Tuesday, November 27, 2012

S
Managing Director SiG@McConnell

ocial and environmental challenges are tough to solve. Despite incredible efforts by not-for-profits and others, many of these problems endure. Some are even getting worse. To be successful in todays rapidly changing

environment, organizations must continuously innovate and improve. Not-for-profits and charities are no different. For many, this means developing new ways to solve problems, seeking new partnerships, or using new forms of capital. As it becomes more and more evident that continuing with the same approaches will not lead to better outcomes, many not-for-profit sector leaders are innovating. Innovation is not easy. It requires precious resources that community organizations are rarely able to divert from their programming. Too many dont have the time to stop or slow down the train to consider whether there is an even better route to follow than the one that they are on. Some arent able to check if theyre running on low-efficient fuel, or passing right by their destination. Others arent even clear exactly what the destination is, only that its somewhere to the North, or South of where they are today. Finally, when passionate, hardworking leaders do squeeze out the time to look beyond their latest crisis, they often find so many options and choices on how to do things better that it can be almost overwhelming. Some may ask themselves: Where should I start? What option is best for us? How do I decide? Or even, how do I make this happen? Fortunately, community organizations do not have to start from scratch. There are many emerging approaches that others are using, and a place where they are being shared. Innoweave is an initiative of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation in collaboration with Social Innovation Generation (SiG), thought leaders, academics, and partners from the notfor-profit, private and public sectors. Our collective work and experience across the sector has provided many new tools and processes - like social finance, impact and strategic clarity, social enterprise, and cloud computing that are enabling community organizations to enhance their impact and effect large-scale change. Innoweave aims to provide easy access to information, workshops and coaching to help organizations assess, plan, and successfully implement these new approaches to enhance their impact. What does this look like? Well, its not another one-off conference presentation or webinar. First and foremost, Innoweave will offer targeted information on a range of social innovations on an easy to navigate, open-access web platform. Whether its social developmental evaluation, collective impact or outcome based financing, the site will quickly help organizations understand the approach, whos using it, and whether it might be valuable for them. For those who are interested in a deeper dive, there are additional steps. Facilitated workshops held across Canada will help leadership teams discuss and evaluate the viability of the approach for their organization and how they would prepare to implement. As a further step, Innoweave will enable organizations to access longer term support in implementing the innovation, including expert coaches and mentors. Finally, Innoweave will help individuals and organizations stay in touch, enabling peer learning and ongoing reflection and development. As Innoweave develops and grows, and adds partners and new modules on different themes, it too will need to learn, adapt, and possibly even innovate. Its not rocket science. But it does constitute a new approach to what has been a major impediment to innovation in the not-for-profit sector. The problems we are trying to address are too big, the solutions to them too complex and the resources required too vast to warrant a business as usual approach. Now is the time to make the widespread adoption of social innovation a priority.

Innoweave launched its latest module, Impact and Strategic Clarity, this fall in partnership with United Way Centraide Canada, the PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada Foundation United Way York Region, CISCO Canada, and the Bridgespan Group. Visit www.innoweave.ca for more information. At the time of this blogs publication, Innoweave hopes to be the recipient of a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.