Posted By Sidney on January 12, 2009

I recently read the executive summary of “Intentional Innovation: How Getting More Systematic about Innovation Could Improve Philanthropy and Increase Social Impact” by Gabriel Kasper, Monitor Institute, and Stephanie Clohesy, Clohesy Consulting. My nerd-like interest in the topic gave way to the distracting memory of conversations with social sector colleagues in recent weeks – all lamenting the halt of innovative projects due the recession. On one hand, it is quite understandable that organizations place a higher priority on keeping the lights on and maintaining the flow of their core products and services then advancing new, untested ideas. Yet, on the other hand, I truly believe that recessive times can be ideal for the social sector and social change-minded people to take a fresh look at what they do and methodically take new and improved ideas to market; thereby increasing their capacity to make a difference in the world. At a time when the issues of our world community are exploding and the nonprofit/foundation worlds are in position to be more dynamic than ever, can we afford a bottleneck in the idea pipeline?

I gave some thought to the issue and came up with the following five ways that organizations can innovate even when the bottom line begins to go south.

• Engage volunteers with skill sets that add value to the areas most in need of new ideas. Look beyond your organization’s four walls for talent that can help research, develop, and advance new ideas at a lower cost. The social sector is good at tapping board members and other volunteers to help with financial, legal, and traditional marketing matters. Yet, it is not often that technology, social media, internet commerce, or business performance improvement professionals are tapped to use their skills to help nonprofits.

• Increase and deepen the awareness of your work using social media. Learn to use tools like Facebook Causes, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and others to build social capital and attract attention to your work.

• Submit ideas to social innovation investors or competitions.
  Examples of these opportunities include Ashoka, Changemakers.net, and the Washington University in St. Louis’ Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition. There are new competitions being created every year (see Innovation Competitions in the sidebar) and many are have annual submission deadlines.

• Implement a staff suggestion program for innovation. One of my lasting memories of being an IBM engineer in the eighties was the company’s excellent staff suggestion plan. Employees were rewarded with a fraction of money saved or gained by the implementation a suggestion. When organizational culture supports new ideas and rewards staff, monetarily or by some other means, everyone wins.

• Integrate innovation into the organizational culture. Create an annual staff perception survey that includes questions regarding your organization’s openness to new ideas and belief in the value of innovation. What gets measured matters! Then, initiate internal activities to improve the perception rating.

All of these suggestions will cost you the time of those involved; yet the items do not come with four, five, or six figure price tags. When the economy is in recession, respond with innovation. Do you know of other ways that the social sector can innovate their way through the recession?

Categories: Commentary
Tags: nonprofit, philanthropy, recession, social innovation, social sector