02.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:27 pm by Andrea McGrath
Realizing that the Social Capital Market has reached a point its own index is needed – the folks at xigi.net have just launched the Social Capital Index which will track investments in the social capital market – including social enterprise, (health, education and workforce development) fair trade, digital inclusion, and some of the clean tech and microfinance investments. The index will help investors and entrepreneurs keep up-to-date on what is happening in this market – and it will create a place where both buyers and sellers can access research on competition and comparable investments. As the xigi team states – these emerging markets need a research hub to help people get smarter faster. The SoCap Index has three parts, including an asset class fan that ranges from debt to equity to strategic grants – and a fund matrix which describes some of the funds in the Social Capital Market. Over time the goal is that the SoCap Index will create context so investors can discover potential co-investors – and entrepreneurs can find investors and partners. Another goals is that the SoCap Index will reach enough of a critical mass of investment information that it will become a reliable, objective, third party validator of the social capital market’s growth, trajectory, variety and market size. Kudos to the xigi folks (one of whom is Kevin Jones – our collaborator on the xchangexchange) for this important next step
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02.19.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:24 pm by Andrea McGrath
Keystone – a UK based consultancy led by David Bonbright – has just launched a new report entitled: ‘Online Philanthropy Markets: from ‘Feel-Good’ Giving to Effective Social Investing’? (Iam including here their own description, although have also read it through). This report examines the rapidly expanding phenomenon of online philanthropy markets and includes online platforms like GlobalGiving, Kiva, Network for Good, GiveIndia, HelpArgentina, and many more. The Keystone study finds that online philanthropy markets are relentless innovators, and they believe that some of these innovations are indeed helping to advance longstanding gaps in the performance of nonprofit organizations (such as accountability to beneficiaries and other constituents).
That said – the report also notes that there is still a long way to go – as many of the current online marketplaces still promote a traditional ‘feel-good giving’ approach to philanthropy – while marketplaces that attempt to cultivate a ‘social investment’ mentality among their users still remain a minority. Part of the challenge in cultivating an ‘investment mentality’ is that well-defined criteria for assessing the performance and impact of the organizations listed in the marketplaces remains scarce – and in general the information available in these marketplaces to donors and other social investors falls far short of any acceptable standard of systemization. The December 2007 issue of Alliance magazine actually discussed some of these challenges as well – and David Bonbright of Keystone published an interesting piece on measuring impact “What Do we Need to Know” in that issue.
Overall, through the analysis and recommendations in this study, Keystone hopes to encourage a field-wide dialogue about how to achieve the transformative potential of online philanthropy markets and about how to use innovative online tools to create the informational basis for effective social investments. They welcome feedback and comments on their website where you can download the report! Good questions and a good read!
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02.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:11 pm by Andrea McGrath
Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Crisil and environmental and research firm KLD Research and Analytics have launched a new Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Index in India (S&P ESG India Index). The new ESG index comprises 50 Indian companies drawn from the largest 500 companies listed on the National Stock exchange – and was a pilot project initiated and sponsored by the International Finance Corp (IFC). As discussion of measurement in the nonprofit sector once again is gaining energy and debate – it’s interesting to think through what we can learn from these new performance indices. As traditional ‘for-profits’ – and those that rate their performance – are beginning to think through how they gain clarity on ‘social, environmental and governance’ metrics – it is interesting to think through how can we build on these and apply them to this emerging “middle space” of enterprises that are pursuing both financial and social returns. What can we learn about what can be comparable in ‘social’ measurement and how (if) it might apply with emergent social capital markets.
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02.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:32 pm by Andrea McGrath
If you haven’t yet seen this yet, Sean Stannard-Stockton is hosting some thoughtful conversation on his own blog Tactical Philanthropy – sparked in part by the recent NY Times article on the challenges of Kiva.org in having (at least temporarily) more demand from donors than supply of enterprises. Sean’s recent entry raises some great questions on supply and demand on these new ‘exchanges’ – particulaly the idea of referring excess capital to other ‘exchanges’. In response, Dennis Whittle of Global Giving makes note that they indeed do refer their donors when it “makes sense” to other exchanges with whom they have agreements. Conversation definitely worth following…
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01.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:26 pm by Andrea McGrath
This morning I watched the video of Bill Gates talk at Davos this past week (see here). His theme was ’creative capitalism’ – stretching the reach of market forces to help the poor – and the growing understanding among us all that ”when change is driven by proper incentives you have a sustainable plan for change…” Worth a watch…
And in one of the many responses to Bill Gates speach – Bill Schambra of the Bradley Center of the Hudson Institute sponsored a discussion on January 30th on the potential of “creative capitalism” with a panel which included William Easterly (Brookings Institution and New York University) Eugene Steuerle (The Urban Institute) and Allen Hammond (World Resources Institute). Attached here is the transcript.
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01.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:21 pm by Andrea McGrath
This year we hope to post conversations with the teams behind some of the developing social stock exchanges – both those who are ‘listing’ nonprofits or social enterprises.
Before the holidays I had the opportunity to speak with Neil Abraham, who is one of the cofounders of Altruistiq (or ALEX). The team at ALEX has been operating since June 2007, and they are actively collaborating with thought partners and potential funders in thinking through some of the questions around and challenges in developing a nonprofit exchange. Among the many topics we discussed was how they can establish ‘shares’ in nonprofits that inherently possess value: Why would someone purchase a ‘share’ in a nonprofit (as opposed to simply making a donation) and How could investors in these nonprofit shares get a “return”? Three possibilities for adding value to nonprofit ’stocks’ that they are exploring include: (1) Voting rights: Possibly offering a lower class of voting rights, such as rights in community or local affiliates; (2) Non-cash dividends: such as gift certificates from the nonprofit or some sort of non-cash value from a nonprofit donor or partner organization; and (3) Real cash dividends: Since nonprofits can’t pay out dividends, what if there was an intermediary who could pay dividends on behalf of the nonprofit? What if a market maker or big corporation could “sponsor” the dividends of these shares – and perhaps even tie the dividends to performance? Thus dividends could be paid when an organization hits specific metrics or quarterly targets (this last idea touches on two areas of interest: value of the stock in the form or cash dividend and tying dividend payments to performance measures) Each of these three possibilities could – to a varying degree (as yet untested)- define or create the ‘added value’ of owing a nonprofit stock (as opposed to making a traditional donation). They might also encourage trading of these shares, as ‘new’ donors look to buy these shares (rather than simply donate).. Great questions to explore… If you are interested in connecting with the team – please do email them at: info@altruistiq.com
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01.03.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:09 pm by kevindjones
Sean Stannard Stockton is talking to Google.org next week about how to measure a non profit. He asked me to weigh in and I did here.
Sean is also tracking the GiveWell meltdown here and here that’s also impacting xchangexchange.com blogger Lucy Bernholz, a boardmember of Givewell.
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12.29.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:22 pm by kevindjones
A blog of mine in a faith-based venue a network group focused on the Millennium Development Goals. How to talk across the divide to people who only measure things in soft ways, and who can see grass roots needs but not system problems. Measuring soft stuff is a wicked problem; you can’t let the measurement deplete identification they feel with the cause, with feeding the children they visited on their mission trip, etc. yet you have to get them to see broader food security issues, its relation to global health issues. The sick child and the system have to both be in the picture. And the money and the social capital at the table has to understand how they both fit into the solution set.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 6:16 am by kevindjones
“It is risky to use concepts like commons and non-commodified relations to describe a superior
form of economic organization for early-21st century America. It runs into the teeth of the dominant
analytic paradigm, which relies on neoclassical economics to press for the strengthening and extension
of exclusive property rights–the antithesis of a commons—in all aspects of economic life. Yet, the
interest in these phenomena is driven by empirical facts that are impossible to disregard, and risky in
their own right to ignore.” from a Stanford Cyberlaw research report on collaborative economics by Mark Cooper (to get the report you have to scroll down through his blog)
Soft things like the increasing value of collaboration are getting easier to measure because of fundamental principles by which digital information now has to be shared and processed. The technological aspect of the new social value creation is a key element, and will guide the design and prospects for success of any social stock exchange that arises. Cooperation is now a new means of production; there is a lot of interesting thinking going on about how the new medium changes the way we work and makes sharing fundamentally more valuable because digital goods are not scarce and actually increase in value as they are shared.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:42 am by kevindjones
“I can say my measurement of my success is around how much meaning I’ve made,” ex-Apple rising star Tom Williams of Givemeaning.com in the Toronto Globe and Mail. From Gift Hub. It’s one answer to how you measure soft things. The perception of meaning.
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