Investor Pitch Thoughts

Having had a chance to go through the investor pitch last week, I feel obliged to share my feelings on how one’s initial criticism toward an organization can be so effectively defeated by the ability of its representative to be capable of defending itself, while organizations that are well prepared for presenting yet do not offer the expertise to answer criticism, or are even offered criticism, frequently appear lackluster and disappointing.

It should come as no surprise that our group, when asked to consider Girl Guides USA, was nonplussed by the wide range of similarities the group seemed to have to the ages old and familiar Girl Scouts, including the very fact that they both shared funding in some respects. However, our criticism and skepticism proved valuable insofar as we never reached the point of completely dismissing the organization in our minds. Thus, when the presenter was asked to defend her organization in regards to the heavy criticisms we had been able to find, she was able to answer very harsh questions and prove her organization’s ideals to be resilient both in the face of close competition and investor criticism. We were, to say the least, impressed with her answers and all commended her for being so involved with her organizations goals.

Yet in another presentation that was not aimed to our group, I felt the a negative experience emanating. The presentation was given in a very wooden manner with well prepared, but static, responses that did not convey a feeling of actual belief on the part of the presenter. The questions asked were detailed, but not critical, and the answers given on the part of the presenter were accordingly free to just regurgitate more statistics and promises. I would have appreciated both harsher questioning on the part of my fellow directors, and an increased degree of personal input on the part of the presenter. The negative combination we saw in this incident had me imagining that we could have replaced the speaker with a computer with voice recognition software to read off parts of the website to the directors when questioned.

I feel that these investor pitch events are ideal situations in which we can put good potential projects on the defensive through our heated questions. When we demand answers to real criticism that is inherent in any organizational structure, we get farther as an organization and come to trust the people who are selling the idea to us more.

Youth Investing in Youth

Wrapping up the very inspiring investor pitch session, Natalia Oberti Noguera of NYWSE asked those present to stand up if they ever had an idea. Everybody in the room instantly got up. When asked if they also had the resources to materialize it, all but one sat down. She then explained that it was this immense disconnection between vision and action that prompted the creation of the Fast Forward Fund.

All the initiatives that were presented last week clearly reflected the passion, energy and consideration that their architects had already invested in them. Taken as a whole, they were diverse, and separately, all ideas were original and well-suited. Somebody had a plan to improve health primary health care in Mali, and somebody else was helping underprivileged Indian women to achieve higher education. What’s more, all entrepreneurs were young! Not only did they display confidence and ability, but also great potential for future growth. Before, the general mindset was to timidly wait for those more experienced to come up with solutions. Now, if you have an idea, you have the responsibility to take action yourself!

As a student director for the poverty alleviation portfolio I was very excited for the two projects we are considering, Illume and Early Earners. The pitch session provided us the opportunity not only to clarify some aspects of the proposals, but also to meet the people behind the ideas. Talking to the entrepreneurs gave me a better understanding of how the experience is for them as well, and I trust that we are now better equipped to evaluate the challenges and strengths of our investment choices.

Investing is Action!

This week, FFF Student Directors are visiting The Action Center in lower Manhattan. Two years ago, I was working with Mercy Corps when The Action Center was in development....fast forward two springs later and it's up and running, led by a colleague I greatly admire, Robert Sherman. Robert joins an impressive roster of guest speakers (largely drawn from FFF talented Board!) enriching this semester's training through BGIA's Global Social Entrepreneurship & Strategic Philanthropy class. Very cool to build on our site visits to Echoing Green, Acumen Fund, and our guest speakers including Michele Kahane (Clinton Global Initiative), Natalia Oberti Noguera (NY Young Women Social Entrepreneurs)...

Fast Forward Fund Investor Pitch with a Punch!

Fast Forward Fund held its first Youth-to-Youth Investor Pitch session last week at Bard Globalization & International Affairs program, featuring 7 awesome social entrepreneurs nominated by two of FFF's Premiere Pipeline Partners: Global Engagement Summit and New York Women Social Entrepreneurs. Thirteen FFF Portfolio Student Directors from half a dozen countries probed their peers inquiring about specific tactics (market strategy, growth management plan, service delivery) and personal leadership vision. The diverse social ventures ranged from the Mali Health Organizing Project, catalyzing healthcare solutions in Mali slums (pitched by Mobido Niang & Caitlin Cohen), to Out Against Abuse, an interactive online resource to stop domestic violence in South Asian immigrant communities in the US (pitched by Sabrin Chowdhury). Amazing to see these savvy youth investors in action, and hear from visionary youth leading social investment opportunities across FFF 4 Portfolios: Climate Change & Energy, Poverty Alleviation, Human Rights & Peace, and Health.

See the Change You Want to Be

Be the Change author Lisa Endlich gives great examples of effective social investors in her book's profiles of successful philanthropists. The book really drives home how there are so many ways to make a difference through giving. Not surprisingly, Endlich's book begins with the famous Ghandi quote: "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." Building on Ghandi's wise words, I offer that you must also "see the change you wish to be in the world." Before we can act on vision, we must have a vision. While we often turn to visionary leaders, teachers, writers and artists to guide us, we also can and must awaken the visionary within each of us. What is your vision of giving? A social investor has vision to direct philanthropy meaningfully and optimally. We all have that potential. To honor those remarkable givers who inspire us, send us your favorite quotes about giving, philanthropy, social investment. Why or how does this quote speak to you? What might you add in your own words?

At FFF's launch, forecast ahead to its 10th anniversary!

Amidst celebrities, global social entrepreneurs and world leaders, I couldn't help but think that the participants' Commitments to Action were the real stars at last weekend's Clinton Global Initiative University meeting in Austin, TX. This is where real change happens: the intersection of inspiring vision and hard work. Over a 1000 students, 100 university Presidents, and nearly as many social leaders gathered together to make their commitments of action for global change in: poverty alleviation, climate change & energy, health, human rights & peace, and education. As we launched the Fast Forward Fund, announced by former President Clinton at the CGIU 2009 Press Conference, I felt humbled and inspired to help drive a new path on the global social agenda: youth investment activism.

Through FFF, social investment--how we give and direct philanthropic capital, is a new form of activism, and becomes a means of global civic engagement. To pursue youth social investment as action, we need a better handle on how we give today and how we can imagine giving in the future. So, take a moment of reflection and let us know: what is your current thinking about social giving? What are your associations with and assumptions about strategic philanthropy? What is your experience if any as a social investor? How do you see young adults and college students as philanthropists? Look around and tell us what you see as the most creative, innovative trends in youth giving. And stretch your imagination: if you could forecast youth social investment 10 years into the future, what would it look like? Paint a picture of the Fast Forward Fund on its 10th Anniversary.

Launching FFF at CGIU with a push and a pull

Over President’s Day weekend, the Fast Forward Fund will be launched at the Clinton Global Initiative University, amidst a gathering of those people who most inspire FFF: young adults making bold “Commitments to Action” that tackle the greatest global challenges we face today. While CGIU promises to catalyze a new generation of social entrepreneurs, FFF promises to create a new generation of social investors directing philanthropic capital and partnership to youth-led social innovation. Arriving on the heels of the awesome TED conference and just weeks into the new Obama Administration, the 2nd annual CGIU heralds a historic moment of global social change, imperative, and opportunity. While times like these compel us to look at our leaders for inspiration, CGIU & the FFF remind us that we must also look at each other, and at ourselves.

Who inspires you? When we think about who inspires social change, great names come to mind: historic leaders and heroes, philosophers and visionaries, activists and martyrs, writers and artists. But when you consider who really shapes your personal approach to making a difference in the world, very often it’s someone far closer to home: a working mom or step-father, a 2nd grade teacher, a wise co-worker, a childhood friend, your first love. Someone who’s life has personally touched yours.

An old family friend and mentor of mine, Don Gould, “Uncle Donny” to me, was a huge figure in my young adult life, at 6’4” literally towering over my 5’1.75” frame (all people under 5’2” know their height to an eighth of an inch!). He used to talk about needing both “a push and a pull” to create real social change, whether that plays out in your personal life, your professional arena, or the wider world around you. The push for change comes from the challenges, trials, problems and unsolved puzzles that keep you up at night. The pull comes from the opportunities, dreams, visions, hopes, and possibilities that get you up in the morning. Of all the lessons he taught me, this “push-pull” dynamic is the one I keep recalling as I consider what it takes to be an effective social investor, what it might take to drive the global social agenda today.

I see this push-pull dynamic emerge as a common theme underlying the successful social change-makers profiled in Elkington & Hartigan’s book, The Power of Unreasonable People. These social entrepreneurs transform global challenges (that’s the “push”) into market opportunities (that’s the “pull”), corresponding to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. Looking through a Fast Forward Fund lens, these opportunities cultivate the field of social investments we’ll be considering as FFF builds up its portfolios this year in four areas: climate change and energy, global health, poverty alleviation, and human rights & peace.

As you consider social investment opportunities, ask yourself this: what is your push and what is your pull? What keeps you up at night, and what gets you up in the morning? Let us know! We want to hear from you. How you answer these questions may serve to guide you well in deciding where and how to direct your social investments, and guide us as we shape the Fast Forward Fund and prepare to launch at CGIU.