Social problems are complex. The social sector, which is enmeshed in complex webs on contracts, services, and partnerships, is complicated. As we scale interventions from the level of a community to a county, we increase the number of agents, actors, contracts, processes, and interactions. In this way, the social sector is not only interested in people, programs, and behaviors, but also structures, processes, and interactions.

Any social mission that endeavors to ‘have impact’ and ‘ensure positive outcomes’ cannot just be disruptive and innovative; it must be relevant and effective. Over the past decade, alongside the growth of social enterprise and venture philanthropy models, the social sector became increasingly focused on scaling proven interventions. Only recently has the sector become fully aware of the dilemma it faces: what do we sacrifice to complexity when focusing on ‘scale’?

Jay’s advice to us then is now ever more potent: Go for the long-game! Effective and relevant solutions to social problems, particularly through the mechanism of public policy, must consider the host of interactions that take place in a system over time. Today’s attempts to structure public private partnerships that share knowledge and promote learning across sectors do just that. The many tools in our toolkit — social impact bonds, performance-based contracting, impact investing, grant making, Medicaid reimbursements, New Market Tax Credits, housing vouchers, etc. — support the social sector in designing more effective and relevant solutions for social problems. They allow us to not only raise more funds, but also to more effectively communicate and collaborate within and across sectors. In this process, we can come to learn together from both our successes and failures.

Read the source article at medium.com