Mission to Scale

For our series finale, we’ll be highlighting the stories of scale from the 2023 Skoll Awardees. Tackling health care, democracy, climate, and racial and economic equity, listen to innovators who are working on transformational solutions to global problems.

In this episode, guests featured throughout the season reveal key strategies and advice for changemakers who want to scale up their work for the benefit of communities everywhere.

With the amount of carbon dioxide the Amazon rainforest absorbs, it’s often called ‘the lungs of the earth’. Its destruction will lead to a global increase in temperature, floods and droughts. And while climate change affects us all, this is even more immediately devastating for the communities that live in the forest. 

By supporting the development of small enterprises in the Brazilian Amazon, Conexsus is solving environmental destruction and helping the livelihood of these communities. Today, Co-founder Carina Pimenta and Interim Executive Director Marco van der Ree reveal how Conexsus is using bioeconomy to help preserve our forests. 

America’s population is increasingly becoming diverse. But low income people and communities of color continue to be oppressed and underserved.

Michael McAfee deeply understands that America is not following through on its promise of equity. As the CEO of PolicyLink, Michael and his team fights to dismantle the structural racism in America, working closely with the Biden administration to enact equitable policies. 

Today, Michael tells us how PolicyLink is achieving grassroots-level change for a more inclusive America.

The attacks of January 6th on the capitol felt like a wake up call to many. But Ian Bassin, a former member of the White House Counsel's office, noticed U.S democratic values deteriorating long before.

In 2017, Ian got in touch with scholars who had been studying democratic threats all around the world to more accurately predict what might lay ahead. He learned of the authoritarianism playbook and launched Protect Democracy to combat it. Today, Ian tells us how Protect Democracy has been working behind the scenes to strengthen our democratic institutions. 

What if all your healthcare needs were a text message away? In this first episode of our special series with the Skoll Foundation, we speak with Debbie Rogers, CEO at Reach Digital Health, previously named Praekelt. 

Through text messaging, Reach Digital Health is not only informing people about their health. Citizens can also respond and ask questions, helping governments gain a real time understanding of the public health landscape. Through their story, Debbie reveals how mobile technology can be one’s greatest asset when trying to reach the world’s most vulnerable populations.

As so many of the world’s problems accelerate, so should our solutions. Each year, the Skoll Award for Social Innovation celebrates the extraordinary leaders and organizations who have had a significant impact on creating a more sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous world for all.

In this special series of the Mission to Scale podcast I talk to the 2023 Skoll awardees about how they are moving the needle on today’s challenges and scaling these solutions.

Measuring social impact is complex and yet, essential for organizations, investors and funders to make decisions. That is why Natasha Joshi, associate director at Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, encourages foundations to move away from a single metric approach when evaluating their grantees.

Today we look at a variety of impact metrics and how these interact with one another. On the show, Natasha also tells us why the role of philanthropy shouldn’t be to solve problems, but rather to enable others to do so.

As climate change accelerates, companies are putting sustainability assurance –a certification for the sustainable production of products and services–at the forefront of their agenda. But they often present this data in a way that makes them seem more environmentally friendly than they actually are.

Today we are discussing how sustainability reporting can be used for greenwashing. Our guests are Donna Carmichael, Kazbi Soonawalla and Judith C. Stroehle. In our conversation we talk about the lack of mandated standards for sustainability assurance. We also address the urgent need to improve these reporting practices to make informed decisions about our environment.

Philanthropy has the power to make an impact by listening and supporting those they are trying to serve. For a decade The California Endowment invested $1.8 billion dollars in 14 underprivileged communities, successfully advancing their health and racial equity. Our guests today are Robert Ross, president and CEO for The California Endowment and Hanh Cao Yu, the foundation's chief learning officer. Robert and Hanh draw from their experience with the Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative. They reveal how philanthropies can create meaningful change by centering the voices of communities that have been historically marginalized.

How can small funders make an outsized impact? In this episode, we explore this topic with Louis Boorstin, managing director of the Osprey Foundation.

In our conversation, Louis lays out techniques funders can use to maximize leverage and ensure sustainable change. We talk about funding systems change through collaboration and strategy alignment. Louis also shares how unconventional strategies such as providing flexible funding and engaging in high risk investments can help small foundations have a greater impact.

Read the article written by Louis C. Boorstin titled “You Could Spend Your Money Differently” here.

In this first episode of our special series with Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), we speak with Arne Duncan. Arne is managing partner at the anti-gun violence organization Chicago CRED and former U.S. Secretary of Education.

In our conversation, we talk about CRED’s multifaceted approach – one that involves working directly with the communities and people who are most likely to carry a gun or get shot. Arne also shares the research showing CRED’s potential to significantly reduce gun violence in Chicago by 80 percent and his vision for their program to be adapted in many urban places across the country.

The use of sales tactics is often seen as an antagonist of social impact, when in fact it can be an ally. This is why today, in our last episode of the season, we are uncovering how social entrepreneurs can become effective sales leaders. Our guest is Scott Roy, CEO and Co-Founder of the sales consulting firm Whitten & Roy Partnership

In our conversation, Scott explains what ‘decision intelligence selling’ is. He tells us how to become better at selling and managing a sales team, as well as how one can use sales tactics when fundraising. On the show, Scott also explains why becoming good at selling might be what enables your organization to scale and have a greater impact.

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Receiving financial support is probably the biggest hurdle faced by organizations looking to scale. But finding the right investor to back your company financially might be the key to scaling impact.

In today’s episode, we are exploring the potential of social impact investment in achieving scale. Our guest is Andre Bennin, Managing Partner at Rethink Education, an impact investment firm focused on backing education technology companies. In our conversation, Andre shares how he balances financial returns and social impact when deciding whether to invest in a company. We also talk about the differences between funding nonprofits and social enterprises, and discuss why social enterprises tend to scale quicker.

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Social impact bonds are a complex concept. But this episode tries to break it down and shares a success story. The key to social impact bonds is that the service providers only get paid if the project goes well — an incentive for excellent delivery.

Lerato Lehoko is the former managing director of Bonds4Jobs, a financial intermediary that implemented the first social impact bond in South Africa. In this episode Lerato explains how the private investment group Yellowwoods and the nonprofit Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator successfully set up the Inclusive Youth Employment Bond. We talk about how this bond is helping inclusive youth employment in South Africa and about the potential of social impact bonds more generally.

Measuring outcomes is an essential part of scaling impact. Without knowing how effective their programs are, organizations can’t make informed decisions, secure funding, or meet the expectations of investors. Yet, traditional models of measuring in the social sector often fail to listen to the very people they are trying to serve. Today’s guest is trying to change that.

Tom Adams is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at 60 Decibels, a tech enabled impact measurement company. Today Tom tells us how his experience at Acumen led him to found 60 Decibels and how this company is flipping the script on impact measurement. We talk about how traditional ways of measuring can hinder scaling and fail to listen to their beneficiaries. On the show, Tom also shares how a new way of measuring impact can enable quicker and more effective scaling.

The investment management industry has the power to direct large amounts of capital into companies creating change. Yet, many social entrepreneurs are not familiar with this sector.

Today’s guest is Darren Johnson, Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Executive Committee at Impax Asset Management.

In this episode, Darren speaks of his experience as a minority in a sector where only about 1 percent of asset managers are Black. Darren also shares how social enterprises can benefit from engaging with asset management organizations, and provides his advice for leaders looking to scale.

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Applying research based evidence into programs is not always straightforward. There’s often a disconnect between what we know from research and our ability to successfully apply that knowledge into practice. The job of Implementation scientists is to study the factors contributing to this gap.

Today’s guest is Alison Metz, a Professor and Director of Implementation Practice at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In this episode we talk about the field of implementation science –how it is broadening its scope in some ways while remaining reductionist in others. Allison explains why she thinks that successful implementation should pay more attention to context and relationships. On the show, she also shares her advice to those wishing to use implementation science to achieve greater results.

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Earlier this year I stepped down as CEO of Spring Impact –the organization I founded over a decade ago. I decided to pass the baton to Mohamed Osman, and honestly, I couldn’t have thought of a better person to take over. Today, you will understand why.

Mohamed has dedicated his life to scaling impact, from finding a solution for the lack of water access in his hometown in Kenya, to making enormous contributions to HIV treatment and prevention at the Elton John AIDS foundation. In this episode Mohamed shares the knowledge gained throughout his career and his vision as the new CEO of Spring Impact.

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The job market continues to be unstable due to COVID-19 and its fallout. In August 2021, it was reported that there were 10.7 million jobs in the US that need to be filled. So while the supply is high, how come job seekers, who are willing and able to work, not getting employed? Open Hiring might offer some solutions to this issue. Under this model, anyone who puts their name on a list is hired— no background checks and no questions asked.

Joseph Kenner is the President and CEO at Greyston Bakery, the pioneer business behind this model. He also leads the Greyston Foundation, where he supports other organizations in adopting Open Hiring. In this episode, we talk about the impetus for Open Hiring and how it sets out to break barriers in employment. We also discuss why scaling and replication doesn’t look the same for every organization.

In 1992, 11 year-old Zarlasht Halaimzai and her family were forced to leave Afghanistan, eventually landing in the UK to start a new life. Inspired by her own experience, Zarlasht flew to Greece in 2016 to help the unprecedented number of refugees fleeing from the war in Syria. That initiative grew from a tent with a few volunteers into an internationally recognized nonprofit. Amna (formerly known as the Refugee Trauma Initiative) is now training organizations around the world to offer trauma care.

In this episode Zarlasht tells her personal story of displacement and takes us back to the beginnings of Amna. We also talk about the challenges she experienced as the founder of an organization that is rapidly growing whilst addressing one of the greatest humanitarian crises.

Social enterprises can leverage a business mindset to drive scale and innovation. Nicola Galombik is the executive director of Yellowwoods, a private investment group based in South Africa. Having had cross-cutting careers in media, education and consulting, both in the private and public sectors, Nicola is uniquely placed to be able to share a breadth of knowledge in scaling impact.

In this episode, Nicola shares how her journey as an anti-apartheid activist led her to the career she has now. In designing and pursuing social change at scale, we also talk about why there is no silver bullet, as well as the benefits of having an entrepreneurial approach to big social problems.

There is no handbook for creating change, but help is out there. Social entrepreneurs can benefit greatly from working with a coach to guide them towards their goals, or a mentor to help them grow in their professions.

For our season launch, we hear from two experts on coaching and mentoring changemakers. Wanjiku Nyachae is a gestalt psychotherapist, coach, mentor, and facilitator with a breadth of experience working with leaders in the social sector. Chris Underhill is a mentor who draws from his background building several nonprofits to guide other social entrepreneurs.

In this episode, we chat about the difference between therapy, coaching, and mentoring. We discuss common challenges experienced by people trying to create change and reveal what to look for when seeking a coach or mentor.

How does one innovate in the face of external challenges to one’s mission?

For over a century, Planned Parenthood has expanded reproductive health care services in the United States while leading the fight for reproductive rights. On June 24th The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade –the landmark decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

Today’s guest is Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood Global’s Interim Executive Director. While Planned Parenthood was founded over a century ago, the organization has been able to quickly innovate and address threats to reproductive rights. In this bonus episode, we chat about the successes and lessons from Planned Parenthood’s journey. Dawn also shares how the organization is addressing the current crisis and what we can expect in the future for reproductive rights in the United States.

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Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen ingenuity and the human strength to not only survive, but also help others along the way.

In the final episode of our special series SSIR, we’ll be diving into the story of a social entrepreneur who leveraged purpose through a crisis. We are joined by SSIR co-authors Gregory Unruh and Fernanda Arreola to talk about the social enterprise Pixza — which not only served outstanding pizza with locally grown ingredients, but served as a social inclusion vehicle for homeless adults in Mexico City.

On the show, we’ll be talking about leveraging your purpose to survive a crisis and what other social enterprises can learn from the Pixza model.

What isn’t usually highlighted across mainstream media is the idea of collaboration, partnership, and the willingness of not one, but multiple sectors, to address community health and healthcare delivery. But why do some health collaboratives succeed while others fail?

In this episode, we talk to Ruth Wageman, associate of the department of psychology at Harvard University, and Gary Hirsch, an author and independent consultant based in Wayland, Massachusetts.

On the show, Ruth and Gary help us identify the conditions that make health collaboratives thrive, the challenges around funding, and the positive outcomes they hope to see from high-functioning health collaboratives.

What are common risks to businesses that don’t respect Indigenous and tribal peoples' rights? And how can companies better understand the impact of their footprint on Indigenous peoples?

To explore these topics, we have the pleasure of talking to Moira Birss and Kate Finn. Kate is the Executive Director of First Peoples Worldwide and Moira is the Climate and Finance Director of Amazon Watch, a nonprofit that works to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin.

In our conversation, Moira and Kate will talk about accounting for Indigenous peoples’ human and land rights — and how it will enable businesses to understand their business and climate risks.

What are the benefits of supporting entrepreneurs beyond discrete programs? In emerging economies, how does the pacer model embody the entrepreneurial journey as a marathon and not a sprint?

In this episode, Sonali Rammohan and Tim Weiss elaborate on an emerging approach to entrepreneurial support, through the concept of ‘pacers.’ On the show, we discuss the blueprint for helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals through pacemaker organizations. Sonali and Tim also share the challenges of pacers and how this model can exist with traditional support for organizations.

For our first episode, we are tackling the thorny issues surrounding tech inclusion for excluded communities. We’ll be exploring the barriers that candidates from geographically segregated neighborhoods face, why common approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion aren’t working.

On the show, we have co-authors Linda Jakob Sadeh, research associate at the Harry Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, and Smadar Nehab, an experienced high-tech executive and the founder of Tsofen, a nonprofit that aims to fully integrate the Arab community in Israel into the Israeli high-tech industry.

In our special series with Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), we will take an exclusive look at the latest social innovation research, perspectives, and case studies featured in the Summer 2022 issue of the SSIR magazine.

In each episode, hear from authors on how they took on some of the world’s most pressing social challenges — as well as their setbacks and learnings along the way.

Our special series launches on May 26th, with a new episode coming out every Thursday.

For our season finale, we’re highlighting some of the top tools and strategies our guests have shared this season. Don’t miss this recap featuring lessons from:

• Anne-Marie Slaughter (CEO at New America)  on designing for scale
• Ann Mei Chang (CEO at Candid) on what stops leaders and social organizations from pursuing scale and how to get over these barriers
• Kevin Starr (CEO at Mulago Foundation) on replicating your model effectively
• Bart Houlahan (Co-Founder of B Lab) on turning your vision into action and the challenges of scaling impact
• Jeroo Billimoria (Co-Founder of Catalyst 2030)  on tips from entrepreneurs and leaders on how to step into building a systems strategy

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How do you find the determination to scale your nonprofit or startup when all the odds are stacked against you? In this episode, we are sharing the powerful story of award-winning tech entrepreneur Luvuyo Rani. In 2004, Luvuyo started selling refurbished computers from the back of his car to teachers in Khayelitsha, a township in South Africa. Starting with zero capital, Luvuyo was able to grow his company, Silulo Ulutho Technologies, to 250 employees, 16 franchises, and Luvuyo being named as Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the year in 2016.

In this episode, we talk about scaling in informal economies, how Luvuyo built and grew his business under extraordinarily tough conditions, and why data is so critical in decision making.

This is a case study episode that highlights how Spring Impact and mission-driven organizations work together to change more lives.

Tostan empowers communities to develop and achieve their vision for the future. This important community work ultimately seeks to inspire a large-scale movement that will create dignity for all. One of Tostan’s greatest successes has been in stopping female genital cutting in the communities that they work in, a problem that is notoriously hard to tackle.

On a mission to make an impact on a larger scale, Tostan has engaged Spring Impact to help them turn their ambitions into reality. In today’s episode, Elena Bonnometti, CEO of Tostan, talks about how their work with Spring Impact has enabled them to scale in ways they hadn’t thought possible before.

What if scalable solutions ultimately need to be integrated within a government system? What should be the mindset of leaders as they explore government partnerships?

To explore these topics and share wisdom from an extensive career in public service, finance, business, and technology is the CEO of the Skoll Foundation, Don Gips.

Jeff Skoll, a social entrepreneur and philanthropist, created the Skoll Foundation in 1999 to pursue his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity for all. The Foundation invests in, connects, and champions social entrepreneurs and other social innovators who together advance bold and equitable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. With equity at the center of its evolving strategy, the Skoll Foundation seeks to shift the trajectory of urgent global challenges including health and pandemics, inclusive economies, climate action, effective governance, and racial justice.

In this episode, Don talks about his expansive journey in social change, including lessons on timing and power when working with governments.

This is a case study show that highlights how Spring Impact and mission-driven organizations work together to change more lives.

Today’s guest is Margot Fahnstock, currently Vice President of Strategic Development for the nonprofit pharmaceutical organization Medicines360. We asked Margot to speak about her experiences working alongside Spring Impact when she was a Program Officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Margot’s opinions expressed here are her own and do not represent the views of  Medicines360.

How do you build a movement of people with deeply opposing views? How do you get them to buy into your vision? Our guest this week, Dream Corps CEO Nisha Anand, turned the challenge of finding common ground in a divisive political climate into a mission.

Dream Corps is a nonprofit organization founded by US TV host and social entrepreneur Van Jones. The organization advances solutions to society’s biggest problems by bringing people together across racial, social, and partisan lines.

In this episode, Nisha shares practical and valuable insights on how to approach movement building. As a veteran fundraiser, she also talks about an important lesson from Van Jones that pushed her to think about fundraising differently, as well as straightforward yet powerful advice on fundraising that led to a $100 million dollar gift from Jeff Bezos.

This is a case study episode that highlights how Spring Impact and mission-driven organizations work together to change more lives.

Today’s guest is Karri Eggers, Chief Operating Officer of Shelter, the leading homeless non-profit in Contra Costa County near San Francisco. Karri and Shelter came to Spring Impact knowing that they urgently needed a new mental health program but couldn’t afford missteps in setting it and scaling it up. The challenge was that they needed to create something that was individualized to each person’s unique circumstances - but could also reach the whole community.

In today’s episode, Karri shares how Spring Impact helped by facilitating a Lean sprint, training the Shelter team to think big, yet start small and relentlessly seek impact.

What is ‘equitable and inclusive’ scale and what does it look like in practice? When it comes to equity, how can we confront missteps in philanthropy and social change leadership? To tackle this topic, we invited Tulaine Montgomery, co-CEO of New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that backs breakthrough social entrepreneurs. Over the last 23 years, New Profit has supported almost 100 organizations with a mix of unrestricted capital and strategic support.

In this episode, we talk about the challenges that leaders face in achieving equitable and inclusive scale and what approaches to avoid. Tulaine explains what ‘reputation to revenue gap’ means and also shares key findings from a study that New Profit commissioned on the dynamics at play in the social sector around racial/ ethnic diversity.

This is a case study episode that highlights how Spring Impact and mission-driven organizations work together to change more lives.

The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest community funder in the UK, having invested over 3.4 billion pounds in the last 5 years alone. Spring Impact and the Fund partnered together on the Scale Accelerator, a 6-month intensive training programme helping a group of UK-based social leaders to scale their impact sustainably.

Today’s guest is Emma Ackerman, Funding Strategy Director at The National Lottery Community Fund. On the show, we talk about why the Fund chose to support Scale Accelerator, the impressive organizations we’ve worked with, and how having a guide on the journey to scale helps ambitious leaders and teams.

This episode of the Mission to Scale Podcast is produced by Colectivo.

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Torkin Wakefield and Devin Hibbard are the mother-daughter pair who co-founded the nonprofit organization BeadforLife in 2004. For 17 years, BeadforLife helped women in Africa through the sale of their handcrafted jewelry — until the organization shut down and birthed a new organization in 2020.

When it comes to scale, it’s critical to tackle change and how nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs can manage it. In this episode, we talk to Devin about how BeadforLife transitioned into a new nonprofit, Street Business School. Devin shares the journey of piloting new initiatives, growing them, and making a bold decision to take her organization to a new direction.

One of the key pathways to achieving impact at scale is replication. In this episode, we talk to Kevin Starr, a seasoned foundation leader who truly understands why good replication matters when it comes to impact. Kevin Starr leads the Mulago Foundation, a foundation that finds, funds, advises and promotes organizations with scalable solutions to poverty.

On the podcast, we explore the value of unrestricted funding, the principles of replication, and how scale and replication differ and relate to one another.

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In 2008, entrepreneur Eric Ries wrote the seminal book ‘Lean Startup’. Many social entrepreneurs tried to use the ‘Lean Startup’ principles but missed the need for impact at the core of any social change initiative. In today’s episode, we talk to Ann Mei Chang, a leading expert on social innovation and author of “Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good” - the book that puts impact at the heart of Lean.

Starting her career as a tech executive, Ann Mei then served as the Chief Innovation Officer at USAID and first Executive Director of its US Global Development Lab. On the show, we chat about why vanity metrics inhibit impact, how to unblock the barriers to impact in the social sector, and how changemakers can get started in applying the Lean Impact practices.

Motivation is a thread that can help teams thrive and achieve extraordinary things, or it can unravel and become one of the greatest barriers to change. In the social sector, we seldom address motivational challenges that everyone, from front-line workers to managers face. So how do we find or reignite our inner drive?

In this episode, we speak to one of the world’s leading experts in intrinsic motivation, Sharath Jeevan. Sharath is the Executive Chairman of Intrinsic Labs, a company that supports organizations all around the world to solve deep motivational challenges, from governments to leading UK universities and high-profile corporations.

The disconnect between maximizing profits and making a positive impact makes it challenging for a business to pursue both - and to do it well. This episode’s guest, Bart Houlahan, Co-Founder of B Lab, set out to solve this. Through B Lab, Bart helped pioneer a movement that is transforming the role of the business community from being driven by money, to drivers of social change.

In this episode, we talk about the shift from a shareholder economy to creating real value for stakeholders. Bart and I also discuss the challenge of scaling with integrity and harnessing the power of business as a force for good.

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Understanding systems change is hard, doing it is harder. That’s why we chose Jeroo Billimoria, a true serial systems entrepreneur and leader, for this week’s episode. She is the founder of several innovative and award-winning NGOs and has over twenty years of experience running systems change organizations as a Skoll awardee, an Ashoka and Schwab Fellow. She is now the founder of One Family Foundation, which incubates social innovations and applies systems thinking to help organizations scale.

In this episode, we dive into how scaling and systems change interact. We talk about how to better understand your ecosystem, goal setting, and Jeroo’s critical advice for entrepreneurs who want to take a systems approach.

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Our inaugural guest for the podcast is Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, a think tank that was founded in 1999. From 2009 to 2011, she served as director of policy planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. Anne-Marie is also the Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2012, she wrote “Why women still can’t have it all,” a piece that quickly became The Atlantic’s most-read article in its then 150-year history.

In this episode, Anne-Marie and I will be talking about designing for scale and how leaders and organizations can think about scaling impact from the onset. Anne-Marie will also share the inspiration behind her new book, “Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in our Lives, Work, and Politics.”

How do you scale solutions to the world’s biggest problems? Mission to Scale is a new podcast that reveals the tools, mindsets, and strategies that organizations and funders need — to make the most impact. On the podcast, host Dan Berelowitz talks to brilliant leaders from today’s most dynamic nonprofits, social enterprises, and purpose-driven brands about pursuing change, at scale. From creating lean strategy to team building, each episode helps you take the guesswork out of changing more lives.

Produced by Spring Impact and Hueman Group Media.

Follow and subscribe to Mission to Scale on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

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