Imagine the Possibility of Dramatic Social Change

Austin has always attracted folks who like doing things differently. “Keep Austin Weird” right? But there is a buzz in the air that to me seems to be a slight shift. More than ever folks are ready to shake up the system. Perhaps this energy is born out of pent up impatience with seeing the needle move all too slowly on the social issues that have plagued us far too long. Perhaps it comes out of a sense of opportunity: swift, profound changes, especially in areas like technology, allow us to imagine the possibility for dramatic social innovation as well.This shifting landscape is spurring a heightened sense of urgency around cooperation and the creation of unlikely partners. I’ve personally had conversation after conversation with leaders in the area who want to explore how we can work together to combine efforts toward solving big community challenges. We’re recognizing that our problems are too complex to solve individually and resources can be deployed more effectively when we aren’t competing for them; that we ought to be working to streamline, overlap and build upon each other’s strengths.There are for-profit businesses increasingly incorporating a larger purpose and social mission into their work. We are seeing non-profits incorporate revenue models to supplement their philanthropic sources of funding. Traditional institutional investors are creating funds and evaluating investment opportunities based on social gains not solely financial gains. Philanthropists are acting like investors looking for opportunities for return of capital that can get cycled back into the social sector. None of this means the dissolution of one form or the other. We’d be shortsighted to shut off systems that work for the sake of innovation alone. What we’re witnessing instead is a morphing in traditional boundaries and an expansion of opportunity.At Mission Capital, we’ve been operating with this belief and with this urgency for a while. We help nonprofits merge; we connect business and nonprofit leaders at events, through our Accelerator and more; we work with and provide services for local businesses, philanthropists, funders and government. We’ve been engaged in a county-wide collective impact effort around improving our foster care system. Last year, we partnered with Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services, Travis County, Central Health and United Way for Greater Austin, on a Pay For Success feasibility study. More recently, we’ve begun developing a Data Institute with some area funders who are interested in the strategic gathering and sharing of data to collectively solve community problems. And that is the tip of the iceberg. We’ll continue to make new partnerships and offer opportunities to convene folks and learn with and from one another.Those of us working toward tackling tough social problems are facing an environment in flux. We have the chance to operate from a perspective of abundance rather than scarcity. As a friend, writer and futurist, Sherry Wagner said to me, “The future belongs not to those with the most information, but to those who can see and make the connections.”Jennifer VickersBoard Chair 2016Mission Capital