“I’ll reemphasize my three keywords: humility, relationship, and listening. We have to value the human element just as much as we value profit and, more importantly, understand that the two are so interrelated they can’t actually be detangled.” — Nikki Silvestri, Silvestri Strategies
Our Chief Opportunity Officer, Mark Monchek, attended SOCAP 15, a world-renowned conference series dedicated to increasing the flow of capital toward social good. SOCAP shares OppLab's values of accelerating the market at the intersection of money and meaning. This conference has gathered more than 10,000 people since their founding in 2008 and is one of the events we most look forward to each year.
If you weren't able to attend this year's conference, don't fear. Mark jotted down his thoughts on some of the major themes of the conference and how they connect to The Opportunity Lab's core value of Doing Well by Doing Good.
If you weren't able to attend this year's conference, don't fear. Mark jotted down his thoughts on some of the major themes of the conference and how they connect to The Opportunity Lab's core value of Doing Well by Doing Good.
Impact Investing Is Going Mainstream
When I saw BlackRock, the largest money manager in the world, launch an social impact fund because their clients were asking for it, I knew that was a sign of a sea change. Similarly, Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts, recently moved over to Bain Capital to launch their social impact fund, as did Goldman Sachs. These major moves prove that impact investing is not just a trend; we are moving towards a place where people are thinking more strategically about how to allocate their money. I believe that in addition to stock, real estate, and bond markets, people will soon begin thinking about social impact investing as a major asset class.
The Central Importance of Community Building, Network Mapping and Culture
Having seen SOCAP grow in the 5 years I've been going, from 800 participants to 2600 representing 50 countries, it's become evident to me (and the creators of SOCAP) that there's a critical need to make the social innovation and impact investing communities visible to one another. For example, a group working on clean water in Mexico should know if there are other groups in the same region working on the same issue, so they can connect to and collaborate with each other. So often social entrepreneurs and non-profits are attempting to solve a social problem that someone else has also been working on, but the two groups aren't aware of each other. The Rockefeller Foundation has invested heavily into a new platform, Sphaera, which will allow members to see solutions to social problems that other members are developing throughout the entire world. Similarly, a number of new network mapping tools such as Kumu are allowing organizations to map their resource ecosystems and be more effective in connecting to those ecosystems.
Brand Building and Achieving Scale
As the social innovation space begins to mature, a major challenge for organizations that have been successful in their local community or within a defined population, is how can they achieve scale? One essential way is by building a clear and compelling brand that is able to reach a large audience. Knowledge sharing and resource mapping can be a major asset to organizations being able to reach scale by leveraging the success of peer organizations across the world. The more social enterprises that begin to reach scale, the more knowledge we have about how it's done and the more systems we can build for other organizations trying to do the same thing.
The Importance of Investing in Place-Based Local Groups (Neighborhood Economics)
Neighborhood economics was one of the SOCAP conference tracks this year. In particular, knowledge was shared regarding the significance of physical place. In an increasingly digital world, it's important to have a space that allows people to connect in person. The Opportunity Lab's home, the Center for Social Innovation, is a great example of the value of a hyperconnected, dynamic place-based community. The conference also addressed the importance of mapping the entrepreneur ecosystem, and the idea of a "community quarterback" who helps local communities knit a community together by sharing resources, helping organizations collaborate, etc. One particularly fascinating conversation was focused on Detroit and the ways in which Detroit is rising by connecting resources to local communities and encouraging change to happen within.