At the 2016 Conference on Scaling Impact, funders, advisors and leaders from across the social sector gathered to share knowledge, learn about innovative co-funding opportunities and develop a community to help scale top initiatives and build the field.
VIDEOS FROM THE EXCHANGE 2016
OPENING PLENARY
WELCOME: Alexander Rossides, President & Co-Founder, Social Impact Exchange
KEYNOTE: The Potential of Collective Action to Drive Large Scale Social Change
Carol Larson, President and CEO, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Under Carol Larson’s leadership, the Packard Foundation has demonstrated the power of collective action in philanthropy by working in collaboration with other funders and bringing together multi-stakeholders across sectors to achieve results. Carol shares what she and her team have learned from their experiences with this approach, including success factors and challenges. She discusses the potential for leveraging broader impact and explains how and why foundations of all types and sizes can have greater impact by working more collaboratively toward common goals. Her comments are followed by audience Q&A.
BREAK-OUT SESSIONS | Achieving Large-Scale Impact
Moderators: Chad Bolick, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley Philanthropy Management and David Medina, COO and Co-Founder, Results for America
Panelists:
- Gordon Berlin, President, MDRC
- Josh McGee, Vice President of Public Accountability, Laura and John Arnold Foundation
- Kimbal Musk, CEO, The Kitchen Community, and Board member, Tesla Motors
- Kevin Trapani, President and CEO, The Redwoods Group
- George Weiss, President, George Weiss Associates
Today’s individual and family donors face a significant challenge: how can they maximize the positive results of their philanthropic giving? Aristotle’s quote still rings true today in a world full of problems: “To give away money is an easy matter and in any man’s power. But to decide to whom to give it and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man’s power nor an easy matter”. In this session, designed specifically for individual and family donors, participants explore two keys to generating broad-based outcomes, scale and impact. Why has it been so difficult in the sector to achieve these twin goals? How do we know when we are having impact? How do we design for impact and scale? In this session participants delve into these and other questions with leading experts and peer small group discussions. A panel of peer philanthropists also share their experiences in creating measurable, high-impact initiatives that are scaling to achieve broad impact. Participants leave the session with new peer relationships, tangible knowledge that can help them in their philanthropy, and opportunities to take action.
LUNCHEON PLENARY | Systems Change and Cross-Sector Leadership Panel Discussion
Moderator: Anna Muoio, Specialist, Monitor Institute / Deloitte Consulting LLP
Panelists:
- Molly Baldwin, Founder and CEO, Roca
- Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund
- Nicholas Donohue, President and CEO, The Nellie Mae Education Foundation
- Rick Reed, Executive Producer-Collaborative Networks, Garfield Foundation
- Kerry Sullivan, President, The Bank of America Charitable Foundation
A fireside chat with Kerry Sullivan, President, The Bank of America Charitable Foundation and Antony Bugg-Levine, CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund, kicks off this luncheon plenary, followed by an expert panel that discusses frameworks for pursuing systems change and the type of cross-sector leadership required to achieve it.
The panel explores what it takes to bring multi-stakeholder networks and communities together to work collectively to alter systems that touch millions of lives. How the corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors can contribute unique assets and align incentives to achieve common outcomes will be discussed with tangible examples. The distinctive “systems leadership” capabilities that can foster this type of broad collaboration that goes beyond any single organization is identified with tangible examples and organizations that are providing this type of leadership.
SCALING IN ACTION PANEL
Facilitator: Paul Connolly, Director, Philanthropic Services, Bessemer Trust
Speakers:
- Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer, Acumen
- Larry Soler, President and CEO, Partnership for a Healthier America
- Terri Sorensen, CEO, Friends of the Children
- Jared Susco, COO, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers
Scaling in Action features presentations from five of the nation’s leading nonprofits, each scaling their efforts to address critical urgent issues. These leaders present their growth plans and answer questions from the audience.
Scaling in Action | Sasha Dichter, Chief Innovation Officer, Acumen
Scaling in Action features presentations from five of the nation’s leading nonprofits, each scaling their efforts to address critical urgent issues. These leaders present their growth plans and answer questions from the audience.
Scaling in Action | Larry Soler, President and CEO, Partnership for a Healthier America
Scaling in Action features presentations from five of the nation’s leading nonprofits, each scaling their efforts to address critical urgent issues. These leaders present their growth plans and answer questions from the audience.
Scaling in Action | Terri Sorensen, CEO, Friends of the Children
Scaling in Action features presentations from five of the nation’s leading nonprofits, each scaling their efforts to address critical urgent issues. These leaders present their growth plans and answer questions from the audience.
Scaling in Action | Jared Susco, COO, Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers
Scaling in Action features presentations from five of the nation’s leading nonprofits, each scaling their efforts to address critical urgent issues. These leaders present their growth plans and answer questions from the audience.
PLENARY | The Power of Photography and Story Telling to Achieve Scaled Impact
Presenter: Platon Antoniou, Founder, The People’s Portfolio
A picture paints a thousand words–how can the social sector leverage the power of the photographic image to scale social impact? The Social Impact Exchange is delighted to welcome internationally acclaimed photographer and human rights activist Platon, who will discuss how portrait photography can advance a global human rights agenda. Platon is an internationally renowned photographer and founder of The People’s Portfolio, a nonprofit that documents efforts around the global dedicated to respecting and upholding human rights and human dignity.
PLENARY KEYNOTE | Deepak Chopra
Keynote: Deepak Chopra, M.D., Author, Physician, and Founder and Chairman of the Chopra Foundation
This keynote focuses on the health and wellness benefits of mind-body practices for children and adults and the process of scaling a movement.
BREAK-OUT SESSIONS | Family Dynamics: Unlocking the Power of Family Philanthropy
Moderator: Melanie Schnoll Begun, Managing Director and Head of Wealth Management’s Philanthropy Management, Morgan Stanley
Panelists:
- Emily Tow Jackson, Executive Director and President, The Tow Foundation
- Glenn Kurlander, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
- Abby Moffat, CEO, The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation
- Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, Executive Director, Phillips Foundation
- Diana Davis Spencer, President and Chair, The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation
In this session for philanthropic individuals and families, the panelists discuss the joy and challenges families face when practicing philanthropy together. Family philanthropy can be accomplished using a variety of structures including a nonprofit or corporate foundation, a family business, private foundation or donor advised fund. Inclusion and exclusion, areas of focus, anonymity or public awareness, succession or cessation, can all play a role and a toll on a family’s philanthropic success. Accomplished philanthropists and experts will share lessons learned and lead peer discussions to uncover insights and steps families can take to create greater engagement and cohesion, scaling and impact in pursuing their philanthropic mission.
PLENARY PANEL SESSION | Collective Impact and the Leadership Required to Make it a Success
Moderator: Fay Hanleybrown, Managing Director, FSG
Panelists:
- Stacy Holland, Executive Director, The Lenfest Foundation
- Renee Kaplan, Chief Strategy Officer, The Skoll Foundation
- Steve Patrick, Executive Director of the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions
- Ken Thompson, Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Collective Impact is an important, approach to achieving large-scale impact, with increasing numbers of supporters. This plenary panel takes a close look at this model of collaboration and considers what we’ve learned thus far—what’s worked and where there’s more work to be done. How much do we know about whether this approach is transforming communities and achieving broad outcomes? What are the lessons that can be applied to communities across the country that are attempting various forms of collective impact? Panelists also discuss hypotheses for how to improve the “collective impact model” and what could help it capture the promise it holds to drive impact. The key ingredient of leadership will be explored throughout the session, including what types of social entrepreneurs are required to enable collective impact implementations to succeed.
KEYNOTE LUNCHEON PLENARY | Scaling Social Impact to Improve the Lives of Women and Girls
Keynote: Abigail Disney, Filmmaker, Philanthropist, President and CEO, Fork Films, President and Co-Founder, Daphne Foundation
There are many lenses through which we can consider the question of scaled impact: a defined geographic region; a particular program or policy; or a specific problem we seek to address. It is always critical, though, that we think about the population that is to benefit. What does scaled impact mean, or how does our understanding of scaled impact change, for example, when we consider the question through the lens of gender? This lunch plenary considers the question of scaled impact for women and girls.
The conversation starts with this keynote presentation from noted feminist, philanthropist, and filmmaker Abigail Disney, who offers her perspective on this issue.
LUNCHEON PLENARY | Scaling Social Impact to Improve the Lives of Women and Girls
Moderator: Soledad O’Brien, Journalist, CEO, Starfish Media Group, Co-Founder, Starfish Foundation, Board Member, RAND Corporation
Panelists:
- Holly Gordon, Co-Founder, Girl Rising
- Margaret Hempel, Director Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice, Ford Foundation
- Danielle Moss Lee, Ed.D, President and CEO, YWCA of the City of New York
- Susan Wefald, Vice President, Programs, Ms. Foundation for Women
There are many lenses through which we can consider the question of scaled impact: a defined geographic region; a particular program or policy; or a specific problem we seek to address. It is always critical, though, that we think about the population that is to benefit. What does scaled impact mean, or how does our understanding of scaled impact change, for example, when we consider the question through the lens of gender? This lunch plenary considers the question of scaled impact for women and girls.
The conversation starts with a keynote presentation from noted feminist, philanthropist, and filmmaker Abigail Disney, who offers her perspective on this issue. This panel, moderated by journalist and philanthropist Soledad O’Brien, responds to Abigail’s remarks from local, national, and global perspectives and add their own point of view.