Social Impact Exchange

THE PROGRESS WE NEED Communities across America are struggling to overcome pressing social problems. Fortunately, there are leaders who are pioneering new and effective ways to solve these problems by: Launching initiatives that improve the health and well-being of vulnerable children and families. Reforming school systems in poor neighborhoods that make college a possibility for every one of their students. Creating programs and policies that provide job skills and opportunities for people who are the most difficult to employ. These individual successes show us that positive change is possible, but they are not yet having the kind of broad impact we all know is necessary. If we — as foundations and philanthropists — are committed to solving major social problems, we must strive together to make a bigger difference. WHEN WE FIND SOLUTIONS THAT WORK, WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BRING THEM TO SCALE SO THEY REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. Doing everything we can implies that we all work together. Traditionally, there has been no easy way for funders, researchers and practitioners to combine their knowledge and resources to tackle the biggest problems and advance the most effective interventions. That is where Social Impact Exchange comes in. SOCIAL IMPACT EXCHANGE The Social Impact Exchange creates the conditions for breakthroughs to go big in order to deliver impact where it is needed most. Together, our members are building a marketplace to scale-up solutions to significant social problems. We make it easier for philanthropic giving to achieve major positive change by supporting strategies that improve lives and change systems. Specifically, we: FIND nonprofit initiatives that consistently get great results and are ready to grow their impact. CONNECT funders with trusted solutions to the problems they care about. ENABLE foundations to create systems change locally and nationally. FOSTER collaboration among funders, business and government that increases the power of giving and achieves greater social good. VISION Our ultimate goal is to create a marketplace that efficiently delivers capital to the most effective nonprofits so they can spread their impact in cities and states across the country. Such a marketplace has the potential to direct billions of dollars each year to hundreds of high-impact nonprofits that will improve the lives of millions of people. DON’T LET GOOD SOLUTIONS GO TO WASTE With so many families and communities falling further behind each day, we cannot afford to miss opportunities to make things better. When scientists discover a new vaccine that can prevent a serious illness, they do all they can to get it to the people whose lives it can save. In philanthropy, our fundamental charge is the same. Don’t let good solutions go to waste. Become part of Social Impact Exchange today. Together, we can build a marketplace that delivers exponentially more good to more people in need. Get Involved! WHAT WE MEAN BY ‘SCALE’ Bringing solutions to scale is about making meaningful and sustainable impact – about finding what works and getting it out to the people and places that could benefit the most. The term ‘scale’ has a number of definitions, connotations and applications. We prefer to think of it as broadly as possible, since our overarching goal is to scale impact. Though people typically talk about scaling as growing or replicating programs or even entire organizations (e.g., reproducing a model in different locations or within different organizations), scaling also takes other forms and encompasses strategies that generate impact through products and technology platforms, practice dissemination, advocacy and public policy, and systems change. Throughout this site the terms "growth," "scale," "replication," "expansion," "dissemination," and "spread" are all used to describe increased activity in pursuit of increasing impact.