Over the last few days more than 650 people have descended on a hotel in Cleveland to talk about issues facing the “social sector”. Researchers and practitioners from all over the world have come together to share their ideas on a wide range of subjects such as how to help organizations achieve their social goals in times of economic crisis. With governments all over the world looking to the social sector to find solutions to the complex social problems they face, while at the same time dealing with significant financial uncertainties, there couldn’t be a better time to meet.
The conference is organized around a number of “tracks” – areas of study and practice – such as Philanthropy and Foundations. The “track” most closely linked to social innovation covers a wide range of topics. Papers have been presented on initiating and diffusing new ideas to social problems and exploring the most effective ways to organize social innovation. There are lots of options. Social innovators seem to be agnostic about what organizational type is best and, while the default choice is still the nonprofit form, this may be changing. Social change can be organized through businesses and through government agencies. One particular area of interest at this conference has been exploring “hybrid organizations” – such as social enterprises - that seem to combine elements of for-profit and non-profit organizations. No one really knows yet what the advantages or disadvantages of these organizations might be in practice – but they could become the dominant organizational type in coming years.
The variety and diversity of the papers presented reflects the fact that participants are from all types of organizations (eg nonprofits, Foundations, social enterprises, consultancies, Think Tanks) and academic departments (eg public policy, business, sociology). For a full list of the papers presented access the PDF file. And yet perhaps the biggest take-away for those of us interested in social innovation is the conference itself. It is a unique forum that connects diverse interests and its inclusive and welcoming atmosphere makes for lively and generative conversations that help develop collaborative networks that outlast the 3 days.
If you are at all interested in social change and how it might be organized then you should consider coming next year!
