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Innovation for Social Change: How Wildly Successful Nonprofits Inspire and... | Acton Lecture Series

Acton Institute
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We can thank philanthropy and nonprofits for breakthroughs like hospice care, public libraries, and the discovery of insulin to treat diabetes. Yet finding solutions to social problems and measuring impact are often very difficult. Good intentions don’t automatically translate to impact. Why do some nonprofits punch above their weight while others misfire? The most successful nonprofits are innovative, which is, in short, about finding new, surprising ways to get results and value. It involves creativity, originality, and some risk-taking. It involves building innovative practices into our workplace DNA, such as pilots and small e …...more
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Introduction

0:00

Leahs story

4:53

What is Innovation

9:43

Challenges

11:32

Donor Grant Relationship

12:52

Pixar

13:58

Design Thinking

15:28

Greystone Bakery

17:22

Civil Rights Movement

19:43

Whats feasible

21:41

Ideating exercises

24:20

World Reader

25:00

Building an Ecosystem for Everyday Innovation

27:37

Finding a Way to Strike the Right Balance

28:54

How to Be Persuader

31:27

Resources

34:44

Effective Strategies

35:27

Metrics

39:09

Patterns of Success

44:46

Mission

46:30

Risk

49:49

MissionAccomplished

52:35

Surprises

54:05

Innovation for Social Change

55:45
Innovation for Social Change: How Wildly Successful Nonprofits Inspire and... | Acton Lecture Series
We can thank philanthropy and nonprofits for breakthroughs like hospice care, public libraries, and the discovery of insulin to treat diabetes. Yet finding solutions to social problems and measuring impact are often very difficult. Good intentions don’t automatically translate to impact. Why do some nonprofits punch above their weight while others misfire? The most successful nonprofits are innovative, which is, in short, about finding new, surprising ways to get results and value. It involves creativity, originality, and some risk-taking. It involves building innovative practices into our workplace DNA, such as pilots and small experiments. Through stories of social entrepreneurs and nonprofit powerhouses like Mayo Clinic, the American civil rights movement, Fred Rogers’ nonprofit production company, Rhinos Without Borders, and many others, there are practical lessons that can be applied at any nonprofit. At the same time, we won’t shy away from cautionary tales of what not to do. Leah Kral is an expert facilitator and author who helps nonprofits doing the hard work of building civil society to innovate and be more effective. She writes about her work in Innovation for Social Change: How Wildly Successful Nonprofits Inspire and Deliver Results (Wiley, 2022). Kral is the Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the home of heterodox thinkers and economists who work to discover what aspects of institutions and culture help societies prosper. She is a sought-after speaker at nonprofit industry events, writes frequently about her research, offers tailored consulting to nonprofit teams and provides coaching to social entrepreneurs across the country. She has a passion for helping organizations achieve their missions and is an active volunteer in her community and parish. She holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Duquesne University and is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Jamaica 2002-2004). To learn more, visit LeahKral.com. The Acton Institute is a think-tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. This direction recognizes the benefits of a limited government, but also the beneficent consequences of a free market. It embraces an objective framework of moral values, but also recognizes and appreciates the subjective nature of economic value. It views justice as a duty of all to give the one his due but, more importantly, as an individual obligation to serve the common good and not just his own needs and wants. In order to promote a more profound understanding of the coming together of faith and liberty, Acton involves members of religious, business, and academic spheres in its various seminars, publications, and academic activities. It is our hope that by demonstrating the compatibility of faith, liberty, and free economic activity, religious leaders and entrepreneurs can contribute by helping to shape a society that is secure, free, and virtuous. Visit our website: https://www.acton.org/ Subscribe to the Acton Line Podcast: https://www.acton.org/acton-line/ Visit the Acton Bookshop: https://shop.acton.org/ Follow Acton on Facebook:   / actoninstitute   Follow Acton on Twitter:   / actoninstitute   Follow Acton on Instagram:   / acton_institute  

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Acton Institute

35.8K subscribers