In Chicago, foundations, donors and individuals are coming together to benefit the city they love. Benefit Chicago is the latest example of extreme collaboration in which good people come together to not just meet, but to get something done. They aim to put $100 million to work in the community to fill the unmet need for financial capital in the social sector.
What happens when foundations and others collaborate?
Minnesota is proof that collaboration between local organizations and foundations can generate groundbreaking change. Our own Central Corridor Funders Collaborative has been incredibly successful in using the creation of the Green Line light rail to drive neighborhood development. The Northside Funders Group leverages its collaborators’ diverse perspectives and depth of knowledge in order to maximize their social impact in North Minneapolis.
In Chicago, the visionaries who run the MacArthur Foundation, Chicago Community Trust and Calvert Foundation came together over years of planning to create a unique partnership allowing individuals and institutions to give back to their own community through as little as a $20 investment.
The positive side of Minnesota Nice is we already know how to work together. Congrats to our friends in the windy city. Tweet or email me with your ideas for what can work here!
The tide is turning: more people are thinking about their moral, social and environmental values when they shop, play, and invest. Impact investing is going mainstream with more robust and consistent impact measurement and monitoring happening every day. The blowback on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) makes true impact investing (which requires impact measurement) all the more relevant. Will changing how people view money change the world? Well, it isn’t a panacea for all that afflicts us but as they say, “follow the money”. Investors have power. Use yours wisely.
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