A Longer View of Social Impact
 A recent New York Times op-ed by Denise Caruso, “Can Foundations Take the Long View Again?,” highlighted the tension between business leaders turned philanthropists seeking greater accountability with their funding and established foundations questioning the value of this approach. But accountability, a focus on results, and the long-term perspective are not incompatible goals. On the contrary, they should go hand in hand—a maxim that also applies to public agencies, donors, socially driven for-profit ventures, and even the citizen who parts with $10 of his or her hard-earned money for a charitable purpose. I believe that it’s time to identify common ground and purpose so we can collectively address the critical challenges of our time. Aren’t we all simply wrestling with how we can make the greatest positive difference in this world—or more candidly, shouldn’t we?
Sometimes, however, I believe we make the innocent mistake of putting “the cart before the horse.” Those who know me understand I am a strong proponent of building strong, high-performing organizations, assessing performance, providing growth capital and operational funding, and more. Yet all of this is secondary to making sure what we do can have the greatest possible impact. In my terms, it begins with picking the “right starting point.”
WHERE DO WE START?
Admittedly, this is an area—in all aspects of my life—where I could have been a better performer. Give me a task and I’ll get it done. In fact, like many of my peers, I love taking on a problem or challenge, the harder the better. Although I hope a little wisdom has accrued as the years pile up, I see the times I picked the wrong one or (better said) didn’t pick what would have had the greatest impact or value relative to need and my own passion and effort invested. I now better realize the importance of taking the time to comprehensively, but reasonably, determine where efforts—the investment of money and time—will yield the greatest benefit.
After retiring from business and moving into the social sector in 1993, I was more clairvoyant—no doubt, from serendipity rather than intelligence—than I ever dreamed. My starting point then was the intersection of youth, learning, and community. Although I didn’t have the faintest understanding of the implications, I recognized the great need of educating our young people and the overwhelming importance that community—in the macro and micro sense—plays. And, I understood that that technology was making our globe a smaller, more interconnected place and that the ability to deal with change, ambiguity, continuous learning, and repetitive innovation would be key to success for some children. For others, it would be gaining the trade or skills to earn a living through “proximity-based” jobs as carpenters, technicians, healthcare specialists, mechanics, etc. A vision that all children deserve a level playing field to be able to learn how to learn was my starting point. After that, I was clueless.
Fortunately, I met and learned from many great minds and saw scores of programs and organizations working to better communities and improve society. Russell Ackoff, seen by some as the “father of system thinking in America,” said in one meeting that real, lasting change can only come when the system is changed. This view confirmed my previous experience with change theory that I hadn’t even thought relative to this new journey. No matter how noble or apparently effective, when only a piece or part of a system is changed, the change will not sustain. Think about how many truly great principals or teachers who have sparked remarkable achievements for their students. And, thank goodness, they do. But, as good as their efforts are, they change “their” school or “their” classroom—a part of a system—and when they move on, the system returns, unchanged, to its status quo.
It was the desire to affect broad system change in the lives of children that led to the conceptualization of Venture Philanthropy Partners. Certainly, its core purpose was to see the lives of thousands of children improved, to assure them a more level playing field in life. There was, however, a larger rationale which remains today. We knew our level of funding and the strategic assistance we provided, although benefiting the organizations with which we invested and having the potential for system change on a small scale in the National Capital Region, could not, at this level, lead to broader system change. But we envisioned a higher road. Demonstrating a different approach to investing in social change would ultimately—and collectively with others—influence a rethink of philanthropy, nonprofit performance, and, in turn, public funding. We strive to influence a greater allocation of financial capital—philanthropic and public--to the most pressing needs, and then to those initiatives, organizations, and, most importantly, leaders who have the greatest positive impact on these needs. Affecting sector-level change in the increase, flow, and use of capital—financial and human—can lead to system change to benefit not only the tens of thousands of children our investments directly touch, but millions nationwide.
Now fast forward to January 2008, where a friend who is the head of a prominent foundation shared how the short-term nature of politics has negated long-term thinking, and his concern that foundations are often focused too much on the short-term (and thus wrong or sub-optimal) areas. He used New Orleans as an example of distorted priorities, noting that for years it was known that a storm of Katrina’s magnitude would wipe out the levees. In his view, instead of directing dollars and attention to this infrastructure challenge, the public agencies, nonprofits, and philanthropic world focused their investments on “the same old same old.” Because Katrina destroyed the city’s infrastructure, literally billions of dollars and years and years of well-intended public, philanthropic and nonprofit work was eradicated.
Perhaps New Orleans and Katrina can be seen as an aberration, yet evidence of misplaced priorities is all around. Scan the Sunday headlines, look around your own city or ones you visit, and observe what is not happening to fix a litany of infrastructure needs. Then, take a moment to review earmark requests in pending legislation!
Many well-intended efforts appear to “major on minors,” rather than substantively affecting the most critical of our problems and needs. We need every mind and every resource in our nation working collectively toward common goals. And, when we do, we will increase our capacity and chance of success with respect to every issue facing our nation.
HOW DO WE EXPAND THE USE OF THE APPROACH?
I am far from having expertise or in-depth experience in the complex issues of driving social change and creating societal benefit. At the same time, the convergence of my private sector experience in assessing the performance and impact of technology on corporate productivity and effectiveness and my experience assessing the impact and building of nonprofits through the prism of Venture Philanthropy Partners’ philanthropic investment approach has given me an informed perspective and provided lessons learned—many the hard way—that have value to transcend the limited view of “venture philanthropy.”
After a decade of experience I firmly believe that using an “investment approach” to change must be expanded. Simply put, taking more of an investment approach to our most critical challenges—from rebuilding our national infrastructure to transitioning youth to adulthood—can have substantial long-term value. Regardless of macro focus, e.g., education, health, or investments in the private, public or nonprofit sectors, there are principles of execution that can inform our actions to realize greater social return on investment efforts.
1. Pick the right starting point
– Identify and focus on the most pressing, critical problems.
– Discover the inflexion points with the potential to disrupt the status quo and lead to system change.
– Find the critical power centers or concentration points, if there, that need to be sustained and/or built upon or around.
– Quantify, or at least qualify, access to capital via public, philanthropic or fee-based monies that exist or may emerge to sustain scaled organizations.
2. Find the right opportunities in your “investment space.”
– Discover organizations with evidence-based, workable approaches.
– Assess if they have a vision for change to significantly scale their impact or change the field or, very carefully, encourage them to articulate such a vision—so long as it is real and truly theirs, rather than a polished reaction to the promise of funding.
– Confirm that they address true core needs and root causes, and don’t settle for those that inadvertently treat a symptom or manifestation.
– Confirm that the solution or approach actually achieves (or can achieve) what it claims—in other words, is there an understood “theory of change,” is it evidenced-based, and is there demonstration that it leads to the stated changes in lives proclaimed?
– Play devil’s advocate to the approach to anticipate consequences, especially adverse and unintended ones, keeping in mind that everything functions in one or more ecosystems and when you push in one spot there will be a pop or bulge in another. Do this at both strategic and tactical levels.
– Confirm through thoughtful analysis and due diligence that the organization has the basics to move forward, the willingness to embrace transformation, and the capacity to absorb it and grow.
3. Strongly influence organizations to get the “right people on the bus.”
– Invest in people! Invest in exemplary leadership capable of rallying resources to a common horizon, navigating around the inherent impediments, and executing to deliver on the mission at hand. They will supersede any best practice, doctrine, or program specification.
– Educate, sway, even cajole these leaders to recruit the strongest leadership, board, and staff possible, using each hire to “raise all boats,” where new players bring in needed skills and experience and help further develop those already onboard.
4. Strategically facilitate without controlling.
– Leverage resources, contacts, and know-how to help at every point possible, being careful and conscious not to abuse power and influence.
– Provide leaders with the financial and human capital needed so they can grow and develop and have the chance to succeed.
– Liberate leaders to raise their views and that of the organization to “what is possible?”
– Help evolve a greater discipline in how the organization is run, with a greater, almost insistent, charge to be information-based, while never giving up one single aspect of being mission-driven.
– Develop a culture of assessment, adaptation, and improvement in which milestones are used to ensure a clear, unrelenting focus and to periodically assess progress.
– And, of course, figure out in advance how to define “success” and then continually monitor progress against this “success” criteria.
These steps may sound simple and basic. But, following this prescription is daunting in the private sector and even more formidable in public and nonprofit sector investing. Investment is always judgmental; it has to be. Although metrics play a vital role to inform and then confirm, opportunity, leadership, passion, and conviction can’t be subjected to metrics and analytics. That’s why investing is about people!
The importance of having an executive team with professional investment skills can’t be overemphasized. They must have keen judgment; be strategic in their thinking; understand the importance of execution; have the experience and contextual understanding to navigate systems; possess sensitivities and respect to deal with the inherent racial, cultural, ethnic, and social complexities; and have the interpersonal skills, integrity, and directness that can earn them the role of “trusted advisor.” If a team of this caliber and skill set (at least reasonably so) isn’t driving the investment equation, then it doesn’t matter what other assumptions you bring to the table…success won’t occur. The investment team itself must “walk the walk,” and “get the right people on their own bus!”
Finding this kind of talent for the investment team and the organizations in which investments are made is the sector’s most critical limitation. An imposing, near impossible challenge to do the above on broad scale? By today’s standards, yes, but a burgeoning labor pool from the “baby boomer” generation, the emergence of transformational leaders in the nonprofit field, the changed awareness of our young people who seek a better world, and a deeper investment to develop latent talent sitting within our communities can make the opportunity look very different in the near future.
I’m not suggesting that this investment approach can or should apply across the board. And, I’m definitely not suggesting it override or impair the charitable act (large and small) that has defined giving in America. But I am suggesting, whatever our cause, that we use an investment approach much more broadly—thinking more in terms of the cause and effect of investments, doing more to get at the source of our problems versus treating their external manifestation and symptoms.
We—as a nation, state, community, public agency, foundation, business, or nonprofit—have no option but to take the long view, but it is an even longer view that the op-ed suggests. Far too many people, without the opportunity afforded by a level playing field, have no long view for their lives and families or see that long view rapidly dissipating. We—those with the means—have the opportunity to reach far beyond our comfort zones to find common purpose; move beyond our own turf to provide for common ground; and shift our analytical perspectives to face, accept, and then navigate around the impediments that block change—cultural, racial, ethnic, class, or agendas big and small—to take on the advocacy, leadership, and firm, but fair, confrontation and intervention true change entails.
- Mario Morino
Case Foundation Hosts Evening to Showcase Investment Partners
Last week, VPP Investors Jean and Steve Case and the Case Foundation hosted VPP's investor community at the Case Foundation and Revolution LLC offices for an inspirational evening with VPP’s investment partners. 
Steve and Jean Case welcome Captain Fon.
The evening’s program was modeled on Razoo-style speed grantmaking, and featured brief presentations from 11 of VPP's 12 portfolio organizations. The goal of the evening was to provide an opportunity for the investors to learn more about the investment portfolio. As Jean Case reminded all of the investment partner leaders at the opening of the program, "We are all your champions!" While no "grants" were awarded, fun prizes were given to keep the evening light-hearted and fast-paced.
The presentations included poignant testimonials from Captain Fon, a senior at Friendship Public Charter Schools who has won a four-year scholarship at Bucknell, and Tameka Linzy, a peer leader at College Summit who spoke of the role College Summit played in getting her to college; two wonderful videos: one produced by the students at the Latin American Youth Center; the other by Heads Up; a spirited rap by Mary’s Center CEO Maria Gomez and COO Alvaro Simmons about the Center’s holistic health care and support services; and compelling briefings from Will Gunn of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, Cynthia Robbins of See Forever, Charles Adams of SEED, Eric Boven of Child and Family Network Centers, Rosetta Lai and Hansel Pham of Asian American LEAD, and Eileen Wasow of CentroNía.
Carol Thompson Cole, VPP President and CEO, said, "We strive to celebrate the successes of our investment partners with our investors, and nothing beats the personal connection of hearing those stories directly from these great leaders. We are hopeful that last week's event will be the first of many more opportunities to bring our investors and investment partners together, and we are very grateful to Jean and Steve Case and everyone at the Case Foundation for their gracious hospitality, creative vision, and all of their work to foster social entrepreneurship and philanthropic innovation.”
“Developing a Philanthropy Road Map” with Melissa Berman
Gabriela Smith greets Melissa Berman at investor session.
Last month, VPP convened a gathering of investors, Board members, and friends for an interactive session on “Developing a Philanthropy Road Map” with Melissa Berman, the President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and a nationally recognized expert on family philanthropy.
Berman began by walking the group through four key elements to assess when developing a philanthropic plan: motivation, issues, approach, and involvement; emphasizing that there is “no right or wrong method…the goal is making change happen.”
She then outlined the pros and cons of the five most common vehicles of giving, from the simple (direct giving) to the complex (creating a public charity).
VPP Investors Gabriela Smith and Katherine Bradley each shared their family’s experiences with creating their own philanthropy roadmaps. Smith said that because of her economic development and social service background it was important for her to find a vehicle that would allow her to participate and build bridges. In particular, she said that VPP had helped her family’s philanthropy through professional advice and exposure to a network of investor families.
Bradley described her family’s approach as a “mosaic” of giving vehicles, including direct giving and the CityBridge Foundation, and discussed some operational considerations that factored into her family’s philanthropy. The evening ended with a lively discussion of how the respective families represented had approached charity vs. philanthropy.
This is the third such gathering of VPP’s investors on effective family philanthropy—previous events have included a small roundtable discussion with investors sharing their own best practices, as well as a larger VPP Speaker Series event featuring Charles Collier, Senior Philanthropic Advisor at Harvard University. VPP President and CEO Carol Thompson Cole said, ”Effective family philanthropy is important to VPP’s investor community, and we look forward to watching this conversation evolve at future gatherings.”
Reflections from Davos
Editor’s Note: College Summit was recently honored as the US Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. As part of the Schwab Foundation's commitment to recognizing and supporting a global network of social entrepreneurs, College Summit's CEO and Founder, J.B. Schramm joined a global audience of world leaders, CEOs, academics and social change activists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 23 to 27. In this first-person account, Schramm shares some of the sights and sounds from his trip.
 Davos is one busy, thrilling, metaphor for how small the world is. Here are some responses I heard to the question “So what do you do for a living?”: “I’m building nanotechnology that once in the bloodstream of a cancer patient will find the cancer tumor and attack it, which could make cancer a chronic, not a terminal, illness,” and, “I am the CEO of T. Rowe Price, and I had a lovely bus ride with your wife,” and “I am the Queen of Cameroon.”
There were wonderful College Summit moments like when David Gergen told WEF-founder Klaus Schwab over dinner, “College Summit is one of the most impressive social change organizations in the U.S.” When I spoke on the Teambuilding Panel (with the heads of CARE, GEOX Shoes, and Bunge), I shared lessons our local site boards—including here in the National Capital Region—have taught us about how to build quick moving, adaptive, cross-sector teams. Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte and College Summit Board Member, arranged for his dinner guests to ride horse-drawn sleighs up a mountain to a bonfire and warm drinks—and to engage a fascinating conversation with conductor Ben Zander of the Boston Philharmonic on leadership.
On Friday, I had the honor of meeting one-on-one with Bill Gates. Mr. Gates (who had just finished his panel on African development, which followed his address on progress in disease eradication and a brand of corporate social responsibility he terms “Creative Capitalism”) shared a striking command of the issues of school reform and college access—in addition to everything else he does. He was pleased with the progress of College Summit, impatient with the pace of school reform, and very interested in the possibility of gathering retrospective baseline data for school-wide college enrollment rates. It was enormously satisfying for me to be able to share with him the kind of progress our team creates every day, progress that his and his wife’s foundation supports.
The theme of this year’s Forum was “Collaboration,” a not uncommon theme in business. But in the context of global warming, water shortages, gross income inequality, etc., collaboration takes on a special urgency. When Bill Gates spoke on “Creative Capitalism,” I couldn’t help but think he is sparking an important shift in the perception of “social change.” The man who built the most profitable company in history will leave his employ at Microsoft later this year, at the age of 53 and at the height of his personal and professional powers, not to ”enjoy life,” not even to donate his unprecedented fortune, but rather to change his line of work. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda in a very real way are embracing the personal risk that comes with publicly articulating audacious goals in fields like disease eradication and education. They are taking on this work, I believe, not because it is more noble, but because it is bigger and more ambitious. Today social change innovations are honored at Davos. Maybe one day social change innovation will command the primary focus of Davos.
Like College Summit, so many of the VPP organizations work to help communities tap all of their talent and apply that talent to needs local and global. Yet, I believe it is just as important to see our work in the context of the greater movement of social change. While running Microsoft, Mr. Gates has repeatedly filled the large hall of Davos. When he spoke on development in Africa this Forum, they scheduled him in a smaller room. What size room will he fill five years after leaving the helm at Microsoft when he’s talking about medicine in the developing world, or education in low-income communities in the US? It probably depends on the size of the transformations and victories achieved.
Of course, the point here isn’t the number of people watching Mr. Gates. The point here is that we are at a place in time in human history where the interconnectedness of global problems— and the risk level—is greater than ever, as is the speed with which social change innovations are getting developed, as is the accuracy with which we can gauge their efficacy. Interconnected too are the sectors creating innovations: public, private, and civic. Every victory that our schools and their students achieve—along with each improvement accomplished by sister organizations and innovators in the sectors of disease eradication, carbon reduction, early childhood education, etc.—rewards the bet that Bill and Melinda Gates are making, justifies the commitment that each member of the VPP community has shown to our strengthening young people in the National Capital Region, and builds the collective confidence of world leaders at Davos, voters in our primary states, and the teachers in Prince George’s County and Washington, DC classrooms, that collectively we can turn the tide on massive global problems in our lifetime.
- J.B. Schramm
Mission & Goals
 New Pathway for Youth in LAYC’s Strategic Plan
Thanks to Lori Kaplan, Executive Director, for this update.
A year ago the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) began working with the Bridgespan Group—through a grant from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation—on a new strategic plan. LAYC went through a rigorous process to identify service gaps it would need to fill to reach its desired outcomes for all youth. The plan is now completed and ready for implementation.
In order to guarantee even greater outcomes, LAYC will pioneer a youth-centric approach for young people at the highest risk. LAYC believes a strong relationship with a caring adult is critical to a youth’s ability to achieve successful outcomes. In that spirit, high-risk youth will be paired with promotores/guides.
Promotores/guides will build relationships with youth, ensure that youth receive appropriate sets of programs and services, and coordinate their movement through those programs and services. The promotores’ pursuit of success for each youth will help to ensure achievement of LAYC’s three outcomes: increased academic success, successful transition to work, and improvement in healthy behaviors.
LAYC’s board members have affirmed the plan and are committed to working with staff for the success of this new initiative. LAYC unveiled its plan during a breakfast briefing on February 14, at the National Press Club in the District of Columbia. For more information on the event, email Isaac Castillo, Director of Learning and Evaluation, at Isaac@layc-dc.org.
Management Changes
 Robin Minter Named Executive Director, Heads Up
Thanks to Sarah Brandspigl, Development Manager, for this update.
The Heads Up Board of Directors has named Robin Minter as its new Executive Director.
Minter has served as Interim Executive Director since June 2007, when Co-founder Darin McKeever assumed his new role as Board President. She has more than 20 years of nonprofit management experience and has played a vital leadership role both before and during the transition period. Prior to June, she served as Deputy Executive Director and Director of Finance and Administration.
“Robin has the right skills to lead Heads Up into the future,” said Fred Bollerer, Board Vice President. “Her dedication to education and service is unmatched.”
Before coming to Washington, DC, in 2004, Minter ran a consulting practice providing financial management and strategic planning services to a broad range of nonprofit organizations. In addition, she served for seven years as senior manager at the San Francisco Education Fund. She is a parent, an activist for children’s rights, and a passionate advocate for Heads Up’s mission.
“I am excited to advance Heads Up’s mission and goals from the organization’s helm,” she said. “We will build on our success providing educational programs for kids and service opportunities for college students in the DC area.”
In early 2007, McKeever announced he was stepping down as Executive Director but would continue to champion the organization’s work as Board President. “I have worked closely with Robin for several years,” he said, “and I have seen how she labors tirelessly on behalf of children and families in DC. She will provide the strong leadership the organization needs to move forward.”
Programs & Services
 AALEAD Revamps Secondary School Programming
Thanks to Rick Chen, Development Associate, for this update.
Historically, AALEAD’s Secondary School Program (SSP) has met the needs of youth by providing academic counseling and support, English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, leadership and civic engagement, college preparatory classes and assistance, and extracurricular and recreational activities. The component allows participants to build a personal portfolio each time they engage in AALEAD activities.
Leadership and academic enrichment components will refer back to this centralized common activity. Each time a student acquires a new credential, learns a new skill, or receives certification as a result of an AALEAD programming activity, these credentials will form integral parts of the portfolio. The portfolio will also be shared with family and college counselors at schools to help the youth applying for college and jobs.
CentroNía Opens Enrollment, Offers City Council Testimonies
Thanks to Isabel Barranzuela, Communications Manager, for this update.
The open enrollment period for the DC Bilingual Public’s 2008-2009 school year is February 1 to March 31. Siblings of students currently enrolled at the school will be accepted prior to the lottery, provided there are spaces available. All other completed applications will be entered into the admissions lottery on April 3. Applications received after the deadline will automatically be placed on a waiting list, unless openings are still available. Information sessions will take place at CentroNía on February 28 at 5:00pm, and March 14 at 11:00am.
BB Otero, President and CEO, and two Pre-Kindergarten parents from CentroNía’s program testified at the DC City Council’s hearing for the proposed Pre-K legislation. Copies of their testimonies and a video clip featuring Marissa Castro Mikoy, CentroNía’s Pre-K Incentive Director, are available.
Announcements of Note
 See Forever Announces Plans for Signature Event
Thanks to Ingrid Padgett, Director of Development, for this update..
Plans are brewing for the See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Public Charter School’s annual signature event, featuring Dr. Maya Angelou, the school’s namesake. This year, “Cooking up a Future” will focus on celebrating several other milestones within the SFF/MAPCS community. It’s Dr. Angelou’s 80th birthday; MAPCS is 10 years old; a new campus at Oak Hill Academy opened; and MAPCS expanded to add a new middle school campus.
The fundraiser will continue, however, to celebrate the achievements of the students and alumni of See Forever & Maya Angelou Public Charter School. SFF/MAPCS Executive Director Cynthia Robbins said, “The connection that Dr. Angelou has with our students is an astounding testimony to her commitment to ‘at-promise’ youth. I was so pleased to learn that our students were dedicated to celebrating and honoring our namesake during this important year of growth and expansion within our educational community.”
Visit www.seeforever.org for more information on the plans for the May 9 event birthday bash to honor Dr. Angelou.
Investment Partner Opportunities
Mary’s Center is still looking for a Vice President of Medicine who is a clinical physician, in addition to providing direct medical services to patients and directing the overall medical program at Mary’s Center for Maternal Child Care, Inc. Qualifications: Board-certified and licensed medical doctor in DC and Maryland, with at least eight years of clinic and management experiences. Able to work well in pressure situations, the employee shall demonstrate cooperative behavior with colleagues and patients. Bilingual (Spanish/English) preferred. Please send resume/CV to hr@maryscenter.org or 202-332-0541. EEO/AA/M/F/D/V
The Power of Unreasonable People Released by Harvard Business Press
John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan describe how social entrepreneurs may provide clues to tomorrow's business models in their new book The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets that Change the World (Harvard Business Press; February 5, 2008).
Through stories, the authors identify the highly unconventional entrepreneurs who are solving some of the world's most pressing economic, social, and environmental problems. They also show how these pioneers are disrupting existing industries, value chains, and business models—and in the process creating fast-growing markets around the world.
Providing a first-hand, on-the-ground look at a new breed of entrepreneur, this book reveals how apparently unreasonable innovators have built their enterprises, how their work will shape risks and opportunities in the coming years, and what tomorrow's leaders can learn from them.
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