Over the past 10 years, SIE has hosted the nation’s only annual conference exclusively focused on scaling social impact. The conference is now hosted in partnership with Morgan Stanley. The Exchange 2020: Unifying Leadership was held virtually on September 23-24.
In this year of existential issues, we need leaders who can bring us together to achieve true systems change. The Exchange 2020 tackled pressing concerns of racial equity, the global pandemic, and the most severe recession in the United States since the Great Depression. We identified systemic solutions that can emerge from these challenges to create transformational change. Below are video highlights from the 2020 Exchange conference.
SELECT VIDEOS FROM THE EXCHANGE 2020
DAY 1
Welcome
— Alexander Rossides, Founder and President, Social Impact Exchange
— Melanie Schnoll Begun, Managing Director, Head of Philanthropy Management, Morgan Stanley
Plenary: Philanthropy’s Moment of Truth
Moderator: Gara LaMarche, President, The Democracy Alliance
Panelists:
— Jaimie Mayer, Chair, Nathan Cummings Foundation
— Robert Ross, M.D., President and CEO, The California Endowment
— Karl Zinsmeister, Author, journalist, and Editor-in-Chief, Publications, Philanthropy Roundtable
In our opening plenary session, leaders representing different perspectives on philanthropy discuss the role of philanthropy in the face of unprecedented national and global crises and how the sector can best balance emerging needs with longer-term strategy.
Plenary: Equity, Transformation, and Justice – Keynote Conversation
— Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder in Residence, PolicyLink
— Michael McAfee, President and CEO, PolicyLink
There is a heightened sense of urgency right now to address racism and racial inequity and a new sense of hope that real progress is possible. The panelists in this session explore how to harness this energy build societies that address systemic racial inequity.
Plenary: The Future of Capitalism
Moderator: Mandell Crawley, Head of Private Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley
Panelists:
— Beth Ford, President and CEO, Land O’Lakes, Inc.
— Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation
While capitalism has lifted millions out of poverty worldwide, the wealth gap in the United States continues to climb, with stark disparities across the economic spectrum. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effect on issues ranging from employment to health outcomes, particularly in low-income communities—have demonstrated the inequities that exist in our system. Our distinguished panel will reflect on the state of the 21st century economy and offer suggestions for how the corporate and philanthropic sectors can work together to advance a more equitable economic system that advances growth, wealth, and financial resiliency for all.
DAY 2
Opening Plenary: Recovery, Resilience, and Transformation – Keynote
Speaker: Edgar Villanueva, Founder of the Decolonizing Wealth Project
The opening keynote on Day 2, Edgar Villanueva’s remarks draw a clear line between colonization and the “Triple Pandemic” of COVID-19, the economic hardship suffered by people of color, and centuries of white supremacy caused colonization. Edgar urges all of us to decolonize wealth by using “money as medicine”—a tool for healing, rather than reinforcing, the harm done to black and brown people.
Opening Plenary: Recovery, Resilience, and Transformation – Panel
Moderator: Monte Roulier, Co-Founder, Community Commons, and Co-Founder and President, Community Initiatives
Panelists:
— David Erickson, Senior Vice President and Head of Outreach and Education, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
— Carla Javits, President and CEO, REDF
— Fred Brown, President and CEO, The Forbes Funds
— Somava Saha, Founder and Executive Lead, Well-being and Equity in the World
— Tyler Norris, Chief Executive, Well Being Trust
— Kerry Sullivan, President, Bank of America Charitable Foundation
Unifying leadership means building a shared vision of what we want the world to become. How do we move ahead in ways that not only help us recover and heal, but also make us stronger and, most importantly, transform the flawed systems to ensure equity for all?
Lightning Keynote
Speaker: Erika Karp, Founder and CEO, Cornerstone Capital Group
Equitable Education Financing
Moderator: Richard D. Laine, President, DFI Consulting
Panelists:
— Noah Berger, Director, Policy and Reform and Advocacy, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
— Lin Johnson III, Former Deputy Superintendent, Finance and Operations, Shelby County Schools
— Pedro Noguera, Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education
While the responsibilities of our public schools continue to broaden and deepen, education funding mechanisms have remained static, and, many would argue, reinforce the systemic racism that lead to the disparate outcomes for low income children and children of color in the United States. Representing a variety of perspectives, our panelists offer their visions for more equitable education financing in the United States.
Financing Change and Financial Inclusion
Moderator: Katherine Pease, Managing Director and Chief Impact Strategist, Cornerstone Capital Group
Panelists:
— Ben Bynum
— Eleni Delimpaltadaki Janis, Chief Capital Markets Officer, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
— Jake Segal, Vice President of Advisory Services, Social Finance
— Ebony Thomas, Racial Equality and Economic Opportunity Initiative Program Executive, Bank of America
This session explores innovative and promising financing strategies that support systems change efforts over the long haul and at the appropriate levels. Our expert panel discusses how to increase effective capital flow into low income communities and what it takes to build the field infrastructure to do this well and at scale, such as the necessary structural adaptations and firms that are driving different investment models to shift the system.
Working Across the Aisle for Better Outcomes in Education: SCORE (State Collaborative on Reforming Education)
Speaker: David Mansouri, President and CEO, SCORE
SCORE is a bi-partisan policy and advocacy organization committed to improving Tennessee’s education system in service to strong academic and life outcomes for all its students. David Mansouri, President and CEO of SCORE, will provide a case study sharing lessons in putting the principle of unifying leadership into practice by engaging diverse stakeholders, politically and otherwise, to effect meaningful systems change.
From Health to Well-Being: Thriving in a Post-COVID World
Moderator: Barbara Masters, Initiative Director, California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI)
Panelists:
— Kitty Bailey, Executive Director, Be There San Diego
— Sara Cody, Health Officer and Director, County of Santa Clara Health Department
— Bobby Milstein, Director, System Strategy, ReThink Health (a Rippel Initiative)
Our panel of experts offers new paradigms for achieving positive health outcomes in the US that cost less and deliver better results. They challenge us to think more expansively about physical health and to consider what it would look like if we were to shift our focus to emphasize prevention and well-being. They will also share exciting initiatives from around the country that incorporate the social determinants of health that promote prevention and healing through community-based approaches.
Equity for All
Moderator: Marcus Littles, Founder and Senior Partner, Frontline Solutions
Panelists:
— Demetric Duckett, Managing Director, Living Cities
— Gislaine Ngounou, Vice President, Strategy and Programs, Nellie Mae Education Foundation
— Julie Sweetland, Senior Advisor, Frameworks Institute
The call for racial equity has never been louder or more unified in the United States than it is today, yet there remains a lack of understanding of how deeply embedded racial inequity is in our nation. In this session the panelists explore how and why racism is at the root of so many of our systemic inequities and what needs to be done to address it. They also interrogate the notion of “unifying leadership” and consider the concept in the context of dismantling racism in the United Sates.
Plenary: Guaranteed Income and the Transformation of Cities
Moderator: Stacey Gillett, Government Innovation, Bloomberg Philanthropies
Panelists:
— Melvin Carter, Mayor of Saint Paul, MN
— William Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh, PA
— Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland, CA
— Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton, CA
Watch four U.S. mayors discuss guaranteed income as an innovative strategy that they believe can reduce poverty, enable economic mobility, and strengthen local economies. They share why they have adopted this approach as a core lever of larger multi-faceted plans to equitably transform their cities so that all residents have an opportunity to thrive.