Technically challenged? Building the new economy roadmap for the charity sector
If you had two choices to support an organisation working on reducing recriminalisation rates of offenders, which one would you choose? The latest EdTech solution for daily learning and rehabilitation that claims an incredible 0% reoffending rate among its 20,000 users over 4 years; or a local nonprofit reaching over 100 young people a year through its 1:1 life coaching programme that had seen reoffending rates drop to 10%, and a significant improvement in prisoner-officer relationships?
Both examples show the importance of investing in the personal development of offenders to unlock their human potential and give them a better chance of reintegrating into society, but one is scaling exponentially and the other is caught under the weight of government spending cuts and struggling to survive.
We constantly see Tech for Good examples that are rising up to disrupt the way charities have traditionally dealt with social problems, offering data-driven solutions and capturing the market space for delivering these services before charities have even realised that they no longer hold the industry monopoly. For most small charities, when you speak about integrating technology, they think of social media tools for increasing fundraising. They’ll be familiar with peer-to-peer fundraising platforms like Just Giving, and trying to channel traffic to their pages, but they’ll have very little knowledge of the business model or technology behind it that enabled it to become such a widely used tool.
The leap to thinking about how technology could help them improve the sustainability of their organisation and serve more beneficiaries in a better way, simply hasn’t emerged for most yet. We see a two-tiered situation coming about. Where at the toplevel, the larger international NGOs are directing millions to innovation, spurred-on by the potential of humanitarian technology for delivering aid more quickly and transparently, according to real-time data on need. While at the second-level, smaller organisations remain disconnected from this discussion and locked into current models of operating, because their budgets are principally made-up of restricted funds from donors that require output delivery on existing programmes. Moreover, trends in philanthropy are starting to play an increasing role in shaping how charities cope with these industry shifts. Impact investment, social finance, the impending move away from the traditional grants-based system to one based on demonstrable social return for investment, has great potential for opening up a new generation of philanthropists, seeking to source and support deep societal transformation. However, there is a real risk that many smallmedium charities simply won’t have the financial flexibility to reassess what they are doing and how they are doing it, to be able to keep up with the changes expected of them by the 21st century philanthropist.
“Technology may hold the power to reshape the way our world operates, but it’s the voice of the social sector that can set in motion a new era of conscious business”
The Rainmaker Foundation, an organisation originally set up to inspire generosity among those in the business world and connect them to charities supported by our programmes, has seen tremendous change over the last year. With a Chairman that has existed several businesses and a CEO transitioning from the tech startup ecosystem, asking the hard questions was inevitable. How can we become more efficient and transparent? How can we achieve greater impact? What is our highest point of contribution for the sector? Was it to continue to open up channels of philanthropy, or was it time to start challenging the status quo? Along the way we opened up a new dream for ourselves. To create a safe space for small charities with big potential to learn, experience and experiment with disruptive thinking and innovation, to help them navigate these impending transitions.
This led to some deep and proactive changes. We’ve begun to transition to a 100% impact model in order to establish a Rainmaker Innovation Fund to provide finance for our Accelerator charities to pilot new ideas. Secondly, we formed new partnerships to create a startup style ecosystem around the third sector, to give charities access to the same vital tools, resources and mentorship available in the commercial world, to help them thrive. We’ve even started developing our own tech platforms to fill some of the gaps in the sector and productise elements of our work to fund core costs. In other words, we’ve peaked our heads above the parapet, seen a wave of change coming and done our best to shift our way of working to help level-the-playing-field for small charities not to be carried under by the current. From 19–22 April, we’ll be taking part in the New Economy & Social Innovation Forum, which is bringing together change agents from across the business and civil society spheres in Malaga, to lay the foundations for a new global manifesto for a dynamic, fair and sustainable economic model for the 21st century.
Technology may hold the power to reshape the way our world operates, but it’s the voice of the social sector that can guide it towards a new economic narrative, to close the gulf between purpose and profit, and set in motion a new era of conscious business. With charities and traditional industries being disrupted in equal measure, we have a unique opportunity to work together to find a mutual language for navigating this new paradigm and bringing us closer to an economy and society that centred on the common good.
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As technology continues to play a growing role in disrupting traditional industries and shaping the future market economies, charities have to find ways to adapt to new realities in our changing world. They must learn to use these shifts not just to retain their relevance, but to thrive. We exist to build a bridge between small charities with big potential and the most brilliant and generous business minds with a strong focus on innovation.
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Originally published at thefintechtimes.com on March 22, 2017.
