A couple of weeks back (
click here from FB) I was sitting on a plane catching up on my reading and read an article
this article in Stanford Innovation Review. The article is called "Collective Impact" by John Kania and Mark Kramer. I was so moved by the article that we arranged a call and just spent the past hour on the phone with Mark to talk about how this thinking could be applied to the Women's Movement. The topic of the article - "Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations."
Here are my highlights from the article but PLEASE read it first!!!
- About isolated impact - "despite the dominance of of this approach, there is scant evidence that isolated initiatives are the best way to solve many social problems in today's compex and interdependent world."
-This point - "social problems arise from the interplay of government and commercial activities, not only from the behavior of social sector organizations. As a result, complex problems can be solved only by cross-sector coalitions that engage those outside the nonprofit sector."
- The FIVE CONDITIONS of Collective Success - love it!
- "The expectation that collaboration can occur without a supporting infrastructure is one of the most frequent reasons why it fails." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- "Funders' reluctance to pay for infrastructure and preference for short term solutions."
- The Story of STRIVE - that has a $1.5 million annual budget but is coordinating the efforts and increasing the effectiveness of organizations with combined budgets of $7 billion." Refer to the upper point. Funders don't like to fund infrastructure and yet the leverage that could be created by funding infrastructure is HUGE. We need to fund this infrastructure in a this Collective Impact manner.
"Until funders are willing to embrace this new approach and invest sufficient resources in the necessary facilitation, coordination, and measurement that enable organizations to work in concert, the requisite infrastructure will not evolve." !!!!!!!!!!!! This is a call to action !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A couple of weeks back (click here from FB) I was sitting on a plane catching up on my reading and read an article this article in Stanford Innovation Review. The article is called "Collective Impact" by John Kania and Mark Kramer. I was so moved by the article that we arranged a call and just spent the past hour on the phone with Mark to talk about how this thinking could be applied to the Women's Movement. The topic of the article - "Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations."
Over the past few weeks US interest rates have risen dramatically. ( click here from FB) For example 10 year US treasuries have gone from a low of about 2.30% t0 3.32 %. That is a 30% rise!!! This is a problem for a country that is addicted to very low cost money. This has occurred despite hundreds of billions of purchases from the FED ( I cannot imagine how much money they lost). The FED's famous QE program met with much scrutiny, especially from free market players who see this as massively disruptive. The big question is what next? Further what are the reasons for the rise? Is it the economy is improving or that investors are demanding higher rates from the US because of concerns about lack of fiscal discipline? I have more questions then answers but when I step back what remains somewhat shocking to me is despite the rise, how low interest rates are. Despite this, despite it, we are not experiencing any real growth. Yes savings rates have gone up dramatically but we are still a country that is way to indebted. ( household and government) The corporate sector fairs better but investment on their part does not make sense unless the demand is there. How can there be demand when the consumer remains over-spent? I continue to think it will be a slow road to recovery for the US with the potential for some major bumps along the way.
Last night at the TED opening I had the opportunity ( click here from FB) to see the documentary film "Women are Heros"- a film by JR, and the 2011 TED Prize Winner, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It was an extraordinary film of a street art project come to life in the communities in which it was born. Click here from YOUTUBE trailer. I am off to a Women Moving Millions breakfast, a tour of the museum and by first TED conference. What a day!
This is going to be a GREAT week. ( click here from FB) I am off to Washington to attend the first ever TED Women Conference. The line up is nothing short of spectacular and it includes a number of amazing women I know well. To name a few...
It's official, women give more. ( click here from FB) This is the conclusion of a recent report by "The Center on Philanthropy" at Indiana University. They studied the giving behaviour of single men and single women and reached this powerful conclusion. Why does it matter? Because it highlights" that women play a distinct and powerful role and philanthropy." 
