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From Lean Start-Up to Lean Collaboration

Stanford Social Innovation Review Oct 2, 2018
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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Giving Compass’ Take:

• Stanford Social Innovation Review takes a look at how start-ups in the philanthropy space can scale and the best ways to reframe government adoption.

• Gaining the trust of government isn’t easy, but this article gives some sound advice on how to work toward better collaborations, which includes working backwards from initial goals.

• Here’s more about the complex problems that government can’t solve by itself.


Nonprofits involved in areas that address basic needs like education or health often expect that if a project or intervention is successful, the government will ultimately adopt and manage it for the longer haul. For a project to reach its potential scale and sustain impact over time, many view this as the most realistic end game. Conventional wisdom holds that governments want fully formed, tested versions of programs or interventions so that it can easily scale up social entrepreneurship.


Learning and benchmarking are key steps towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact on Impact Philanthropy take a look at these selections from Giving Compass.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Unleashing Impactful Change

      The current political moment has attracted activists at unprecedented levels. For those who seek to convert initial engagement into meaningful social change, the question is how do we increase and sustain it? Read more about community philanthropy on Giving Compass Through our work in leading large-scale change efforts in health care and homelessness, our coaching for similar initiatives in other sectors, and our review of almost 50 examples of significant social change, we have noticed eight characteristics that are usually present when large numbers of people join together to make the world measurably better. Done together, these actions create a phenomenon we call “unleashing”—in this context, thousands, even millions, of people working with growing energy and creativity to carry forward a shared cause. Unleashing rests on the belief that we already have all we need to make great change, and that we can achieve it by intentionally and thoughtfully leveraging the untapped joy, imagination, skills, and wisdom that individuals, organizations, and communities hold. As famed union organizer Marshall Ganz asserts, successful leaders are clear on the values that call them to the work and skilled at communicating their motivations. Their conviction sustains them in their darkest moments. It also attracts others, inviting them to tap into their own values and the great energy stored therein. The most effective initiatives also clearly see the nature of the systems they seek to change, refusing to accept received wisdom about the status quo. Clear, quantifiable aims shift movements from broad visions to concrete actions, avoiding dissipation of energy. In addition, the most successful efforts we’ve observed have set goals so bold that they demand collaboration from many in order to succeed. Then they divide up the labor between participants to define exactly what everyone needs to contribute to achieve the goal—or “take the hill”—in question. Leaders then... [are] deploying active field operations that go out to learn from trouble spots and high performers in the field. These initiatives revere learning at the periphery. Though hardly magic, the ideas here can unleash groups of good people to exceed their own expectations and do very great things. Read the source article at Stanford Social Innovation Review Visit GivingCompass.org about impact philanthropy


But is this really accurate? Recent evidence suggests that even after these “adolescent” innovations successfully pass through randomized controlled trials (RCT) — the highest bar for evidence — only a handful ever reach meaningful scale or lead to policy change.

At STIR, we believe programs are most enduring and effective when they are delivered in partnership with governments from the outset and fully integrated into social systems. To reach this point, we’ve made many mistakes, and our painful lessons may help others undertake a similar journey:

  • Lesson one: Begin at the end. Start by thinking about your goal, and work backward from there.
  • Lesson two: Cost really matters.
  • Lesson three: Working well with governments is itself a core competency.
  • Lesson four: Adopt an “insider-outsider” approach.

Perhaps it’s time for a new approach — a turn away from the “lean startup” lens we normally apply to social entrepreneurship—and to rethink the image of the rugged entrepreneur going it alone. This new mentality would promote “lean collaboration” with governments: An approach based on mutual commitment, co-creation, iteration, and — on both sides — a big dose of humility.

Read the full article about social entrepreneurship by Sharath Jeevan from the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

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