‘Why should we?’ Creative and ambitious people in charities and social enterprises are repeatedly faced with this question when it comes to implementing innovation, be it from trustees, service users, staff, volunteers, or even the lurking doubts in their own mind. If you have a model that’s working well, why bother overhauling it? If there are major challenges coming up, isn’t it too risky?
As Isabel Newman of innovation specialists Nesta told us at our latest Pilotlight Plus event, innovation needn’t be such a dreaded topic. The misconceptions about innovation – that it’s the domain of techie start-ups in Old Street incubators and involves tearing everything apart to build anew – should not be taken as given, and some of the best innovation is not about revolutions but about tweaks. It can involve new technologies, but it can also just be about new approaches.
We meet with organisations every day which are facing a frightening era of funding cuts and increased competition and who don’t know how to make themselves sufficiently prominent and distinct to command their share of the philanthropic pie. There are others who are looking to expand their reach or their offering but can’t find a way to scale their operations within their means and without compromising quality.
Isabel thinks that this is exactly the reason why more charities should look to innovate, and Nesta identifies a series of seven steps in the innovation process, from identifying opportunities and challenges to changing systems to incorporate successful innovation. At Pilotlight we’ve seen the benefits of innovating countless times, but what’s essential to helping charities develop new ideas?
- A key barrier to innovation is having the time and space to devote to new thoughts or approaches, so find a constructive environment where new ideas can be thrown around and developed to help banish trepidation towards innovation.
- Think through and identify the necessities, opportunities and difficulties surrounding your idea.
- When you are happy with that idea, start turning it into an achievable plan. Research and test it with your team. Remember that you will need buy-in from staff and trustees to get your idea off the ground.
As a charity seeking to increase work and education chances for young adults on the autism spectrum, CareTrade knew there must be a better way of matching their service users with opportunities from employers and training providers. By working with RBS as part of the Pilotlight graduate programme, CareTrade’s chief executive Karen Edwards was able to take advantage of the team’s research into the people they needed to target.
The RBS graduate team also identified gaps in existing provisions and tested the feasibility of new ideas with Karen and her team. The final result was Brighter Spectrum, a web platform that responds to the needs of people with autism, their families and prospective employers. It also allows for the gathering of data to continually improve its operations and ensure its enduring sustainability.
The lesson here is that innovation is not only about light-bulbs; it’s about working to combine the expertise within your organisation with current needs or opportunities. It can be anything from modifying your delivery model in order to stabilise your income sources to creating an app to put your service in the hands of everyone in the country.
Once you have your genius strategy in place, the question ceases to be ‘Why?’ and becomes ‘How?’. We know that charities are often already stretched when it comes to resources, but there are funds and programmes available that specifically support innovation. Nesta lists various opportunities on its website, while organisations such as the Nominet Trust invest specifically in social tech innovations.
Charities and social enterprises have often been inhibited from innovating by traditionalism, uncertainty or simply a shortage of time and headspace. Once these barriers are overcome, it becomes clear that a little open-minded and focused thinking reveals an untapped well of potential to exploit.
