Most organizations are learning that they cannot succeed on their own. They operate in social, political, economic, and natural environments that determine their long-term viability. We believe that organizations must collaborate to ensure not only their own effectiveness, but also the sustainability of the world that supports them. In particular, combining business discipline with social values enables organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to realize benefits that no individual organization or sector can achieve alone. Our social change work focuses on:

Developing Corporate Social Responsibility

We work with companies first to develop the business case for partnering with nonprofit and government organizations. This might include widening the funnel for innovative product and service ideas, reducing costs, opening up access to new suppliers and markets, improving brand image, and increasing support to operate in particular communities and countries. We then help you identify specific partnerships that will benefit your company, engage the full range of line and functional managers required to take advantage of the business benefits, develop the skills to collaborate effectively, and build new partnerships.

Building Social Entrepreneurship

In order to solidify their resource base and simultaneously expand their impact, many nonprofit organizations are seeking to develop earned income as a new source of revenue. This requires nonprofit managers to master an array of unfamiliar business skills and create an organizational culture that embraces the challenges of focusing on a double bottom line. In collaboration with the Institute for Social Entrepreneurs, we help managers develop the personal, leadership, and organizational capabilities to meet these challenges.

Facilitating Civic Engagement and Cross-Sectoral Meetings

Private, public, and social sector organizations have different objectives, strengths, administrative frameworks, languages, and limitations. In partnership with The Institute for Strategic Clarity, we facilitate meetings that enable communities and organizations from each sector to meet their own objectives and capitalize on their strengths while effectively engaging the resources and capabilities offered by others.

Applying Systems Thinking to Conflict Resolution

Systems thinking is a powerful approach for helping people to understand the root causes of complex, chronic conflicts. It can also motivate adversaries to take responsibility for their own contributions to a conflict and target high leverage solutions they can implement without waiting for others to change. This work originated from a systems analysis we developed of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a workshop we designed that illuminates the often non-obvious ways in which all parties to this conflict are interconnected. We now partner with experts in the field of conflict resolution to bring systems thinking tools to this essential field.