that change in a different way.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: We've seen that here at Just Fund, where we have a culture of experimentation and failure because what we're doing is new.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: No one's ever built the common grant application.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: We're the only platform in the United States that has a common grant application.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of really exciting things that can stem from there, but one of the most exciting pieces is no one's done it.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: So we've got to experiment until we find our way forward.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: But for companies that have a founder and an ED reluctant to change, I really encourage you to think about small, bite-sized quick wins where you can start to say, hey, we did this the traditional way and we also did a small segment in a new way, and here's what we learned.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: So you can start to show people that change isn't so scary.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: The whole foundation is not going to break.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: In fact, to Sarah's point, we're going to innovate and maybe do things even better.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: So I think there's a way.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Of course, we have to bring all of our founders, our EDs, on board, and this is one way we can do it.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: I mean brilliant insight.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Love that so much I know.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: As we're talking about innovation, there's this blend of risk and reward with each of these different steps.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: What are some strategies for minimizing that risk while really maximizing the potential benefits?
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: I'll kick it back to you, yada.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: In terms of taking risks and maximizing those for benefits.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, philanthropy was designed to take risks.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: That was the culture, that was the whole point of having a philanthropic system and industry is that we are the one entity that can take risks not business, not government, but philanthropy can, and that's how we solve systemic problems.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: We're not going to find a cure for cancer.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: If we like, ok, we're only going to find you if you find the cure.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: That's not how it works.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Everyone's trying and innovating, experimenting and figuring it out, and that's how we're going to solve these big problems.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Same thing in social justice and our communities that are suffering whether you want to talk about gun violence, all of our major crises in the US and big problems, small problems.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: We need to be able to take risks and innovate and we've got to lean into that culture.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: And philanthropy is the one place where you don't have to have an ROI, you don't have to have a return.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: We're creating that culture, but that's our choice.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: We can also choose to do something differently.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: We can lean into all this new wrapping paper of trust-based philanthropy.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Multi-year grants give people a long runway.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, in the for-profit sector, we know that people are given five years.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Five years of funding in nonprofits is like here's six months, go build the newest, greatest thing on $5,000.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: It's not going to work that way.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: We have to really shift the way we're funding and allow these risks to happen.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: And every time you're failing, you're learning.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: And that's the culture we're trying to create.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: It's not like you fail and you're bad and wrong.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: You failed and you learned something.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: So even in our team meetings we'll have our team meeting today at noon.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: That's what we start with.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: What did you learn today?
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: What did you learn this week?
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Where did you fail?
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Because you want to facilitate that culture of I tried.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: This didn't work.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Here's what I'm going to try next.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: We're taking a quick pause to get real with you, friends.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: Because, let's face it, it's a new world.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Donor expectations are higher than ever and donors want to know what their personal impact will be, which means we need to start by building a truly resonant message.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: And if you follow, we Are For Good.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: You know we're advocates for nonprofits' need to disrupt and adapt in order to grow, and our friends at Foster Avenue agree.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: You might know Foster Avenue by their former name, Snavely Associates.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: But here's the thing they're evolving alongside the sector too.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: As a philanthropic communications consulting and creative agency, they see how campaign communications are facing a revolution these days and, luckily for us, they're sharing their insights.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: The Foster Avenue team is sharing a 10-point checklist for creating campaign communications that meet the moment, and we want to get this checklist into your hands so you can start refining your messaging right away.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: Grab it today at fosteravcom.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: So, whether your campaign launch is three years away or six months away, foster Avenue can help you accelerate to the next phase.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: We want to see your campaign have all kinds of success, so I hope you will check out Foster Avenue.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: That's fosteravcom slash good.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: Can you imagine if you were sitting in a team meeting and your boss literally said congratulations, you failed, we're really proud of you Because all of a sudden, again back to that psychological safety, you feel like you can take risk again.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: I mean I don't think I ever experienced that sort of dynamic in 20 years of nonprofit.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: But I see the hope that we're moving there.
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: Having these conversations is one of those little nudges that moves us a little bit further.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: And I do think mindsets is a huge game of that and getting out of the scarcity mindset that blocks us in nonprofit.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: And I want to kick this question to you, sarah how can nonprofits everyone listening right now I see how this conversation is resonating how can they work on their mindsets to be reflective of what Yad is talking about, of the risks that we're taking?
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, we've got a phrase in our house you don't lose, you learn.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: How are you building toward that and constantly seeking feedback and really talking about your success and failures and what they mean?
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: I would love to hear how New Story does this, because I think the way that you innovate and fail forward is just a beautiful example of modern day nonprofits really taking this bull by the horns.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll talk about one of the places that we've failed and kind of what we changed in that process.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: That I think is helpful for all of us.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: And I think where we failed implementing innovation in our first years as an organization was we didn't have enough patience and so we were constantly on the seesaw of did this innovation just not work and we need to move on to the next thing versus have we just not given it enough time?
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: And at nonprofits, that's a really hard balance to decide which end of the spectrum are you on and how are you going to know which end of the spectrum are you on?
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: And so I encourage everyone as they're thinking about what does innovation look like on a small scale or on a big scale?
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: To start with, how are we going to know if this is working or not working?
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: And I think having those guiding questions, metrics or indicators from the beginning is really helpful.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: So, if you're trying a new project or a new process or anything in between a new email sequence right, it can be very small things.
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: Having what does success look like and when will we know to stop, I think is really helpful as you're on that journey, because then you're not wasting time and resources if you shouldn't be, you're not allowing yourself to get delusioned by like just one more, and you're not allowing yourself to give up too early.
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: And so that's one major thing that comes to mind that I think we've been able to implement and has been really transformational in how we have operationalized innovation from our very early days to now.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, it seems like it comes back to where you started this conversation with just that clarity.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, if you're real clear about where you're headed, it allows you to kind of run everything through that matrix.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: So, ok, we believe that in the power of just innovation to allow us to move faster but also to raise more funds, grow our partnerships and Allison.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: Your team is doing this incredibly well, not just with your stakeholders, but with new audiences, and so I want to kick it to you and talk about how are you powering this innovation through that lens?
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: We are lucky in that and grateful for, frankly, the very vibrant and strong Red Nose Day campaign that you know.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: We continue to kind of thread innovation through that Campaign and really think about doing things differently in our supportive children living in poverty and and been thinking about what that changes in our grantmaking, as I mentioned earlier, but also just how we kind of innovate in bringing that to audiences.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: And a lot of that is really dependent on partnerships.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, our partnerships with Walgreens and NBC have been crucial in our ability to kind of innovate and think about it differently and talk to and connect with individuals.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think there's a six degrees is based on an Accenture report, I think, about six, eight seconds between Inspiration and action.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: And when you think about that, in retail that's a, that's a very kind of like clogged up time for somebody to actually kind of think about, to actually act.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: And the magic of the red nose is that it does it very quickly, without a big Explanation and, you know, white paper or thinking about.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: It's just like a moment to kind of do something and be a part of something in the Community, right then and there.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: And so what we want to do is take you know, taking an innovation lens Replicate that on multiple different platforms in places that we can, in new platforms where we know young people are gathering right and young donors and young Individuals who are donating, I mean they're their mindsets have changed and their expectations have changed.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: So we just launched, by way of example, we launched the kids relief campaign just recently and it's a great example of how we're trying to think about how can we take that magic of just Really engaging in a different way and a different kind of platform and then creating this to be a place we can continually innovate over and over again.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: And so we launched a game called solar punk simulator on on Roblox, which is a basically a gaming experience that gives young people the ability to make change through gameplay, and that was a really about empowering change makers and aligning with our empowerment pillar.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: It gives to be able to understand kind of what it is, that the the elements that drive change for young people.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: And so we launched this game experience.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: And then we also it was accompanied with a concert from a guy called boy with you, who's an amazing performer, who did this incredible concert for us in game and then had a couple of our, our you know comically friends like Jack black and a couple of YouTube stars to come in and sort of amplify and kind of get get audiences Really raised up.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: I have to say we had.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: It was like and you know to your point so and yeah, it's like this was some we put this on the table.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: It was like we didn't want to build a game that was just like a launch and leave game.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: We're just like, oh, I hope it's a game that works and then kind of this is a game.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: It's meant to be an ecosystem for us.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: This needed to be built in a way that actually could sustain gameplay and engage audiences and that they'd want to play, because the more that they play, the more that we are able to kind of Create this sort of multiple kind of areas of fundraising around it.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: We had a partnership with Wonderworks, which is a developer who's one of the lead developers at Roblox.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: We had to do it in an innovative way.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: We needed to get that funded by an individual and a partner of ours and Segal Foundation, who helped us, who said look, I want to see you build this, I want to see you take this to, to build this, to scale and be able to engage audiences, because he, too, believed in next-gen audiences.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: So, long story short, you know we've launched this, put this out in the world, kind of like peeking behind, like the cover is to be, like, can we do this and can we manage an environment like this?
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: And we have had almost 5 million gameplays to date.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: It blew past our numbers of, like you know percentages over the amount of engagement, gameplay lasting, the number of impressions, the kind of, you know, engagement that we that we've been able to encounter, and we had the number one liked concert on Roblox and the number 18th In terms of popular concerts on Roblox.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: And we beat out sir Elton John.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'd say that I like him a lot, but I and the chain smokers, which is a what weird sort of like compendium of Artists, but anyway, I sorry I was a little long on the tooth on that, but I'm just like that is an example of you know, if you had told me coming into this role like you know, you know you you should be starting and thinking about things on a gaming platform, I would have been like is that the right thing?
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: Does it only have to be direct mail and get?
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: No, it needs to be all this stuff and we need to be okay with, like, trying and doing our best and then, like, growing that as a platform, and that's exactly what we intend to do and it's, it's, it's just a great way and then hopefully that will grow to be, you know, have the vibrancy and the innovation.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: As you know, as red nose day has, we'll continue to innovate their kids relief.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: We're bringing back comic relief.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: That brand it.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Just we have to innovate across all of it.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: And I'll just say I was just writing in the chat here to you, allison that these innovations are amazing.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: It's so amazing and I really love what you're saying about partnerships and that partnerships can help us accelerate innovation.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: That's just so powerful and true.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: We don't have to do it all right.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: We sometimes think we have to take steps A to Z all by ourselves and actually when you partner, you can innovate that much faster, and I love it.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I've seen it.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I've experienced it in my life.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: We're experiencing it right now at Justine, as we partner with some different APIs to help us make moving money more quickly to movements happen.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to just put a you know, an exclamation point on your comment that partnerships help us accelerate innovation.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I think it's so, so, so true and really an important point.
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: I think when we think about partnerships as nonprofits, it can feel overwhelming, right, like, how are we going to get this person or this company to make this dream we have come alive.
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: One of the practices we have seen really helpful at News Story and implementing innovation is actually just doing it cross organizationally right.
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: So bringing together teams that don't typically work together and having them brainstorm and work on projects or problems and innovating those ideas can often bring new perspectives.
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: So one of our values is improved through learning and feedback, and so we may have small group sessions that brings one person from each department.
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: So group is, you know, five or six people and somebody saying okay, on our impact team, we're having this problem.
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: Our surveyors in the field are taking way longer to upload the work because there's not Wi-Fi accessible in the places that we work.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: How might we solve this problem?
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: And bringing together our creative team, our fundraising team, our finance team, brings those diverse experiences and ideas that I think actually can make innovation super tangible for everyone, in a way that you can dream super big, but you can also make it really practical for whatever's happening organizationally by just bringing fresh ideas and perspectives.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, the principle of what you're saying, too, is just applicable in how we show up and how we grow as humans, too.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: If we're in our own echo chambers, if we're surrounded by all the people that look like us, it's deeply holding us back in so many different ways.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: And so, yada, we're starting to run out of time, but you've got to share how innovation is disrupting the entire grant scene through your work.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: Get just fun.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: I mean taking something that's so antiquated, so painful and making it move so much quicker and spreading equity in the process.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: Will you share a little bit about that journey real quick?
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I will, and I'll just say for all of us out here experimenting sometimes the best innovations are right under our nose, like with Just Fun and the Common Grant application.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: It's like so simple.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: It's like I mean, really no one's built this Seriously, are you sure?
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Like, can we just do that again one more time?
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Why not?
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: You know, and we've just built the first platform in the US and that accepts like a Common Grant application.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I understand from my colleagues working in different parts of the world that also other parts of the world don't have a Common App platform.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Why not you guys?
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: So with Just Fun, you know what we did was we said look, money is not flowing to communities of color.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: That's a big problem from an equity perspective and from a strategic perspective.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: If we want to win fund people closest to the issues, why aren't they getting funded?
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: We're moving $450 billion a year to nonprofits 4% it goes to communities of color.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: What are we doing?
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: This is inequitable, it's unstrategic.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: So you know, one of my favorite class in business school, as you all know, is process flow management.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: We need to understand the process flow of grant making to see where are the bottlenecks and barriers and when you have a bottleneck this big, this astounding.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: You know there are some systemic problems, right?
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: One of the big problems is it's expensive, it's hard to apply, I don't know where to apply.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: There's all of this like really exclusionary.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: You know, systems that we've built and that's inevitable, and we can fix it through the Common App.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: That's one solution, right, and so we just we didn't try to build a Common App for the whole philanthropic sector.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: We started with three funds, you know, in 2017.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: We said, hey, can the three of us come together and build the Common App?
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: So sometimes these innovations don't have to be massive.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: This is what I'm talking about with the quick win.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Three funds come together.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Let's build the Common App.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: We'll all agree to it and see what happens.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: We're now fast forwarding to today.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: We have 142 funds.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: We've moved 210 million.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: You know, 58% of the money that we're moving are secondary grants.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: So a group comes in through the Common App to apply to one fund.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: They get funded by somebody else, which is what we should be doing Make it easy, make it simple for money to move and, on top of that, we've saved organizations.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Are you ready for this?
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: 29 years of time they would have spent applying for grants that they're going to get 30% of the time.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: We've saved them that time that they can put forward to mission advancing work and not, you know, mess around with applications that take 15 to 25 hours to complete.
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: On behalf of the entire nonprofit sector.
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: Yada, thank you so much for going into the bottleneck, because I really think that that is where we get stuck and I think those places where we are stuck, those are rife for innovation points, they are rife to be rethought, and so I thank you and I apologize for how many people I've sent to you, yada, because I have connected so many people to you, because we think this is just the future and we want more people to get access to it.
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: So you all are podcast alums and we're so grateful for your wisdom.
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: You know we wrap up every conversation we have with a one good thing.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: So I want to kick this to Allison first and say what is your one good thing?
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: It could be through the lens of innovation, it could be through the lens of a Montreal life Hakwout.
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: Do you want to leave with the audience today?
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: I think that human capital is the most one good thing, and if that human capital and that that comes in your team, the investment in your team to kind of create magic and do things together and support and as a leader, I feel like that's just.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: I think about that morning, noon and night, but even to some of the conversations that we've had here too, human capital as it relates to partnerships and shoulder to shoulder sort of activity and working and supporting each other in a way that this sector does better than anything else, that's what I would, that's what I think is one good thing, and I think that if I can wake up every day and think about that and how do I maximize that for our own collective benefit, that's a good thing.
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: I just want to work for one of these women like no offense boss.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: I mean that is, that is truly what we need.
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: We are so good at caring for the external of our mission, but it's like if we could care for each other and care for ourselves.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: That self care is just as important.
• 38:56
  Speaker 4: Thank you for valuing the human being.
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: Okay, Sarah, what about you?
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: What's your one good thing?
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: My one good thing is simplicity.
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: This is something I am striving more toward, I think, especially in the context of innovation.
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: It can feel like more is the only answer, and one of my favorite quotes is the the way toward mastery of any endeavor is simplicity, and so I think that often, innovation, our work and lives are made better if we can go back to simplicity.
• 39:27
  Speaker 5: And how are we doing less to ultimately make it more, whether that's in our lives or in our work or anything in between?
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: So my one good thing is simplicity.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: And wrapping it up here with the one good thing I'd say is trust yourself.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: It's taken me years.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: I'm now, you know well, into my 40s and finally trusting myself and my leadership and my ability to solve problems.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: You know, and I think it's all of us can find and really believe that we have solutions because you do.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: You do, you know, trust yourself to experiment and innovate and and try to solve problems.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: You're not the answers on always out there.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: They're inside of you, and so if we can just unlock that inside of us, we're going to really be able to change the world.
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: You lived that.
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: I remember the first time we ever met Yada, she said I was looking for a problem, like a solution to a problem, and I looked around.
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: I was like, oh, it's me, I am the person I'm looking for, I have those solutions.
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: So know that you feel so empowered today.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: I hope you're leaving this conversation, friends, feeling like this is an ideal that not only you can embrace within yourself, but also within your organization.
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: I mean I've got like serious chills.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: I mean so much is applicable to so many aspects of our work.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: But I feel so much hope in talking to the three of y'all and I just want to encourage everybody listening to reach out to y'all.
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: I mean y'all are humans that I love following your journey, I love following your thought leadership, but to find you on LinkedIn to plug into your organizations because truly you're on the leading edge of this and you're just incredible humans too.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: So thank you for this.
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: This is a moment in time that nonprofit is experiencing that has never been before us, and those who choose to lean into that innovation, they are truly winning this.
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: We're seeing this within our community.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: Connect with these human beings, trust yourself and know you've got this more.
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: Always rooting for you.
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much for being here.
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: We hope you're loving the Summer of Evolution series and to learn more you can head over to weareforgoodcom.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: Slash evolution all the playlists, resources and other ways to help you get inspired and activated this summer.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: We'd also love for you to join the conversation, share what you're learning on social media or join us at our free community at weareforgoodcommunitycom.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: Bonus points for snapping a picture and showing us where you're listening from.
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: Can't wait for the next conversation.
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: See you soon, friends.