Today we issued a challenge to change agents across the social sector.
The fall 2013 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review – released today – includes an article we co-authored with leaders from two clients and close allies of Community Wealth Partners: KaBOOM! and Share Our Strength. The article describes the obligation and opportunity both organizations found in reflecting on their results and confronting the tough question, “What does success look like?”
Both organizations have transitioned towards bold commitments to address social problems at the magnitude they exist. Highlighting insights from our in-depth research on other transformational efforts and our work with both KaBOOM! and Share Our Strength, the article pulls back the curtain to show the difficulty and complexity of this transition.
In this article, we challenge change agents to shift their attention from modest goals that provide short-term relief to bold goals that, while harder to achieve, aim to realize significant, lasting impact at the population-level. To support those who embrace this challenge, we’ve also put together two supplemental resources:
1. Where to Start: Setting a Bold Goal
A field guide for setting your bold goal—the first step in pushing beyond incremental progress toward transformational change.
2. Social Transformation Lifecycle
A tool to help you ask the powerful questions necessary for gauging and advancing your progress toward transformational change.
We would love to hear your thoughts, critiques and questions about both the article and the resources. Please post your thoughts in the comments, connect with us via email, or Twitter (@WeDreamForward). I hope you will share the article and the above resources with anyone with whom you think they might resonate.
Dream Forward.
See our case studies for more information on work with Share Our Strength and KaBOOM!.