Sustainable Sustenance: Motiv visits DC Central Kitchen

Those of you who follow this blog know that we’re big fans of food, social innovation, and giving back to our community. A few weeks ago we were able to combine these passions by taking a team field trip to the DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) and learn about their innovative approach to philanthropy. You know, its not all work and no play around here.

 

Motiv listens attentively to Brian MacNair, Chief Development Officer of DCCK. //Photo: Motiv/Ian Campbell

Thanks to Brian MacNair and the team at DCCK, DC is a better place. Instead of ending up back in jail, people are ending up in behind the stove. But before if you think this is just a well-run soup kitchen? Think again.

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Starbucks’s “Create Jobs for USA Program” Puts the Work of CDFIs on Center Stage

Guest Post By Katie Waterson, Director of Strategy & Innovation, NCB Capital Impact

Innovative Partnerships address Social Challenges

It’s a fascinating time to be an innovator focused on solving domestic social problems. The challenges at the center of social innovation in the United States – improving the lives of people in low income communities through better education, high-quality healthcare, access to healthy food, affordable housing and jobs – are complex, dynamic and interconnected through an historic and often problematic set of systems, policies and funding models.

Yet it’s the complexity of these challenges that is giving way to a growing “impact investing” ecosystem comprised of venture philanthropists, micro-lenders and mission investors looking for triple bottom line returns on capital, which has been fueling new ways of approaching innovation for the social good.  These models bring together thought leaders and funds from both public and private sources to create social investment opportunities with impacts far beyond what government agencies and private companies alone have achieved.  It’s the success of organizations like my firm, NCB Capital Impact, KIVA, Heifer International, Grameen Bank, Acumen Fund and many others that keep me optimistic about the outlook for the United States; we can and will innovate our way out of the problems we’re facing. Keep Reading»

Social Innovation as Corporate Social Responsibility

Organizations that leverage business model strategy as a way to harness disruptive opportunities outside the current operating structure can secure powerful competitive advantage. From Apple’s integrated product and service ecosystem to Zipcar’s car sharing model, business model thinking is critical to good strategy development in today’s global operating environment. When it comes to strategy, I’ve long been interested in the relationship between an organization’s purpose or mission, their corporate citizenship or social responsibility efforts and their business model. How integrated, or not, are these fundamental business practices?

Traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) first became a business topic in the 1960s with the advent of the global company, as a way to ensure all stakeholders of the organization, beyond just shareholders, were being treated fairly in the pursuit of profit. CSR gets a bad rap from critics who say it distracts executives from the businesses of revenue growth, and that values-centric businesses and indexes of “CSR exemplars” rarely fare better financially than their less socially minded counterparts. Continue Reading»

Tweets of the Week: Best of Social Innovation

This week we decided to focus our Twitter activities on a topic we’re passionate about here at Motiv – Social Innovation. Below are some of the most interesting tidbits we came across:

•For DC folks interested in meeting like-minded innovators, the DC Social Innovation Project is hosting a happy hour on August 10th for its Social Innovation Spotlight Series. Motiv will be there! Thanks go to Darius Graham at the DC Social Innovation Project for sending this one our way. Learn more about his work at http://dcsocialinnovation.org and follow him @dcsocialinnov and @DariusG.
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4 Important Lessons for Social Innovators

      Image from Fast Company, June 20, 2011

In my work with companies across industries, I’m consistently asked to help identify opportunities for growth and innovation designed for people living at the bottom of the pyramid – 4 billion people living on $2 or less a day around the world.

Identifying the big opportunities is not difficult – there are a whole host of unmet needs and issues where big companies could play a transformational role.  But getting past Western assumptions and into real market market issues and dynamics specific to an idea is much more difficult.  I had the pleasure of working with Nate Heller from Allyu, a San Francisco-based non-profit social enterprise consultancy that “creates scalable, responsible solutions to poverty alleviation.”  Nate had actionable and targeted insights from his experience on the front lines that are relevant for firms looking for scalable social business model opportunities:
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