Around the Institute

Advocacy and Technology / People Power / Impact Investing

January 27, 2012

From NOLA With Love
Our friends at Moving Forward Gulf Coast released their first video newsletter of the year highlighting the great work of grassroots advocates involved with the national 2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys. With all our fancy technology and shiny graphics, it’s easy to lose sight of the more personal connection one can forge with potential supporters through video. This reminds us that social media should be a means to an end – not an end in itself.

Amplifying People Power
Tuesday’s Washington Post published a piece on how Change.org is emerging as an influential advocate on a slew of national issues. The article ends with a really good (and difficult) question from Ben Rattray, Founder and CEO of the website: “How do you go from moments to movements?” As evaluators know, every “moment” is different. One thing funders and advocates can do is build advocacy capacity so that when the time does come, the organization is ready to take that next step.

On The “Impact” of Impact Investing
Kevin Starr’s “The Trouble with Impact Investing – Part 1,” a recent story in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, explores the possible pitfalls of one of the most popular forms of market-driven social change initiatives. He smartly points out the distinction between a profitable venture and an “impactful” one. But even before getting there, Starr astutely raises a central question: what should impact look like, anyway?