July 2011

Yes, you can grow a business without damaging the planet or the people who live on it. From a start-up in 2006 to a presence in 30,000 stores worldwide, Yes To is a success story by any measure. And its values, as explained on its Facebook page, could come straight from “Social Enterprise 101,” if there were such a handbook:

• a portion of all proceeds has been dedicated to a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization
• sustainability in products,  partners, and the lives of the company and the people who work for the company
• a team committed to taking steps to lead greener and more 'aware' lifestyles (organic fruit deliveries! recycling! team yoga!)
• a healthy, happy team makes everything a little bit better

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth of a 7-part series on Developing A Growth Business Plan. The series is based on presentations made at the Social Impact Exchange Symposium on Scaling Impact held June 14 and on the experiences of nonprofits that participated in the business plan competition. Financial Plan, Risk Assessment, and Contingency Plan was presented by Summer Spencer, director of Community Wealth Ventures.

Financial plan
Be realistic. About every single thing that you might have to spend money on in order to grow, from real estate to paper clips, from staff training to the phone bill. Some of those costs will have to be covered before you get your first dollar of new funding. Can you do it? How? Where will the money come from to plan your growth nonprofit’s growth and cover costs if funding lags?

Belt-tightening is getting old. We‘ve heard a lot about it in the last few years and I’m tired of it. Besides, you can only tighten so far. But there are ways to increase revenue and cut costs without inflicting pain on you, your employees or your customers. In fact, some of these may open doors to new opportunities and new ways to grow.

By Robin Mockenhaupt, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Last month Robin Mockenhaupt, Chief of Staff at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, attended the Social Impact Exchange conference. Here she shares her perspective on the value of strategic collaborations in scaling for social impact.

One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons features a group of wolves on a mountaintop howling at the moon. One of them says, “Do you think we’re having an impact?” That’s what it often feels like in philanthropy; we’re all up there howling at the moon.

Who will you vote for? It’s a tough choice! American Express OPEN and Facebook have chosen 10 finalists in their Big Break contest, out of 11,000 entries. Five of them will receive their “big break,” a Facebook makeover at Facebook headquarters and $20,000 to grow their businesses.

It was billed as a Town Hall event but that old-time tradition underwent a transformation on July 6. Gone were the folks sitting on folding chairs in a cramped space, raising their hands or shouting out questions. Instead, folks around the world looked at their mobile phones or computers as they keyed questions directly to the President of the United States.

In a recent interview with Women In Development, Dina Powell, president, Goldman Sachs Foundation, discussed the progress and lessons learned from Goldman’s, 10,000 Women Program, a $100 million effort that began in 2008.