In the Jewish philanthropic world, we often confuse two types of innovation: Innovation in mission and innovation in best practices. We praise the upstart for its innovative mission (despite its unsustainable model). At the same time, we declare that a legacy organization’s struggle to raise the necessary funds to accomplish its mission is a direct result of a flaw in its underlying mission. When, in fact, the legacy organization’s mission is well and good – the problem is that the best practices it operates by are no longer “best.” Therefore, I believe there is a false dichotomy that innovation is more fond of the startup. Startups and legacy organizations both have unique and perfect problems that require a healthy dose of innovation.
After founding NextGen:Charity, a conference on nonprofit innovation for two years with 1,000 C-Suite nonprofit and business executives in attendance, and content viewed by more than 1.5 million nonprofit professionals online, I would like to point out four commonalities shared by truly innovative individuals and organizations:
- They have a founder’s mentality, despite their rank at the organization. They approach their day-to-day tasks like an artist rather than an employee who clocks in and out.
- They know how to demonstrate their mission in REAL and IMMERSIVE ways to prospective and existing donors. They use the available traditional and digital resources (often free) to help a prospect or donor truly see what their money is doing on the ground, whether it is close to home or 3,000 miles away.
- They keep things fresh and constantly reinvent themselves. Whether it’s fundraising initiatives or other events, they can come up with new ways to stand apart, and offer prospective and existing donors a unique selling proposition.
- They focus on new donor acquisition. If you are operating a business and only have a strategy to raise money at the top without bringing in new customers, then you will not be a viable organization. True innovators therefore know how to mass market and create a cultivation strategy to turn those on the outside into ambassadors and donors.
Because there is a clear distinction between innovation in mission and innovation in best practices, it’s important to draw the distinction in how success is demonstrated in both cases. If you are looking to innovate an underlying mission, you can only know whether you were successful with 20/20 hindsight. It either worked or didn’t. When Steve Jobs came back to Apple and reinvented their macs (as well as introducing new products like the iPod) with a clean and simple design and user interface, it was a big risk for the company to rely on his intuition. Only when it was brought to market and widely adopted did we see the innovation.
Success in best practices doesn’t happen with a similar watershed moment. As Peter Sims discusses in his book, Little Bets, success is most often met through a series of little bets that ultimately result in a big payoff. Apple not only innovated in mission but also in their best practices. Their methodologies in production, inventory and branding were a series of little bets that translated into monumental success for the company.
It is easy to spot the innovators in mission. Taglit-Birthright Israel, which helps Jewish teens develop their Jewish identity through a 10-day trip to Israelis just one of a number of organizations – startup and legacy – that are changing the face of the Jewish community. These are the ones that make front-page news.
However, we need more innovation in best practices. We are still relying on broken models of outreach, engagement, fundraising and leadership development. We are raising less money, hemorrhaging our base of donors, and competing in an ever-crowded marketplace.
Now is prime time to take those little bets and pilot solutions to some very real problems we are experiencing. Most importantly, please don’t keep your successes to yourself. We need to see those bright spots and learn from them.