Pacific Business News

January 28, 2005

Hawaii nonprofits can learn from social capitalists

by Sally Little

Fast Company's 25 Social Capitalist Awardees are excellent role models for Hawaii's nonprofits.

These award-winning nonprofit agencies looked beyond the actual social problems they were addressing. With a commitment to understanding and changing the systems that contribute to these problems, these organizations created model projects with far-reaching benefits.

With the assistance of the Monitor Group, each candidate was rated on innovation, sustainability, aspiration, entrepreneurship and social impact. Award winners created a unique and lasting business model that delivers results. These nonprofits established ambitious yet realistic goals. The social capitalists were adept at mobilizing many resources to help them achieve their objectives. As a result, these well-managed organizations have served as change makers in agricultural, educational, economic development and financial systems among others.

By following these tips Hawaii's nonprofits may adopt the strategies of these 2005 award-winners.

* Concentrate on your area of expertise, and find others to do the rest. Nick Moon and Martin Fisher, the co-founders of ApproTEC, are inventors. They developed an inexpensive, foot-powered treadle pump, the MoneyMaker, for rural farmers in Kenya. Because these farmers could not afford a motorized pump, they used buckets of water to irrigate their crops. While Moon and Fisher developed the MoneyMaker, it is produced and distributed by for-profit companies. The founders of ApproTEC now continue to have time to do what they do best-develop new products useful for economic development in developing countries.

* Deliver purchasing power and enable your customers. . Kyle Zimmer, President of First Books, wanted children in inadequately funded public programs to receive books. Rather than donating discounted books, First Books awards grants to these projects to purchase the books from specific catalogs. The programs are then able to order books that enhance their curricula and meet the needs of their children.

* Develop social enterprises that support your clients and your nonprofit. Rubicon Programs Inc., provides employment, housing, and mental health services to the homeless, economically disadvantaged and those with mental health and other disabilities. They also employ these clients in their two successful social enterprises-Rubicon Landscape Services and the Rubicon Bakery. Their clients earn a living wage, and the profits provide financial support for the organization.

* Think way beyond the box. The Seed Foundation,assumed that impoverished children who were immersed in a 24-hour-a-day educational environment were more likely to attend college than those in traditional schools. Therefore, the Seed Foundation opened the first and only public college-prep boarding school in the United States in 1998. The Washington, D.C., school serves about 300 students in grades seven through 12. All of the students in the class of 2004 were admitted to college.

* Pay attention to what your customers pay attention to. Rare, supports conservation issues around the world. They specialize in radio soap operas and social marketing. In Palau, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia residents listen to Rare Radio's Changing Tides. With dramas focusing on conservation, family planning and other issues, these programs appeal to up to 70 percent of the population. In Sierra Manantlan, Mexico, forest fires were reduced by 50 percent when Pajaro Bandera, a six-foot mascot advocating to protect the forests, appeared in traveling puppet shows and at church sermons.

* Extend your reach by leveraging multiple partnerships. Witness, has 34 partners worldwide that document human rights violations through the use of video cameras. This organization does not produce videos; it puts cameras in the hands of activists and provides training to them. These trained videographers have partnerships with media outlets, government officials and additional activists. Witness has recently begun its "Seeding Video Advocacy Initiative." This will provide training to programs beyond their present partners hips.

* Design community building into economic opportunities. With profits from their for-profit eyewear company, Jordan Kassalow and Scott Berrie founded the Scojo Foundation. Their goal is to provide reading glasses to workers in developing countries. The workers declining eyesight was jeopardizing their ability to support their families. Kassalow and Berrie chose to sell these glasses through a network of women entrepreneurs. Why women? The founders felt they were more likely to invest their profits into their families and communities. These monies might then form a platform for addressing other health problems.

For more information about these award-winning social capitalists go to www.fastcompany.com and click on Social Capitalist Awards 2005. You may also wish to review the Fast Company's Social Capitalists awardees for 2004. If so, go to their web site, click on issue archives, then issue 78: January 2004.

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