www.impact.upenn.edu SCALING WHAT WORKS 1 Scaling What Works Most nonprofits first establish themselves on a small scale. ey start in one neighborhood or city, or with a particular program or constituen- cy. Over time, organizations oſten develop pro- grammatic best practices along with a network of relationships and broader insights that may make their work ripe for expansion into other geo- graphic areas, communities, or even issue areas. “Scaling up” or “scaling out” refers to the expan- sion of a nonprofit’s work so that its impact grows more and faster than the size of the organization’s budget or staff does. When done well, scaling a nonprofit’s activities can create up to 100 times its current impact, with only a doubling of the orga- nization itself. 1 Not every organization is prepared to scale. If a nonprofit doesn’t yet have a demonstrated record of programmatic success, at least three to five years of financial stability, and the ability to learn and partner, donors risk growing failure instead of scaling success. However, with those funda- mentals in place and the right support, scaling offers funders the chance for outsized impact. APPROACHES TO HIGH IMPACT GRANTMAKING: When done well, scaling a nonprofit’s activities can create up to 100 times its current impact, with only a doubling of the organization itself. WHAT IS SCALING? TYPES OF SCALING EFFORTS ere are many ways in which funders can help nonprofits scale their impact. Examples include: • Increasing the number of people served by add- ing new audiences, expanding into new geog- raphies, or adopting new approaches that reach disproportionately more people with the re- sources provided. • Expanding program breadth by adding new functions or technical areas that increase im- pact, such as when a financial literacy program is coupled with an employment program, and together they create more lasting, positive change for their clients. ABOUT THIS SERIES: Many donors are seeking advice about how to use their philanthropic funds most effectively—to achieve the largest impact. In response, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy and Fidel- ity Charitable have collaborated to create a series of briefs that describe various philanthropic tools and how each can help funders do more good. We hope that they prove useful to you and help you to expand your philanthropic reach using proven best practices in the field.
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
www.impact.upenn.edu SCALING WHAT WORKS 1
Scaling What Works
Most nonprofits first establish themselves on a small scale. They start in one neighborhood or city, or with a particular program or constituen-cy. Over time, organizations often develop pro-grammatic best practices along with a network of relationships and broader insights that may make their work ripe for expansion into other geo-graphic areas, communities, or even issue areas.
“Scaling up” or “scaling out” refers to the expan-sion of a nonprofit’s work so that its impact grows more and faster than the size of the organization’s budget or staff does. When done well, scaling a nonprofit’s activities can create up to 100 times its current impact, with only a doubling of the orga-nization itself.1
Not every organization is prepared to scale. If a nonprofit doesn’t yet have a demonstrated record of programmatic success, at least three to five years of financial stability, and the ability to learn and partner, donors risk growing failure instead of scaling success. However, with those funda-mentals in place and the right support, scaling offers funders the chance for outsized impact.
APPROACHES TO HIGH IMPACT GRANTMAKING:
When done well, scaling a nonprofit’s activities can create
up to 100 times its current impact, with only a doubling of
the organization itself.
WHAT IS SCALING?
TYPES OF SCALING EFFORTS
There are many ways in which funders can help nonprofits scale their impact. Examples include:
• Increasing the number of people served by add-ing new audiences, expanding into new geog-raphies, or adopting new approaches that reach disproportionately more people with the re-sources provided.
• Expanding program breadth by adding new functions or technical areas that increase im-pact, such as when a financial literacy program is coupled with an employment program, and together they create more lasting, positive change for their clients.
ABOUT THIS SERIES: Many donors are seeking advice about how to use their philanthropic funds most effectively—to achieve the largest impact. In response, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy and Fidel-ity Charitable have collaborated to create a series of briefs that describe various philanthropic tools and how each can help funders do more good. We hope that they prove useful to you and help you to expand your philanthropic reach using proven best practices in the field.
2 SCALING WHAT WORKS www.impact.upenn.edu
APPROACHES TO HIGH IMPACT GRANTMAKING
• Addressing national, or even international bar-riers to impact by advocating for policies or standardizing procedures and rules, such as a policy that mandates parity for mental health coverage or outlines rules for fair use of natural resources.
• Strengthening organizational capacity for scale by building alliances, creating a ‘branch’ or ‘affiliation’ model, identifying new funding schemes, or building technical and manage-ment capacity of others through training. (See our related brief in this series on ‘Capacity Building.’)
Going to Scale, The Challenge of Replicating Social Programs by Jeffrey L. Bradach, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2003
“Pay-What-It-Takes-Philanthropy” by Jeri Eck-hart-Queenan, Michael Etzel & Sridhar Prasad, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2016
Reframing the Conversation: A GEO Briefing Pa-per Series on Growing Social Impact by Dara Ma-jor, 2014
Scaling Social Impact by Paul R. Bloom & Edward Skloot, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
Social Entrepreneurship: an Evidence-based Ap-proach to Creating Social Value by Chao Guo & Wolfgang Bielefeld, Jossey-Bass, 2014
Stop Starving Scale: Unlocking the Potential of Global NGOs by Jacob Allen, Jari Tuomala, Jeri Eckhart-Queenan, The Bridgespan Group, 2013
“Transformative Scale: The Future of What Works” by Jeffrey Bradach & Abe Grindle of Bridgespan Group, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2014
TIPS FOR SUPPORTING SCALING
Once an organization is ready to scale, there are various ways for a funder to contribute to the pro-cess.
• Serve as an ambassador. Look within your own network for connections and knowledge that could strengthen your grantee. Consider mak-ing introductions to other funders, experts in the field, or potential partner organizations who can help in the scaling process.
• Be willing to help fund any or all parts of a scal-ing operation. At the outset, organizations need planning grants to analyze opportunities and determine where and how they are best posi-tioned to expand. Launching the scaling effort will require funds for additional staff, space, and materials. Once the process has begun, grantees require resources to monitor and eval-uate scaled programs to help them refine and
FOR MORE INFORMATION
course-correct as needed to achieve their in-tended impact.
• Provide stable, multiyear funding, and be real-istic about how long the process will take. Expo-nentially increasing impact is far easier when the organization’s leadership is confident that the necessary resources will be available.
SCALING WHAT WORKS 3www.impact.upenn.edu
APPROACHES TO HIGH IMPACT GRANTMAKING
In the early 2000s, a study by the National Institutes of Health revealed that a lifestyle intervention called the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was more effective than the leading medication in preventing diabetes—with a 58 percent drop in incidence of the disease among at-risk participants. Public health officials saw an opportunity in the prev-alence of YMCA facilities around the country. In 2010, the project was implemented in a handful of Y locations by training community health workers to deliver the program. Philanthropic investments in scaling yielded significant results, as DPP cost the Y 25% less than the original research method. By 2015, the program had reached over 28,000 participants at 1,100 Y’s in 43 states, dramatically impacting diabetes prevention rates, but with a relatively minimal burden on the organization.3 Read more at: https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/public-health/using-national-networks-to-tackle-chron-ic-disease
Nurse-Family Partnership is a home-visitation program that matches a low-income, first-time expectant mother with a nurse who provides counseling on healthy practices via regular home visits from early in the pregnancy through the child’s second birthday. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was an early supporter of the program, which has been proven to drive significant outcomes such as improved health and employment for the mother and fewer childhood injuries and better school readiness for the children, returning $5.70 in societal benefits for every $1 invested.4 In 1999, RWJF granted $10 mil-lion over three years to begin replication of the curriculum. The scaling of NFP has been a slow and deliberate process. It took a decade for the program to reach 28 states, and, as of 2017, NFP operates in 39 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and is being evaluated internationally. Read more at: http://cspcs.sanford.duke.edu/sites/default/files/descrip-tive/nurse-family_partnership.pdf See CHIP’s profile of NFP: http://www.impact.upenn.edu/opportunity-nurse-visitation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation has worked for the last 20 years on changing rehabilita-tion systems for juvenile offenders. Research showed that one practice—home-based re-habilitation—was the most effective option for decreasing recidivism and strengthening families, prompting Casey to invest heavily in scaling the intervention. Casey’s funding enabled the establishment of more than 200 such programs in 39 states, and the growth continues.2 Read more at: http://www.aecf.org/resources/the-future-of-youth-justice
Scaling in Practice
APPROACHES TO HIGH IMPACT GRANTMAKING
The Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) is the only university-based center with a singular focus on philanthropy for social impact. Founded as a collaboration between the School of Social Policy & Prac-tice and alumni of the Wharton School, it is a trusted source of knowledge and education to help donors around the world do more good. To learn more, visit www.impact.upenn.edu.
796087.1.0
The mission of Fidelity Charitable® is to grow the American tradition of philanthropy by providing programs that make charitable giving accessible, simple, and effective. The Giving Account®, a donor-advised fund, was introduced in 1991 when Fidelity Charitable® was founded. Today, we work with over 132,000 donors to support more than 219,000 charities and make more of a difference every day. www.fidelitycharitable.org
3815 Walnut StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19104
WEBSITE www.impact.upenn.edu EMAIL [email protected] (215) 573-7266
BLOG www.impact.upenn.edu/category/blogs/FACEBOOK facebook.com/CenterforHighImpactPhilanthropyTWITTER twitter.com/ImpactSP2LINKED IN linkedin.com/groups/2015373YOUTUBE youtube.com/impactsp2
ENDNOTES
1 Jeff Bradach, “Scaling Impact”, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2010.
2 Patrick McCarthy, “The Road to Scale Runs Through Public Systems”, GEO Supplement to Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2014.
3 Ronald T. Ackermann, “Diabetes Prevention at the Tipping Point: Aligning Critical Public Health Recommendations”, Annals of Inter-nal Medicine, 14 July 2015.
4 http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG341.pdf
Related Documents
