social change | This is Parents as Teachers

Do you believe in performance-based pay? That’s the premise behind social impact bonds (or SIBs): rather than mandating the delivery mechanism for change, a government agency specifies the social outcomes (aka results) it wants, then funds a nonprofit that meets them.

Jeffrey Liebman, professor of Public Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, suggested this innovative financing model, already in use in the U.K., as a way to accelerate social change. What kinds of social change?

Increased kindergarten readiness
Higher college completion rates
Fewer criminal offenses and incarceration rates
Higher the future earnings of laid-off workers
Fewer hospital readmissions among patients with chronic illness

Could it work here?

One of the pleasures of social media is getting to know new people you would not otherwise connect with. But it’s particularly nice to meet them in person. So when Hildy Gottlieb of Creating the Future came to St. Louis in November to speak to the Parents as Teachers family, we finally met face-to-face.

Wow! I was so impressed by her deep understanding of the nonprofit world and struck by her insight: the reason dramatic social change fails to happen is because people working in this sector don’t know the basics of how to do that work effectively. When they do have those tools, the change happens almost effortlessly.

Suzanne Tucker and Ria Sharon (aka ZenMommy and PracticalMommy at MyMommyManual) are two more social media connections who’ve become “real” to me since meeting face-to-face.

They’re offering nonprofits like Parents as Teachers programs tools to work more effectively via social media. “For nonprofits and business owners, the power of Facebook offers an opportunity to change the world…to find and engage supporters and customers, conduct ‘friendraising’ campaigns, and spread awareness.”

Do you have the right tools to effect the social change you want?
If not, what will you do differently this year?