The original post appeared here on the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
by: Nicole Wallace
“There aren’t organizations that are naturally innovative. It’s a learned behavior.”
Richard Evans, President, EmcArts
Grappling with what it means to be innovative in the nonprofit world is tough. But given the daunting issues charities tackle, there’s no choice but to try.
With this blog, we plan to dive in and take an expansive view of innovation. We’ll report on nonprofit groups that are taking bold, new approaches to solving social problems and look at organizations that have found better ways to run their operations.
The blog will explore what charities can learn from other disciplines, such as business, design, and the social sciences. We’ll highlight new forms of financing and what they mean for nonprofits, as well as the management issues leaders face as they try to encourage their employees’ creativity.
It’s going to be an exciting ride. And if you share your innovation stories, the challenges you’re confronting, and the ideas you want to learn more about, it’ll be even better.
To get started, take a look at what some of your nonprofit colleagues have to say about innovation. If you have something to say add to the dialogue in our comments section or here at Chronicle of Philanthropy.
“Nonprofits often look at innovation as if it were something that was frightening and alien, and as a result many of them live in a self-imposed ghetto of not-very-innovative practices.”
Andrew Zolli, Executive Director, PopTech
“Innovation is about renewal. A lot of what progress we make is nothing more than putting some old ingredients with some new ingredients into a new mix.”
Peter York, Director of Research, TCC Group, VP Of Ser
“True innovation is rare. Oftentimes what is mistaken for innovation are just modifications of existing systems or structures.”
Ben Hecht, Chief Executive, Living Cities
“There is a danger in seeing innovation as inpsiration of one person sitting in a dark room with a wtowel on their head thinking about the next great idea. great innovation is a culmination of a lot of thought and the synthesis of diverse opinion.”
Gerald Chertavian, Chief Executive, Year Up
There’s always debate: Is anything that’s incremental really innovative?”
Laura Weiss, VP of Service Innovation, Taproot Foundation
“Innovation also asks the question: Can you make this happen? It’s a lot easier to talk about cool, interesting things than to actually do them.”
Anne Marie Burgoyne, Portfolio Director, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
“Innovation’s something everyone is striving for, but nobody actually knows what it is.”
Darell Hammond, Chief Executive, KaBoom
