A title of good beginnings and happy endings can only lead to one opportunity -positive disruption!
The story of positive disruption leads to a new platform which I refer to as Social Connect. In this Blog I hope to promote the concept of the ‘For Social Purpose’ sector through the lens of the Social Connect Platform.
20th May 2015 will continue to be a special date as it represents the ‘For Social Purpose’ and Social Connect Platform in action. Over the coming months I plan to capture the key principles that are unique to Good Beginnings and Save The Children Australia as we move together to achieve the formula of 1+1=3.
This recent example of Social Connect and ‘For Social Purpose’ provides an illustration of how acquisition and merger processes within the Not For Profit sector can be achieved in unison.
The key driver of the Social Connect Platform is to achieve a common bold goal, which enables both organisations to have a greater impact through action and demonstration. It represents a shift from being another organization in the Not For Profit sector to being a leader in the ‘For Social Purpose’ movement. This theoretical concept is being influenced by my PhD studies, which is exploring how top down policy implementation influences decision-making at the local level.
My PhD study has identified three principles that are further explored within this blog:
1.Financial
2. Interpersonal
3. Political
These three principles underpin the Social Connect Platform and over the next coming months I shall be sharing these findings in tandem with the learnings from the roll out of Good Beginnings as it becomes part of Save The Children Australia.
Having committed to a regular Blog as part of my 2015 new year resolutions and being at the mid-year point I must admit to being seriously distracted by the Social Connect Platform developments! The topic of this blog ‘Good Beginnings and Happy Endings’ is the very reason my attention has been elsewhere and it provides an important step into the positive disruption experience for the Not For Profit sector– one that I am most keen to share!
The well renown tension of top down control and bottom up flexibility continues to be a challenge across all that have a touch point within the Not For Profit sector. This tension in Australia results in there being over 600,000 Not For Profits which equates to there being approximately 36 charities for every Australian and a challenge for any funders as to how best to invest their earnings.
Our failure in the sector is that we feed this top down and bottom up tension and it becomes intensified through competing with each other and treating moral obligations as if they are products to be merchandised. This cannot go on and the demonstration models of how a change could look are something which Good Beginnings Australia and our partner Save The Children Australia are endeavouring to combat through the Social Connect platform.
The challenges are broad and quite often it is the very people supporting the moral obligations that have the biggest challenges to shift through – like from being ego driven to purpose driven. Legend and history have also shown that to keep doing the same thing and to expect something different is the definition of insanity!
Good Beginnings Australia as part of Save The Children Australia presents as the happy ending and together we are planning to not travel down the insanity pathway but step into a brave new world and be the leading light for the For Social Purpose models of the future.
We say let’s Social Connect – let’s make 1+1=3!
JMT
