Month: March 2015

The Be Fearless Journey: Share our Strength and the Levi Strauss Foundation

Posted on by Case Foundation

The need for making big bets is more important now than ever before. Now is the time to collaborate across sectors, develop meaningful initiatives with measurable outcomes and set bold targets. Yet the question remains—how can the social sector act fearlessly in order to maximize impact?

At the Case Foundation, we believe that the greatest progress is achieved when organizations are willing to make big bets, experiment often and fail forward. Share our Strength and the Levi Strauss Foundation epitomizes this bold spirit by embracing innovation at multiple intersections to realize the greatest change. They are also the focus of the Foundation’s SXSW Be Fearless Breakout on March 17, 2015. You are invited to join the Case Foundation with special guests: Tom Nelson, President of Share Our Strength; and Daniel Lee, Executive Director and Jason McBriarty, Director, Worldwide Community Affairs of the Levi Strauss Foundation for an exciting session designed to explore how organizations can take action to Be Fearless (RSVP required).

What Can You Expect?

Share our Strength embraced a new sense of urgency to tackle hunger in the United States with the specific goal of eradicating childhood hunger in our country. Similarly, the Levi Strauss Foundation spearheaded the Pioneers in Justice initiative, which emphasized the long-term goal of measuring grant impact rather than just short-term grant administration. Each organization challenged itself to take risks, be bold and fail forward, leading them both achieve the transformative impact they set out to make. Leaders from both organizations will share their greatest lessons learned, action steps they took and insights from their experience in this exclusive break out session at SXSW.

Hungry for More? 

  • Check out their stories of action in the Be Fearless Action Guide, available now!
  • Looking for other sessions to check out at SXSW? Here’s our top 10 list of sessions to attend, including two other sessions hosted by the Case Foundation.

What Are You Waiting For? Start Your Be Fearless Journey Now

Posted on by Case Foundation

Ready to take the next step on your journey to being fearless? To help you on your way, the Case Foundation invites you to download the Be Fearless Action Guide—a set of special tools designed to help nonprofit and foundation leaders create more meaningful social change. It doesn’t matter if you are a program manager looking to change the way you evaluate projects, a board member who wants to help a nonprofit make a big bet or a grantee who wants to encourage a funder to experiment more often… the Action Guide is designed to be your roadmap.

Based on feedback from practitioners in the sector we have developed a unique framework that provides step-by-step actions and ideas for how you and your organization can take risks, be bold and fail forward. These are only the tip of the iceberg for ways to be fearless – use them to start a creative conversation about what is right for your organization. To complement the framework, we’ve assembled stories from five fearless organizations. Each case study highlights how the organization overcame challenges in a fearless way and ultimately fostered a transformative change. There are also discussion guide questions at the end of every case study that provide a take away for everyone—no matter what type of organization you represent.

The Be Fearless Action Guide includes:

  • The Be Fearless Framework
  • Global Health Corps Case Study
  • Jacobs Family Foundation Case Study
  • Levi Strauss Foundation Case Study
  • Salesforce Foundation Case Study (NEW)
  • Share Our Strength Case Study (NEW)

If you have already previewed some of the materials during our special sneak peek phase, be sure to check out the two NEW case studies released today spotlighting the Salesforce Foundation and Share Our Strength. Additional case studies featuring new challenges and solutions are currently in development and will be released this fall!

What are you waiting for? Check out the Action Guide today!

When a B Corp Goes Public, Can Social Outcomes Keep Pace with Profits?

Posted on by Case Foundation

Etsy is the online marketplace where independent artisans and consumers come together to buy and sell unique goods, and connect over shared tastes and visual inspiration. This B Corporation promotes both the virtues of individuality and positive social outcomes and is the focus of this week’s spotlight on Social Enterprise from the Case Foundation and Entrepreneur.com, in partnership with ImpactAlpha.

What’s so special about this company? Founded in Brooklyn, NY, in 2005, Etsy is an online network that connects entrpreneurs with customers whom they otherwise would not be able to access. As noted on its website:

“The heart and soul of Etsy is [their] global community: the creative entrepreneurs who use Etsy to sell what they make or curate, the shoppers looking for things they can’t find anywhere else, the manufacturers who partner with Etsy sellers to help them grow and the Etsy employees who maintain and nurture our marketplace.”

Over the last 10 years, Etsy has grown to become a global force with nearly 700 employees and nearly 30 million items currently available to purchase. It has a network of,19.8 million active buyers—representing nearly every country in the world, and 1.4 million active sellers, of which approximately 88 percent are women. All of these figures add up to a company that earned nearly $200 million in revenue in 2014. Although Etsy has yet to become profitable, the company has not stopped from pushing itself to achieve greater growth. In fact, on March 4, 2015, Etsy became the second B Corp to file for an initial public offering (IPO).

Through its IPO, Etsy will be able to raise up to $100 million in investments, creating an opportunity through which they will hopefully establish profitability. Of the more than 1,200 B Corps, they will be only the fourth with publicly traded stock and only the second to file as a current B Corp.

In considering all of the implications of Etsy’s IPO announcement and similar moves from social enterprises, one question has surfaced: “Will these corporate evolutions undermine companies’ social benefit objectives and vice versa, will commitments to better social outcomes undermine current shareholder profits?”

Hopefully companies like Etsy are the beginning of a larger trend that will continue to expand. As consumer interests align with social and environmental concerns, and large corporations are rewarded for committing to improving their impact while turning competitive profits for shareholders, we could see a greater number of large corporations join the B Corp movement. Similarly, it is exciting to see more B Corps like Etsy, Rally Software and Warby Parker experience the kind of growth that allows them to mature and seek greater profits and influence.

In this week’s article on Entrepreneur.com, we explore the potentially conflicting priorities that face impact companies like Etsy. What does it mean for a social enterprise to have the dual pressures of competing to attract investors through profit seeking and maintaining their social commitments? Will they prove that their social good mission doesn’t detract from profit but can actually boost revenues by driving marketing and customer loyalty?

10 Can’t Miss Sessions at SXSW 2015

Posted on by Case Foundation

We are getting ready to head down to Austin, TX, for SXSW Interactive—a five-day festival that showcases a mix of digital creativity, emerging technology and unique networking events. From March 13 through 17, members of the Case Foundation team will be on-site learning about new trends in social good, philanthropy and technology from thought leaders in the sector… and leading three sessions on social good issues that we hope you will join us for:

We’re also excited to take part in the many sessions that promise to stretch our minds, inspire our creativity and just have fun. We’ve compiled a list of 10 events that we’re particularly excited about below. Have another can’t miss SXSW session we should know about? Tweet us the details using @CaseFoundation and #CFBlog so we can share it with our community.

Saturday, March 14

  • 12:30 pm: Running a Non-Profit Like a Startup! – Austin Convention Center, Room 9ABC
    Do you want to learn how operating like a startup can help nonprofits overcome challenges? Join a group of social entrepreneurs for a discussion about starting and scaling a nonprofit guided by practices until recently associated with startups.
  • 3:30 pm: City 2.0: Why Local Gov. Bets on Civic Innovation – Austin Convention Center, Room 10AB
    Civic innovation is taking root in municipalities across the country. But is it effective in tackling real urban problems? Join Leaders from Boston, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco for insights into how these cities are betting on a new era of policy-making by using open data and leveraging the talents of their citizens.

Sunday, March 15

  • 11 am: How to Make it Rain: Impact Investors Tell All – Austin City Hall
    This panel will explore ways impact investors, social entrepreneurs and traditional investment vehicles can collaborate to help create a strong impact eco-system.
  • 5 pm: Millennials: The Unstoppable Force – Austin Convention Center, Room 10AB
    During this session, participants will hear from Millennial elected officials who are putting aside partisan labels and working to change the future together

Monday, March 16

  • 11 am: How Potato Salad Killed/Saved Crowdfunding – Austin Convention Center, Next Stage
    Join our SVP of Communications, Allyson Burns, for a conversation with Gary Wolfheil of Crowdrise and some of crowdfunding’s biggest names including Zack Brown, the Potato Salad Guy and Ryan Grepper, creator of the Coolest Cooler, for an in-depth conversation about the future of crowdfunding for nonprofits, for profits and individuals.
  • 12 pm: Impact Investing Rumble Hosted by the Case Foundation – Trinity Hall
    Join the Case Foundation for a memorable Impact Investing point/counterpoint debate exploring whether or not impact investing really is the next big thing when it comes to creating change in the social sector.
  • 3 pm: Elevate: How Businesses & Entrepreneurs are Taking Social Good to the Next Level – Trinity Hall
    Come hear how three leading companies built corporate philanthropy into their culture. This panel will provide insights into the benefits of fostering a culture of corporate citizenship for both internal and external stakeholders, how to engage all employees and how to build programs that can make the world a better place.

Tuesday, March 17

  • 10 am: Look at Me: On Ego, Hype, and Social Entrepreneurship – Trinity Hall
    United Kingdom based veteran social entrepreneur and impact investor, Liam Black, cuts through the hype of social entrepreneur industry to talk honestly about what really motivates and drives entrepreneurs who want to change the world.
  • 11:30 am: Be Fearless Breakout Session Hosted by the Case Foundation – Trinity Hall
    Are you and your organization ready to make big bets that will change the world? Join the Case Foundation for working group to explore ways that you can integrate strategies and tactics to create impact and meaningful social change. Click here to sign up.
  • 2:00 pm: Data Visualization for Social Good – Trinity Hall
    During this hands-on session, participants will work with open data from the City of Austin to create prototypes that visually represent public data and invite exploration and explanation.

Not headed to SXSW this year? Follow along with the Case Foundation team members on Twitter with @CaseFoundation. We also invite you to share your own recommendations, updates or thoughts on Twitter by using the hashtag #CFBlog!

Demand for Investments That Provide Both a Financial and Social Return is Increasing

Posted on by Case Foundation

There is a large number of “traditional” investors whose priority is strictly earning the greatest financial return, regardless of any return in the form of positive social impact. This week the Case Foundation and Entrepreneur.com, in partnership with ImpactAlpha are spotlighting MicroVest, an asset management firm that has been proving for more than a decade that investments in underserved markets are more than just charity. These impact investments can and do earn consistent and competitive financial returns, in addition to enabling local entrepreneurs to create scalable solutions that drive even greater positive outcomes.

MicroVest was founded in Bethesda, MD, in 2003, with CEO Gil Crawford’s belief that “investing in unbanked markets is the best way to reduce poverty on a global scale.” The firm does this by providing capital to low-income financial institutions that in turn make loans to micro to medium-sized businesses.

During MicroVest’s early days, micro-loans were not new, however they were not widely known or understood. This disconnect led to some early stage struggles in gathering investments for MicroVest’s first fund. Chairman Bowman Cutter explained to the Wall Street Journal that the first $15 million was more difficult to gather over three years than $15 billion for a private equity firm. However, MicroVest’s stable record for returns has helped to eliminate much of the investor trepidation and it has successfully grown the fund’s investor pool and diversified its portfolio of companies over the years.

According to Impact Investing2.0, two such examples of the diverse investments available through MicroVest are XacBank (“Hass-Bank”) in Mongolia that serves 26,000 borrowers through 34 urban and rural banks, capitalizing on the innovative microfinance structures already present in the country. Additionally, MicroVest became an important investor in a low-income finance institute in Guayaquil, Ecuador where they were able to incentivize more responsible lending practices through local banks. Through most of MicroVest’s local lenders, the majority of borrowers are women, empowering a traditionally marginalized portion of these communities.

Given the financial and social progress of micro-investments and other impact investments, many are turning toward impact investments to secure both financial and social returns. Ron Cordes, who leads the Cordes Foundation, one of Microvest’s owners, notes that MicroVest and similar firms and funds are successful because of, not despite their, social impact. To find out how MicroVest intends to continue to engage with and attract more of investors through competitive returns, check out the rest of the story on Entrepreneur.com.

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