How Small Data Can Make A Big Difference

April 5, 2012 • Blog, Measurement & Evaluation, nonprofit • by
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There’s been a lot of talk about “big data” recently. The idea that if we just collect more and more data we can find hidden correlations and exploit those for our advantage. It’s definitely an interesting field and will shape many larger organizations but you don’t need “big data” to succeed.

I am a proponent of what I call data informed decision-making. Too often we rely on instinct, our gut, or randomness when making strategic decisions. It’s not that these things are always wrong but I believe the organizations that truly succeed don’t rely completely on instinct, they move towards data informed decision-making. Integrating data informed decision-making into your organization is quite simple. The first step is to simply begin collecting data that you feel is informative in some way. This includes things like sales & profits by region and data but can move much beyond that. Especially in the social sector it is important to move from measuring activity data to outcome data.

Next, when making key strategic decisions, go back to the data. Ask yourselves can we justify this decision based upon the data in front of us? If not, can we collect some data to help support this decision? Data informed decision-making is just about adding a check in the decision-making process. It’s about checking your instinct, gut, or ideas with data. You won’t always be able to support every decision with data but this will help your organization succeed more of the time.

The Good Social Business

February 16, 2012 • Blog, Business, nonprofit, Philanthropy & Giving • by
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Earlier this week I wrote the post, Why I Don’t Like Your Social Business. It turned into one of my most shared and read posts of the last year, in part because I think it struck a nerve with many social entrepreneurs. Many know and can sense that the field has been inundated with bad social businesses, which I rant against in the post.

Today though I’d like to talk about the good social business and the parts necessary for creating one.

1) The best social business is a business!

This might seem odd but I think many social entrepreneurs are people who would have generally joined or started nonprofits but they see this trend and the potential for a continuous and sustainable revenue source, so they start a business. This, in my opinion, is backwards. I think the best social businesses are actually started by people who start businesses but they stumble upon a business model with positive social benefits.

2) The best social business doesn’t rely on charity.

You would think that would be covered by actually being a business, but a surprising number of businesses ask people for investment without giving them upside, return, or equity. This makes the investment a charitable gift without a tax deduction. This creates an environment where bad businesses last too long. In the normal market if you aren’t making money and have no hope of making money, you shut down. The charitable action in the social business world just prolongs the inevitable.

3) The best social business aligns social and financial returns.

This is the crux of the matter. Businesses that are built around giving a portion of their profit or each sale away are really just glorified corporate giving strategies. I think a social business is one that has found a way to align the social and financial returns. If your investors aren’t crying for you to increase social returns so they see an increase in financial ones then I don’t think you have created a social business. If you feel a tension between the financial bottom line and the social bottom line then you have not truly aligned the two.

If you are able to accomplish these three goals I think you’ve probably created a pretty awesome social enterprise. It will be sustainable, impactful, and lasting. If you are meeting a consumer need while addressing a social ill you have truly created something revolutionary. I am sure that many people will disagree with my definition here but I think that if you have not accomplished these three things you are probably just a nonprofit in disguise and you should embrace it already and give your donors the benefit of a tax deduction. You can still sell things as a nonprofit and operate in much the same way as a business.

I think social businesses can be powerful agents of social change but they cannot address every problem and it has become too large of a fad and people are being taken advantage of and good is not truly being accomplished. As I always say, bring a skeptical eye to the social business world and ask yourself are they really a business and are they really accomplishing anything good?

Good Idea, Now What: Free Chapter and Video Promo

January 26, 2012 • Blog, Books • by
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Charles Lee, a leading strategist and marketing guru (yeah Charles, I’m using the word guru) is releasing a new book entitled Good Idea, Now What. Charles believes that too many great ideas die because people just don’t know how to go about executing them. As anyone who has ever done anything knows, execution is what pays the bills and brings a great idea into the world.

Good Idea, Now What officially launches on February 14th but until then enjoy a free chapter and check out the promo video below.

 

Good Idea. Now What? Book Promo from Ideation on Vimeo.

Some Smart Philanthropic Thinking

September 13, 2011 • Blog, Philanthropy & Giving • by
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If you’re grandfather was one of the richest men in the world and you took over one of the families’ philanthropic institutions, what would you do? That’s exactly the situation facing Howard Buffet, grandson of Warren. He took over the Howard G. Buffet Foundation recently and has set about bringing his grandfather’s business strategy to the social world.

The idea? Find the brightest people on a given issue (they are focusing on food security) and invest in them to solve the problem. ”My grandfather, in part, has been so successful because he has identified the best human capital for managing businesses,” the young Buffet explains.

This is exactly the kind of thinking we need in philanthropy. We need to encourage and support collaboration and outcomes. We can no longer support disconnected and inefficient organizations.

Check out the article here.

tactical_philanthropy

Ends, Means, and Morals

July 20, 2011 • Blog, Measurement & Evaluation • by
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Sean Stannard-Stockton of the Tactical Philanthropy blog posted in SSIR today about the need to regain morality in philanthropy, especially in the effective philanthropy movement. Much of these concepts were taken from a speech last fall from outgoing Atlantic Philanthropies president, Gara LaMarche.

He quotes LaMarche,

“At times it seems to me as if this movement has strayed too far from why anyone should be concerned about effectiveness at all, from passion about the deep and tenacious societal inequities that move anyone to philanthropy in the first place…

The effectiveness movement is now finding, I believe, that there is no real constituency for effectiveness as such… because it is values that move people to enthusiasm and action, not more sterile concepts of metrics and results.

…I have come to believe we need to re-invigorate our moral discourse.”

While my initial reaction is to say that effectiveness is really about more than numbers and metrics, I do agree with his sentiments. Effectiveness must follow mission.

The two concepts are not really separate though. To accomplish your mission you need to be effective. And to be effective,  you must have a mission to be effective at. One with out the other is incomplete.

I completely agree with Sean’s belief that

“The effective philanthropy movement should be animated by strong moral clarity about ends, about creating a just and meaningful world. But the movement is right to reject the idea that there should be a moral basis to means, that the question of how we create the world we want should be based on pre-conceived beliefs about how we wish the world worked rather than on an evidence-based understanding of how the world actually does work.”

If we seek to be effective, the end is much more important than the means.