Money and Social Change: Innovative Paradigms and Strategies
CSPL –210
Joy Anderson Fall 2012
Syllabus: DRAFT
September 2, 2012
How do people make decisions about how to direct money for social change? Where will it have the
most impact? When does the capital toward social change actually lead to systemic change or address
structural inequities? This course will explore the multiple roles capital plays in social change.
Can have different or greater impact? Can we reimagine the systems of philanthropy and investment?
How do we invite voices to the decision-making table around how money is used to make change? Can
we change how money moves? Money is power. But what does that really mean?
We will look at the intersection of capital, power and social systems through readings, discussion and
direct engagement with the field. The course will begin with a historical overview of how money has
affected social change over time in the public, private, and philanthropic sector, including religious
institutions. The course will then survey through various types of capital from strategic and venture
philanthropy to crowd funding and impact investing.
As a result of a grant from the Learning by Giving Foundation, the students will have $10,000 give to a
local nonprofit. We will use the process of allocating that funding as form of civic engagement and
service learning.
At the end of this course, students will not only understand the rapidly shifting landscape of funding
social impact, but will also have developed their own personal theory of change with reference to this
landscape and the possibilities they individually see and seek to create.
I.
Course Overview (September 4)
We will review the details of the course, its reading, and its assignments. In addition, we will set up the
core narrative of the course.
II.
History of Money and Social Change (September 11)
Setting a historical context, we will explore intersections of philanthropic, government and investment
capital over time – from the advent of government-run “poorhouses” to foreign aid, we will look at how
money has been used by different actors to make change, and at what has changed over time. In
particular, we will draw out the relationship between expertise and social change. Who gets to say how
public institutions should be run and what is the relationship between various constructions of expertise
and sources of capital to fuel the change?
Readings:
Shannon Daley, Jeffrey Keenan and Karen Speerstra, Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a
Difference
III.
Power, Money and Marginality (September 18)
In this unit, we will look at the challenge around the fact that those who have the money define the
rules of impact. We will analyze financial architecture and approaches to change it from within. We will
also take a look at the Occupy Wall Street movement (and other ‘similar’ movements), which takes issue
with this power structure. We will then outline a third approach that straddles the line between
mainstream and marginal, including marginalized voices while engaging with financial power structures
to make change. We will begin to contextualize a range of capital from impact investments to
philanthropy we will cover in the rest of the course within these analyses of power structures.
Readings:
Paul Brest and Hal Harvey. Money Well Spent: A Strategic Plan for Smart Philanthropy
Additional resources to be assigned
IV.
Theories of Change around Money and Impact (September 25)
How can we measure our social impact? So often, we are comparing dissimilar approaches to change in
order to determine which is the most sensible. How do we reconcile this? We will look at different
approaches to impact measurement and introduce different industry standards to be fleshed out in later
units, situating the foundation, the individual and the investor in the debate around defining impact.
How do we analyze outcomes and impact– intended and unintended – of moving money to create
change?
Readings:
Matthew Bishop, Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World
Mark Kramer/John Kania, SSIR, Collective Impact, Winter 2011: (on reserve)
Additional resources to be assigned
V.
Traditional Philanthropy (October 2)
The model of philanthropy that the majority of people are most familiar with is support for direct
service. Funding the homeless shelter, the food donation, the after school program. In many ways, this
model is the easiest to understand – goods and services are supported through donation with no
expectation of “return.” In the current discourse, how do organizations seeking philanthropic funding
balance the cost of operations in the face of ‘every penny to the cause’ rhetoric?
The class will look at the history of this tradition, looking at the balance between private philanthropy,
government support and fee for service. Additionally, this unit will look at public discourse around
philanthropy – what expectations have been formed around the role of gifts and philanthropy in
society?
Note: Half of this class will be a discussion on our grant making approach as a class.
Readings:
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World
Additional resources to be assigned
VI.
Changing Role of Philanthropy (October 9)
In the last 20 years, “checkbook” philanthropy has been challenged by the rhetoric of strategic
philanthropy. The strategic funder is primarily concerned with the net result of the programmatic
execution across their grantees on the solution that they believe is most likely to solve the problem they
seek to address. They take a systems level approach that is beyond the scope of a single grantee’s
capabilities and entails bringing different stakeholders together.
There are challenges with this model, including a disconnect between operational grantees and highlevel philanthropic strategies. We will analyze the women’s funding movement as a case study, and look
at the phenomenon of philanthropic networks and case studies of collective impact.
Note: A portion of this class will be taken by a panel discussion on the local ecosystem of nonprofits.
Readings:
Review Brest, Kramer, Arrillaga-Andreessen, and Bishop to look at their different takes on what it means
to be “strategic.”
Additional resources to be assigned
VII.
Venture Philanthropy (October 23)
Venture philanthropy emerged out of the dot-com boom. Individuals who became wealthy as tech
entrepreneurs started foundations like the the Skoll Foundation, and Omidyar Network. They have
gravitated toward high impact leveraged giving, applying the principles of venture capital to their
philanthropic giving. We will talk about ways in which changed expectations around the operations of
socially-minded endeavors impacted the emergence of for-profit social enterprise and impact investing.
Readings:
Lucy Bernholtz. Philanthropy and Social Investing Blueprint 2012 On reserve
Christine Letts, William Ryan, Allen Grossman. “Virtuous Capital: What Foundations can Learn from
Venture Capitalists.” Harvard Business Review, March-April 1997
Mea Culpa Piece by Mario Marino
VIII.
Mapping Local Nonprofits and Selection Process (October 30)
No readings except background on proposals presented.
IX.
Conscious Consumerism (November 6)
Can we change the world with our buying power? Do we need to just change what we buy? Can that
have the same, or greater impact as the philanthropic dollars? This class will look in detail at the ten
year grant-making around marine fisheries and the attempt to shift consumer behavior as a way to have
impact on the broader seafood industry.
Readings: TBD
X.
Impact Investing (November 13)
We will lay out the range of impact investing from community investments through to social venture
funds. Impact investing consists of investing for blended value, social, environmental and financial
returns. Investors range from financial-first to social-first to all the grey areas between, and the
landscape is rich and growing. Impact investing is predicted to grow to $.5 trillion in the next ten years,
eclipsing philanthropy which is projected at $.33 trillion. Impact investing proactively seeks to address
social problems, premised on the idea that market-based solutions are a path to durable and sustainable
change.
Readings:
Antony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson. Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While
Making a Difference
Content from SoCap sessions
Additional resources to be assigned
XI.
Impact Investing (November 20)
This second session will dive into the debate around Program Related Investments and their cousin
Mission Related Investments. The field of impact investment is continuously surprised by the paradox
that the investments of foundations corpus is in activities that are often directly counter to the
philanthropic intent of the organization. We’ll look at a series of case studies to understand this
paradox, with a healthy mix of empathy and critique.
Readings:
Steven Godeke. Philanthropy’s Passing Lane. (On reserve)
Additional resources to be assigned
XII.
Crowd funding (November 27)
In the 21st century, ease of engagement is undeniably important in motivating people to any kind of
action. Furthermore, the internet has democratized access to information and participation in countless
activities, forging new connections across previously firm boundaries. Philanthropy is not immune from
these changes and many people have been able to give when they previously could not, or motivated to
give when they otherwise would not have, with the advent of crowd funding.
Crowd funding consists of donation platforms that are highly public and highly accessible, and
encourage potential donors to give and now invest in small increments, en masse. In this unit, we will
explore the effectiveness of crowd funding as a model, and will participate in it, as we can. Does crowd
funding change the power dynamics of philanthropy or investments? Does it create new impact?
Readings: TBD
XIII.
Reflective Discussion: How does Money Create Change? (December 3)
We will pull together the work of the course, as students write their own “Request for Proposals” that
reflects both their analysis of the systems and structures that move capital to create change, and their
own beliefs in how change is created. In these final sessions, we will bring in social change leaders to
respond to the students’ work.
Final Exam Session will be used for Presenting Final Projects
Course Structure and Expectations:
All classes are cooperative endeavors, in which participants work together to explore and enhance their
understanding of a subject. Premised on the idea that expertise is in many ways a construct, we will all
express deep respect for each other’s perspectives. We will be at once critical and respectful, and
students will be encouraged to contribute actively. The course is designed with a Permission of
Instructor component so that we can have a diversity of perspectives in the course. Given that each of
us brings a unique background and perspective to this class, each contributes by engaging with one
another and with the readings and other class material.
Moreover, we will arm ourselves with an understanding of the origins of various approaches to capital
allocation for social change in such a way that we are able to make informed choices about personal
theories of change. We will analyze the ins and outs of not only origins, but evolutions of each of these
approaches – diving into prominent critiques of each approach. True active participation and true
understanding of public discourse around the very current issues we are analyzing may entail a ‘public’
component to the course – in which we engage with current events and media around these topics.
Expectations around course reading for this course are high. All participants have the responsibility to
make class discussions fruitful, which means that everyone must do the reading and think about the
issues prior to class. Thinking about the readings means being prepared to state and explain the key
concepts used by an author, to outline the main thesis or theses in two or three concise sentences, to
set out the core argument(s) of the text(s), and to present your own evaluation of its persuasiveness,
specifically maintaining a critical eye to where this perspective sits within other frameworks we will
explore.
We may not adhere strictly to the schedule laid out since the course of our discussions cannot be
predicted. If you have any question about what you should have read before a particular class meeting
you should check Moodle or get in touch with me.
Papers will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
1. Analytical rigor (logic, precision, clarity of argument)
2. Awareness of the broader context for the idea or the intent. Where does this idea fit within
larger trends, analysis?
3. Intentional reflection and discernment of your own theory of change
4. Mechanics (quality of prose, grammar, spelling, citation of sources, etc.)
All work is to be done in accordance with the Honor Code.
I encourage you to draw as much as possible from personal, practical experience in shaping your theory
of change. Even the books that are assigned are less scholarly and designed for the audience of a
philanthropist. And, I want you to find ways to challenge your own thinking, rather than using the course
to make a strong case for your own point of view.
For my part, I am committed to being a thought partner. You should feel free to contact me by e-mail,
and I will get back to you within a reasonable amount of time. I will also make every effort to read your
papers quickly and to provide constructive feedback on your work. In addition, draw on my connections
to the world of the social capital markets while you are in the class.
Please note that it is the policy of Wesleyan University to provide reasonable accommodations to
students with documented disabilities. Students, however, are responsible for registering with
Disabilities Services, in addition to making requests known to me in a timely manner. If you require
accommodations in this class, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible [during the first
week of the semester], so that appropriate arrangements can be made. The procedures for registering
with Disabilities Services can be found at http://www.wesleyan.edu/deans/disability-students.html
Grading
On-going reflective writing and class participation (25%)
Exploratory exercises: Theory of change (around money and social change) (25%)
Grant making project (25%) (Done by the 8th class)
Final Project (25%)
Credit: 1
Course Format: Lecture / Discussion
Grading Mode: Graded A-F
Level: UGRD
Prerequisites: None
Major Readings:
Much of the reading will consist of articles, pamphlets and excerpts from books, which will be available
on e-reserve or on Moodle. A few texts will be on reserve and in the bookstore, possibly including:
1. Antony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson, Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money
While Making a Difference
2. Jeffrey Keenan and Karen Speerstra, Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a
Difference
3. Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World
4. Paul Brest and Hal Harvey, Money Well Spent: A Strategic Plan for Smart Philanthropy
5. Matthew Bishop, Philanthrocapitalism: How Giving Can Save the World
Additional readings will be on reserve or on Moodle.
Office Hours
Tuesday from 5:00 to 6:30
By phone by appointment if needed
Contact Information
janderson@wesleyan.edu
anderson@criterioninstitute.org
203-395-1585 cell phone—prefer e-mail for communications