The World that Changes the World E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 610

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

If there is an X PRIZE for collaborative thought leadership of the social ecosystem, this book would get it.
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis
Chairman and CEO, X PRIZE Foundation

The World that Changes the World is thought leadership at its best—envisioning the future through reflection and analysis of past trends and contemporary challenges.
Senator the Hon. Ursula Stephens
Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector

The multifaceted, multinational, multisectoral insights in this volume offer inspiration, ideas, and opportunity for action and impact.
Dr. Melissa A. Berman
President and CEO, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.

This is a comprehensive primer representing the diversity of perspectives that comprises the evolving global social ecosystem.
Dr. Pamela Hartigan
Director, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, Oxford University

The World that Changes the World puts together the pieces of this puzzle by explaining how these varied actors of the social ecosystem function and interact with each other.
Matthew Bishop
Co-Author, Philanthrocapitalism: How giving can save the world

A valuable one-stop resource for the many players in, and observers of, the social ecosystem.
Doug Miller
Honorary President, European Venture Philanthropy Association

The World that Changes the World should become the pocket guide for changemakers of the world in the same way that The Lonely Planet is for travelers of the world.
Gib Bulloch
Founder and Executive Director, Accenture Development Partnerships

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Abbreviations

Overview

Chapter 0 - Introduction

Endnotes

Chapter 1 - The Social Ecosystem

The Social Ecosystem

Change Enablers

Macro-Trends

Forward the Ecosystem of Change

Endnotes

Beneficiaries

Chapter 2 - Unmet Social Needs

Identifying Unmet Social Needs

Traditional Basic Needs

Higher-Order Needs

“Imagine”

Endnotes

Chapter 3 - Charity Definition

The Definition of Charity

Beyond Charity

Charity in Spirit and Substance

Endnotes

Social Purpose Entities

Chapter 4 - Charities

High-Performing Charities

The Culture of Compassion

Removing Compassion

Toward High-Performance Compassion

Endnotes

Chapter 5 - Social Enterprises

Framing the Social Enterprise Space

Hype and Reality

Making Social Enterprises Work

The Bottom Line

Endnotes

Chapter 6 - Social Entrepreneurship

Origins of the Social Entrepreneur

Recognizing the Social Entrepreneur

Beyond the Social Entrepreneur

Endnotes

Capacity Builders

Chapter 7 - Capacity Builders

The Intermediaries

Increasing the Impact of Capacity Builders

Making Social Impact Mainstream

Endnotes

Chapter 8 - Philanthropy

Philanthropy as Usual

Philanthropy Unusual

Philanthropy Decoded

Philanthropy Futures

Endnotes

Chapter 9 - Venture Philanthropy

Venture Philanthropy Baseline

The Venture Philanthropy Landscape

The Venture Philanthropy Adventure

Venturing into the Future

Endnotes

Community

Chapter 10 - Donor Management

The Funding Potential

What Donors Want

Donor Stewardship

Fundraising Trends

Closing the Gap

Endnotes

Chapter 11 - Volunteerism

Volunteerism Trends

Supply (Volunteers)

Demand (VHOs)

Matching Supply and Demand

Volunteer Raising and Retention Strategies

Raising Volunteers, Raising Communities

Endnotes

Chapter 12 - Corporate Social Responsibility

Clarifying Corporate Citizenship

Ensuring CSR

New Approaches

Moving Forward

Endnotes

Chapter 13 - Media

The Power of the Media

The Roles of the Media

Media Trends and Social Impact

The Turnaround Society

Endnotes

Government

Chapter 14 - Government

Governmental Functions vis-à-vis the Social Sector

Government’s Relationship with the Social Sector

Toward an Affirmative Government

Government for the People?

Endnotes

Chapter 15 - Regulator

Why Regulate?

Who Regulates?

What Functions?

What Activities?

How It Regulates?

Regulatory Challenges

Catching Up

Endnotes

Change Enablers

Chapter 16 - Culture and Leadership

The Nonprofit Leadership Deficit

Leaders for Transformational Change

Leading into Tomorrow

Endnotes

Chapter 17 - Technology

Promising Technology

The Other Side of Technology

Nonprofits: The New Leader in Technology Use?

Endnotes

Chapter 18 - Social Finance

The Social Finance Landscape

Hybrid Social-Business Organizations

Financial Innovations on the Horizon

Capitalizing on the New Markets

Endnotes

Macro-Trends

Chapter 19 - Global Civil Society

The Rise of Global Civil Society

Challenges of Global Civil Society

Groundswell for Change

Real Change

Endnotes

Chapter 20 - Social Innovation

Checking out the Social Innovation Engine

Undertaking the Social Innovation Journey

Accelerating Social Innovation

Social Innovation at Top Speed

Endnotes

Chapter 21 - The Phoenix Economy

The Rise of the Phoenix

Toward a Phoenix Agenda

Riding the Phoenix

Endnotes

About the Contributors

Index

Advance Praise forThe World that Changes the World

The World that Changes the World provides a unique and timely window into the global forces that shape our world—and that we can shape for the better. The multifaceted, multinational, multisectoral insights in this volume offer inspiration, ideas, and opportunity for action and impact.

Dr. Melissa A. BermanPresident and CEO, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.

The philanthrocapitalism movement—in which the winners in our capitalistic society make doing good a core part of their personal and business strategies—now needs to effectively mobilize and impact the nonprofits, social activists, capacity builders, regulators, and broader community. The World that Changes the World puts together the pieces of this puzzle by explaining how these varied actors of the social ecosystem function and interact with each other, and how philanthrocapitalism and other forces of change can bring about a better world.

Matthew BishopCo-Author, Philanthrocapitalism: How giving can save the world

The World that Changes the World is a veritable tour de force of the individuals, organizations, and leading-edge thinking that are driving this convergence across the sectors. It is a compendium of essays that span the broader sustainability spectrum; from post-CSR business approaches through to transformational change within NGOs and capital markets. It is as rich in its diversity of thinking as it is its diversity of authors . . . [It] should become the pocket guide for changemakers of the world in the same way that The Lonely Planet is for travelers of the world.

Gib BullochFounder and Executive Director, Accenture Development Partnerships

The World that Changes the World has put together, for the first time, a holistic and comprehensive map of and insights into the social world. It is a unique effort by 21 authors located across the globe who have managed to put their thoughts in a structure and manner that flows seamlessly from chapter to chapter. If there is an X PRIZE for collaborative thought leadership of the social ecosystem, this book would get it.

Dr. Peter H. DiamandisChairman and CEO, X PRIZE Foundation

This is a comprehensive primer representing the diversity of perspectives that comprises the evolving global social ecosystem. Its most important contribution is the wide net it has cast to draw upon Asian, Australian, British, and American contributors.

Dr. Pamela HartiganDirector, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship,Saïd Business School, Oxford Universityand Co-Founder, Volans Ventures

This is a path-breaking book. It is the first holistic overview of the major forces such as volunteerism, philanthropy, and social enterprises that are transforming our globalized world.

Tommy KohAmbassador-at-large, Singaporeand Chairman, SymAsia Foundation

The World that Changes the World is, itself, a catalyst for change. It presents a landscape of the things that matter most in the nonprofit world as seen through the eyes of the changemakers themselves, who sit not on the periphery but who eat, live, and breathe change in the nonprofit world.

Wherever we are in the social ecosystem, The World that Changes the World has something for us. It nudges us to learn about the other stakeholders in our space. The more we know about them, the more we know how to engage with them, learn from them, and work together with them to have a greater and greater impact over time.

Wendy KoppFounder and CEO, Teach For America

This book is timely. It captivates for its directness with information and for its well-illustrated and uncomplicated charts and maps that make it all so painless to understand the complexity of the changes that are underway.

As we struggle to meet the ever-changing needs of the people that we in the social sector have dedicated our lives to helping, we also need to know what we can do, and connect better with the friends who share the same drive. This book helps us to achieve this task and to see how we are all connected with the same mission. The book helps us to reflect that we are, in the end, the greatest change there is.

Braema MathiaparanamPresident, South East Asia and Pacific Region,International Council of Social Welfare

What a terrific resource!

This book is a priceless cache of information and inspiration for every stakeholder of the social sector. The 21 diverse and well-researched chapters, with analysis and examples written by the changemakers themselves, provide the reader with both the framework to organize their own thoughts and the stimulation to take action.

The World that Changes the World is a must read for social sector practitioners as well as private and public sector leaders who can benefit from the experiences of the social purpose organizations and the insights of their leaders.

Usha MenonExecutive Chairman, Management Centre Asia

What is clear is that there are tremendous opportunities to break the silos between the different actors in order to share knowledge and ideas, identify synergies, and explore new methods.

Imagine my excitement when a big-picture book such as this comes along to explain and break those silos. Now, in one place, we have a valuable one-stop resource for the many players in, and observers of, the social ecosystem: for the philanthropists who would like a quick yet comprehensive understanding of the social space; for the progressive charities who are exploring innovative means of generating and using resources and capital; and for the government authorities who are trying to figure out how they may best spur the sector.

Doug MillerHonorary President, European Venture Philanthropy Associationand Founder, Asia Venture Philanthropy Network

The World that Changes the World is a solid primer for those interested in social change. Cheng and Mohamed bring together a selection of wise thinkers and authors to explore the challenges we face collectively in the social sector—lack of accountability, dependency, and the need for innovation. You will be challenged to turn your ideas into action, which is what the world needs most today.

Jacqueline NovogratzCEO, Acumen Fundand Author, The Blue Sweater

The good news is that today, there are passionate groups of people everywhere looking for and working on solutions to these issues. They are part of what is called the social sector.

The bad news is that the social sector is messy and fragmented . . . In fact, some parts of the social sector are messier than toilets.

It’s great to know that there is now a book that makes sense of all the crap that moves around in this sector. The World that Changes the World has created a framework by which all the disparate, fragmented pieces of the social sector are made understandable and coherent. It gives us more credit than we may deserve, but, nevertheless, the book reinforces the hope and spirit that drives many of us.

Jack SimFounder, World Toilet Organization

Congratulations! The contributors have captured the dynamic environment in which third sector organizations are now operating—that space between the market, government, and communities. The World that Changes the World is thought leadership at its best—envisioning the future through reflection and analysis of past trends and contemporary challenges . . . a volume to be dipped into at each reader’s entry point to the sector.

Senator the Hon. Ursula StephensAustralian Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector

Publisher’s Note:

Several of the endorsement quotes above are abridged from longer commentaries and reviews provided. The full text can be viewed at the book website (www.worldthatchangestheworld.com).

Copyright © 2010 by Lien Centre for Social Innovation. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-0-470-82715-4

Typeset by MPS (A Macmillan Company)

Acknowledgments

It started off as a simple idea: produce a book that takes a holistic look at the global social ecosystem, its issues, and where it is going; but we never quite anticipated the many logistical and creative challenges that were involved. For while the creation of this book did not take a cast of thousands, certainly, a lot more people than we envisaged were involved in this ambitious and worthwhile undertaking.

There are, therefore, many we would like to thank, and we apologize, in advance, to those we may have inadvertently left out along the way.

First, of course, are our co-authors (in order of the chapters): Tan Chi Chiu, Gerard Ee, Jon Huggett, Chris Cusano, Sara Olsen, Thomas Menkhoff, Rob John, Paulette Maehara, Laurence Lien, Stephen Young, Alan Webber, Peter Shergold, Stephen Lloyd, Maximilian Martin, Robert Chew, Jed Emerson, Kumi Naidoo, Geoff Mulgan, and John Elkington.

They did not all come on board the project at the same time. We started with a framework of 18 chapters. We ended with 21 chapters and adjusted the chapter topics and sequences as we went along. We are grateful to the few authors who came on board late in the day but who still worked valiantly to tight deadlines.

We want to thank all the authors for their patience, for putting up with creative differences and multiple turnarounds, and for sharing their wealth of knowledge in an unprecedented collaborative mapping of the social ecosystem.

We and, for that matter, each author, were helped by a group of friends and committed professionals who provided ideas, critiques, research, edits, and even rewrites of portions of the individual chapters. Several of them helped out on multiple chapters. We list them (in alphabetical order) and the chapters they helped with:

• Halimah Chew of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre: Chapter 11 (Volunteerism)

• Lindsay Driscoll of Bates Wells & Braithwaite: Chapter 15 (Regulator)

• Roger Frank formerly of Developing World Markets: Chapter 18 (Social Finance)

• Allen Gunn of Aspiration: Chapter 17 (Technology)

• Lee Poh Wah of the Lien Foundation: Chapter 8 (Philanthropy)

• Gabriel Lim of the Lien Foundation: Chapter 8 (Philanthropy)

• Patsian Low of Serenity Associates: Chapter 5 (Social Enterprises), Chapter 9 (Venture Philanthropy), Chapter 14 (Government), Chapter 18 (Social Finance), and Chapter 19 (Global Civil Society)

• Farheen Mukri of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation (the Lien Centre): Chapter 2 (Unmet Social Needs)

• Michael Nilsen of the Association of Fundraising Professionals: Chapter 10 (Donor Management)

• Suzanne Ooi of WordCraft: Chapter 8 (Philanthropy)

• Bindu Sharma of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Singapore: Chapter 12 (Corporate Social Responsibility)

• Mark Surman of the Mozilla Foundation: Chapter 17 (Technology)

• Tan Tze Hoong of Gnosis Consulting: Chapter 1 (The Social Ecosystem), Chapter 2 (Unmet Social Needs), Chapter 4 (Charities), Chapter 8 (Philanthropy), Chapter 16 (Culture and Leadership), and Chapter 17 (Technology)

• Cheryl Tang of ApVentures: Chapter 2 (Unmet Social Needs), Chapter 3 (Charity Definition), Chapter 8 (Philanthropy), Chapter 10 (Donor Management), and Chapter 11 (Volunteerism)

• Jared Tham of the Lien Centre: Chapter 12 (Corporate Social Responsibility), Chapter 13 (Media), and Chapter 19 (Global Civil Society).

There were pit stops along the way to make sure that the language of our world would make sense in the wider world. For this, we thank our two copyeditors: Daven Wu and Robyn Flemming from whom we learned much about the Chicago Manual of Style Online, serial commas, and many other mysterious rules of English grammar.

We also want to thank Cheryl Tang, Vadivu Govind, and Professor Steven Miller, Dean of School of Information Systems at the Singapore Management University for reviewing all the chapters.

We want to express our deep appreciation to the several individuals who gave generously of their valuable time to review an early version of the book and provided us with their endorsements: Melissa Berman (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors), Matthew Bishop (co-author of Philanthrocapitalism), Gib Bulloch (Accenture Development Partnerships), Peter Diamandis (X PRIZE Foundation), Pamela Hartigan (Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, Oxford University), Tommy Koh (SymAsia Foundation), Wendy Kopp (Teach for America), Braema Mathiaparanam (International Council on Social Welfare), Usha Menon (Management Centre Asia), Doug Miller (European Venture Philanthropy Association), Jacqueline Novogratz (Acumen Fund), Jack Sim (World Toilet Organization), and Ursula Stephens (Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector). We are especially grateful to Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, for his foreword.

There were many who helped oil the wheels of this book’s production. The following provided the much-needed liaison with some of the authors: Kevin Teo and Sam Lakha of Volans Ventures, Sharon Mealy of Greenpeace International, Christine Norgrove of the Centre for Social Impact, and Manish Joshi of the Global Campaign for Climate Action. Two of our colleagues at the Lien Centre, Prema Prasad and Daphne Lim have been at the heart of the administration and coordination of all the parties involved.

The book’s graphics are the work of many creative minds. Daphne Lim of the Lien Centre helped with enhancing several of the diagrams, while Alicia Tan of Hot Fusion created several cover designs for the book. The book’s website (www.worldthatchangestheworld.com) was developed by Kok Tien Nee, Jamie Kok, Troy Toon, and Wong Meng Fei of Thinkingcouch Interactive, with support from Jared Tham of the Lien Centre and Royston Loo and Choo MengYong of the Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Integrated Information Technological Services team. The graphics for the individual chapters were developed by Jamie Tan and his team at Revid.

We are particularly grateful to John Wiley & Sons for undertaking to publish this book. The people we worked with are testimony to the quality of a premier book publisher: Joel Balbin, Cindy Chu, CJ Hwu, Cynthia Mak, Nick Melchior, and Janis Soo.

We have had much support from various departments of SMU in producing this book. We are especially thankful to Jonathan Chen, legal manager, for his patience and resilience in helping us navigate the multiple and complex contractual arrangements for a project with 21 authors. We also want to thank Professor Howard Hunter, president of SMU, for his overall support of this venture.

Finally, this book would not have come about if not for the support of the Board of the Lien Centre. Several of the board members (Robert Chew, Gerard Ee, Laurence Lien, Thomas Menkhoff, and Tan Chi Chiu) contributed chapters to the book, but all of them—including David Chan, Cecilia Chua, Lee Poh Wah, Steven Miller, Zaqy Mohamed, and Yeoh Chee Yan—have been with us from the beginning, providing us with counsel and encouragement.

And if the analogy is not already clear, you could say that, true to the spirit of a thriving ecosystem, this book has been made possible through the critical and varied contributions of many players, all working toward a common vision of a better social landscape and future.

Willie Cheng and Sharifah Mohamed

The Editors

Foreword

Many people sense that society’s problems are multiplying faster and faster—and that they are outrunning the solutions.

The answer lies in the hands of two groups of people.

The first group consists of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs can only be satisfied in life if they have changed one of society’s major systems significantly and for the good of all. They intuitively know they would never be satisfied with anything less. (By contrast, most artists and scholars come to rest when they express an idea; professionals when they solve a client’s problem; and managers when they make their organizations work well.)

As a result, social entrepreneurs are not distracted by local successes that could easily be achieved because of local personalities and circumstances, or by solving a symptom or a part of the problem.

They relentlessly focus in on the root causes of issues. They have to find and develop and refine and drive home groundbreaking approaches. They have to transform the patterns and systems of their field, be it human rights or health, in such game-changing ways that the problem dies.

The faster society changes, the more often and more extensively its systems must be reformed—and the more essential social entrepreneurs become. Not only because they are entrepreneurs, but because their north star is to change the world’s systems for the good of all of us.

Democratic governments uniquely represent everyone (no one elected either Steve Jobs or Muhammad Yunus), but governments, typically structured as bureaucratic monopolies, desperately need social entrepreneurs to imagine and develop the future.

The second group the world needs is changemakers. As the rate of change continues to accelerate exponentially, every part of society—every company, religious house, school, citizen group, city, family, country—must constantly and in many ways also be adjusting. That will not be possible unless the people in that group spot, engage with, and contribute value to all the change around them.

That is why Ashoka’s goal is an “everyone a changemaker” world.

The world that is upon us can only work if everyone functions in society like a smart white blood cell would in the body. Those who are not changemakers do not want to see problems because if they did, all that would happen is that they would feel badly about themselves.

Changemakers, quite to the contrary, are delighted to spot problems—because a problem is an opportunity to help others, be powerful, and exercise and strengthen their changemaking skills.

Both groups need one another. Indeed, social entrepreneurs typically spread their innovations by enticing people in one locality after another to adopt and champion them, i.e., by mass recruiting changemakers. These changemakers, in turn, are role models for their neighbors and also recruit them. Some of these changemakers, in turn, will become future entrepreneurs.

These two groups are both accelerating change and essential to staying ahead of it.

Willie Cheng is very much a part of this extraordinary, magical world.

He brings to it the rigor of his years as a partner in Accenture, where he headed the firm’s Singapore office and led its communications and high-tech practice. Over the last seven years he has, while remaining a leader in business, thrown himself actively into many dimensions of the citizen sector. He has charmed us, challenged us, and helped us think and act more clearly. He has also learned who among us is especially thoughtful.

This book benefits from all this.

Willie and his colleague, Sharifah Mohamed, have attracted an extraordinary group of contributors, and they have enabled them to think together and produce true insights into our field at this historic inflection point.

This accomplishment mirrors one of the field’s greatest—if often little understood—strengths: We work together within and between organizations, people, and movements with increasing skill and ease.

How did the world get the International Criminal Court a few years ago? Certainly not because the nation-states welcomed it: They had blocked it since the 1940s, no doubt because it is the first break in their monopoly of sovereignty. This profoundly historic breakthrough came because 2,000 citizen groups across the world worked together and made it happen.

This book understands the forces at play—the challenges of a world accelerating toward a future defined by change, and the equally rapid emergence of social entrepreneurship and changemaking.

All of us, and all of those about whom we care, must give ourselves permission to be entrepreneurs and changemakers. And we must develop the skills to do so. This book will help.

Bill Drayton

Founder & CEO, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

August 1, 2010

Abbreviations

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used in this book.

CEOChief Executive OfficerCSOCivil Society OrganizationCSRCorporate Social ResponsibilityGDPGross Domestic ProductNGONongovernment organizationNPONonprofit organizationUKUnited KingdomUNUnited NationsUSUnited States

All abbreviations, including the above (but with the exceptions of UK, UN, and US), are usually introduced with the full term the first time they appear in a chapter.

Currencies

All amounts are usually stated in US$. Where another currency is used, the US$ equivalent at exchange rates prevailing in mid-2010 is provided.

Overview

Chapter 0

Introduction

Navigating the Social Ecosystem

WILLIE CHENG AND SHARIFAH MOHAMED The Editors

There are over three million social purpose organizations around the world, employing more than 48 million people, with a limited budget of US$1.9 trillion annually.1 It is a growing, but hugely fragmented, complex, and often confusing sector—with very diverse, at times divisive players—that is largely oriented toward the mission of changing society for the better, though not always in the ways of working with each other to achieve this goal.

What makes this world and its players tick? How are they likely to tick differently in the future? What would change the way they tick?

This book seeks to answer these questions.

A key reason for writing this book is that we have not found another that frames and describes the issues and trends of the social sector and its component parts in a holistic and complete manner. Of course, we realized that we, at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation,2 are vastly inadequate to address these issues ourselves. This is why we have brought together a distinguished group of thinkers, leaders, and experts in the various aspects of the social space to contribute to this undertaking.

As is evident from the book’s subtitle, we have used the paradigm of an ecosystem to frame the social world. In our view, a dynamic, interdependent, and sustaining ecosystem of living organisms provides the perfect model with which to analyze this ever-changing world. We have asked each author to provide his or her perspective on the status of a particular facet within the social ecosystem, and to highlight the issues, trends, and future scenarios that affect that facet. Figure 0.1 provides a skeleton of the social ecosystem framework and shows how the individual chapters map onto it.

Figure 0.1 Book Map

Chapter 1 describes the social ecosystem framework while highlighting key issues and trends. This is followed by 14 chapters that detail the specific core players of the ecosystem (the Beneficiaries, Social Purpose Entities, and Capacity Builders) and the supporting roles played by the Community, Media, Government, and Regulator.

The next three chapters of the book examine the enablers of change in the ecosystem—namely Culture and Leadership, Technology, and Finance. Finally, the last three chapters explore the macro-trends of growth (Global Civil Society), social innovation (Social Innovation), and fusion of the sectors (The Phoenix Economy).

A consistent theme that emerges from these thought-provoking essays is the acute sense of change and vibrancy that infuses the social sector. This feeling of urgency has been with us throughout the gestation of this book—even as we began scouring the social smorgasbord to find kindred souls who were willing to share their passion, ideas, and thinking.

For all of us at the Lien Centre, producing this ambitious book has been a fulfilling, humbling, and exhilarating ride. We hope you will find the journey through the social ecosystem to be an equally enjoyable and invaluable experience.

Endnotes

1 The figures provided in this paragraph are drawn from several sources. A fuller discussion of these numbers and their data sources can be found in the subsection on “Global Civil Society” and endnotes 42 and 43 in Chapter 1,“The Social Ecosystem: Transitions within the ecosystem of change,” by Willie Cheng.

2 The Lien Centre for Social Innovation is a partnership of the Lien Foundation and Singapore Management University. Its mission is to inspire ideas and innovations, foster new alliances, and facilitate solutions to strengthen the nonprofit sector. See www.lcsi.smu.edu.sg.

Chapter 1

The Social Ecosystem

Transitions within theEcosystem of Change

WILLIE CHENG Chairman, Lien Centre for Social Innovation

The ecosystem paradigm provides a framework for understanding and influencing the forces of change facing the nonprofit sector.

At the core of the social ecosystem are the social purpose organizations and individuals who are helping their beneficiaries, and the capacity builders who seek to help the helpers. Around them are the individuals and corporations in the community, the media, and the government (including its role as regulator) who collectively provide the resources, support, and scrutiny to ensure that the core players function as intended.

Four key enablers of change—culture, leadership, technology, and finance—have resulted in three broad macro-trends in the social sector: the rise of global civil society and its attendant issues; the acceleration of social change through innovation; and the fusion of ideas, models, and practices of the social and enterprise sectors.

We live in an age of transition.

The big transition, which has been playing out for decades, has been the move to a global knowledge economy. Momentous events have rippled alongside this shift: the fall of communism, the rise of capitalism, and the growth of civil society. In turn, smaller transitions such as changes in a currency’s value and society’s values may be felt more immediately in our daily lives. Yet, in many ways, all these smaller waves of change are really part of the larger ones.

To place these transitions in context, it is useful to have a framework to anchor ourselves, to be able to understand the forces of change, and to determine how we can respond to them.

One such useful framework is derived from biology. Framed by the study of living organisms, the term “ecosystem” describes a self-sustaining community of interdependent organisms interacting with one another in their local environment. The beauty of the ecosystem paradigm is the way it applies systems thinking to a complex environment.

For our purposes, an ecosystem is defined as a system whose members benefit from one another’s participation via symbiotic relationships. And just as systems can comprise subsystems, an ecosystem can comprise sub-ecosystems that interact with, and benefit, each other. Thus, the ecosystem of a country is composed of three interdependent sub-ecosystems: the enterprise ecosystem (the private sector), the state ecosystem (the public sector), and the social ecosystem (the people sector).