Funding matters, but it’s not the solution

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As a social change practitioner like myself, you may have seen the recent Forbes article titled: Is Impact Investing A Solution To Global Problems? Without going into a rant about click-bait title writers, my unequivocal answer is “no”. Impact investing is not a solution to the social problems listed in this article (i.e. climate change, resource scarcity, exploding global population …

Let’s Find The Best Impact Technology

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Sphaera is curating what works around #ImpTech. Come explore the collection of ideas and approaches to put technology (and tech companies) in service of the public good and the change we seek. Sphaera’s CEO Astrid Scholz has put together an initial solutioning board, and is inviting change-agents to come create additional building blocks or solutions, and share them here for all …

100 Million Ways to Change the World

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We’re proud to announce that our very own Astrid Scholz has been selected to the MacArthur Foundation’s evaluation panel for their 100&Change $100M global solution challenge. A new competition launched today will award a $100 million grant to a single proposal designed to help solve a critical problem affecting people, places, or the planet. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur …

New partnership drives social change ecosystem

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Sphaera Solutions, a leader in social change enablement, and Induct™ have entered into an agreement whereby Sphaera and Induct will integrate their cloud-based platforms to create a novel social change innovation ecosystem.   Sphaera and Induct’s shared goal is to accelerate the pace of social change by making an abundance of best practices and proven innovative solutions discoverable, reusable, and adaptable …

Questioning the Business of Philanthropy

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Nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere. The challenge of the 21st century is to find out what works and scale it up. — President Bill Clinton In preparing for a panel at the Skoll World Forum next month, I’ve been reflecting on that quote by President Clinton, the state of philanthropy, and the power and potential of technology — and technologists — to disrupt …

COP21 Behind Us, Infinite Solutions Ahead

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Whether you are optimistic or pessimistic about the potential of the Paris Agreement to usher in a new era of tackling climate change, the pragmatists among us are asking “What’s next?”.

The commitments made by over 190 states don’t yet add up to the 1.5C target proclaimed in Paris, and many commentators lament the lack of an enforceable implementation mechanism to help government achieve this target. There is also reinvigorated interest and hope for the role of the private sector, but realistically, given the short-termism brought on by corporate charters and structures, can we really expect companies to pivot effectively and lead the charge?