My New Favorite Book

The End of Fundraising, Raise More Money by Selling Your Impact

Author: Jason Saul

A review by Stacy Caldwell, President of Dallas Social Venture Partners

I wish this book had a different title. Although catchy for many in our nonprofit sector, I tend to think the title doesn't communicate what this book so simply provides: a guide for nonprofits to jump into the Social Capital Markets (SCM).

This wonderful primer explores what constitutes the SCM and how to best position your nonprofit mission in that new frontier. Jason Saul not only addresses one the most difficult and challenging aspects of the philanthropy/charity equation, but he masterfully shines a light on the growing opportunities to lead with impact and help our missions to find our "Impact Buyers." By guiding us though the shift in thinking from values to value-driven missions, he outlines new innovative capital opportunities and expansive stakeholder thinking.

I found this book to be extremely poignant in today's transitional space between traditional charity/philanthropy approach and the emerging frontier of social capital markets. If you are interested in the next wave of social sector ideas and want to be on the cutting edge of strategies for nonprofits, this is a must read!

Juicy tidbits:

Don't change the donor, just change donors!

Deliver economic value, articulate your value and swim upstream with impact buyers

6 Implications of the growing social capital markets:

1. OK to expect economic return from doing good

2. Donors are acting like consumers

3. Measurement is no longer optional

4. Everyone must be a social entrepreneur

5. New stakeholders have different expectations of impact

6. Higher expectations of value require greater innovation

What it is not:

-It's not about making nonprofits run like businesses. It's about bringing nonprofits into the business world

-It's not about changing foundation and donor behavior, it's about engaging new and different "impact buyers"

-It's not about about "Social Return on Investment", it's about outcomes

-It's not about building "philanthropic capital markets", it's about finding the inherent value in the existing markets

Evaluation and Measurement are not the same.

An Activity is WHAT you do; an outcome is the RESULT of what you do.

Your measures need to be credible, practical and relevant.

Outcomes can be measured by:

Individual - Change of Status (Condition, behavior or status)

Organizational - ROI - increased revenues, improved reputation

Systemic - Systemic Change - changed policies, better incentives and increased investments

Value is based on the utility of the outcomes produced, because impact is being "purchased" by stakeholders who have a direct (not a theoretical) interest in the results. Therefore measurement, is by necessity, much more organic.

The trend is growing toward outcomes-based budgeting in federal and state government, and this will create even more discrete value-creation opportunities for nonprofits.

Meet the new stakeholders:

From: Beneficiaries, Board, Donors, Government, Foundation

To: Corporate Partners, Beneficiaries that can pay, Social Investors, Services Providers, Upstream "Consumers", Corporate Partners

Determine Who are Your Impact Buyers?

Ideation Challenge to nonprofits and SVPs:

Bring together a group of up to 20 diverse community friends and take an hour to explore and ideate on the following challenge. Give yourself a time limit of no more than one hour, perhaps over a brown-bag lunch!

How do we bring our nonprofits into the business markets by identifying new stakeholders in which our missions deliver value?

1. Expansive Stakeholder Exercise: Take 20 minutes to brainstorm who are the new stakeholders in the community and beyond who have a "vested interest" in the success of their mission? Chapter 4 defines these as Service Providers, Upstream Consumers, Corporate Partners, Beneficiaries that Pay, and Social Investors.

2. With each of these stakeholder groups, how does our nonprofit's mission do one of the following (ref. pg. 84-86):

-produce a direct economic impact for them

-act as a necessary predicate to achieve an economic advantage

-produce a desirable social change to which someone attaches financial value