Philanthropy was designed to take risks. That was the culture that was the whole point of having a philanthropic, you know, system and industry is that we are the one entity that can take risks not business, not government, but philanthropy can. And that's how we solve systemic problems, we're not going to find a cure for cancer, we like, okay, we're only gonna fund you, if you find the cure. Like that's not how it works, right? Everyone's trying, and innovating, experimenting and figuring it out. And that's how we're going to solve these big problems. Same thing, in social justice in our communities that are suffering, whether you want to talk about gun violence, all of our major crises in the US and, and big problems, small problems, we need to be able to take risks and innovate. And we've got to lean into that culture. And philanthropy is the one place where you don't have to have an ROI, right. You don't have to have an a return on we're creating that culture. But that's our choice.
Hey, I'm Jon.
And I'm Becky.
And this is the We Are For Good podcast,
Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an Impact Uprising.
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So let's get started. Hey, Becky, what's happening?
Hey, Jon, we are here in the summer of evolution. And this week, we're focusing on one of our favorite topics. It's innovation week.
And I mean, we are replaying a panel discussion that happened at the responsive nonprofit summit that we co hosted with Virtuous earlier this year. And I love this because we get to stack the deck with some of the most innovative people that are actually doing this out living this out in real time right now. And so I'm so excited about the panelists that we get to assemble.
Yeah, these even just looking at these individuals and sitting in the what is our life, these individuals, and I just really think their missions are, you know, a perfect execution of seeing that. And so it's really a delight to have Alison Moore, She is the CEO of comic relief USA, you may know it better as Red Nose Day, we also had Iara Peng, who is the CEO of Just Fund and she is one of these incredible innovators that has coined this phrase we use very often that money moves at the speed of trust. And then rounding out the panel, we also have Sarah Lee, who is the CEO of New Story, and we are straight obsessed with New Story in the way that they are using innovation to fuel not only, you know, building 3d structures, to eradicate homelessness in Central America and South America, but just in the way that they use it to push the team on how are we innovating our relationships, our messaging, every part of it. So three incredible panelists.
So Okay, before we hop in, you know, we love to give a good tone set. Innovation, we really believe starts from within each of us. And you know, we had a conversation just yesterday about leadership, what that looks like, today, and really having an evolved mindset. But to have an innovation mindset and a culture of that. We have to like pour in intentionally into that. And so that conversation is going to span from that to just like hacks of how people like New Story and Comic Relief are doing this in real time. And I'm just so excited to get all these insights. So without further ado, let's jump in here. I want to start with a question for all the panelists is where you can jump in. We want to hear each of your perspectives and take on innovation in the nonprofit sector today. And Allison, you got my first Allison, let's start with you.
Great, great. Well, thanks again, for having us here. This is I love this topic. And and this one that in particularly is really resonated with me. I think, you know, coming from different sectors, you said My background is commercial and sort of, you know, media and entertainment space, you know, jumping into philanthropy, and just the sector overall, it's not talked enough about not talked about enough innovation, it's just, it's not an assumed state of being it's sort of like a rarity that it's assumed to be a rarity of findings in this sector. And I just couldn't tell you, it's the complete opposite. Innovation is everywhere. And nonprofits are innovative and innovative. We're experimental, we're thinking about, you know, trying to have impactful solutions to some of the world's most stressing problems. And then there's it and there's a huge need for the public, for the capital markets for places that are investing in innovation to understand that it is actually happening here. Because I think the barrier to innovation is yes, there's thinking there's cultures, there's mindsets. There's all innovative thinking and processing, but it's also access to capital, you know, material investment. I mean, this is what's predicated on the commercial market. This is what allows people to get wired $7 million for a little idea on a PowerPoint. That's, you know, meant to scale like a hockey stick later on. Why can't that also be applied within the context of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector because that access to that capital is what's going to drive the ideas So for us, you know, I think that we occupy this interesting space of entertainment, engagement and impact. And it really requires a constant vision and a constant innovation focus, be able to meet audiences where they are, because that's how we we do it through public fundraising. And to be able to scale that kind of construct, through just more and more initiatives that can go out there and kind of put in in moments of magic and joy for like a Red Nose Day, or like a kid's relief to individuals that are meeting in places of scale. But that all costs money to build and support and then, you know, raising dollars and then taking those dollars to invest it back into organizations who are doing really innovative work on the ground. So it's not just like innovations, and fundraising and tech and all that kind of stuff. But it's also innovation in in reimagining the grant making, and like where are the places that we are investing in putting support and thinking about, you know, community leaders and thinking about leaders who have proximate experience and some of the innovations that they're coming up with, I mean, that's innovative thinking that needs to be funded to so I think that's for me, it's so much about. And I know, we're going to talk more about this just, you know, building cultures and doing that with your teams and thinking about ideas and fresh ways of thinking and all that. But I I want to be able to have the space to be able to incubate new ideas, and to operationalize them and take some risks and, and see some failures. But do that in the spirit of just, you know, doing more and doing more to create material change. And I just think, less strings, less paperwork, less conditional access rules, less, you know, more trust and more investment will drive more innovation.
Where's the preach button on the comments.
I was just gonna say, I think I heard the collective cheer from the nonprofit sector specifically on releasing the strings tied to grant making. So thank you for all that.
Iara, do you want to hop in next?
Well, I just can't wait to after this conversation, Google what scaling like a hockey stick looks like and what that means. I mean, I'm first generation American. So I get all of these things mixed up. But anytime I hear these expressions, I can't wait to Google that later. I'm loving Allison. And I think, you know, you knew that you hit the nail on the head where this is, to me about a risk tolerance, and our appetite for failure. You know, and we have a culture, I think, in nonprofits where we're leaning more into this culture of measuring success, what are your impacts, you know, where are your benchmarks? How are you hitting your targets, and that is not a culture that does not facilitate a culture of innovation. And we have to be ready to lean all the way into failure, you know, for us to be able to innovate, and take risks. And that's how we're going to learn. I mean, I remember talking to one of the founders of one of the biggest online platforms that we all use here in our every day. And he I said, Tell me your story, how'd you get here? And he said, You know, I failed five times, before I figured out this model. And I was so naive about how venture capital works. And I was just, you know, thinking it was like philanthropy, and said, well, wow, how did you get investors to like new investors every time you failed, and he just like, belly laughed and said, Oh, these investors invest in me to fail, because they know, the faster I fail, the closer I'm gonna get to the winning solution. Right. That's how innovation works. And that is just the antithesis of how we're funding in philanthropy. And in nonprofits, we want to see a return on our investment in six months, how come you didn't hit your target? How come you didn't get this idea off the ground. And we need to create more spaciousness and more of an appetite and more of just a really warm environment for failure, because that's how we're going to get to winning solutions. So I can't wait to drive that change. You know, among all of us here in here in our beautiful sector, where there is, like Allison said, so much innovation, and, hey, it's not that complicated. Let's just find people closest to the issues, but they are closest to the solutions, you find people with direct lived experience, they're gonna get us our winning answers. We just are not flowing resources to those communities. I mean, it's atrocious when you look at the numbers, and we can dive more into that. But it's just not that complicated. And we can do it. So I'm excited to get there together.
I mean, you could tell from the chat, this is what the sector has needed to hear. And if I could drop this microphone, I would, but I think Tyler is gonna get upset with me, because those are great mic drop moments. I think we've got a great start here, because both of you mentioned culture as being a part of the movement. And I do think that scarcity mindset, and the way that we've always done it, these are like these grounding principles that stall our work, and they have just been habitually perpetuated. So I want to talk about how do you foster cultures of innovation and we have two powerhouses, nonprofit powerhouses in Sarah and an Allison who have done this and I want to talk about how innovation has manifested within your organization's how have you seen it on the bottom line? How has it been represented? And Allison, I'll think I'll start with you and Sarah, we'll cross our fingers we come back to you.
Sure, you know, my, I think I've always gravitated towards roles just historically, in my background, whether it was, you know, at HBO and on digital and SoundCloud and Conde and NBCU, that just had a healthy amount of innovation as an expectation for the work. And so when you start to think about that, and just building like new business models or units, or that kind of thing that are sort of challenging status quo, you have to put together a team and a mindset and a thinking and, and build a culture to actually support that and do so particularly if you're in like a sort of small startup in a large organization. So, you know, I think just those principles got applied for me here. In the same way, when I started with Comic Relief, and really building a culture of innovation anywhere, so whether it's there or here requires vision, but also a can do versus can't, or, you know, mindset and really being able to see not only see the big ideas and talk about them, and intellectualize them. But importantly, and I think importantly, for nonprofits operationalizing them, right. And it really requires a lot of, I mean, our team is small, I'm sure everyone else is on the screens team is small, it's not meant to have like a lot of different people working on every piece of the machinery. So collaboration and teamwork is part of but also shoulder to shoulder with our partners. You know, our grantee partners are not just places that we you know, give the funds and they will call you all next year, you know what I mean? We really do partner together to kind of think about the the solutions and innovations and where we can help them even operationalize, when we can, all the different facets of their work. So for us, it's day one that we kind of started on on innovation. And I think when we started to change our lens from a really deep in Orleans and our work from, you know, our broad vision of just real free from poverty, we through our theory of change work dug into that and really identified breaking cycles of intergenerational poverty as that as our lens. And that was a really a very new focus for us. But what it required for us is to just completely operationalize in a different framework, and it was exciting, but it was a really complex challenge that that had to we had to dive into it a little bit, in a more in a deeper way, you know, so we started to think about our values, and started to think about how we ensure that every every kind of action that is involved, that we are working on, particularly in our in our grantmaking aligned with the values that we find core here, and so and align that to our kind of new vision and lens. So obviously, you know, just as by way of example, our diversity and inclusion values were a centerpiece and all of that work. And so we launched an empowerment pillar in 2021. That we had not we had four pillars safety, health education, and add an empowerment to where we could start to think about youth leadership and economic development for young people. Much of our portfolio had focused on children only, but you know, in the US, particularly when you get to age 18, there's a tendency towards Well, you're not, you're not a kid anymore. So the programs that were supported, and you know, up to 18, and good luck to you. And we knew currently, when you start to think about generational poverty, and you start to think about the cycles of keep groups of folks and communities systemically in that space, you need to unlock and unlock empowerment for young people in a really material way. And so that really changed our, our work and in thinking about innovation differently in the way we invest. And so we've increased investment in bipoc, led and community led organizations, we've increased the number of grantees from 10, to about 40, in the last three and half years, small, medium, and large, you know, scaled organizations like the Global Fund, and, you know, large organizations like Covenant House, but organizations like Glass Wing and Grow Debt and Malala Fund and a wide table of doing very different work. And then we've actually increased our investment in those bipoc led organizations from 6% to 42%, over the last two and a half years. And that, you know, these are all just examples of, of having to shift, you can shift the mindset, but you got to shift the work too, you know, and that that really is the only way you can do that is have everybody in stem to stern in the organization is breathing innovation and innovative thinking and solution making and problem solving. And I feel like we've done that. I mean, this team, they're just, they're, they're small but mighty, you know what I mean?
and I don't know that anyone would have thought red nose team is so small because it feels like a brand that is so prolific globally. And I think that adds a lot of humility to this conversation that I thank you. And it also talks about how innovation is core. As you continue to iterate and add pillars. We did the exact same thing. We started with seven core values, we realized we were missing the biggest core value and we had to add it midway through our first season adding the community is everything. And so I want to kick this to Sarah, I want her to answer this question as well. But we've got a great question in the chat Iara that I think you have an answer for and we're going to come back to that. So Sarah, what about you with your culture?
Yeah, I think that there's a couple of things. And I'm glad you guys can hear me. Now, there's a couple of things that I thought about when it comes to operationalizing innovation within cultures. And that is, number one focus. If you don't have focus, organizationally, you cannot innovate because you will constantly be spread and trying to try new things everywhere, which likely nothing will work. And so I think that the reason why organizations who really have innovation at the forefront of all they do is because they have focus. And so that focus, we use the phrase a lot around here, focus will set you free. And focus is what enables us to be free to try new things to actually innovate in our work, like Allison was saying, it has to be more than just words on a wall or words in a paper, it has to be actually how are you showing up as an organization. And I think the other place that it has really impacted our organization, and a place that we haven't always gotten it right, is really creating a foundation for risk taking, right? Everybody mentioned this in the beginning with what how do we see innovation in the nonprofit sector right now. And I think that you really have to create an environment and a culture where it's okay to fail. And that's, that's something that's really easy to say out loud, like, take risks, be willing to fail. But as leaders, when we're on the hook for impact numbers and metrics, and growing and hockey sticks, it's a lot easier to actually back that up with actions that gives your team the psychological safety that they need to feel like they can experiment. One of the big kind of innovations that put new story on the map was doing the first 3d printed community in the world for some of the poorest families in the world, in Mexico, and we were going back and forth with our board and donors on was this like a wise decision for us? Right, it was super risky. And one of our donors asked us the question of like, what's on the line if you don't try? Or what's on the line, if this works? And so that really bred this question in us, or this thought in us of what is irresponsible not to try? And so for some of the questions I'm seeing in the chat, I'm like, what do you do when people are reluctant to innovate across the organization and the time that you really need it? For me, it comes down to the question of how much you care about your mission, right? And how might innovation help you go so much further, faster? Because there is a point that it's irresponsible not to try new things, when the world's biggest problems, or in many cases just getting bigger?
Oh, my gosh, All right, y'all. I mean, I'm kind of feeling exposed in some of this too, as like a founder. So I appreciate the is the wisdom. I wanted to kick it to Iara, because I think this this comment from in the quote in the chat, I think we can all relate to that. What do you do when your founder or maybe your ED is reluctant to some of this, and I want to give space to just, you know, surround her in support right now?
Yes, absolutely. Such a great question in a in a real situation for so many of us. And you know, I'm a big fan of quick wins. You know, and I learned agile business planning later in my career. I mean, I went to business school, you know, have a master's in nonprofit management. I never learned any of this stuff until I, I started building nonprofits, right, which I've been building nonprofits for 25 years. And it wasn't until I started building a TAC based nonprofit that I was introduced to Agile based business planning, which is a really beautiful model of trying to experiment in sprints, right, you maybe set up two weeks sprints, and in those sprints you're going to experiment, you're going to be doing some really focus to Sarah's point, like AB testing, I'm going to send this email with this content, I'm going to send this email that content, let's see which one performs this is what people are doing all day long, when it comes to lead generation or more, you know, tech savvy companies are doing a lot of this work, we can do it too. And these quick wins are really important for Nan, because you can experiment with small, small little bites versus like we're going to do an 18 month strategic plan, we're going to shift culture, you know, sometimes you can have that work that works really hard for for an organization to go through that kind of change management. But if you start experimenting and getting some quick wins under your belt belt, people start to feel it and feel that momentum and want to welcome that change in a different way. We've seen that here at Just Fund, you know, where we, we have a culture of experimentation and failure because what we're doing is new, right? No one's ever built than the common grant application. We're the only platform in the United States that has a common grant application. You know, there's a lot of, of really exciting things that can stem from there. But one of the most exciting pieces is no one's done it. So we've got to experiment until we find our way forward but for companies that have a founder and ED reluctant to change, I really encourage you to think about small bite sized quick wins, you know where you can start to say, hey, we tried that we did this the traditional way. And we also did a small segment and a new way. And here's what we learned. So you can start to show people that change isn't so scary, the whole foundation is not going to break. In fact, to Sarah's point, we're going to innovate and maybe do things even better. Right? So um, I think there's a way of course, we have to bring all of our, you know, our founders our EDs is on board. And this is one way we can do it.
I mean, brilliant insight. love that so much. I know, as we're talking about innovation, there's kind of this blend of risk and reward. With each of these different steps. What are some strategies for minimizing that risk, while really maximizing the potential benefits, I'll kick it back to you Iara.
in terms of taking risks and maximizing those for benefits. I mean, this is philanthropy was designed to take risks, that was the culture that was the whole point of having a philanthropic, you know, system and industry is that we are the one entity that can take risks, not business, not government, but philanthropy can. And that's how we solve systemic problems, we're not going to find a cure for cancer, we like, okay, we're only gonna fund you, if you find the cure. Like that's not how it works, right? Everyone's trying to innovate in experimenting and figuring it out. And that's how we're going to solve these big problems. Same thing, in social justice in our communities that are suffering, whether you want to talk about gun violence, all of our major crises in the US and, and big problems, small problems, we need to be able to take risks and innovate. And we've got to lean into that culture. And philanthropy is the one place where you don't have to have an ROI, right, you don't have to have an a return on we're creating that culture, but that's our choice. We can also choose to do something differently, right? We can lean into all this, like new wrapping paper of trust based philanthropy. multi year grants, give people a long runway, I mean, in the for profit sector, we know that people are given five years, right, five years of funding and nonprofits is like your six months, go, you know, build the newest, greatest thing on $5,000. Like, it's not going to work that way, we have to really shift the way we're funding and, and allow these risks to happen. And I, every time you're failing, you're learning, right? And that's the culture we're trying to create. It's not like you fail, and you're bad and wrong, you failed and you learn something. So in our even in our team meetings, we have our team meeting today at noon. That's what we start with, we're How do you what did you learn today? What do you learn this week? Right? Where did you fail because you want to, like facilitate that culture of I tried this didn't work. Here's what I'm going to try next.
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I mean, can you imagine if you were sitting in a team meeting and your boss literally said, Congratulations, you failed, we're really proud of you. Because all of a sudden, again, back to that psychological safety. You feel like you can take risk again. I mean, I don't think I ever experienced that sort of dynamic when in 20 years of nonprofit. But I see the hope that we're moving there having these conversations is one of those little nudges that moves us a little bit further. And I do think mindsets is a huge game of that. And getting out of the scarcity mindset that blocks us and nonprofit and I want to kick this question to you, Sarah, how can nonprofits everyone listening right now I see how this conversation is resonating? How can they work on their mindsets, you know, to be reflective of what Iara is talking about, of the risks that we're taking. I mean, we got a phrase in our house, you don't lose you learn, you know, how are you building toward that and constantly seeking feedback, and really talking about your success and failures and what they mean I would love to hear how New Story does this because I think the way that you innovate and fail forward is just a beautiful example of modern day nonprofits where Really taking this bull by the horns? Yeah,
I'll talk about one of the places that we've failed and kind of what we changed in that process that I think is helpful for all of us. And I think where we failed, implementing innovation in our first years as an organization was we didn't have enough patience. And so we were constantly on the seesaw of did this innovation just not work. And we need to move on to the next thing, versus have we just not given it enough time. And at nonprofits, that's a really hard balance to decide which end of the spectrum are you on? And how are you going to know which end of the spectrum are you on? And so I encourage everyone, as they're thinking about what does innovation look like on a small scale or on a big scale? To start with how are we going to know if this is working or not working? And I think having those guiding questions, metrics, or indicators from the beginning, is really helpful. So if you're trying a new project, or a new process, or anything in between a new email sequence, right, it can can be very small things, having what a success look like. And when will we know to stop, I think is really helpful as you're on that journey. Because then you're not wasting time and resources. If you shouldn't be, you're not allowing yourself to get delusioned by like, just one more, and you're not allowing yourself to give up too early. And so that's one major thing that comes to mind that I think we've been able to implement and has been really transformational in how we have operationalized innovation from our kind of very early days to now.
I mean, it seems like it comes back to where you started this conversation with just like that clarity. I mean, if you're real clear about where you're headed, it allows you to, you know, kind of run everything through that matrix. So okay, we believe that in the power of just innovation to allow us to move faster, but also to like, raise more funds, you know, grow our partnerships. And Allison, your team is doing this incredibly well, not just with your stakeholders, but with new audiences. And so I want to kick it to you and talk about how are you powering this innovation through that lens.
We are lucky in that and grateful for frankly, the very vibrant and strong Red Nose Day can paint that, you know, we continue to kind of thread innovation through that campaign and really think about doing things differently in our support of children living in poverty and and thinking about what that changes in our grant making, as I mentioned earlier, but also just how we kind of innovate in bringing that to audiences. And a lot of that is really dependent on partnerships. I mean, our partnerships with Walgreens and NBC have been crucial in our ability to kind of innovate and think a bit differently and talk to and connect with individuals. And, you know, I think there's a six degrees was based on an Accenture report, I think about six, eight seconds between inspiration and action. And when you think about that, in retail, that's, that's a very kind of like clogged up time for somebody to actually kind of think about to actually act. And the magic of the red nose is that it does it very quickly without a big explanation and you know, white paper or thinking about it's just like a moment, to kind of do something and be a part of something in the community right then and there. And so what we want to do is take, you know, taking an innovation lens, replicate that on multiple different platforms in places that we can and new platforms where we know young people are gathering, right, and young donors and young individuals who are donating I mean, their their mindsets have changed, and their expectations have changed. So we just launched by way of example, we launched the kids relief campaign, just recently, and it's a great example of how we're trying to think about how can we take that magic of just really engaging in a different way and a different kind of platform and then creating this to be a place where we can continually innovate over and over again. And so we launched a game called solar punk simulator on on Roblox, which is a basically a gaming experience that gives young people the ability to make change through gameplay. And that was really about empowering changemakers. And aligning with our empowerment pillar is to be able to understand kind of what it is that the elements that drive change for young people. And so we launched this game experience. And then we also, it was accompanied with a concert from a guy called boy with you, who's an amazing performer who did this incredible concert for us in game and then had a couple of our they are, you know, comically friends like Jack Black and a couple of YouTube stars to come in and sort of amplify and kind of get get audiences really raised up. I have to say we had, it was like, you know, to your point Sarah and Iara, it's like, this was something, we put this on the table. It was like, we didn't want to build a game that was just like a launch and leave game where it's just like, Oh, I hope it's a game that works. And then kind of this is a game. It's meant to be an ecosystem for us. This needed to be built in a way that actually could sustain gameplay and engage audiences and that wants to play because the more that they play, the more that we were able to kind of create this sort of multiple kind of areas of fundraising around it. We had a partnership with Wonderworks, which is a developer who's one of the lead developers at Roblox we had to do it in an innovative way. We needed to get that funded by an individual and a partner of ours and and Seagull Foundation who helped us he said, Look, I want to see you build this, I want to see you take this to to build this to scale and be able to engage audiences because he too believed in next gen audiences. So long story short, you know, we've launched this put this out in the world kind of like peeking behind like, the covers to be like, Can we do this? And can we manage an environment like this, and we have had almost 5 million gameplays to date, it blew past our numbers of like, you know, percentages over the amount of engagement, gameplay lasting and the number of impressions, the kind of, you know, engagement that we that we've been able to encounter. And we had the number one light concert on Roblox and the number 18 In terms of popular concerts on Roblox, and we beat out Sir Elton John. Okay. It's sad to say that I like him a lot. But, and The Chainsmokers, which is a weird sort of, like, compendium of artists. But anyway, I Sorry, I was a little long in the tooth on that. But I'm just like, that is an example of, you know, if you told me coming into this role, like, you know, your you should be starting and thinking about things on a gaming platform I would have been like, Is that the right thing? Does it only have to be direct mail and get? No, it needs to be all this stuff. And we need to be okay with like trying and doing our best and then like growing that as a platform. And that's exactly what we intend to do. And it's, it's, it's just a great way. And then hopefully that will grow to be, you know, have the vibrancy. And the innovation, as you know, as Red Nose Day has will continue to innovate their kids believe we're bringing back comic relief that brand, it just we have to innovate across all of it.
And I'll just say I was just writing in the chat here. To you, Allison, that these innovations are amazing. It's so amazing. And I really love what you're saying about partnerships. And that partnerships can help us accelerate innovation, that that's just so powerful. We don't have to do it. All right, we sometimes think we have to take steps A to Z all by ourselves. And actually, when you partner, you can innovate that much faster. And I love it. I've seen it, I've experienced it my life. We're experiencing it right now, at Just Fund, as we partner with some different API's to help us make moving money more quickly to movements happen. I just wanted to just put a, you know, an exclamation point on your comment that partnerships help us accelerate innovation. I think it's so, so so true. And really an important point.
I think when we think about partnerships, as nonprofits, it can feel overwhelming, right? Like, how are we going to get this person or this company to make this dream we have come alive, one of the practices we have seen really helpful at New Story and implementing innovation is actually just doing it cross organizationally, right. So bringing together teams that don't typically work together, and having them brainstorm and work on projects or problems and innovating, those ideas can often bring new perspectives. So one of our values is improved through learning and feedback. And so we may have small group sessions that brings one person from each department. So group is, you know, five or six people and somebody saying, Okay, on our impact team, we're having this problem. Our surveyors in the field are taking way longer to upload the work because there's not WiFi accessible in the places that we work. How might we solve this problem and bringing together our creative team, our fundraising team, our finance team brings those diverse experiences and ideas that I think actually can make innovation, super tangible for everyone in a way that you can dream super big, but you can also make it really practical for whatever is happening organizationally, by just bringing fresh ideas and perspectives.
I mean, the principle of what you're saying, too, is just applicable and how we show up and how we grow as humans to if we're in our own echo chambers, if we're surrounded by all the people that look like us, it's deeply holding us back in so many different ways. And so Iara we're starting to run out of time, but you've got to share how innovation is disrupting the entire grant scene through your work at Just Fund. I mean, taking some of this so antiquated, so painful, and making it move so much quicker. And you know, spreading equity in the process, we you share a little bit about that journey real quick.
I will. And I'll just say for all of us out here, experimenting, sometimes the best innovations are right under our nose, like, you know, with Just Fund and the common grant application. It's like so simple. It's like, I mean, really, no one's built this. Seriously? Are you sure? Like, can we just do that scan one more time? Why not? And we've just built the first platform in the US. And that accepts that a common grant application I understand from my colleagues working in different parts of the world that also other parts of the world don't have a common app platform. Why not you guys? So with Just Fund. You know, what we did was we said, look, money is not flowing to communities of color. That's a big problem from an equity perspective. And from a strategic perspective, if we want to win, fun people closest to the issues, why aren't they getting funded? We're moving 450 billion dollars a year to nonprofits 4% goes to communities of color. What are we doing? This is inequitable, it's unstrategic. So, you know, when when my favorite class in business schools as as, as you all know, is Process Flow Management. I love it, we need to understand the process flow of grantmaking to see where are the bottlenecks and barriers. And when you have a bottleneck this big. This astounding, you know, there are some systemic problems, right. One of the big problems is it's expensive, it's hard to apply, don't know where to apply. There's all of this, like really exclusionary, and, you know, systems that we've built in philanthropy, that's an equitable and we can fix it through the common app. That's one solution, right? And so we just, we didn't try to build a common app for the whole philanthropic sector, we started with three funds, you know, and 2017, we said, hey, can the three of us come together and build the common app. So sometimes these innovations don't have to be massive. This is what I'm talking about what the quick win, that's right, funds come together, let's build a common app, we'll all agree to it and see what happens. We're now fast forwarding to today, we have 142 funds, we've moved 210 million, you know, 58% of the mind that we're moving our secondary grant. So a group comes in to the common app to apply to one fund, they get funded by somebody else, which is what we should be doing. Take it easy, make it simple for money to move. And on top of that we've saved organizations, are you ready for this 29 years of time, they would have spent applying for grants that they're gonna get 30% of the time, we've saved them that time that they can put forward to mission advancing more, and not, you know, mess around with applications that take 15 to 25 hours to complete
on behalf of the entire nonprofit sector, Iara, thank you so much for going into the bottle net. Because I really think that that is where we get stuck. And I think those places where we are stuck, those are rife for innovation points, they are rife to be rethought. And so I thank you, and I apologize for how many people I've sent to you Iara, because I have connected so many people to you, because we think this is just the future, and we want more people to get access to it. So you all are podcast alums, and we're so grateful for your wisdom, you know, we wrap up every conversation we have with a one good thing. So I want to kick this to Allison first and say, What is your one good thing and it could be through the lens of innovation? It could be through the lens of a mantra or a life hack. What do you want to leave with the audience today?
I think that human capital is the most one good thing and is that human capital and that that comes in your team, the investment in your team to kind of create magic and do things together and support. And as a leader, I feel like that's just I think about that morning, noon and night. But even to some of the conversations that we've had here to human capital, as it relates to partnerships and shoulder to shoulder sort of activity and working and supporting each other in a way that this sector does better than anything else. That's what I would. That's what I think is one good thing. And I think that if I can wake up every day and think about that, and how do I maximize that for our own collective benefit. That's a good thing.
I just want to work for one of these women like no offense boss. I mean, that is that is truly what we need. We are so good at caring for the external of our mission. But it's like if we could care for each other, and care for ourselves that self care is just as important. Thank you for valuing the human being. Okay, Sarah, what about you? What's your one good thing?
My one good thing is simplicity. This is something I am striving more toward, I think especially in the context of innovation, it can feel like more is the only answer. And one of my favorite quotes is the the way toward mastery of any endeavor is simplicity. And so I think that often innovation, our work and lives are made better if we can go back to simplicity, and how are we doing less to ultimately make it more whether that's in our lives, or in our work or anything in between? So one good thing is simplicity.
And wrapping it up here with the one good thing I'd say is trust yourself. It's taken me years, I'm now you know, well into my 40s. And finally, trusting myself in my leadership and my ability to solve problems, you know, and I think all of us can find and really believe that we have solutions because you do you do. You know, trust yourself to experiment and innovate and try to solve problems you're not the answers aren't always out there. They're inside of you. And so if we can just unlock that inside of us, we're going to really be able to change the world.
You live that I remember the first time we ever met Iara. She said, I was looking for a problem like a solution to a problem. And I looked around I was like, oh, it's me. I am the person I'm looking for. I have those solutions. So know that you feel so empowered today. I hope you're leaving this conversation friends, feeling like this as an ideal that not only you can embrace within yourself but also within your organization,
I mean, I've got like, serious chills. I mean, so much is applicable to so many aspects of our work. But I feel so much hope in talking to the three of y'all. And I just want to encourage everybody listening to reach out to y'all. I mean, y'all are humans that I love following your journey. I love following your thought leadership but to find you on LinkedIn to plug into your organization's because, truly, you're on the leading edge of this and you're just incredible humans too. So thank you for this.
This is a moment in time that nonprofit is experiencing that has never been before us. And those who choose to lean into that innovation. They are truly winning this we're seeing this within our community, connect with these human beings. Trust yourself and know you've got this we're always rooting for you.
Thanks so much for being here. We hope you're loving the summer of Evolution Series. And to learn more you can head over to weareforgood.com/evolution All the playlists resources and other ways to help you get inspired and activated this summer. We'd also love for you to join the conversation. Share what you're learning on social media, or join us at our free community at We Are For Good community.com Bonus points for snapping a picture and showing us where you're listening from. Can't wait for the next conversation. See you soon friends.
