Research report: September 2007

In and out of sync The challenge of growing social innovations

Geoff Mulgan with Rushanara Ali, Richard Halkett and Ben Sanders In and out of sync The challenge of growing social innovations

Foreword

Social innovation has become a popular phrase with politicians and investors around the UK. This report is about how private and third sector organisations innovate to respond to social needs.

It seeks to explain why certain social innovations grow and why others don’t. It tracks many of those reasons back to the environment in which the innovation exists – how much demand there is for it. But this is not a defeatist argument. Using eleven case studies, the best literature available, and a strong analytical frame, this report highlights how many innovators have sought to change the characteristics of that demand – in effect to create a market for their innovation. And it shows how choices that are under the control of the innovator (like organisational form) can have a dramatic infl uence on success.

At NESTA, we like to work on research that has clear and practical implications. This report does just that – ending with a set of recommendations for policy-makers and funders of social innovation, and with a toolkit for innovators themselves. We also like to work with outstanding research teams who represent leadership in their fi eld. In this case, we have been fortunate enough to work closely with a team from the Young Foundation headed by Geoff Mulgan and Rushanara Ali.

The fi eld of social innovation remains relatively undeveloped. We hope that this project advances understanding considerably. However, as always, we welcome your input and your comments.

Jonathan Kestenbaum CEO, NESTA

September, 2007

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Our aim is to transform the UK’s capacity for innovation. We invest in early stage companies, inform innovation policy and encourage a culture that helps innovation to fl ourish.

3 Executive summary This report is about how social innovations spread and grow. It aims to provide a theoretically and empirically grounded guide for the many people involved in social innovation: innovators, funders, policy-makers and commissioners. It draws on a growing body of research on patterns of growth, and distils its conclusions into a guide to help direct scarce resources more effectively to maximise social impact.

To validate and extend the existing literature, There might be plenty of innovative ideas, but we undertook eleven case studies of social a failure to communicate them widely or to innovations. Although their patterns of growth develop them adequately. Or there might be no vary in detail, they highlight four necessary organisations with the capacity to implement conditions for putting innovative products, promising innovations effectively. services and models into practice sustainably and on a large scale: If any one of these factors is defi cient, the 1. For further information on potential of the innovation will not be realised. the Red Cross and Grameen, see: http://www.ifrc.org/ 1.‘Pull’ in the form of effective demand, However, smart strategies can compensate for and http://www.grameen- which comes from the acknowledgement of a weaknesses. If demand is judged to be weak, info.org/ need within society, and from the recognition the priority may be advocacy, rather than of that need by organisations (or consumers) organisational growth. If supply is weak, the with the fi nancial capacity to address it; priority may be further development of the innovation itself. A wide range of other types of 2.‘Push’ in the form of effective supply, strategies are also possible, including seeking which comes from: fi rst, the generation of to change tax treatments or regulation, alliance innovative ideas (by creative individuals building, gathering evidence, or demonstrating and teams, potential benefi ciaries and effectiveness on a small scale. users, often inspired by anger, suffering or compassion); second, the development of The case studies in this report all point to the those ideas into demonstrably workable critical importance of organisational choices. In forms; and third, their communication and the past, innovations have sometimes spread dissemination; through new organisations (such as the Red Cross and Grameen,1 or, in the last decade, 3. Effective strategies that connect ‘pull’ OhmyNews and The Big Issue), and sometimes to ‘push’, and fi nd the right organisational through existing organisations. The ways in forms to put the innovation into practice; which they grow can be thought of as forming and a continuum.

4. Learning and adaptation to ensure that At one end, innovators attempt to control how the innovation achieves social impact, and their innovation spreads by containing the continues to do so as the environment innovation within a single organisation, and in around it changes. some cases, by protecting intellectual property through legal means. At the other end of the When these elements are all in sync, spectrum, innovations such as rural micro- innovations achieve ‘resonance’ with their credit or community recycling spread in a much environment and come to appear natural, even looser way, with no-one exercising ownership obvious. However, many promising innovations or control. In these cases, the innovations have foundered because critical elements spread more like spores or seeds in the natural were missing or ‘out of sync’. There might be world, and implementation happens through a wide recognition of a need – but not on the range of existing as well as new organisations. part of organisations with power and money. In between these two poles, there exists a

4 wide variety of halfway houses in which limited • Underdeveloped capital markets to provide control is exercised over the innovation: fi nance for social entrepreneurs and a lack of licensing and franchising; structured open- other organisations trying to put good social source methods; federations or control innovations into practice, and then grow through professional networks. Which option them; is best for maximising the social impact of an innovation depends on many factors, including • Few and weak institutions and networks for the importance of tacit knowledge and key spreading innovation around communities relationships, and capital requirements. of practice (albeit with some impressive exceptions); In the case that organisational growth is seen as the best way to spread an innovation, • Few established methods and strategies for special challenges follow. Founders who played nurturing and growing social innovations (so decisive roles in advocacy may be ill-suited that most practitioners feel themselves to be for management as an organisation grows. improvising); and Governance structures designed to provide support for managers may be inappropriate • Under-developed labour pools from which when tough decisions are needed. Informal to draw managers and others to help with organisational cultures may become disabling growth. as scale increases and funding relationships become less direct and personal (e.g. with These weaknesses make it diffi cult for philanthropists and foundations), and more promising social innovations to get through impersonal and contractual (e.g. with public periods of diffi culty and underperformance commissioners). that characterise even the most successful ideas. They explain why many innovations However, social innovations’ biggest and still depend on the personal commitment of most lasting impacts are often not the result philanthropists, individuals within foundations, of organisational growth, but come from or champions within government. encouraging emulators, and transforming how societies think (with new concepts, arguments At a strategic level, the priorities for improving and stories). The most successful innovators the scaling-up and spread of social innovations do as much to change the conditions of include: demand as they do to create supply; they are campaigners as well as organisers. In the • The availability of more mature sources of long-run, while ideas are often best promoted fi nance, including sources of fi nance that through the example of real organisations, allow genuine risk-taking where there is the their power and impact can far transcend the potential for substantial social impact; organisations that fi rst put them into practice. • More developed exchanges and The missing middle: improving the social intermediaries; innovation system There are frequently strong pulls from politics, • Stronger knowledge and experience base for public agencies, civil society and the public for the whole fi eld of social innovation; and specifi c social innovations, and strong pushes from people with creative ideas. However, there • Stronger incentives and encouragement for is a striking absence of institutions that link the commissioners and managers in the public two. The fi elds of science and technology are and third sectors to adopt better performing replete with intermediary bodies charged with innovative models rather than sticking with linking the supply of ideas to effective uses familiar but less effective older ones. (e.g. the institutions involved in technology transfer, high technology venture capital, and Together, these would contribute to a more research foundations). By contrast, in the social mature social innovation system, analogous fi eld there are: to the many and diverse systems which exist around the world to promote technological • Fragile markets for the results of social innovation. innovation – even the innovations with the clearest evidence of successful impact are not guaranteed to fi nd reliable funders and purchasers;

5 Acknowledgements

This report was written by Geoff Mulgan (Director, Young Foundation), with Rushanara Ali (Associate Director, Young Foundation), Richard Halkett (Executive Director of Policy and Research, NESTA) and Ben Sanders (Researcher, Young Foundation).

Additional contributions were made by Mary Battley, Simon Tucker and Will Norman. We would like to thank all those who contributed to this project and in particular:

Baroness Kay Andrews – Former Director of Education Extra Andrew Karney – Former Chair of Language Line Atul Ambhetiwala – Language Line Sarah Davies – Director of Tower Hamlets Summer University Paul Harrod – Former Director of Aspire Brett Wigdortz – CEO Teach First Jonathan Nicholas – Director of Programmes for the Inspire Foundation (Reach Out!) Nigel Kershaw – Chief Executive of The Big Issue Foundation Professor Adrian Davis – Head of Evaluation Scheme of MHAS Jean K. Min – Communications Director, OhmyNews International

6 Contents

1. Introduction 9 1.1. Eleven case studies 9 1.2. Different stories, common lessons 11

2. Mapping how social innovations grow 11

3. Effective demand – ‘pull’ factors 12

4. Effective supply – ‘push’ factors 13

5. What turns a promising idea into a useful one? 15

6. Effective strategies to grow innovations 16

7. A spectrum of organisational models 17

8. Lessons from the case studies 18 8.1. When organisations are crucial to scaling up 19 – and when they are not

9. The challenges of growing organisations around social innovations 19 9.1. Choosing an organisational model 19 9.2. Overcoming the challenges of growing organisations around 21 social innovations 9.3. Organisational growth vs. social impact 22

10. Changing how societies think: the ultimate goal of scaling up 22 10.1. Systems change 23

11. Conclusions – the challenge of being in sync 23

Annex 1: A guide for social innovators and investors 25 Step 1: What is the essential nature of the innovation, 25 and what need is it trying to address? Step 2: Understanding ‘push’ and ‘pull’ 25 Step 3: Plotting a journey across the Growth Map 26 Step 4: How to learn, adapt and ensure maximum social impact 28

Annex 2: Case Studies 29 Case Study 1: Hearing Aids 29 Case Study 2: Extended Schools 32 Case Study 3: The Big Issue 37 Case Study 4: Reach Out! 40 Case Study 5: OhmyNews 44

Annex 3: Mini Case Studies 48 Case Study 6: Tower Hamlets Summer University 48 Case Study 7: Teach First 51 Case Study 8: Aspire 53 Case Study 9: Language Line 55 Case Study 10: Sure Start 57 Case Study 11: Alcoholics Anonymous 60

Annex 4: Literature Review 63

7 8 In and out of sync The challenge of growing social innovations

1. Introduction literature on social change); the economics of innovation (and in particular the recent This report is about how ideas grow. We emphasis on ‘pull’ or demand factors); business defi ne social innovation as the development and management theory (and its insights into and implementation of new ideas (products, organisational growth and the detail of options services and models) to meet social needs. Our such as franchising); and research focused on primary concern here is with a subset of social innovation as a process of learning. We have innovations that: attempted a synthetic approach which weaves 2. In our analysis, we emphasise the dynamic nature of these disciplines into a framework that draws changing preferences, the 1.Can be defi ned and potentially spread upon concepts from economics.2 learning associated with the development and growth beyond their initial context (and are not of social innovations, and entirely context-specifi c); 1.1. Eleven case studies the importance of non- fi nancial motivations. These The study involved a series of new case studies phenomena are diffi cult to 2.Are provided by organisations rather than that were chosen to illuminate the critical explain using traditional market failure concepts being only about lifestyle choices; factors shaping the spread of innovations: such as externalities and OhmyNews, Reach Out!, The Big Issue, information asymmetries. 3.Meet socially recognised needs (as opposed Education Extra and Hearing Aids. To develop a to merely personal needs or demands); and more comprehensive picture, we also reviewed an additional six secondary case studies: Teach 4.Work in circumstances where normal First, Language Line, Aspire, Sure Start, Tower commercial markets and existing public Hamlets Summer University (THSU), and organisations have failed. Alcoholics Anonymous.

Some of these innovations are fairly OhmyNews is a groundbreaking media-based modest and incremental, while others form social innovation that uses web technology to part of more fundamental and systemic give voice to citizen journalists. It grew rapidly transformations, such as the shift to a low in South Korea, having tapped into the political carbon economy, the empowerment of people fervour of the 2002 presidential elections. with disabilities, or the rise of citizen producers It later sought to expand into Japan, but in the media. struggled in a new cultural context. One of its main challenges has been how to successfully This study draws on a slim but growing body balance its social aims with business of literature (summarised in Annex 4, and sustainability. including important contributions from Everett Rogers, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Greg Dees, Reach Out! is a highly successful web-based Peter Uvin, Amy Gerstein, Diana Leat and peer-to-peer approach to tackling depression others), as well as empirical evidence and among young people. It was fi rst established in experience. It also draws on a wide range of Australia and is now spreading in the US. Early disciplines that have useful insights for the growth was the result of an effective marketing fi eld, including biology (and in particular strategy (specifi cally a strong brand) to attract D’Arcy Thompson’s classic work on growth funding and counteract scepticism about and form); sociology (and the extensive web-based approaches. Reach Out! is currently

9 considering how best to adapt its service to modernisation scheme in partnership with the the different cultural context of the USA, and Department of Health. New initiatives like aid the transfer of the ‘tacit’ knowledge and Public Private Partnerships and NHS Direct core values accrued in the original organisation. were used to manage high demand for Digital Its current plan is to develop a mutually Signal Processing (DSP) aids generated by a reinforcing network between the US and strong publicity campaign. Even so, the scheme Australia rather than to transfer the model in its was almost too successful; it managed to create entirety. such high a demand for the new hearing aids that it struggled to maintain the capacity to The Big Issue is a street magazine that deliver them. is sold by homeless people in the UK, and which represents one of the most visible Teach First was initially based on Teach for social enterprises of recent years. While it America, a successful model developed in has spawned a number of offshoots, The the US in the 1990s. Teach First places top Big Issue has also faced signifi cant barriers university graduates into poor performing to replication, especially in the US, where schools in London and helps to meet the it encountered competition from already- shortage of high-quality teachers while established street newspapers. As a for-profi t providing the graduates with a variety of new organisation, sustainable growth was based on skills. It is now spreading to other UK cities. tapping individual consumers’ willingness to pay, simultaneously addressing homelessness Language Line started as a charity and empowering homeless people. Growth was that provided telephone interpreting to initially driven by the entrepreneurial character organisations working with non-English and drive of founder John Bird, but those same speaking members of society. It proved very qualities later presented challenges as the successful and decided that the only way to 3. Education Extra was founded organisation grew. keep momentum was to become a for-profi t by Michael Young and Kay Andrews. operation. As a result, it was able to secure 4. See http://www.continyou. Education Extra3 (now renamed ContinYou4) funds to expand and recruit professional org.uk/ was an organisation founded by Michael managers. It has since been bought twice by Young and Kay Andrews that campaigned venture capitalists (most recently for around for extended schooling and also provided £24 million). Despite its success, it failed in services directly to schools. Having started its efforts to expand into Germany, in part off as a small charity initiative, which aimed because many German public organisations to understand the benefi ts of after-school believed that refugees and immigrants should activities and promote their importance in the learn German. UK, Education Extra became involved in more systematic action research. Through regional Aspire was a door-to-door catalogue partnerships, it supported small pilots to franchise that employed homeless people. demonstrate what could be done, and created After considerable initial success, it created a network of enthusiastic people and schools to other franchises across the UK and signifi cant promote extended schools activities. With the positive attention as an innovative approach to fi rm support of schools and strong evidence tackling social problems. However, the business of effectiveness, government money was model turned out to be fl awed – offering too secured to pilot the initiative further. However, narrow a range of projects, and demanding rapid growth brought new challenges. As the too much of staff who lacked skills and were initiative became more centralised and aligned often facing acute personal problems – and with the government, retaining autonomy eventually the project failed. and ensuring continued trust in the initiative proved diffi cult. Sure Start is a cross-departmental Government policy initiative that aims to tackle child Hearing Aids was a unique collaboration poverty and improve life chances in deprived between the Department of Health and RNID parts of the UK. It funded local programmes (formerly the Royal National Institute for Deaf to improve children’s health, learning and care, People) to provide new Digital Processing while also allowing communities wide latitude hearing aids. When the RNID fi rst lobbied for to adapt the policy to local circumstances. The the provision of hearing aids to be modernised, Government expanded the scheme very rapidly the Government was keen to promote third although early evaluations of its performance sector involvement in public service provision. have been mixed. This was also the case with As a result, it took the unusual step of asking some US equivalents, which later demonstrated the RNID to help with the £125 million very high returns on investment.

10 AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is an informal only becomes effective if we are willing to society for people who want to give up drinking pay for cars, restaurant meals or newspapers alcohol, and has proved successful in many with real money. The effective demand we countries. AA was one of the fi rst organisations are concerned with is often indirect, since the to provide sustained treatment that combined purchasers need not be the same people as religious, psychological and medical insights the direct benefi ciaries. For instance, general for alcoholics (regardless of who they are). It taxation may pay for programmes to help operates as a very simple organisation with a specifi c demographic groups. However our basic organisational structure and emphasises conception of effective demand is somewhat a core, straightforward, unalterable tradition different from that of traditional economics, enshrined in its ‘Twelve Steps’ programme. which treats preferences as exogenous The AA model has subsequently been applied and given. As we will argue, any model of in other fi elds, e.g. to help recovering heroin social innovation has to treat preferences addicts. as endogenous, since the growth of social innovations is usually dependent on changing Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU) patterns of preference and demand. was set up in the mid-1990s to provide a diverse range of educational activities for Effective supply is a less familiar concept. We young people during the summer months. use it to refer to innovations that have been The programme quickly proved popular with made workable and useful. There exists an young people and also attracted praise from enormous supply of innovations ranging from the police for signifi cantly lowering youth technologies and techniques to new ways of crime rates in the area over the summer period. solving social problems. However, only a very Subsequently, foundations and government small proportion of these have been made have provided strong support to spread the effective in the sense of demonstrably working model, including a contract to create summer at reasonable cost, and without depending on 5. The underpinning framework behind this graph is universities for all 33 London Boroughs. THSU the efforts of unusually talented individuals. contingent upon conditions has maintained tight control of the roll-out, staying relatively stable and the economic model not being but challenges remain, the biggest of which The combination of ‘effective supply’ and undermined or overhauled by is how to maintain quality as the programme ‘effective demand’ results in innovations that exceptional circumstances, i.e. global recession, re- expands. simultaneously achieve social impact and prove nationalisation of industries. to be fi nancially sustainable. To demonstrate 1.2. Different stories, common lessons how demand and supply interact we have Each of these stories is full of uncertainty, developed a ‘Growth Map’ (Figure 1) that twists and turns, experiments and rapid shows the space in which innovations evolve learning, as well as the bloody-minded and grow.5 determination of their pioneers and the commitment of their supporters. However, considered together, the case studies demonstrate that social innovation is not just a matter of chance or serendipity or the brilliance Figure 1: The Growth Map of a handful of individuals. Instead, there are clear patterns in successful innovation, and understanding these patterns can help HIGH today’s innovators deploy their energies more effectively. A B

2. Mapping how social innovations grow

Successful social innovations demonstrate alignment of what we call ‘effective supply’ C D with ‘effective demand’.

Effective demand is a familiar concept in innovation (’pull’) demand for Effective economics. It refers to demands, wants and LOW needs that become ‘effective’ when they are LOW Effective supply of innovation (’push’) HIGH backed up with purchasing power. There are many things which we may want, but demand

11 Here, the vertical axis charts the effective for innovations to grow. The Big Issue smartly demand for the innovation while the horizontal linked rising concern about homelessness axis charts the effectiveness of supply. The with the entrepreneurial spirit of the 1980s. two axes are not independent of each other. OhmyNews capitalised on a groundswell of Supply does not automatically elicit demand, radical politics among Korean young people or vice versa, but supply and demand do as a reaction against the mainstream media, infl uence each other, for example, when a which were perceived as anti-democratic, successful demonstration project persuades over-commercial in their approach, and prone the public to look in a new way at the need to distort the facts. Reach Out! grew from for action to address a social problem, or when widespread concern over high levels of suicide public concern persuades existing innovators among young people in Australia. to redirect their energies. In every example supply and demand co-evolve, and in some Timing can be all-important, and many cases they are tightly linked: for example when innovators consciously ‘park’ their ideas for people facing an acute need have themselves years until the time is right. Demand may only innovated to meet that need. grow once a problem is seen to be becoming more acute. For example, in the wake of For innovations to achieve maximum social growing evidence of the severity of climate impact, they must be in the top right-hand change, there is much greater receptiveness for quadrant (B) where viable innovations fi nd ideas like personal carbon accounts than there customers who are willing to pay. Innovators was a decade ago.6 Sometimes alternatives (and those responsible for supporting them) need to have been tried and failed (as with need to think seriously about where they are drugs policy in much of the Western world). on this map and how they can chart a journey And sometimes a new technology creates the towards the top right-hand corner: how they opportunity for a previously impossible social 6. See the Government’s can mobilise allies, resources, and evidence; innovation, such as the Internet – as in the Sustainable Development Commission at http://www. how to plan the right sequence of steps; and case of Reach Out!. sd-commission.org.uk/pages/ crucially how to choose the most appropriate carbontrading.html 7. See for example Gates organisational forms. However, a receptive climate on its own is not Foundation (2003) ‘Brazilian enough. Innovations are only implemented if National AIDS Program Receives 2003 Gates Award Such journeys are rarely straightforward, linear the recognition of a need comes to be shared for Global Health.’ Seattle: or predictable, and having arrived in the top by people or organisations with the power to Gates Foundation. [online] Available from: http:// right-hand quadrant, innovations may once pay for it. These fall into two categories: www.gatesfoundation. again lose ground because of new competitors, org/GlobalHealth/ Announcements/Announce- or even because of having successfully tackled Direct consumers: the fi rst category includes 030528.htm the problem they were set up to solve. But members of the public who pay directly for without a clear sense of direction and smart goods and services. Examples include people strategies that maximise strengths and who help the homeless by buying (as with The compensate for weaknesses, the odds against Big Issue), buying alternative media (as with an innovation succeeding will be high. OhmyNews), or buying fair trade products (as with Café Direct coffee or People Tree fashions). The challenges faced by innovators and entrepreneurs in these cases are not 3. Effective demand – ‘pull’ factors dissimilar to those faced in more typical consumer markets. For example, they must The starting point for demand is a social have a good understanding of the nature of recognition of needs that are not being demand, sensitivity to price, and the strategies adequately met. Recognition often begins on of competitors. the margins of society in the conversations, campaigns and groups of like-minded people; Indirect consumers: the second category for example, the recognition of disabled includes organisations that buy goods and people’s need to exercise control over their services on behalf of people in need who lack care, or of the need for radical reductions in the resources to buy things for themselves. carbon emissions. These indirect consumers may be foundations and philanthropists (e.g. the Gates Foundation Many innovators are very visible campaigners paying for anti-retrovirals7) or public agencies who try to persuade the public to care about willing to provide contracts and funding for new issues. A climate of concern is hard to new services (e.g. extended schools). The manufacture, but it can be infl uenced, and commissioners and purchasers in these cases social movements have often created the space are critical to the spread of innovations. In

12 certain circumstances, governments can simply mandate the scaling up of an innovation, as is 4. Effective supply – ‘push’ factors happening in the UK with the growth of the Healthy Choices website which builds on the So far we have concentrated on demand. But innovative work of the social enterprise Patient the story of individual innovations is much Opinion. more commonly told as a story of ‘push’, i.e. a story of how innovators have hustled, cajoled, This indirect demand for social innovations and pleaded with funders and commissioners to tends to be very ‘lumpy’ in nature, i.e. take up their idea. dependent on the decisions of a small number of indirect consumers, rather than widespread Effective supply can be defi ned as the mirror consumer markets. This makes growth patterns of effective demand; supply is effective particularly unpredictable. Indirect demand when the innovation’s form has become also depends on what we call the ‘change well-fi tted to patterns of likely demand, and margin’8 in relevant public sectors, i.e. the when it has become possible to demonstrate proportion of resources that can be devoted its effectiveness, and how easily it can be to investment in new (and therefore risky) implemented and replicated. models or to responding to new needs. Change margins may be very small if there is no growth Innovations often begin with simple ideas in public spending and all resources are locked and insights, which may ultimately originate 8. Wellington et al. (2007) ‘Scaling Up: Global into existing models; in such a situation, from many different sources including social Technology Deployment to there is little scope for innovation or scaling entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, frontline staff, Stabilise Emissions.’ World Resources Institute. [online] up new models. By contrast, when revenues service users, observers or volunteers. Old Available from: http://pdf.wri. are growing and resources are routinely taken ideas are sometimes revived or adapted to org/scalingup.pdf 9. See https://www.open.ac.uk; away from poorly performing existing models, new conditions, as in the case of the extended http://www.wikipedia.org/ change margins are wider and there is more schools movement that drew on ideas 10. See http://www.letslinkuk. scope for supporting innovation (both in pioneered by Community Schools. Other ideas net/; http://www. timebanks.co.uk/ terms of funding for speculative research and are hybrids, linking existing elements in new development and for taking up successful ways as in the case of Hearing Aids, Reach innovations). Out!, the Open University which combined broadcasting and teaching, or Wikipedia which In many of the case studies, the availability links the principles of open-source technology of relatively ‘free’ money was critical during to the old idea of an encyclopaedia.9 an experimental phase – for example, funding from the Department for Education and Skills Before ideas have any chance of being put for experiments with extended schools or Body into practice, they need to be developed and Shop funding for The Big Issue, and a small evolved. Most ideas begin half-formed and grant from Microsoft in the case of Reach Out!. imperfect and it is rare for the fi rst version of However, much of the public sector is poor at an innovation to be the one that ultimately widening its change margin by closing things achieves success. Some ideas grow steadily, down or ‘decommissioning’ and in many fi elds improving along the way through trial and this has been a barrier to innovation. ‘tinkering’. Others evolve by fi nding niches where modest demand and supply are brought Finally, the ways in which demand becomes together, but without achieving suffi cient scale effective are bound up with existing power to truly challenge existing models. A good structures. Innovators often fi nd themselves example of this pattern is the spread of parallel in battles where the outcome depends on the currencies. These have repeatedly grown up balance of power between their allies and around the world, from Europe and North their enemies (who may include incumbent America in the 19th century and the 1930s, vested interests). These factors were pivotal to Bavaria and Mexico in the 2000s. In recent in both the success of Hearing Aids (which years they have been joined by similar ideas thrived because of the strength of its allies) like Local Exchange Trading Systems and Time and the failure of attempts to spread The Big Banks,10 or even air miles and the currencies Issue in San Francisco, where it ran into fi erce in virtual worlds like Second Life. Thousands opposition from incumbents (and was arguably of these parallel currencies have found small duplicating existing efforts). Radical ideas that viable niches; but to date none has yet threaten a signifi cant shift in power are likely achieved substantial scale. to face particularly ferocious opposition. Occasionally, small-scale initiatives turn out to be precursors for bigger alternatives. The

13 web-based media Ddanji Ilbo and Urimod, for Triability and observable results: formal example, prepared the ground for OhmyNews. evidence is in some cases the best way to But more commonly, apparently promising demonstrate relative advantage. For example, innovations turn out to be cul-de-sacs. the initial pilot studies of digital hearing aids unequivocally demonstrated the benefi ts The development of ideas into more effective of their adoption. Another good example is innovations usually depends on more people the impact of resilience training on reducing becoming engaged. Professional networks depression amongst teenagers. However, even often work well as channels for dissemination strong evidence may be ignored or resisted if and improvement of ideas, helped when it doesn’t fi t with the practical worldview of there are charismatic advocates to make the key decision-makers. For example, a health the case for change. In some sectors, well- innovation that leaves patients more satisfi ed, developed networks exist for sharing and but has little impact on medical outcomes or assessing innovations, such as the Cochrane fi nancial returns for GPs will probably not be Collaboration in health11 (and its offshoot the taken up. Campbell Collaboration in social science12), and the many professional networks, conferences Compatibility and complementary and journals in planning, medicine, law, conditions: the innovation needs to be architecture and social work. compatible with what already exists. A new web 11. See http://www.cochrane. service like Reach Out! was highly compatible org/index.htm 12. See http://www. Diffusion of an idea generally brings with it with the rapidly expanding web, while radical campbellcollaboration.org/ evolution; the innovation changes shape as new web services (like the Guaranteed 13. GEMs were developed more players use it, think about it, and relate Electronic Markets model13) promoted a few by Wingham Rowan and promoted by Demos in the it to their needs. For example, the idea of years earlier in the mid-1990s faced much mid-1990s. They were a extended schools took many different forms bigger hurdles because of insuffi cient public sophisticated model for creating local exchange and micro-credit has proliferated in a variety access to high-speed broadband and the systems using reputational of ways. NHS Direct grew out of a series of lack of secure payment systems. The lack of devices. A decade later practical trials began in east related experiments, such as Michael Young’s complementary conditions including reliable London. Healthline and experiments with nurses technology is one of the many reasons why 14. Booth, L. ‘Could you be providing triage services over the phone, but road charging has taken so long to spread a Big Sister?’ [online] Available from: http://www. it built on these to develop its own distinctive since it was fi rst proposed in the 1950s. In mentors.org.uk/archive/ features. some cases, culture can be critical to the iVillageArchive.html uptake of innovations. Large sums of money Often a core idea will evolve in parallel with a have been invested in exporting some US fuzzier periphery of related ideas. Education models, such as the mentoring scheme ‘Big Extra provided a particular interpretation of Brothers, Big Sisters’, or the regeneration how extended schooling should be done, and model ‘Communities that Care’, without much grew as an organisation by expanding the success,14 while others, such as Alcoholics market for its approach. But it also benefi ted Anonymous, have replicated globally without from the diffusion of a less tightly defi ned idea. any formal fi nance to assist their growth. Similarly, THSU is seeking to retain a tight grip The Big Issue is another good example: it on what could constitute a Summer University, spread successfully in Australia, but failed in while also prompting others to set up their own Los Angeles, perhaps because many people versions. drive to work and do not interact with street vendors. However, one wave of innovations How well innovations spread through networks can make the environment more receptive for depends in part on the characteristics of later ones. For example, the proliferation of the innovation itself. The existing literature innovations around carbon reduction, carbon on diffusion points to the following critical offsets and personal allowances has created the elements: conditions – including concepts, metrics and markets – in which new innovations with similar Relative advantage: the innovation has to characteristics have a much better chance of be demonstrably superior to alternatives. succeeding. In some cases this may be quickly apparent to consumers. For example, the public were Weak competition: the effectiveness of swiftly convinced that buying The Big Issue was supply will depend on what the alternatives a better way of helping homeless people than are. Micro-credit grew in 19th century Europe direct cash donations. both because it built on other complementary conditions (such as strong civic organisations of many kinds) and because of the lack of

14 competition. When banks and governments when the innovation has promise but fails to moved into the fi eld offering alternative perform more effectively than mature models innovations (cheap mortgages, welfare which have had time to evolve and adapt to benefi ts, etc.), micro-credit withered away. A environmental conditions. similar pattern may occur with the more recent wave of micro-credit in the developing world. Even innovations with substantial promise are likely to go through a period when strict Simplicity: innovations are more likely to be performance assessments run against them. taken up if they do not require costly training This was true of the early cars, computers and or adaptation of facilities. The idea of extended telephones, and has also been true of new schooling has spread in part because existing models for supporting children (like Headstart school buildings could be used for morning or in the US16) or zero carbon housing. after-school activities, and because at heart it is such a simple idea. During these periods, philanthropists may be patient because of their personal commitment Cheapness and value for money: innovations to the cause or to the innovator. By contrast, that are costly or capital intensive will more impersonal organisations, such as spread slowly (unless they are lucky enough mainstream investors or governments, are to persuade a government to back them). much less likely to be able to justify sustained Innovations with very low marginal costs (e.g. commitment. most web-based services) can grow quickly, especially if they benefi t from positive network To overcome these barriers, innovators have externalities (as in the case of many open- to work hard to make their case. Producing source models, and webspaces like MySpace convincing evidence is always challenging or YouTube. The Summer University model for social projects, particularly those whose pioneered in Tower Hamlets, and now being benefi ts cut across different fi elds, for example 15. Christensen, C. et al. (2006) Disruptive Innovation for spread around London, is a good example of achieving reductions in unemployment, crime Social Change. ‘Harvard how a low-cost structure – achieved through levels and health problems at the same time.17 Business Review.’ December 2006. the energetic use of volunteers and spare Yet, many of our examples did use evidence to 16. See http://www.acf.hhs. buildings – can achieve better results. However, advance their ideas, and many invested scarce gov/programs/hsb/ in some cases entry barriers to setting up resources early on in trials and demonstration 17. The overlapping fi elds of cost-benefi t analysis, public the fi rst exemplar project are low, but those projects to win over sceptics. The Extended value and social returns to scaling up are very high. Healthline, for Schools movement spent considerable time on investment all claim to address this problem, in example, was set up with relatively modest and effort gathering evidence of and learning some cases claiming that resources, but turning some of its ideas from best practice in after-hours learning there is an objective measure of value, and in others, into NHS Direct involved very substantial before expanding the scheme. Teach First was recognising that different investment by government. independently evaluated after three years and interests will perceive value in very different ways. found fundraising much easier afterwards. The more radical and systemic the innovation, THSU focused heavily on evaluation and has the harder it will be to implement, mainly used that comparative advantage to ensure because of the lack of complementary that its model of provision remains relatively conditions. Occasionally, disruptive unadulterated as it expands. technologies and events can accelerate systemic change,15 but systemic change is By contrast, Sure Start was criticised for usually slow and dependent on the cumulative expanding nationally before enough evidence impact of changes in attitudes, power, habits had been gathered, although it did benefi t and institutional interests. from several decades of research on parallel initiatives in Canada and the US. Aspire is another example of scaling up without an adequate period of experiment and testing, 5. What turns a promising idea into a and this probably contributed to its subsequent useful one? failure.

Ideas take time to fi nd their best forms. Market research is also critical during They can evolve through experiments, trials, development or expansion. Reach Out! spent arguments, or by borrowing from other fi elds. It considerable time and money researching the is rare for an innovation to meet our defi nition situation in the US before attempting to link of ‘effective supply’ early on. As a result, with partners to expand there. By contrast, social innovators share the challenge faced both Language Line and OhmyNews ignored by all innovators: how to cope with periods critical differences in the cultures of countries

15 they tried to expand into (Germany and Japan the creative adaptation of innovations to make respectively). The development of innovations them more useable. into more effective supply can, therefore, be challenging for innovators. On top of the many In the bottom-right quadrant (D) are well- external barriers faced by innovators, their own developed innovations which are not wanted, attitudes can sometimes impede growth. Some perhaps because of the policy or political innovators may be unwilling to compromise the climate. For example, there are many promising purity of their idea by adapting it to market models for helping ex-offenders avoid the risk conditions, while others may be unwilling to of re-offending, but pressure on prison places lose the control which growth often entails. means that there is very little spare money to pay for developing these. Similarly, harm reduction programmes for drug addicts are unlikely to thrive in an environment committed 6. Effective strategies to grow to coercive penalties. In this space, the priority innovations will often be to work on the climate of opinion, including directly targeting current or future We can now turn to the question of strategy: decision-makers. how do innovators and the supporters of innovation get to the top-right of the Growth There are many strategic options for growing Map? On this map there are many possible an innovation.18 In some of the simplest cases, starting positions and many possible journeys innovators with good models simply take to the to reach the top-right (see Figure 2) although road, demonstrating their approach to anyone for any particular innovation at a particular who will listen, and encouraging emulation and time, the options will be limited. adaptation (this has been particularly common in the recycling fi eld, for example amongst the 18. Moss Kanter, R. (2005) 250 members of the UK Community Recycling ‘Even Bigger Change: a framework for getting Figure 2: Routes to growth and impact Network). In some cases the priority may be started at changing the to change a regulation or a tax rule. In others, world.’ Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School the best strategy may be to forge alliances, Press. This provides an to win over key gatekeepers (for example the insightful survey at the HIGH broader range of options for key commissioners or purchasers in public assembling coalitions, allies agencies or businesses), or to build up ‘islands’ and the means to achieve A B change. which can then be linked up. In cases where there are low entry costs, the innovation may be able to grow up the map without having to demonstrate its effectiveness using formal methods (for example, Alcoholics Anonymous).

C Some innovations successfully spread across D national and cultural boundaries, as, once again, in the case of AA or consumer

Effective demand for innovation (’pull’) demand for Effective co-operatives. In other cases, what may have

LOW LOW appeared to be a highly replicable innovation

LOW Effective supply of innovation (’push’) HIGH can turn out to be very context-specifi c. Our case studies suggest that the only way to fi nd out is through the discovery process of attempting growth. The top left quadrant of the map (A) represents where there is willingness to pay Trial and error will also determine how far it and back successful innovations, but a lack is possible to formalise and ‘manualise’ the of effective and well-proven options. Many innovation. In some cases very detailed and important areas of public policy fall into this prescriptive models can spread more easily category. For example, some would argue that without so much training for practitioners and while there is evident demand for programmes relatively straightforward quality assurance. that can cut the numbers of NEETs (those Not Early investment in the model then pays off in Employment, Education or Training) in the as it is franchised or licensed (as in the case, UK, there are few reliably proven models for for example, of Webster-Stratton parenting doing so. In this context, the priority will be programmes, or online Cognitive Behavioural to build the evidence-base and credibility of Therapy). However, relatively few of the social interventions through demonstrations, trials, or innovations we surveyed could in practice be

16 codifi ed in detail in this way; to spread they analytical framework which defi nes the degree had to be adapted to different local conditions, to which organisations seek to put boundaries cultures and available resources. around the innovation by controlling the form it takes, who is involved in its implementation, In all of our case studies the innovators where this happens and who benefi ts. themselves had to work hard to bring demand and supply together. Yet in fi elds other than 1.Uncontrolled diffusion: at one end of the social innovation, specialised organisations spectrum, a social innovation can be spread exist to help: technology transfer bodies, by communication through the media, venture capital, universities and umbrella books, conferences or word of mouth, and bodies often specialise in knowing where a through professional and other networks. promising idea can fi nd its best expression. Diffusion can be accelerated by self- Successful innovation systems around the appointed champions and ambassadors, who world take many different forms but often may or may not have a link with the original rest on strong interlocking institutions and innovators. The less controlled the diffusion, substantial resources to back risky, but the more likely it is that the innovation will potentially high impact innovations. For adapt in different ways according to local example, a very substantial proportion of the conditions. The ideas of rural micro-credit, capital in Silicon Valley has come from the US holistic medicine, and carbon offsetting have Government. By contrast, in the fi eld of social all spread in this pluralistic way. innovation, there is rarely much money to invest or the institutions to effectively mediate 2.More directed diffusion by a ‘parent’ between supply and demand. organisation: innovators may try to prescribe processes and methods, rather than relying on loose diffusion. Examples include the ‘Twelve Steps’ programme of 7. A spectrum of models of diffusion Alcoholics Anonymous, or the principles of and growth Local Exchange Trading Systems which have been promoted by particular organisations. At the core of any strategy to grow an In some cases, an organisation and model innovation rests a choice about organisational may simply be copied. For example, Teach form. From society’s perspective, it matters First is being explicitly copied in Estonia little whether an innovation is implemented but not as a franchise. The attempts of by the original innovator or by someone else sectoral organisations to impose rules are (although from the innovator’s perspective this also relevant here – e.g. the Soil Association may seem all-important). However, over time, it determining what counts as organic, or the is of vital importance that there are competent, Fair Trade movement attempting to establish fi nancially sustainable organisations to put the common principles. There are also a variety innovation into effect. of ways in which innovators can try to control diffusion, such as branding, ‘kitemarks’ or To help understand the organisational dimension public argument about what count as true of these options, we have developed an

Figure 3: A spectrum of models of diffusion and growth

LOW Levels of control over what, who, where and how HIGH

Uncontrolled More directed Takeover or Organisational diffusion diffusion by a emulation by a growth ‘parent’ organisation more powerful organisation Promotion through formal networks Multiplication including federations Licensing Franchising

17 or false adaptations. More formal variants of fails because of the diffi culties involved this directed diffusion include: in sustaining quality control, and the right culture, as with the WISE Group’s a.Concerted promotion through informal attempts to set up offshoots in London and formal networks, professional and and elsewhere in England.21 other (e.g. by a charity set up to promote a new approach). Around the world, 3.Innovators can adopt a deliberate strategy many new methods are coming into use of being taken over by larger organisations which establish learning communities (like a trade-sale strategy in more traditional and communities of practice to speed entrepreneurship). For example, a primary up the spread of improvements and goal of Healthline, the diagnostic and innovations. Some examples include advisory service set up by Michael Young, health collaboratives in the NHS, or the was to persuade government either to copy it communities of practice supported by the or take it over (this eventually happened with Improvement and Development Agency NHS Direct). In other cases the goal may be (IDeA) around local government; to be taken over by a larger existing business or NGO, just as many web companies aspire b.Multiplication including federations to be taken over by Google or eBay. that encourage the emergence of 19. Webster-Stratton, C. (1997) largely autonomous local branches, as 4.At the far end of the spectrum is From parent training to community building. ‘The happened in the cases of many trade organisational growth, where both the Journal of Contemporary unions, Age Concern, Help the Aged and nature of the idea, and its application are Human Services, Families in Contemporary Society.’ the International Federation of Street controlled (i.e. what it is, how it is done March/April, pp. 156-171. Papers. In federations, power lies with and who does it). The medium may be 20. Bradach, J. L. (1998) ‘Franchise organizations.’ the members collectively rather than with an NGO or social enterprise, Community Cambridge, MA: Harvard the federal body itself. This tends to be a Interest Companies, for-profi t companies or Business School Press; Bradach, J. L. and Eccles, R. looser way of speeding up diffusion, but the public sector – e.g. the proliferation of G. (1989). Price, Authority, has often proved highly resilient; new kinds of school. Organisational growth and Trust: From Ideal Types to Plural Forms. ‘Annual can then either be organic or achieved Review of Sociology.’ 15, pp. c. Licensing an idea, which is usually by acquisition or mergers with other 97-118. achieved with income provided to the organisations. 21. See http://www. thewisegroup.co.uk/ parent organisation through associated training and support. An example that The same organisation may pursue several failed was the ‘Communities that Care’ strategies in tandem. For example, the Open project which tried to impose intellectual University encouraged replicants; operated property (IP) controls on an approach internationally itself; and promoted the idea of to community regeneration. James distance learning (in part via the International Fishkin’s attempts to control the spread of Extension College). Many of the examples ‘deliberative democracy’ methods through we have looked at have followed twin-track IP is another example where too much approaches. Specifi cally, several organisations emphasis on IP has probably inhibited tried to grow by fi nding their own markets, take-up. ‘America Speaks’ is another while also promoting wider diffusion (e.g. The example that has sought to maintain a Big Issue and the International Federation high price through strict IP controls. A of Street Papers, Education Extra and the more successful example of widespread extended schools movement). replication through licensing is the spread of the Webster-Stratton parenting training model19 which has kept prices lower and emphasised accessibility; and 8. Lessons from the case studies

d.Franchising represents an additional The case studies set out some very different dimension of boundedness, which routes to achieving alignment between usually requires common training or effective supply and effective demand and quality assurance processes.20 Franchising strategies for taking ideas into the top right- is attractive to innovators and social hand corner of the Growth Map. entrepreneurs because it appears to offer control and fi nancial returns with less In the case of Hearing Aids, there was a clear responsibility. Sometimes it has worked recognition of need but inadequate supply in the social fi eld, as in the case of The of effective innovations to make it happen Big Issue Scotland. But franchising often – so the idea sat in the top-left quadrant. The

18 key for RNID was to form a partnership with • A highly specialised culture and specialised the Department of Health to raise suffi cient competencies are needed for the innovation capital, develop the technology and therefore to work, as in the case of Hearing Aids or meet the criteria of ‘effective supply,’ and to Teach First; then meet the resultant demand. • Tacit knowledge plays a vital role, limiting the Sure Start began about halfway along the scope for replicating technical features of the bottom axis; some of its advocates spent innovation without ‘hands-on’ involvement much of their energy developing the climate from the pioneers; of opinion and demand (moving up the vertical axis), while others put in place • The market niche depends on very strong networks of supply (in particular the Kids Club direct relationships whether with funders or network which was then well-placed when consumers; Government decided to expand childcare). Once Government funding was committed, • Success depends on strong alliances with the priority then shifted to improving practical bigger organisations which can provide models on the ground, through a wide range of complementary assets. For example, the separate organisations and partnerships loosely Body Shop in the case of The Big Issue and networked together. By contrast, the example News Corp in the case of Reach Out!; of Extended Schools shows how investment in developing a strong evidence-base (i.e. • The characteristics of the leader or founder working from bottom-left to the bottom-right) are (or at least perceived as) integral to the then enabled demand to be mobilised. innovation; and

In each successful case, the story is essentially • There are no other existing organisations one in which a series of sometimes carefully with the insights, skills or culture to 22. See http://www.mcc.es/ sequenced moves acted to bring effective implement the innovation. demand and effective supply closer together. It is also important to note that the story rarely Organisational growth is less likely to be the ends here and over the course of time, supply best approach when these factors are not and demand may once again diverge. present, and when:

8.1. When organisations are crucial to • The underlying idea is simple and scaling up – and when they are not transferable; Large scale will be effi cient for some innovations; a new model university, for • Strong interests can be persuaded to adopt example, may need to provide access to many the innovation, but will resist incursion from disciplines, and to make use of economies a new organisation; and of scale in marketing or administration. For others, scale may be very ineffi cient (e.g. the • There is a better chance of mobilising key quality of the direct relationship between resources such as capital, people, and patients and doctors in primary care appears relationships, through existing organisations to be lost above a fairly small scale). Optimum than through creating a new one. scale is partly a matter of economics as in the cost structure of facilities and common Organisations may also be particularly essential services, partly a matter of culture (i.e. the when the innovative idea is radical; not scale at which different types of cultures can because the innovation will necessarily grow be sustained) and partly a matter of essential with one organisation but rather because relationships. an organisational base can provide the resilience to stick with an innovation through Some societies have strong cultural biases in periods of setback and defeat. For example, favour of a larger scale, in particular the US, Mondragon22 (now one of the world’s largest China and Russia. Yet organisational growth social enterprises) has innovated in many is often neither the only nor the best way to ways around basic co-operative principles. maximise social impact. It is a highly successful and entrepreneurial organisation, with activities in over 50 In general, the growth of a single organisation countries, and some 100,000 employees, but is likely to be the most effective way of which is still fi rmly rooted in Spain’s Basque spreading an innovation where: region. Although it has successfully set up offshoots (which are not co-operatives), very

19 few of the many attempts to copy it elsewhere Government (which is broadly the direction have succeeded on a signifi cant scale. However, taken by campaigners for early-years services in having a single family of organisations gave it the 1990s). the resilience to survive both the hostility of the Franco regime and, later, the competitive Scaling up that is directly driven by pressures of globalisation. Governments can fi t on this continuum too. Some examples sit clearly at one end (e.g. NHS Similarly, the micro-credit pioneer BRAC in Direct was scaled up as a single organisation Bangladesh,23 which now employs over 30,000 within the NHS family), while new models of people and has over 4 million members, has primary care (such as wellness checks), have innovated in many different directions, but spread through thousands of independent GP remains rooted in a core business and in a practices responding to nationally designed particular nation. Again, the strength of its incentives. Where there are no alternative family of organisations has allowed it to thrive sources of demand, Governments can, if they through periods of acute political turbulence. wish, keep tight control over the dimensions of how an innovation scales up, subject to the power of relevant professional groups.

9. The challenges of growing Many factors are likely to shape the detail organisations around social innovations of any strategy. In some cases, legal and regulatory conditions will block some options, 9.1. Choosing an organisational model for example, if general schooling is legally Where an innovation sits on the Growth Map monopolised by the public sector there will be restricts the organisational options available little scope for a new educational model for to it. Franchising and licensing are only poor communities that aims to be for-profi t. 23. See http://www.brac.net/ viable strategies if there is a well-developed Similarly, regulation may make it impossible for 24. See http://www. everychildareader.org/ innovation on the far right-hand side of the loose networks to win contracts. In some fi elds, 25. See http://www.nec. map. And federations are only feasible where the market structure will determine what kinds ac.uk/info/ there is the additional condition of widespread of organisational form succeed. In the UK for interest in creating local branches. Models example, contracting for welfare-to-work and requiring investment are only likely to be viable ex-offender programmes is being reorganised where there is clearly proven demand (i.e. on a larger regional scale, which will tend to higher up the map). preclude smaller NGOs from competing. In such cases, innovators focused on maximising There are then many different types of strategy social impact may have little choice but to seek that may be considered. Most strategies will to have their idea taken over by a much bigger involve constructing coalitions of support organisation. to increase effective demand and to counter vested interests. Occasionally, a single sponsor The competitive context can also be all or supporter may be vital to an innovation’s important. If the new innovation is competing growth, as were Tessa Jowell and Gordon with similar ones, then standard issues Brown for Sure Start, or KPMG for the recent of competitive strategy (such as cost of UK reading programme ‘Every Child a Reader.’24 supply) come to the fore. In other cases, if an innovation clashes with the dominant If substantial demand from Government is likely environment, an insurgent, ‘guerrilla’ mentality and particularly if the Government will prefer will be required. That means deliberately to act as a provider rather than purchaser, there avoiding the main gatekeepers in the sector may be little advantage in setting up a single and attempting to go behind them. The organisation, except to play an advocacy or pioneers of the Open University did this demonstration role. For example, the National – rebuffed by existing universities (it was Extension College25 provided a visible exemplar argued that there would be no demand; that which encouraged the Government to create it wouldn’t work; that standards would be the Open University. too low), they mobilised political enthusiasm to get the idea off the ground. Similarly, The Alternatively, if there is widespread popular Big Issue did not rely on any of the existing recognition of a need, but little interest in homelessness charities, but instead drew on the Government, there is not much point in support of Gordon Roddick. setting up a service delivery organisation. The best strategy may be to persuade opposition politicians and to wait for a change of

20 9.2. Overcoming the challenges of growing decisive for early success can become organisations around social innovations drawbacks later on. Growing organisations is never easy, and it can be particularly hard in the social fi eld, • The right form of governance. Governance where a high premium is placed on personal structures need to evolve as the organisation relationships and appropriateness to context. grows – from primarily reinforcing and It invariably requires changes to form and supporting management teams to being culture (as opposed to simply ‘scaling up’ what willing to take tough decisions (including went before). In addition, growth can involve preventing mission drift and replacing deepening or intensifying operations, rather managers where necessary). In charities and than spreading them. For example, many social social enterprises, governance structures enterprises accumulate a cluster of related are often not rigorous enough for these activities in a single place instead of replicating decisions to be made. The governance role their core activity – such as Community Links, is played largely by volunteer non-executive 26. “The effect of scale depends not on a thing the bromley-by-bow centre in east London or trustees, who have limited engagement with in itself, but in relation to BRAC in Bangladesh. the organisation, and fi nancial investors its whole environment or milieu … a common effect who rarely have or exercise rights to of scale is due to the fact In other fi elds, there is a well-established remove managers. These problems can be that of the physical forces, some act either directly at literature on how growth in scale requires exacerbated by the fact that values-driven the surface of a body, or changes to form. In the natural sciences, organisations frequently do not want to go otherwise in proportion to its surface or area; while D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s classic book against those who originated those values others, and above all gravity, published nearly a century ago, On Growth – which can be particularly disabling during act on all particles, internal and external alike, and exert and Form, explains why big animals or plants periods of crisis (as in the case of Aspire). a force which is proportional are so different in shape from small ones.26 By contrast, the founders of The Big Issue to the mass, and so usually to the volume of the body There is less of a science of growth in the claim that they greatly benefi ted from their … Since the weight of a social or organisational fi eld, but experience for-profi t status as they were unconstrained fruit increases as the cube of its linear dimensions, confi rms that there are common patterns. by charity governance rules. while the strength of the Small emerging organisations have to be stalk increases as the square, it follows that the exploratory and freewheeling. But with growth Our case studies also point to some other stalk needs to grow out of comes a need for more formal structures, typical problems of growth. Many organisations apparent due proportion to the fruit, or alternatively less personalisation, more discipline and become victims of their own success as they that tall trees should not usually more accountability, particularly where fi nd it hard to handle increased demand. bear large fruit on slender 27 branches, and that melons public funds are involved. It follows that if OhmyNews suffered from too many people and pumpkins must lie upon innovators choose to grow their innovation logging on during the 2002 presidential the ground. And yet again, that in quadrupeds a large through a single organisation they need to be election and Hearing Aids failed to anticipate head must be supported prepared for a series of radical changes as they demand resulting in long waiting times for on a neck which is either excessively thick and strong journey across the Growth Map: applicants. Here, the lack of mature capital like a bull’s, or very short like markets or banks familiar with providing an elephants.“ Wentworth Thompson, D’A. (1961) • Adaptable or replaceable leader(s). working capital can be a major constraint. ‘On Growth and Form.’ 1st Leaders usually have to change their style abridged edition. Cambridge: and methods. A few highly adaptable leaders Then there are the common problems of Cambridge University Press. 27. These were called explorer grow with their organisation. Andrew Karney aligning and realigning incentives as the and exploiter modes by at Language Line was involved from very organisation grows. Those who drive and staff March, J. (1991) Exploration and exploitation in early on, was asked to stay on after the fi rst social enterprises frequently have different and organisational learning. two venture capital buyouts, and adapted diverging objectives, and growth often brings ‘Organisation Science.’ 2 (1), pp. 71-87. well to the new business model. As the these to the fore. The innovators themselves Grameen Bank grew, Muhammad Yunus also may be primarily concerned with recognition successfully adapted his leadership style, and and impact, while managers may be more the teams around him. However, many social motivated by scale, status and turnover. entrepreneurs fi nd it hard to change, become Financiers are potentially most interested a hindrance to further organisational growth, in profi tability in the case of investment, or and are eventually eased out as was the case recognition in the case of foundations and with John Bird at The Big Issue. philanthropists, while staff are often motivated by job satisfaction and may be resistant to the • Evolving organisational systems and changes in ethos and structure that growth roles. Growth tends to require more robust requires. Finally, there are the customers, who processes and systems, defi ned roles and are likely to become less forgiving as growth rules, formal communication, and decision- continues. making structures. Again, the very personal and informal qualities that may have been

21 A recent survey of NGO organisational growth has achieved very substantial social returns in the ‘Stanford Social Innovation Review’ to scale, but rather few economic ones. Social confi rmed the importance of sustaining critical care providers may cut costs by growing, and relationships, and adapting organisations appear to gain economies of scale, but lose the internally to fi t external patterns of demand. responsiveness and commitment that is crucial The most successful growth occurred in to the experience of benefi ciaries (in other organisations with relatively narrow funding words, there are social diseconomies of scale). bases,28 challenging the typical assumption These factors may help to explain why many that a broad funding base is desirable. Many providers in fi elds like primary healthcare have organisations had to shift their orientation over tended to remain small (e.g. GPs), and why time, in particular towards the public sector organisations in many fi elds have adopted an which had become their primary source of ‘amoeba’ growth strategy – the multiplication revenue. of small independent units rather than growth of integrated organisations. 9.3. Organisational growth vs. social impact Most innovators and their backers want There can be no doubt that many social ‘their’ organisations to be the carriers of the innovations have been associated with pioneer innovation. They want to be far along the organisations (e.g. Amnesty, OU, Greenpeace, continuum of control, shaping how their BRAC). However, there are surprisingly few 28. Foster, W. and Fine, G. innovation evolves, and ensuring that they examples of major social innovations that are (2007) How nonprofi ts get really big. ‘Stanford Social receive due recognition (and sometimes strongly associated with organisational growth Innovation Review.’ 5 (2), fi nancial returns). Over the last decade, the (e.g. the many innovations associated with pp. 46-55. 29. See http://approtech.org/ growing interest in applying business-like human rights, ecology, feminism, disability 30. For a more detailed analysis investment models to the social sector has rights, micro-credit or intermediate technology of the ways in which social reinforced this bias, since organisational growth emerged from a huge diversity of different change happens, and how new ideas overcome is likely the most reliable way of receiving a organisations). Indeed it sometimes appears barriers of interest, culture measurable return for any investment in the as if innovators themselves, and their funders, and power, see The Young Foundation (2007) ‘Social development of an innovation. There has also sometimes risk an illusion of control, believing Innovation.’ Oxford: Said been growing interest in taking models of that this is the best way to achieve impact Business School. pp. 17-19. franchising and licensing from the commercial when often it could be achieved through looser 31. Lester and Piore claim that interpretative processes to the social sector, with the same goal of approaches to diffusion. are the key to successful combining economic and social objectives. innovation but are often neglected. See Lester, R. and Piore, M. (2004) ‘Innovation However there are many reasons for being – The Missing Dimension.’ Cambridge, MA: Harvard sceptical about the assumptions that social 10. Changing how societies think: the University Press. and economic goals can easily be integrated ultimate goal of scaling up and that growing organisations is the best way to achieve social impact. Although in If organisational growth is one of the most some cases social and economic objectives visible ways in which social innovations spread, have been combined in a single organisation the other main route to impact is subtler, (as, for example, with Language Line or but if anything more powerful. Many of the The Big Issue, or international examples like organisations covered in our case studies Mondragon, BRAC and APPROTECH)29 there changed how societies think. They embodied are often sharp trade-offs between the goals and promoted radically different ideas – like of social impact and the goal of achieving a the idea of lifelong learning, the idea of the fi nancial or reputational return. For example, very poor being entrepreneurs, or the idea that economic imperatives may point organisations everyone can produce their own media. These towards rejecting diffi cult clients, avoiding risk ideas could only be widely understood because and avoiding radical advocacy. By contrast, organisations demonstrated their practical social objectives may mean chasing down worth. But their greatest impact came from the hard problems and taking risks that others will ideas being taken up by others until ultimately not consider. Also, when it comes to deciding they became part of a changed ‘common on an optimum scale, economic and social sense’.30 considerations can point in opposite directions. Successful social innovation depends, in Economics provides one lens for thinking other words, on a series of reinterpretations, about scale as a balance between economies by practitioners, benefi ciaries, funders and and diseconomies of scale (and scope). the wider public.31 Sometimes these happen But social returns to scale may point in a quietly, as for example in the radical rethinking different direction. For example, Wikipedia of health over the last two decades where

22 paradigms focused on specifi c illnesses studies, and the organisations associated with and cures have been partially displaced by them, had to be optimised for its own context. paradigms based on wellness. Sometimes they happen through argument. The more a social When systemic change does occur, it is often innovation falls outside the cultural mainstream the result of the mutual adaptation of many the more ‘re-interpretation’ will be needed for different organisations, often inspired by it to be accepted, and the harder it may be to similar ideas, rather than from the plan of get traction, or to mobilise effective demand, any one. In most examples of true systemic no matter how effective the supply. Yet when change (such as the current attempts to reinterpretation is successful, it achieves radically cut carbon emissions in cities, or impact far beyond the direct impact of any transport systems, or creation of systems of organisation.32 care for young children or the elderly), political leadership has played a decisive role. There are Some of the academic work on innovation a few exceptions in countries where states are has pointed to the importance of this sort of unusually weak (notably Bangladesh, where interpretation and reinterpretation in helping BRAC and Grameen have played roles played innovations spread.33 These processes can elsewhere by governments), and in cases where be rough and messy. However, clashing with disruptive technologies have provided radically dominant values may help to strengthen the new infrastructures. But systemic change innovation and the commitment of those remains rare and far beyond the capability of 32. For example, persuading a society to see drug users as associated with it. Sometimes, different individual innovators or institutions. However in need of care rather than reinterpretations come together (rather as new this point perhaps only reinforces our earlier prison; or seeing farmers as guardians of land rather thinking on health with its emphasis on diet conclusion, since it confi rms the power of than just as food producers; and exercise is combining with new thinking on ideas, and in particular the power of ideas that or seeing children as having rights. sustainability that emphasises local sourcing can fi nd many owners and many interpreters. 33. Strang, D. and Soule, and a return to walking and cycling). In these S. (1998) Diffusion in Organisations and Social cases the key innovations concern ‘scripts’ or Movements: From Hybrid models of behaviour – like separating rubbish Corn to Poison Pills. ‘American Review of out for recycling or children acting as ‘energy 11. Conclusions – the challenge of being Sociology.’ 24, pp. 265-290. spies’ tracking wasteful practices in their in sync 34. Nooteboom, B. (2000) homes and schools – as well as products and ‘Learning and Innovation 34 in Organisations and services. The successful growth of social innovations Economies.’ Oxford: Oxford depends on effective demand and effective University Press. These processes of change do not easily supply coming together. In an ideal world, 35. Leat, D. (2003) ‘Replicating Successful Voluntary fi t into the standard economic templates every innovation would benefi t from the Sector Projects.’ London: for understanding growth. The concepts of recognition of a burning need; a track Association of Charitable Foundations. p. 55. externalities, market failure, transaction costs, record of verifi able success; consumers information asymmetries, are relevant in part. (and organisations) willing to pay for it; and But they are of little use in explaining the ways entrepreneurs and organisations with the in which social innovation depends on changes right mix of people, capital and positioning in preferences, changes in knowledge and to put the innovation into practice and then learning, and changes in relationships. grow it. However, these conditions rarely exist simultaneously, and it is never enough 10.1. Systems change to ‘build a better mousetrap’. Demand for the Achieving fundamental change in one of mousetrap has to be cultivated too and people the major systems that shape everyday life may even need to be persuaded that mice are such as food, education, health or energy, is worth catching in the fi rst place.35 the ultimate goal of some social innovators. However in our case studies, as in other Most promising social innovations fail to research, there were no examples of true grow. Some innovations may fi nd a very systemic innovation being led by a single marginal niche for a period while others may person or organisation. Some of the case fi nd a number of islands of support but fail to studies did achieve very substantial change combine these into signifi cant scale and some within a major system, but even the impact may never get beyond being a good idea. of bodies such as AA or OhmyNews are not in the same scale as the impact of truly systemic However, careful attention to the conditions innovations like parliamentary democracy, the of demand and supply, and to the options Internet, integrated childcare or zero carbon for strategy can improve the prospects cities. Moreover each innovation in our case for innovations to achieve their potential. Sometimes that will involve defi ning, refi ning

23 and formalising the innovation and spreading innovators themselves, less chance to spread it as a model with precisely specifi ed elements, risk, and consequently a likely under-supply of stages, training support, quality assurance and capital for developing innovative models. formal evidence. That potential is as likely to be realised through emulation and directed There are some initiatives in place around diffusion as through organisational growth. the world that are seeking to speed up Indeed, in some cases, if innovators and the adoption and growth of successful funders try to control too much, or to hoard innovations. This role has at times been played credit, they may stand in the way of achieving by organisations like the Organisation for the greatest social impact. That said, the case Economic Co-operation and Development for an innovation is generally far better made (OECD) and the European Commission through the example of a real organisation (through benchmarking and learning than through an abstract argument. collaboratives), and by groupings of cities, consultancies, websites and through NGO To be truly in sync may often be a matter of and professional networks. Recent examples luck: but patient innovators help to make their include the Clinton Global Initiative’s attempts own luck. to speed up the development and application of new technologies and techniques to tackle Our analysis has also pointed to the systematic HIV/AIDS, and more recently, to cut carbon 36. For an interesting recent weaknesses that inhibit the diffusion, emissions in the major cities.37 However, the overview of scaling up from a foundation perspective, replication or scaling up of social innovations. methods of observing, analysing, and then using ideas from complexity The examples we have focused on have transferring or adapting innovations, are theory, see Pearson, K. A. (2006) ‘Accelerating generally succeeded. But even their successes still underdeveloped and there are relatively our Impact: Philanthropy, highlight: few people who have specialised in these Innovation and Social Change.’ The J.W. McConnell intermediary roles. Family Foundation. [online] • Weak incentives for public agencies and Available from: http:// mcconnellfoundation. NGOs to copy or fund more effective These are not problems that will be solved ca/utilisateur/documents/ alternative models; overnight. But governments, foundations, EN/Initiatives/Sustaining %20Social%20Innovation/ businesses and innovators themselves can Accelerating_our_Impact.pdf • The absence of intermediary bodies and collaborate to put these defi ciencies right, to 37. See http://www. clintonglobalinitiative.org/ networks that specialise in connecting supply evolve more mature social innovation systems, NETCOMMUNITY/Page. and demand; and thereby improve the prospects of good aspx?&pid=895&srcid=-2 ideas reaching their full potential. • The relative absence of resources for social research and development;

• Lack of access to capital to fund growth in social organisations; and

• Under-developed labour markets for managers to oversee growth.

These factors explain why there are often relatively few copiers even of successful innovations – the copiers themselves face many of the same problems even if they have been gifted a working idea. This is also why organisations with strong commitments to particular innovations are more likely to predominate, and to have the perseverance to get through obstacles and downturns.36

The immaturity of the social innovation system means that there are almost no organisations, whether investors or development bodies, able to put together balanced portfolios of innovations combining incremental and lower risk ones with higher risk but potentially higher reward ones. The result is a higher than necessary level of risk for funders and

24 Annex 1: A guide for social innovators and investors

Growing social innovations is never easy. There Step 1: What is the essential nature will always be strong barriers in the way, vested of the innovation, and what need is it interests who feel threatened, and experts trying to address? who are convinced that the new idea will never work. Indeed, innovators will nearly always be • What are its core components – and which weaker than the incumbents they are seeking aspects are peripheral? to infl uence or displace. • Can it be clearly specifi ed, and differentiated This makes it all the more important that those from alternatives? involved in social innovation are smart about how they make the most of their strengths • What crucial insights or hunches is it based and how they address their defi ciencies. That on? means thinking clearly about the nature of their innovation, the nature of the environment • Is it rooted in particular local circumstances they are operating in, and the consequent – history, culture, or a charismatic individual organisational and strategic choices open to – or is it potentially more widely replicable? them. How much of it is replicable, and how much will need to be locally adapted? How do you This guide is an aid for thought and know? conversation that has been designed to help innovators, funders, and anyone involved in • Crucially, too, what is its main purpose and the governance of innovation, to think more what would count as success? rigorously about choices and possible journeys to success. It is not a blueprint or a mechanistic guide. Indeed, one of the strong messages of this report is that all real examples of social Step 2: Understanding ‘push’ and ‘pull’ innovation are highly contextual. What counts as effective supply or demand depends very Effective demand much on the specifi cs of the situation. These • Recognition: how much general social are also reasons why we have not proposed any recognition of the need is there? Is the fi eld generic quantifi cation of the factors discussed a policy priority? Is that priority national, below. regional or local?

However, despite these recognised limitations, • Purchasing commitment: how much the guide asks important questions and should commitment to purchasing and funding is prompt the development of strategies with a there from organisations and individuals with better chance of success, as well as sometimes money? What evidence is there of willingness bringing out less obvious options. to pay?

• Interpretative fi t: how easily can potential backers understand the innovation; does it fi t their mental models; how much

25 ‘re-interpretation work’ or ‘translation’ is Figure 4: The Growth Map needed?

• Weak opposition: how hostile are vested HIGH interests relative to supporters and champions? A B

43. Peak production of North Effective supply Sea oil occurred in 1997, and fell • ten per cent in 2004, and 12.8 Effi cacy: how effective is the innovative new per cent in 2005 – the largest model in relation to a targeted niche? decrease of any oil exporting nation in the world. 44. The importance of • Proof: what evidence is there for its innovation in the UKCS has effi cacy? How much practical experience can been recognised by the UK C D Government, for example, DTI be pointed to? (2007), Innovation and Energy,

speech by Rt Hon Alistair Darling innovation (’pull’) demand for Effective MP, Secretary of State for Trade • Economy: is its cost structure appropriate and Industry, University of – and potentially scalable? How capital LOW Aberdeen, 23rd March. intensive is it? LOW Effective supply of innovation (’push’) HIGH 45. United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association (2007), 2006 Activity Survey, (UKOOA, • Compatibility: is it simple, adaptable, London). 46. Ibid. compatible with relevant contexts? 47. Ibid. 48. ExxonMobil had revenues of • Competition: how strong are the potential When starting from unpromising beginnings in $365 billion in 2006, while BP had revenues of almost $266 competitors? the bottom left hand corner, innovators have billion; see ExxonMobil (2006), to be guileful: fi nding champions, networks 2006 Financial & Operating Review, (ExxonMobil, Irving, • Champions: are there networks of or organisations to act as allies; persuading Texas), and BP (2006), Annual supporters, champions and collaborators? research funding bodies or foundations to Report and Accounts 2006, (BP, London). fi nance pilots or experiments; or seeking out 49. ConocoPhillips had revenues • Codifi cation: has the innovation been niches, islands where the innovation can grow of $188 billion in 2006, see turned into easily followed steps, elements on a small scale without exciting the opposition ConocoPhillips (2006), 2006 Annual Report, (ConocoPhillips, and modules, including training support, of powerful interests. Houston, Texas). advice, etc? 50. Talisman had revenues of $10 billion in 2006, see Talisman Where the innovation sits will limit the range of Energy (2006), 2006 Annual organisational options (see continuum below) Report Summary, (Talisman Energy, Calgary, Alberta). – that are feasible. Licensing and franchising 51. According to UKOOA the Step 3: Plotting a journey across the are only viable with fairly well developed share of UK production across Growth Map models and some evidence – or alternatively majors, independents and small oil companies was about 60 per access to specialised sources of funding. cent, 35 per cent, and fi ve per The next step is to consider alternative Federations are only viable if there are likely to cent respectively in 1999, but by 2006 this had become 50 strategies and organisational forms for getting be many enthusiastic local branches. Takeover percent, 40 per cent and ten per from the initial position to the top right hand may be a sensible strategy if growth depends cent, see p.28, United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association corner of the Growth Map. The strategies on resources that are unlikely to be within the (2006), Energy Now and for need to address weaknesses in the previous reach of any new organisation. the Future, UKOOA Economic Report 2006, (UKOOA, London). dimensions, for example: 52. Schlumberger had revenues of $19 billion in 2006, while Halliburton had revenues of • If the innovation falls on the left hand $22 billion, see Schlumberger side, the main priority may be to develop (2007), 2006 Annual Report, (Schlumberger, Houston, Texas), the innovation, building up evidence and and Halliburton (2007), 2006 credibility, fi nding options for trialling and Annual Report, (Halliburton, Houston, Texas). demonstrating the idea in practice.

• If it falls on the right hand side the priority is more likely to be to work on the climate of opinion, or to target key funders and decision makers.

26 Figure 5: A spectrum of models of diffusion and growth

LOW Levels of control over what, who, where and how HIGH

Uncontrolled More directed Takeover or Organisational diffusion diffusion by a emulation by a growth ‘parent’ organisation more powerful organisation Promotion through formal networks Multiplication including federations Licensing Franchising

The following table develops this issues like access to capital, IP, organisational organisational continuum and indicates the capacity, control over key relationships) and main characteristics of each option. The chief how much you want to control (recognising consideration for innovators is to consider that looser models of diffusion may achieve how much you can control (which depends on more social impact).

Table 1: Characteristics of various models of diffusion and growth

Directed diffusion: Uncontrolled diffusion Promotion Licensing Federations Franchising Absorption/ Take-over Organisational growth

Control of None Low/Med Med High High Low High decision making Control of None Low/Med Med High High Low High direction Standardisation Low Low/Med Med High High Unknown High of content Importance of IP Low Med High Med High Unknown High

Defi ned fi nancial Low Low High Med High High High relationships Resources/capital Low Low Low/Med Med Med/High Med High required Degree of local High High Med High Low Low Low ownership Crossing national Feasible Feasible Easy Hard Hard Feasible Hard boundaries

27 Step 4: How to learn, adapt and ensure maximum social impact

Having implemented the strategy and organisational form most appropriate to expanding the innovation, innovators need to think ahead about how best to achieve social impact. These questions often get missed as pressures to grow the organisation take precedence over focus on effectiveness or impact. Issues to consider include:

• What systems of measurement are in place to record and assess success?

• How is the public or social benefi t being defi ned?

• What feedback is received from those using the innovation – are there systems in place to acknowledge and respond to this?

• How will changes in the original need be monitored?

• How will account be taken of new and competing innovations which are superior?

• How will unexpected results be documented and used or responded to?

These questions are inherently harder to answer during the early stages of an innovation’s life: but they are particularly important for funders or governance bodies to consider.

28 Annex 2: Case Studies

Case Study 1: Hearing Aids 38. Lamb, B. ‘Public Sector Reform – Audiology Name MHAS – Modernisation of Hearing Aids Services. Services.’ Director of Communications, RNID presentation. 2005. Date founded Initial research in 1999. Programme launched 2000. 39. RNID (2005) ‘Sustaining your Modernised Audiology Service.’ London: RNID. Location UK. [online] Available from: http://www.rnid.org. uk/VirtualContent/85414/ Purpose Modernisation of audiology services in the UK and provision of digital MHAS_PPP__HD_leafl et_ hearing aids. PDF_fi nal_version_May_ 2005.pdf 40. It should be noted that the Means of scaling up Lobbying to create a receptive climate and unique partnership with cost per digital hearing aid the Department of Health to modernise NHS hearing aid services varied on a downward scale over the lifetime of the across the UK. scheme. 41. Lamb, B. ‘Public Sector Reform – Audiology Services.’ Director of Communications, RNID Need Idea presentation. 2005. The RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf Research conducted by the RNID in 1999 42. Ibid. People) was keen to address the fact that new and work done around the same time in the technology was not reaching up to 2 million professional community suggested that a NHS hearing aids users. People who wanted wholesale change in the provision of hearing digital hearing aids (Digital Signal Processing aids was required both in terms of the or DSP) were paying as much as £2,500 to technology that was available and the way in purchase them privately.38 RNID identifi ed the which it was delivered. potential of the NHS to use its bulk purchasing power to drive down the cost of digital hearing The RNID proceeded to launch a large- aids and supply them to NHS patients. Prior scale lobbying campaign to encourage the to modernisation, people in need of hearing Government to provide more funding for aids were fi tted with analogue models that had audiology services, and particularly for the developed little since the 1970s. In addition, development and provision of advanced digital lack of technical expertise and patchy follow- hearing aids. They used national and local press up support meant that at least one third of and direct mail appeals to 300,000 supporters. patients fi tted with old analogue hearing aids 50,000 postcards and letters were sent to did not use them because they offered little Ministers and MPs, and efforts generated benefi t.39 The RNID argued that there was no major media coverage on the long waiting lists existing opportunity in the NHS to change so for poor hearing aids, provoking questions many lives so radically at such a low per capita about the issue during two Parliamentary cost (£7540; less than a day in hospital or a debates.42 Through negotiations with the week in care).41 Department of Health (DoH), RNID succeeded in securing £125 million to ensure large scale

29 modernisation of services over a fi ve-year collection and was independently evaluated period. by the University of Manchester and the Medical Research Council’s Institute of Hearing The next step in this initiative was very Research in Nottingham. Evidence gathering unusual; RNID was asked by the Government was an important part of the process of scaling to manage the process of modernisation, up, because without adequate evidence the alongside the DoH.43 This was the fi rst time Government would not have been prepared to 43. Beckman, A. (2004) a voluntary organisation had been asked to invest in the next stage of the programme. Modernising NHS Hearing Aid Services in England. co-manage such a large-scale project with a ‘ENT News.’ 12 (6), [online] Government department. The Modernising The wider political context and timing for the Available from: http://www. pinpointmedical.com/ NHS Hearing Aid Services (MHAS) programme programme’s introduction was important to uploads/pdfs/350A.pdf was launched by the DoH in the Spring of its success. The initiative came at a time when 44. RNID (2005) ‘Sustaining 2000. the Government was keen to test the concepts your Modernised Audiology Service.’ London: RNID. of third sector involvement in the provision [online] Available from: The cost of digital hearing aids at the time of public services and of private-public http://www.rnid.org. uk/VirtualContent/85414/ was £2,500 per unit – a prohibitive cost for partnership. The hearing aids initiative also MHAS_PPP__HD_leafl et_ most patients that prevented widespread fi tted into a wider ethos at the time of not just PDF_fi nal_version_May_ 2005.pdf public provision. More effi cient procurement addressing a specifi c health problem (hearing 45. Ibid. methods implemented by the RNID resulted in loss), but also enabling those previously 46. Beckman, A. (2004) a substantial cost reduction to as little as £55, disadvantaged by disability to lead more Modernising NHS Hearing 48 Aid Services in England. which meant that digital hearing aids could be independent lives. ‘ENT News.’ 12 (6), [online] provided free of charge through the NHS.44 Available from: http://www. pinpointmedical.com/ This was a major achievement but it became uploads/pdfs/350A.pdf apparent that wider changes were needed to 47. RNID (2005) ‘Sustaining maximise social impact. Providing the hearing Diffusion/scaling up your Modernised Audiology Service.’ London: RNID. aids required signifi cant staff training in fi tting In 2002-03, the DoH made a further £20 [online] Available from: and supplying, and investment in technology million available to continue the original http://www.rnid.org. uk/VirtualContent/85414/ to support the aids. This, in turn, exacerbated pilot sites and to modernise a Second Wave MHAS_PPP__HD_leafl et_ the need for greater capacity to meet increased of 45 additional sites.49 In February 2003, PDF_fi nal_version_May_ 2005.pdf demand for the new hearing aids in a timely an additional £94 million was provided 48. Lamb, B. ‘Public Sector manner, and waiting lists grew signifi cantly.45 to complete the programme in England Reform – Audiology Services.’ Director of by the end of March 2005. By the end of Communications, RNID Similar audiology modernisation has taken October 2003, just over 100,000 people had presentation. 2005. place in Wales and Northern Ireland and the digital hearing aids fi tted under the MHAS 49. Beckman, A. (2004) 50 Modernising NHS Hearing process in Scotland will be complete by the end programme. At the end of the modernisation Aid Services in England. of 2007. process in April 2005, when RNID management ‘ENT News.’ 12 (6), [online] Available from: http://www. of the programme ceased and funding had pinpointmedical.com/ been incorporated into general NHS allocation, uploads/pdfs/350A.pdf 50. Ibid. 165 Trusts had been modernised including over 51. Lamb, B. ‘Public Sector Implementation 350 audiology clinics and £520,000 worth of Reform – Audiology A sum of £11 million was dedicated to 20 pilot digital aids had been fi tted for over 400,000 Services.’ Director of Communications, RNID areas offering services for both adults and people. Today, more than one million people presentation. 2005. children. The pilot areas were set up to test have been fi tted with digital aids.51 In June 52. RNID (2004) ‘RNID wins most innovative charity whether it was possible for the NHS to provide 2004 the RNID won the Best Charity Award for award.’ London: RNID. digital hearing aids combined with more up-to- the modernisation of hearing aids services.52 [online] Available from: http://www.rnid.org.uk/ date rehabilitation and fi tting services. Given mediacentre/press/2004/ the previous lack of investment in audiology rnid_wins_most_innovative_ charity_award.html services, these pilots were also intended to give the DoH an understanding of how much these Challenges additional and necessary services were likely to The most important challenge faced in the cost if rolled out on a large scale.46 programme’s expansion was a direct result of its success. Because of the publicity The pilots were found to provide signifi cant surrounding it, there was a hugely increased benefi ts to both adults and children. There demand for the new hearing aids, and MHAS was long-standing evidence suggesting that struggled to maintain the capacity to deliver taking time to fi t and support users led to them. In fact, some audiology departments signifi cantly improved experiences, and one complained of patients demanding DSP aids of the successes of the new programme was when they were not medically appropriate. that time was set aside to do this.47 This MHAS Further complaints were made about patients’ pilot was monitored through rigorous data

30 raised expectations, through word of mouth, of services. A decision was made that those who the aids’ effectiveness.53 had been fi tted with a new hearing aid within the last three years would not be eligible and A further challenge for the programme was those who already had the old style hearing the increased amount of time patients spent aids would also not be eligible (unless they in the clinic ensuring that their new hearing were reassessed and found to have an urgent aids were fi tted correctly. Unfortunately, need for a new hearing aid). According to there was at the time an inadequate number Professor Adrian Davis, this was a diffi cult but of trained audiologists available to provide necessary decision given the funding context in this service, and given the huge growth in which the MHAS was operating.59 demand for the aids, an increase in waiting times was inevitable. Professor Adrian Training audiology staff in the correct Davis, who was involved from the start in protocols for fi tting the hearing aids was a very evaluating the programme, highlights the important element of the programme’s success. lack of graduates employed at that time in Many staff had had very limited training in the audiology service and the diffi culties this the past due to the same lack of investment presented in the training process. One method in the service that had resulted in the problem of addressing this was to increase the role of that they were trying to overcome. Training audiology assistants, who took over some of programmes were standardised to ensure that the more routine tasks normally undertaken by staff were able to provide the same level of 53. Whiteside, C. (2001) 54 60 ‘RNID Digital Hearing audiologists. care to all patients. Notably, adhering to the Aid Campaign – another protocols of the programme also contributed perspective.’ Letter to Robert Key MP. [online] Two innovative solutions were found to address to lengthening the waiting lists that were Available from: http://www. the lack of capacity, the fi rst via a Public preventing it from delivering hearing aids to robertkey.com/soap/con- 0013.htm Private Partnership (PPP). Capacity in the more patients. 54. Interview with Professor private sector was used to meet some of the Davis, 5 April 2007. demand created by the programme’s success. 55. Beckman, A. (2004) Modernising NHS Hearing This was piloted in Shropshire and Leeds under Aid Services in England. a scheme involving four hundred patients.55 ‘ENT News.’ 12 (6), [online] Available from: http://www. The guidelines that had been developed under pinpointmedical.com/ the MHAS programme were used to train uploads/pdfs/350A.pdf existing private hearing aid dispensers. NHS 56. RNID (2005) ‘Sustaining your Modernised Audiology patients on the waiting lists were offered the Service.’ London: RNID. opportunity to see a private dispenser at no [online] Available from: http://www.rnid.org. cost. These pilots were evaluated and found uk/VirtualContent/85414/ to be successful, and paved the way for a MHAS_PPP__HD_leafl et_ PDF_fi nal_version_May_ National Framework Agreement between the 2005.pdf NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and two 57. Ibid. private hearing aid dispensing companies. As a 58. Ibid. 59. Interview with Professor result, negotiations were not necessary at the Davis, 5th April 2007. local level every time an NHS patient needed to 60. Beckman, A. (2004) access private hearing aid services.56 Modernising NHS Hearing Aid Services in England. ‘ENT News.’ 12 (6), [online] The second solution to capacity challenges Available from: http://www. pinpointmedical.com/ involved NHS Direct. Telephone support was uploads/pdfs/350A.pdf provided to patients by specially trained advisors through a new service called Hearing Direct.57 Patients could call in and ask questions about hearing services locally and receive after-care support 8-12 weeks after initially being fi tted with their aid. The telephone advisors could assess whether or not patients needed to return to a clinic, thus reducing pressure on audiology departments and shortening waiting times.58

Finally, completing the modernisation process threw up other important dilemmas. One of the fundamental questions, given funding limitations, was who should be eligible for the

31 Case Study 2: Extended Schools

Name Education Extra developed into The Extended Schools Support Service (TESSS).

Date founded Education Extra was formed in 1992. In 2003, it joined with the Community Education Development Centre (CEDC) to form ContinYou; it oversees The Extended Schools Support Service.

Location UK.

Purpose Education Extra campaigned for, and promoted, the importance of extended schooling in the UK (a range of services and activities beyond the school day to help meet the needs of children and young people, their families and the wider community) with the intention of securing government funding and making it a country-wide education policy.

Means of scaling up After initial evidence gathering and pilot schemes, Education Extra secured the backing of Government to take the initiative country- wide.

Need Idea In the UK, there was a growing recognition The initiative for schools to provide a range of 61. Wilkin, A., White, R. and that schools could not solve the problems services and activities, beyond the school day Kinder, K. (2003) ‘Towards Extended Schools: A associated with social exclusion and multiple to help meet the needs of children and young Literature Review.’ London: disadvantage on their own. Rather, there was people, their families and the wider community, National Foundation for Educational Research, a need for the ‘availability and accessibility’ was conceived as a means to tackle social RR432. [online] Available of specialist advice in addition to school exclusion and multiple disadvantage. Schools from: http://www.dfes. gov.uk/research/data/ staff to promote and support out-of-school- were encouraged to work in partnership uploadfi les/RR432.pdf hours learning and activity opportunities. with other organisations across the private, 62. Ibid. Strong school-family-community links were voluntary and community sectors to offer 63. DCSF (2007) ‘Extended Schools: Building on emphasised as was parental involvement in childcare and to provide other activities and Experience.’ London: DCSF. children’s learning in literacy and numeracy. support for children and parents to help them [online] Available from: http://www.continyou. The primary benefi ciaries of extended achieve their full potential. This included org.uk/article_print. schooling were both school children and also providing access for children and parents to php?ArticleID=930 the wider community, as the local population specialist services on school sites.63 can take advantage of services provided by extended schools, such as computer training The inspiration for Extended Schools came and adult learning.61 from organisations like Education Extra, which was founded in 1992 and joined forces with Prior to its UK roll-out, the main sources of the Community Education Development Centre research on extended schools existed in the (CEDC) to form ContinYou in 2003. Extended US, where extended or full-service schools Schools offers support to schools and Local developed over the last 20 years. Literature Authorities in providing extended school from the US highlighted that existing schools services through The Extended Schools Support and education systems were failing in their Service (TESSS). Extended Schools has now contemporary contexts, as they could no longer become a part of Government policy and by meet the complex needs of their students. The 2010 all schools will be required to provide move to full service schooling was therefore access to extended services. Half of all primary part of a more holistic approach to providing schools and a third of all secondary schools support for the educational, social, emotional are expected to provide access to extended and physical needs of students. A key theme is services by 2008. that needs should not be met in isolation, or by particular institutions acting alone.62

Implementation Education Extra was founded as a charity in 1992 by Michael Young, who appointed

32 Kay Andrews, a former policy advisor to Neil the profi le of after-school activities. It also Kinnock, to head and develop the initiative. further helped to establish and build up the Little was known or understood about what network of supporters and schools involved was happening in after-school activities in in the initiative.68 It was around this time England at the time. One of the fi rst tasks was, – the mid 1990s – that the then Conservative therefore, to fi nd out what activities children Government started putting more money into were involved in after school and why teachers after-school childcare. were providing those particular activities. It quickly became apparent that there was a huge For Kay Andrews what was crucial to the opportunity for children and schools to use establishment of Education Extra was securing school space and time more effectively.64 a funding base from a variety of sources, creating a synergy around the evidence-base, Before Education Extra was established, and building a culture of ‘doing’ and ‘learning’. there had been a range of initiatives in the By the time core funding was secured later UK, including local programmes such as the on from the DfES, Education Extra already village-college approach of the 1920s, which knew what activities different partners and were seen as forerunners to more strategic organisations would fund. This saved time interventions in extended school services and enabled them to focus on developing and like Community Schools.65 In Scotland during expanding learning outcomes of after-school the late 1990s, the idea of New Community activities through local co-operation with other 64. Interview with Baroness Kay 69 Andrews, 13th April 2007. Schools was in the early stages of conception, bodies and organisations local to schools. 65. Wilkin, A., White, R. and founded on the notion that a range of services Kinder, K. (2003) ‘Towards Extended Schools: A is necessary to help children overcome barriers Literature Review.’ London: to learning. The New Community Schools National Foundation for Educational Research. initiative also advocated the need for “a clear Diffusion/scaling up RR432. [online] Available policy focus on linking education, health and For Andrews, the scaling up began in earnest in from: http://www.dfes. gov.uk/research/data/ social services and a signifi cant and innovative 1995 after she challenged the then Secretary uploadfi les/RR432.pdf attempt to use a community based approach to of State for Education, Gillian Shepherd, to 66. Ibid. modernise schools, raise attainment, improve consider how after-school care could be turned 67. Interview with Baroness Kay health and promote social inclusion.”66 into after-school learning. DfES subsequently Andrews, 13th April 2007. provided funding, and partnerships were 68. Ibid. 69. Ibid. Through local and regional partnerships, set up between twelve schools and Local 70. Ibid. Education Extra initially raised money to Authorities and the Government, to further fund project work in Bristol and East Leeds develop after-school learning. These twelve to build understanding around the situation schools essentially became the fi rst pilot at a local level and to demonstrate and learn schools, establishing a partnership between what could be achieved through extended Government and Education Extra. With state schooling. Education Extra stressed the need backing and additional funding from the Paul to gather a strong evidence-base to support Hamlyn Foundation, Baring Foundation and the claims that extended schools were having others, Education Extra was expanded, building positive effects. Evidence of effectiveness relationships with additional schools, local helped garner support and backing to take the partners and Local Authorities. initiative forward.67 Even with preliminary government backing, Through this process, Education Extra started timing was still important in getting projects to map what schools were doing at a local level, off the ground. As Andrews acknowledges: and began to establish close contacts with the “The point about dealing with the voluntary schools, helping to develop a professional base sector is that if you have a good idea it’s and network for learning and sharing ideas. absolutely useless unless it’s the right time The introduction of a national award scheme for the idea. Ten years ago I wanted to start early in the initiative, was the fi rst attempt cooking classes and clubs. It hasn’t just at recognising the good work that schools happened randomly; all the arguments were and teachers were already doing in this area. the same as ten years ago but no one was Twenty awards were given in the fi rst year out listening and it wasn’t a priority …. You can’t of some 300 applications. really allow for that when you are planning.”70

The award scheme played a crucial role in The signifi cant breakthrough came when New giving praise and positive reinforcement Labour entered Government in 1997. Money for existing school programmes, helping to from the New Opportunities Fund was secured boost morale, increase motivation, and raise to help fund the Extended School scheme. In

33 1998, with encouragement and funding from fairly static and revolved around providing the DfES, Education Extra quickly set up a 50- following:76 school pilot study support scheme. It was only a three-week scheme based around summer • High quality childcare provided on the school literacy projects. However, these pilots inspired site or through other local providers; more ideas for ‘excellence’ schemes, to be run during the summer in schools. The schemes • A varied menu of study support, such would be learning-based and more importantly, as homework clubs, catch-up provision, fun for the pupils and teachers involved.71 gifted and talented provision, sport, music Rewards were built into the schemes for the tuition, dance and drama, arts and crafts, children who participated and attendance rates visits to museums and galleries, foreign were very high. language classes, volunteering and enterprise activities, special interests clubs; 71. Ibid. Early on, it was recognised that giving schools 72. Ibid. control and ownership was vital to the • Swift and easy referral to specialist support 73. Mason et al. (1999) ‘Out of school hours learning successful spread of the Extended Schools services such as speech therapy, child and activities: an evaluation idea. As Andrews states: “the trick in those adolescent mental health services, family of 50 pilot study support schemes.’ London: National early schemes was … [that] the schools had support services, sexual health services; and Foundation for Educational total autonomy over the design of the scheme Research. RR178. [online] Available from: http://www. and we encouraged them to do their own • Wider community access to ICT, sports and dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/ evaluation. If we had tried to design a single arts facilities, and adult learning. RRP/u012766/index.shtml system that they all could use, it wouldn’t have 74. Available from: http:// www.dfes.gov.uk/ worked …We were never going to tell people Andrews says that it was always the intention achievingsuccess what to do. We were going to fi nd out what of Education Extra to get the Government 75. Dyson, A., Millward, A. and 72 Todd, L. (2002) ‘A study worked best and then spread it.” involved and by 2000 the organisation had of ‘extended’ schools achieved its original intentions to ‘awaken ideas demonstration projects.’ 73 London: DfES. RR381. The evaluation of the 50-school pilot scheme and potential’, and to energise and empower [online] Available from: led to the following recommendations: schools and the individuals within them to http://www.dfes.gov. uk/rsgateway/DB/RRP/ create new capacity and better use of existing u013725/index.shtml • Schools or Local Education Authorities resources for extended learning and activities.77 76. The Standards Site is (LEAs) should conduct an audit of current In 2003 Education Extra merged with the available from: http:// www.standards.dfes.gov. provisions and a needs analysis before any Community Education Development Centre, uk/studysupport/impact/ provision is set up; and forming ContinYou, to support schools in extendedschools/ 77. Interview with Baroness Kay developing extended learning opportunities for Andrews, 13th April 2007. • Schools or LEAs should appoint managers of a wide range of people in local communities. 78. Cummings et al. (2005) schemes and projects who have the authority ‘Evaluation of the Full Service Extended Schools and capacity at the strategic level to progress Having offered the initial set of core services, Project: End of First Year the provision. many schools started to diversify and as they Report.’ London: DfES. RR680. [online] Available acquired more projects and core funding, from: http://www.dfes.gov. The evaluation added impetus to spreading breakfast clubs, book clubs and other uk/rsgateway/DB/RRP/ u014137/index.shtml the idea of Extended Schools and by 2001 the after-hours activities were established. This 79. Interview with Baroness Kay Government White Paper, Schools: Achieving diversity in activity and multi-agency work Andrews, 13th April 2007. Success,74 followed by the 2002 Education Act, was something acknowledged as largely gave governing bodies the power to extend the benefi cial in early evaluations of FSES.78 range of services that schools could provide. After-school activities were becoming almost Capitalising on the political climate, in 2002 universal, mainly because schools were so the DfES funded the pilot ‘Extended School receptive to the ideas and the supporting Demonstration’ projects in Brighton and Hove, DfES infrastructure. This enabled the initiative Cambridgeshire and Durham. Subsequently, the to spread quickly and easily. Diffusion of the DfES stated that it would promote Extended initiative was also aided by the level of trust Schools but not fund the activities themselves. that Education Extra had placed in schools Rather, it would establish infrastructure to as central actors since the beginning, as well support the development of initiatives.75 This as the fact that the programme had always was followed in 2003 by the launch of the Full ensured that schools received recognition for Service Extended Schools (FSES) initiative, with their achievements.79 the aim that all schools should offer a core set of extended activities by 2010. Although there LEAs were quick to see the Extended Schools were signifi cant variations between schools, initiative as an opportunity to rethink the role the ‘core’ elements of an extended school were of schools in relation to pupils, families and communities. The majority of LEA offi cers

34 reported a positive impact from Extended However, this choice precluded the possibility Schools due to: improved service management and scope to create a nationwide umbrella and co-ordination; improved standards in organisation to ‘enable’ and support schools. school; extension of existing services and Although devolving activities and responsibility provision of new services; increased access to preserved the autonomy and ownership that services and more effective service delivery; schools wanted, it was at the expense of a increased school autonomy; and improved nationwide support network. Andrews argues meeting of children’s needs. Extended Schools that this was a mistake, because national supported specifi c interventions for young ‘at networking systems need to be in place to risk’ groups within schools and the community, make the spreading and sharing of best and this sometimes also helped to change practice easier, albeit driven from the bottom attitudes among parents, making them more up. No such systems now exist.84 likely to access facilities available at school sites. The integration of multiple community Further problems arose as the initiative came 80. Cummings et al. (2005) ‘Evaluation of the Full services around an extended school could also to be seen as too successful, which often Service Extended Schools lead to more effi cient delivery.80 put it at a disadvantage when applying for Project: End of First Year Report.’ London: DfES. alternative funding to other partnership RR680. [online] Available The Ofsted report, Extended services in schools organisations. Perhaps most problematic was from: http://www.dfes. 81 gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/ and children’s centres, added further weight the loss of control over what had originally RRP/u014137/index. to the success of Extended Schools and found been Education Extra’s greatest strength: shtml; Wilkin, A., Kinder, K., White, R., Atkinson, that the major benefi ts for children, young close working relationships with schools, local M. and Doherty, P. (2003) people and adults attending extended services organisations and individuals on the ground ‘Towards the development of extended schools.’ London: are enhanced self-confi dence, improved to help them to set up and develop extended National Foundation for relationships, raised aspirations and better services.85 Educational Research. RR 408. [online] Available from: attitudes to learning. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ For Andrews, there is an important lesson to be research/data/uploadfi les/ learnt: “Scaling up usually involves Government RR408.pdf 81. Ofsted (2006) ‘Extended money and working with complex partners that services in schools and Challenges have different kinds of objectives. It’s extremely children’s centres.’ London: Ofsted. HMI 2609. [online] There were a number of challenges around the important to be clear about your objectives Available from: http://www. spread and take up of the Extended Schools in relation to theirs and what it is that you ofsted.gov.uk/assets/ Internet_Content/ initiative. Education Extra faced internal would like to get out of it and why, how to Publications_Team/File_ challenges as it became quickly clear that maintain your relationship with people who attachments/extended2609. pdf the initiative needed to be realistic about ultimately will deliver it all for you, in our case, 82. Interview with Baroness Kay its own capacity to expand, particularly in schools. The schools have to go on trusting you Andrews, 13th April 2007. terms of strategic planning and staff skill irrespective of the fact that you are now a more 83. Ibid. sets. As Andrews said: “You could not keep senior and distant partner because you are 84. Ibid. 85. Interview with Baroness Kay on taking people on rather randomly because working with Government more. It’s got to be Andrews, 13th April 2007. you like the look of them and you like their very clear in everything you do that your values 86. Ibid. spirit. You need to look at their skill sets.”82 are still the same.”86 87. Ibid. However, the majority of the problems were not ‘organisational’, as the Extended Schools Working with Government to scale up an idea Scheme did not involve the introduction, can also mean that the types of evidence, implementation or growth of a new evaluation and expected outcomes may organisation. Rather, the scheme was about the begin to differ from those of the original spread of an idea and generating a receptive organisation. This was demonstrated in the case ‘educational’ environment, which brings with of Education Extra before they merged with it its own set of challenges around persuasion CEDC in 2003. Andrews was very aware that and weight of evidence to prove effectiveness. after-school learning could help to improve examination results, but from Education Extra Securing core funding from government perspective, there was little point in trying to brought its own problems, as schools became establish causal relationships between after- wary of government interference in their school activities and exam results. The DfES activities. This was echoed by the LEAs’, was very keen on trying to link improved exam community groups’ and local partners’ fear results to the initiative, but Education Extra felt that the initiative was losing independence as it was more important to acknowledge that it it was being scaled up. Education Extra made was the ‘soft’ indicators that counted.87 a conscious decision to devolve many activities to the local level in order to maintain distance Another initial challenge that Education Extra between the government and schools.83 faced was the lack of similar initiatives, either

35 nationally or internationally that it could draw were often infl uential in the success of a on for inspiration. Often moving the initiative school’s activities. LEAs also recognised the forward was a case of ‘learning by doing’ and need for effective management, as well as the using school staff as creatively as possible, crucial leadership role of the head teacher. drawing on the activities that schools were This recognition was important when trying already undertaking. to co-locate, integrate and work with partner organisations, such as those in health and 88. Ibid. Education Extra also faced diffi culties in social services, to expand extended services. 89. Dyson, A., Millward, A. and promoting the idea among schools that Co-operation and partnerships required Todd, L. (2002) ‘A study of ‘extended’ schools had no tradition of after-school activities, careful negotiation and management if a more demonstration projects.’ and where levels of community interest and effective and effi cient model of extended London: DfES. RR381. 93 [online] Available from: involvement were very low. These schools services was to be implemented. http://www.dfes.gov. needed more support as compared with those uk/rsgateway/DB/RRP/ u013725/index.shtml that had a strong tradition of organising 90. Cummings et al. (2005) extra-curricular activities. The latter became ‘Evaluation of the Full fl agship schools for Education Extra and Service Extended Schools 88 Project: End of First Year acted as beacons for others. Where properly Report.’ London: DfES. managed, extended activities are compatible RR680. [online] Available from: http://www.dfes. with a school maintaining high standards in its gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/ core business of raising student attainments. RRP/u014137/index.shtml; Wilkin, A., White, R. and Small-scale and school-focused extended Kinder, K. (2003) ‘Towards activities can be managed by schools without Extended Schools: A Literature Review.’ London: any signifi cant restructuring. However, where National Foundation for schools already face signifi cant challenges, Educational Research. RR432. [online] Available involvement in extended activities can impose from: http://www.dfes. an additional burden on school heads and gov.uk/research/data/ uploadfi les/RR432.pdf other teachers, diverting their energy from core 91. Wilkin, A., White, R. and responsibilities.89 Kinder, K. (2003) ‘Towards Extended Schools: A Literature Review.’ London: There still exist concerns at the school level National Foundation for Educational Research. about the extent to which schools can and RR432. [online] Available should be fully extended.90 School staff drew from: http://www.dfes. gov.uk/research/data/ attention to the risks of being overworked, uploadfi les/RR432.pdf and indicated that they had not received any 92. Dyson, A., Millward, A. and specifi c training relevant to the extended Todd, L. (2002) ‘A study of ‘extended’ schools services approach; they also felt that training demonstration projects.’ should be available. Some schools faced more London: DfES. RR381. [online] Available from: obvious physical challenges, including the lack http://www.dfes.gov. of children‘s facilities within catchment areas uk/rsgateway/DB/RRP/ u013725/index.shtml and lack of transport. These issues could be 93. Wilkin, A., Kinder, K., exacerbated by a lack of space and confl ict White, R., Atkinson, M. and Doherty, P. (2003) ‘Towards over the ownership of existing infrastructure the development of and sites, alongside insuffi cient resources in extended schools.’ London: 91 National Foundation for terms of school governance and fi nance. Educational Research. RR More extensive and ambitious activities 408. [online] Available from: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ generally require a dedicated management research/data/uploadfi les/ structure, though the cost of this can be offset RR408.pdf if the manager also has the task of fi nding additional funding. The larger the scope of extended activities, the more important it is for the school to be involved with supportive networks of other schools, community agencies and organisations. LEAs have proven to be critical in facilitating these networks.92

The implications for the management and running of schools that took up the initiative included expanded roles and increased responsibilities for school governors. Governors with good community connections and support

36 Case Study 3: The Big Issue

Name The Big Issue.

Date founded 1991.

Location London (originally). Now operates across the UK and internationally.

Purpose To provide homeless people with a means to generate income. The Big Issue is a street newspaper that homeless people purchase at 40-50 per cent of the cover price and then sell at profi t to the public.

Means of scaling up License franchises and establish internationally networked federations.

Need Implementation The Big Issue was founded to address the The connection with The Body Shop rising problem of visible street homelessness International was crucial from the start. The at a time of economic recession. St. Mungo’s Big Issue was set up as a business response 94. Start Ups (2007) ‘Success stories: The Big Issue.’ homeless charity estimated that on a typical to a social crisis, not as a charity, and it never [online] Available from: night, 1,275 people were sleeping rough in had statutory funding. The only start-up http://www.startups. 94 co.uk/The_Big_Issue. England. Seeking to avoid a paternalistic funding it received was from The Body Shop YQuyu8g.html top-down approach, they created a means of Foundation, and this imbued it with a culture 95. Ibid. empowering the homeless through fi nancial of profi tability. It is now fi nanced through 96. The Big Issue (2007) ‘About Us.’ [online] Available inclusion and self help. sales and advertising revenues, with surplus from: http://www.bigissue. revenues going to The Big Issue Foundation. com/bigissue.html Nigel Kershaw, Chief Executive of BIGInvest 97. Interview with Nigel Kershaw, 12th April 2007. and The Big Issue Foundation and Chair of The 98. Ibid. Idea Big Issue, stresses the advantage of not having 99. Real Business Online The Big Issue was established by John Bird set up the organisation as a charity, as it meant (2007) ‘What on earth are John Bird & Gordon and supported by Gordon Roddick of The there was no board of trustees to consult Roddick up to now?’ Body Shop. The concept was simple – a street before taking decisions, allowing boardroom [online]. Available from: http://www.realbusiness. newspaper, compiled by professionals and then decision-making to be unusually quick and co.uk/ARTICLE/FEATURE- sold to homeless people to sell on the street effective.97 What-on-earth-are-John- Bird-and-Gordon-Roddick- at a profi t, providing legitimate income for up-to-now/786.aspx some of society’s most vulnerable people. The Initially, The Big Issue was produced monthly, idea for the business came from Street News, but due to increasing demand from customers, a newspaper sold by homeless people in New it began to be produced on a fortnightly York, which Roddick saw when he was visiting basis. However, it lost money as a fortnightly the US. With the help of The Body Shop publication and in June 1993, the paper was International, Roddick and Bird launched The launched as a weekly. Nigel Kershaw attributes Big Issue in London in September 1991, initially success during the pilot stages of the magazine as a monthly publication.95 to the rapid way in which the business adapted its model at the onset.98 The Big Issue works by ‘badging up’ vendors, who have to complete a training period and Much of the magazine’s initial success can sign a vendor code of conduct in order to be attributed to founder John Bird. His receive an offi cial badge which they must entrepreneurial spirit, character and fl air, display at all times when selling the paper. They combined with the business acumen and are provided with an initial allocation of papers fi nancial backing of Gordon Roddick, made for on credit (in London they are given ten papers, a powerful team and was crucial for getting but this varies across the country). When they the business off the ground. However, Bird’s have sold these, they are able to buy copies of idiosyncratic style has also been blamed for the magazine upfront at a cost of 40-50 per diffi culties in the day-to-day running of the cent of the cover price, and keep their sales business. As Roddick says of Bird: “He refuses profi ts. The current price of The Big Issue is to accept the norms or rules of conventional £1.40 on which the vendor earns 80p.96 behaviour … a complete nightmare to deal with but entertaining, and things happen”.99 Bird admits to being “an entrepreneur, an ideas

37 man”100 and someone who likes risk: “You’ve formal agreements about the exact nature of got to be somebody who takes risks – with relationships with regional start-ups.105 your money and other people’s – but you can’t get frightened. I don’t lose any sleep over the The domestic expansion continued, to include risks I take. In fact I wouldn’t describe myself The Big Issue South West, founded in Bristol as a risk-taker – I’m reckless.”101 His tendency in November 1993, The Big Issue Cymru to start new initiatives and then move too soon (Wales) in Cardiff in May 1994, and Newcastle onto other projects contributed to fi nancial and the North East in September 1995.106 diffi culties, while his combative and ad hoc Editorial content was provided from London, management style often alienated staff. but, increasingly, the other titles found ways to adapt the magazine to their local market The decision in 2002 to have the magazine (The Big Issue Cymru, for example, published produced by a team straddling the London its content in Welsh). The regional coverage of 100. MacQueen, A. ( 2001) and Manchester Big Issues (previously two The Big Issue meant that the companies could Has The Big Issue’s founder become its separate companies) in an attempt to revive respond to local needs, adapting the basic biggest problem? ‘The the magazine in a ‘changing commercial principles to provide the best opportunities for Guardian’ 1st July 2001 107 [online] Available from: marketplace’, brought widespread criticism. It local people facing homelessness. http://society.guardian. also meant a cut back in staff and budgets.102 co.uk/homelessness/ story/0,,747207,00.html The Big Issue has always reinvested the money 101. Start Ups (2007) ‘Success it makes above its turnover back into the stories: The Big Issue.’ welfare of the vendors (usually around 14 per [online] Available from: http://www.startups. Diffusion/scaling up cent). There came a point when others wanted co.uk/The_Big_Issue. There was great demand for The Big Issue when to contribute funds to The Big Issue’s work, but YQuyu8g.html 102. Rowan, D. (2002) The it launched and this, according to Kershaw, as a company limited by share ownership, the Big Issue Struggles to was the main driver to scaling up the business. organisation was not able to accept donations. Survive. ‘The Times’ 17th May 2002. Its success attracted others who wanted to Therefore, in 1995 The Big Issue established a [online] Available from: establish their own versions of the magazine foundation as a separate organisation with its http://www.davidrowan. com/2002/05/times-big- in their own areas. In 1993 the management own governance structure, to which donations issues-struggle-to-survive. team were approached by Mel Young and Tricia could be made. In 2005, organisational html Hughes who wanted to set up The Big Issue changes were made to ensure that The Big 103. Interview with Nigel Kershaw, 12th April 2007. Scotland. John Bird was supportive in principle, Issue and The Big Issue Foundation shared 104. Ibid. but did not have the capacity at that moment common personnel and worked closely towards 105. Ibid. to undertake expansion himself. He therefore the same aims. Nigel Kershaw became Chief 106. The Big Issue (2007) ‘About Us.’ [online] encouraged Young and Hughes to establish Executive of the Foundation as well as Chair of Available from: http:// The Big Issue Scotland, which they did in June the company.108 www.bigissue.com/ bigissue.html of that year as an independent fortnightly 107. Interview with Nigel magazine. The Big Issue Scotland cost 50p with The fi nal arm of The Big Issue is BIGInvest (of Kershaw, 12th April 2007. 20p of the cover price going to the vendor.103 which Nigel Kershaw is also Chief Executive), 108. Ibid. which is a body that awards grant funding to 109. Ibid. Due to the speed with which the business other social enterprises. It is owned by the took off and its lack of capacity to expand Big Issue Company and comprises a team of when approached by those who wanted to fi nanciers from a range of sectors including take the model forward, a franchise licence private equity, the World Bank and social model evolved, to pave the way for domestic banks. It is a specialist company for social expansion. As Kershaw says: “People owning enterprise and differs from a social bank due the mission and licensing it out actually led to what Kershaw describes as its ability to to the growth of the business.”104 Although a be much more creative in the ways it lends licence or franchise agreement was planned, money.109 it never materialised, and when new start-ups took on the mission and values of The Big Issue, they did so without formal agreements or payment of a licence fee to the parent International Expansion company. Each region established its own After the initial success of the magazine, John separate company, which proved to be a very Bird soon had further ambitions for it. He effective way of rolling out the model and did not think it should merely be a domestic growing the business swiftly without funding enterprise, but an international one. In July from a central point. However, this mode 1994, The International Network of Street of expansion also had drawbacks, as it was Papers (INSP) was launched in London and diffi cult for the parent company to regain later joined the international department of control of publication due to the absence of The Big Issue in Scotland. The INSP Foundation

38 soon became a registered UK charity that sees the lack of central control as the main advises international members on how to set driver of their success internationally, but also up their own street newspapers or improve as an obstacle to regain control after power operation of existing ones. It also works to had been transferred.115 raise the profi le of the street paper movement more broadly. Until February 1997, the network was fi nanced by the European Commission.110 The INSP Foundation has hosted a number of Challenges 110. INSP (2007) ‘What is the INSP?’ [online] Available international conferences where members have John Bird, although providing the original from: http://www.street- been able to share experiences and expertise, drive behind The Big Issue, was also seen papers.org/11.htm and has proven crucial to supporting the as the magazine’s biggest liability. Financial 111. Messman, T. (1998) The Big Issue means big diffusion of ideas for street newspapers around woes and consequent restructuring of the business as usual. ‘Street the world. organisation have been blamed on his reckless Spirit.’ Reproduced on the Homeless People’s approach and his tendency to spend substantial Network. [online] Available This approach to international expansion resources on schemes for which he rapidly loses from: http://aspin. 116 asu.edu/hpn/archives/ (establishing advisory networks) enabled enthusiasm. Feb98/0112.html The Big Issue to encourage and foster other 112. Ewald, S. The Big Issue: street newspapers without having to retain His combative management style often Helping The Homeless Or Poverty Profi teers? central control or fi nancial liability. The Big alienated staff. As a former staff journalist ‘Change Links, Media Issue did itself attempt some expansion stated: “John could be a complete nightmare Wars?’ [online] Available from: http://www.change- into international markets, but with mixed – he would walk in ten minutes before press links.org/TheBigIssue.html success,111 and its attempt to move into time and demand that the cover be changed. 113. Ramesh, R. (1998) The Big Issue? Empowerment. ‘The the US was perhaps the most controversial. He can also be a bit of a bully, though he is Independent.’ 20th April According to some critics, when the magazine immensely charismatic. He preferred us to be 1998 [online] Available from: http://fi ndarticles. fi rst attempted to establish itself in New York, in a state of crisis, as he thought we’d be more com/p/articles/mi_ it was perceived as competing directly with cutting edge.”117 The decision in 2002 to have qn4158/is_19980420/ the existing street paper, Street News, which the magazine produced by a team straddling ai_n14158883 114. The Big Issue (2007) ironically was the original inspiration for The the London and Manchester publications ‘About Us.’ [online] Big Issue in the UK.112 brought widespread criticism. A former The Available from: http:// www.bigissue.com/ Big Issue senior journalist offered a different bigissue.html There was also a move to set up in San interpretation of Bird’s strategy to revive the 115. Interview with Nigel Francisco, which again was unsuccessful, magazine: “This is his programme, a chance to Kershaw, 12th April 2007. 116. MacQueen, A. ( 2001) partly due to strong competition from The San clear out everyone that he’s wanted to lose for Has the Big Issue’s Francisco Street Sheet edited by Paul Boden, a while. It will be a backbreaking blow for it as founder become its biggest problem? ‘The 118 and Street Spirit edited by Terry Messman. a quality magazine.” Guardian’ 1st July 2001 A fi nal attempt to establish The Big Issue in [online] Available from: http://society.guardian. Los Angeles also failed. Some critics have This blow to quality refers to the way in which co.uk/homelessness/ argued that these efforts went against the The Big Issue was regionally produced. As story/0,,747207,00.html 117. Rowan, D. (2002) The mission of the International Network of Street Andrew Jaspan, former managing director of Big Issue Struggles to Papers, which states that no paper should the magazine, said at the time: “The strength Survive. ‘The Times’ 17th May 2002. set itself against another member in direct of The Big Issue is that it isn’t a uniform, single [online] Available from: competition.113 issue publication, but is based round regional http://www.davidrowan. com/2002/05/times-big- editions, with each speaking to its area. I’d be issues-struggle-to-survive. The Big Issue fi nally achieved success in concerned if these reports are true: it would be html Australia, where The Big Issue Australia was a risky approach and I don’t know how it would 118. Ibid. set up in 1996 and has been operating ever impact on sales. By getting rid of the editor 119. Ibid. 120. Ibid. since.114 This success mainly lies in the start- and keeping just a couple of journalists here [in up funding and help from The Body Shop’s London], he’s neutered it.”119 Former staff lay franchise (and Gordon Roddick’s involvement) the blame fi rmly with Bird’s own role in The Big in Australia and the Australia Post. There Issue: “It’s founder’s syndrome. He set it up and are also successful versions of The Big Issue couldn’t let go, and really resented not being in South Africa, Namibia and Japan. Nigel a good enough editor to run the magazine. Kershaw attributes these successes to the fact As a result, he made his editors’ lives absolute that, aside from The Big Issue name, London hell.”120 does not control or fi nance international versions of the magazine (although the strength of the name and brand, and the ability to withdraw it from partners, does provide the London head offi ce with a reasonably strong mechanism of censure). In retrospect, Kershaw

39 Case Study 4: Reach Out! 121. Cantor C.H., Neulinger K. and De Leo D. (1999) Name Reach Out! (an initiative of the Inspire Foundation). Australian suicide trends 1964-1997: youth and beyond? ‘Medical Journal Date founded 1996 (offi cial launch 1998). Australia.’ 171, pp. 137-141. 122. Harrison, J., Moller, J. and Location Australia (now expanded to the US). Bordeaux, S. ‘Youth Suicide and Self-Injury Australia.’ Supplement to Issue 15. Purpose To tackle young people’s depression with a peer-to-peer approach. [online] Available from: http://www.nisu.fl inders. edu.au/pubs/bulletin15/ Means of scaling up Organic growth and international expansion. bulletin15sup.html 123. Mission Australia (2001) ‘Scope the Facts: Youth Suicide.’ [online] Available at http://www. missionaustralia.com. Need Heath took time off from his work in 1995 to au/cm/Resources/ In recent decades in Australia, as overall suicide consider his desire to address the increasing documents/SPR16_Youth %20Suicide%20Resource. rates were falling, suicide among men aged 15- problem of youth suicide in Australia. pdf 24 years has more than doubled. There was no Inspired by the immediacy and power of an 124. Sawyer et al. (2002) ‘Mental Health of Young change in suicide rates for women in the same online demonstration of Microsoft’s new People in Australia.’ age group.121 In 1995, there were 434 suicide online developments, and through ongoing Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and deaths among young people aged 15-24 years, discussions with Daniel Petre, he decided to Aged Care. accounting for 25 per cent of all male deaths use the Internet to address the need he had 125. Reach Out! (2006) and 17 per cent of all female deaths in that identifi ed.127 ‘Log on if life could be better: An innovative age group. Australia was among the highest approach to addressing third of countries for which suicide data are Through discussions with Petre, Heath the unmet mental health 122 needs of young people.’ published. Further, it is estimated that for identifi ed the unique potential of the Internet [online] Available from: each suicide of a young male, there are 15 or in addressing the issues related to youth http://www.reachout.com. au/home.asp more attempts, while for every female suicide, depression. Young people could log on to 126. Inspire Foundation ‘Our there are more than 100 attempts.123 the Internet anonymously, post comments story: It all began…’ [online] Available and stories and through doing so they could from: http://www. Contemporary research also reveals that in an relieve stress and unburden themselves in a inspire.org.au/index. 128 php?option=com_conten average Year-12 classroom of 30 pupils, seven safe way. By using the Internet, Reach Out! t&task=view&id=199&Ite will have experienced a recognised mental was breaking new ground. It is only recently mid=870 disorder. Of those seven, just two will have that research is beginning to emerge that 127. Ibid. sought professional help and at least one will supports Heath’s initial belief that Reach Out! 128. Inspire Foundation ‘10 years of Inspire: Our story have attempted suicide.124 Youth suicide rates would be more effective and lower cost than so far.’ [online] Available have declined by 46 per cent since Reach Out!’s other initiatives aimed at young people with from: http://www. inspire.org.au/index. launch.125 mental health diffi culties.129 This potential was php?option=com_conten also bolstered by the growing importance of t&task=view&id=281&Ite mid=946 the Internet as a resource for young people to 129. Interview with Jonathan turn to for access to information and support. Nicholas, 15th March 2007. Idea Eighty-fi ve per cent of young people are 130 130. Australian Government. Jack Heath was instrumental in formulating connected to it and it has now become The Department of the idea behind Reach Out!. In 1992 Heath’s the most preferred source of information and Communications, Information Technology young cousin took his own life on a farm in support after friends and family. and the Arts [online] North Eastern Australia, an event which had a Available from: http:// www.dcita.gov.au/ big impact on him and his family. At the time 131. Inspire Foundation ‘10 Heath was working as a Senior Adviser to Prime years of Inspire: Our story so far.’ [online] Available Minister Keating. As part of his work, he was Implementation from: http://www. involved in the development of Multimedia In 1996, and with the help of Daniel Petre, inspire.org.au/index. php?option=com_conten Initiatives, which was part of the arts and $10,000 of seed funding was provided by t&task=view&id=281&Ite communication policy statement ‘Creative Microsoft, to fund a prototype of the Reach mid=946 Nation’. Daniel Petre, Michael Rennie and Out! service. At this point research also showed 132. See http://www.inspire. org.au/index.php David Harrington were also heavily involved that 15,000 young people were using the in the creation of these initiatives. Petre was Internet.131 In late 1996, Paul Guilding, until then head of Microsoft Australia, and Rennie recently the Head of Greenpeace International, and Harrington were working for management joined Heath, Michael Rennie and Alexandra consultants McKinsey and Company.126 Yuille in formally establishing what is now the Inspire Foundation.132 It was also in 1996 that

40 Corrs Chambers Westgarth joined as a pro bono Diffusion/scaling up legal partner. Reach Out! was offi cially launched in 1998 by the Hon Warwick Smith, the Australian Minister The Inspire Foundation was established for Health and Family Services. During the next as a national non-profi t organisation with few years Jonathan Nicholas, Inspire’s Director charitable status. It targets young people of Programmes, explains that the business aged 16-25, aiming to provide opportunities plan went through a number of different for them to ‘change their worlds’ through iterations.137 three distinct programmes: Reach Out! which “offers information and support for young In the early days of Reach Out! until people to get through tough times”; ActNow around 2001, the initiative’s focus was on which “provides resources and skills to help entrepreneurial ideas that would keep the young people take action on the social issues momentum of the business going. The team that affect them and their community”; and was constantly seeking new, creative and Bean Bag a programme that “partners with innovative ideas, but acknowledged that at the youth centres around Australia to build social start the organisation lacked a strategic plan. connectedness among disadvantaged young people through technology”.133 A key part of From 2001 onwards, there was a conscious Inspire’s mission is the involvement of young decision to slow down and take stock of where people themselves in the design and running the organisation was placed and its future 133. Inspire Foundation ‘What we do’ [online] Available of the programmes. This case study focuses on direction. The change of pace was partly from: http://www. Reach Out!. prompted by a need expressed by funders to inspire.org.au/index. php?option=com_conten understand what the organisation stood for, t&task=view&id=216&Ite In 1997, the proposal for Reach Out! was and by the desire among staff to move away mid=887 134. Inspire Foundation ‘10 accepted by the Federal Government of from a focus on launching ideas to a focus on years of Inspire: Our story Australia. The Australian Government at that building and nurturing their growth. In 2002, so far.’ [online] Available from: http://www. time had made the issue of youth suicide a the board decided to re-launch Reach Out!. inspire.org.au/index. top priority. While there was a huge amount of It rejuvenated the website by updating much php?option=com_conten t&task=view&id=281&Ite community concern about the issue, there was of the content, and developed a marketing mid=946 also little evidence about practices that worked campaign that employed a ‘youth brand’ to 135. Interview with Jonathan to address it. The Government, quite unusually, target young people directly rather than via Nicholas, 15th March 2007. funded a number of initiatives including their parents or the community.138 136. Ibid. Reach Out!, to tackle youth suicide on the 137. Ibid. understanding that they would be thoroughly There are a number of factors that Reach 138. Ibid. evaluated and help create an evidence-base Out! claims were important to its successful 139. Ibid. for future initiatives to address youth suicide growth. While State and Federal Governments in Australia.134 This was an adventurous move have provided some ongoing support, Reach by Government and Reach Out! credits the Out! has drawn strong fi nancial backing Government for contributing to the success of from individual donors, trusts and corporate its pilot, which was in many ways signifi cantly partners, such as Coca-Cola and Macquarie ahead of its time in its use of technology Bank. Reach Out! was helped in this regard by to address a social issue. In a different being established at a time when community context, Reach Out!’s technology-based business partnerships were quite normal and intervention might not have received support diversifi ed funding was strongly encouraged from Government, as it was an untested and by Government.139 They were further helped somewhat risky venture.135 by strong marketing as a ‘cool’ youth brand and attracted considerable corporate funding Reach Out! did not rely purely on Government because partners understood the benefi ts of funding. It also secured seed funding technology in connecting with young people. from Microsoft. And in 1997, 7,000 young Australians donated to the radio station Triple At a time where evidence of effectiveness J’s ‘Real Appeal’, an on-air fundraising appeal. was still being developed, non-Government ‘Real Appeal’, an ad hoc partnership, provided supporters often focussed their decision- a much needed $180,000 of funding and making around the quality of the team and helped raise the profi le of Reach Out! among the idea rather than a long history of service young people early on.136 delivery.

Early on, the decision was taken to avoid a model that required signifi cant staff costs. As Jonathan Nicholas says: “The number of

41 young people we can reach has never directly was obtained in order to minimise the risk to related to how many staff we employ. That the Australian operation.145 was a very conscious decision and was to do with not going down a direct service delivery Reach Out! used Bridgespan for the study model”.140 Initial research uncovered the high partly because of its expertise in non-profi t costs of offering web-based counselling, and organisations, but also because it had a so Reach Out! chose a model of building its good reputation with US donors. The study infrastructure around promoting the website was partly an attempt to encourage and as the source of a self-help community rather convince large foundations in the US to back than offering counselling over the web. This the venture, as well as to show them that meant that when funding fl uctuated as it nothing like Reach Out! presently existed in inevitably did, Reach Out! was far less likely to the country, a claim Reach Out! felt would over-extend itself, but could easily take simple evoke scepticism among foundations without measures such as cutting the next advertising independent verifi cation.146 spend.141 Reach Out! chose to create a mutually A major early challenge revolved around reinforcing network through international how to create awareness of the service. This expansion, rather than an ‘export model’ was originally accomplished through Rural transferred in its entirety to another market. 140. Ibid. and Regional Tours, during which individuals As Jonathan Nicholas, Director of Programmes 141. Ibid. travelled round the country promoting for Inspire, says: “Each local project will have 142. Ibid. the service to communities in person. This a localised front end that will be customised 143. Reach Out! (2006) ‘Log on if life could be approach was chosen for several reasons. First, to the local conditions so it’s not a franchise better: An innovative it was a more effective way of engaging donors model, but there is an element to which we approach to addressing the unmet mental health who were better able to understand the need share common infrastructure”.147 Intellectual needs of young people.’ for money to fund a publicity tour, rather than Property for example, is freely shared between [online] Available from: http://www.reachout.com. to fund the building of a website. Second, at the network. However, Reach Out! is aware au/home.asp that time, many parents were weary of the that this only works when each of the members 144. See http://www. bridgespangroup.org/ Internet and did not see it as a particularly feel they are getting more out of what they 145. Interview with Jonathan reassuring context for the service to be working are doing than they are putting in. This is a Nicholas, 15th March within. The Rural and Regional Tours were dynamic that will need to be managed carefully. 2007. 146. Ibid. somewhat effective in reassuring and educating Reach Out! intends to make continued use of 147. Ibid. communities about the Internet and the the expertise at Bridgespan, in particular its 148. Ibid. service.142 experience in Intellectual Property sharing.148 149. Reach Out! (2006) ‘Log on if life could be better: An innovative Reach Out! is a good example of an innovation approach to addressing that had to change people’s attitudes in order the unmet mental health needs of young people.’ to encourage the growth of the service. Now Challenges [online] Available from: that the Internet is more widely available (with Reach Out! has identifi ed cultural differences http://www.reachout.com. au/home.asp a penetration rate over 80 per cent in Australia) between the US and Australia as one of its 150. Interview with Jonathan the service has moved from something novel key challenges to diffusion. For example, Nicholas, 15th March 2007. and anonymous to becoming an obvious inter-personal violence is not a major issue resource for young people.143 in Australia, whereas Reach Out!’s research suggests that it is in the US.149 Issues related to ethnic diversity also vary signifi cantly between the US and Australia. International Expansion Since its inception, the board aimed to take However, Reach Out! believes that the basic Reach Out! to other countries. In 2003/04 they processes need to be the same, for example began searching for other organisations in the potentially using some elements of the same US that were taking a similar approach to youth website, while ensuring that the website depression. However, they was unsuccessful in content is culturally relevant. To describe the fi nding them, reinforcing their belief that they relationship between the two organisations, had been ahead of their time in approaching they use the analogy of two recognisably the issue as they had. Reach Out! was keen similar houses that share the same foundations to scope the market before committing to it, and dimensions, but can have different and therefore sought and gained funding from numbers of rooms and furniture within them.150 within the US for a feasibility study with a non-profi t management strategy organisation Reach Out! found that one of the more called The Bridgespan Group.144 US funding challenging aspects in scaling up through

42 partnership building was ensuring that its original core values were maintained by the partner organisations. Reach Out! placed specifi c emphasis on the need for new partners to have a youth involvement model. Reach Out! claims it will not employ anyone that does not share these values and has placed great importance on ensuring that members of the Australian, US and Bridgespan teams meet each other and spend time being assimilated into the know-how and processes of the original organisation.151

Because of Reach Out!’s emphasis on a core ethic of youth involvement, much of the institutional knowledge is held ‘within the heads’ of the people who have been through the process of expanding and growing the organisation, and this can easily be lost without face-to-face interaction. Reach Out! therefore emphasises the importance of its US partners spending time in Australia to escape the dynamic of the founding organisation visiting and imposing its will over the new one.152 This same dynamic means that the loss of a few key staff could signifi cantly affect the future 151. Ibid. development of the organisation. 152. Ibid.

43 Case Study 5: OhmyNews

Name OhmyNews.

Date founded 2000.

Location South Korea.

Purpose To give voice to citizen journalists through a media-based social innovation that uses web technology.

Means of scaling up Organisational growth and expansion into Japan. OhmyNews also established an International English language on-line newspaper 153. Quoted in Min, J. K. written by contributors from all over the globe. (2005) Journalism as a Conversation. ‘Harvard Nieman Report.’ 59(4). 154. Chang Woo-Young (2005) Online civic participation, and political Need that he faced numerous rejections when trying empowerment: online In an interview in the New York Times in early to access major news sources. In many cases, media and public opinion formation in South 2003, Oh Yeon-ho, the founder and CEO of Oh’s questions were not answered and access Korea. ‘Media, Culture OhmyNews says his motivation in launching was denied. Oh felt this was not acceptable and Society.’ 27(6), pp. 925-935. the website was to address the skewed Korean as he believed that all taxpayers should 155. Eun-Gyoo Kim and news market, where the media constantly have access to public information held by Hamilton J. W. (2005) 157 Capitulation to capital? manipulated the national agenda in politics, government agencies. OhmyNews as alternative economics and society. Oh says that he: media. ‘Media, Culture and Society.’ 28(4), pp. “wanted to start a tradition free of newspaper In Oh’s opinion, the Web 1.0 era could be 541-560. company elitism where news were evaluated defi ned as a time when the Internet primarily 156. Chang Woo-Young was based on quality, regardless of whether it functioned as a source of information. Now, in (2005) Online civic participation, and political came from a major newspaper, a local reporter, the era of Web 2.0, Internet users can produce empowerment: online an educational journalist, or a neighbourhood and exchange information so that the Internet media and public opinion 158 formation in South housewife… So I decided to make the plunge functions as social infrastructure. His idea Korea. ‘Media, Culture into the sea of the Internet.”153 was to combine the potential of the Web 2.0 and Society.’ 27(6), pp. 925-935. era for user-generated content and the desire 157. Q&A with the Centre for The Korean mass media was criticised for of citizens to have open access to information Citizen Media, Harvard University, compiled politicisation and commercialisation of the and news (‘every citizen is a reporter’). by Min, J. K. [online] news which many argued was harmful for Available from: http:// www.kcnn.org/principles/ democracy. The inability of the established ohmynews mass media to foster public discussions or 158. Min, J. K. (2005) publish divergent social opinions may have Implementation Journalism as a Conversation. ‘Harvard stemmed somewhat from its technological Oh developed the concept when he went Nieman Report.’ 59(4). limits.154 Established media in Korea were said to study at Regent University in the US. At 159. Q&A with the Centre for Citizen Media, Harvard to report commercially interesting issues, then Regent, Oh worked on a project for which he University, compiled abandon those issues when the interest of their was asked to draft a plan of an imaginary new by Min, J. K. [online] Available from: http:// audience waned. In contrast, Oh’s concept of media start-up, and created an embryonic plan www.kcnn.org/principles/ ‘every citizen is a reporter’, and OhmyNews’ for a citizen-produced online news medium. ohmynews aim to create an information database on When he returned to Korea in 1997, it was this political and social issues that pursued the same plan that Oh persuaded investors to back. evolution of a topic from its emergence and Oh left his job at Mahl and with a combination development to disappearance, were seen of start-up funding from investors and some as a means to counter this.155 But prior to personal funds, he launched OhmyNews in the advent of the Internet, Oh thought that February 2000.159 taking this idea to print would have been too expensive.156 OhmyNews citizen reporters are paid a nominal amount for their contributions and are supplemented by 35 staff reporters who cover issues that require more in-depth analysis Idea and investigation. However, the bulk of the Before establishing OhmyNews, Oh had worked content comprises articles written by citizen at a liberal Korean monthly magazine called reporters and contributions can reach 150- Mahl from 1988, and it was during this time 200 articles a day. Citizen reporters must be

44 formally identifi ed through a Government capital under the military government before authentication process before they can write 1987, and had developed since then as for the service.160 quasi-political entities with distinct agendas. A 2004 survey found that 32.2 per cent of Stories are edited through a two-tiered 1,200 Korean respondents did not trust the system whereby staff editors are responsible mainstream media, while only 19.5 per cent for checking and selecting stories from said they did.163 citizen reporters to be published online. If a story is accepted, the writer can track how In the early 1990s, new activities for generating many readers access the story online and public opinion developed, capitalising on also get feedback. If articles are rejected, new means of personal communication that the reasons are made public in order to emerged with the Internet. These included ensure that no political or fi nancial external for example, bulletin boards and discussion pressure is infl uencing the selection. This groups where early ‘rebellious communities’ 160. Eun-Gyoo Kim and Hamilton J. W. (2005) process is regulated informally through the began to form. Building on this, prototypes for Capitulation to capital? citizen journalism network. There is also an alternative forms of media were created online. OhmyNews as alternative media. ‘Media, Culture ombudsman committee, composed of citizen Ddanji Ilbo developed as an Internet newspaper and Society.’ 28(4), pp. reporters and others, that monitors the that parodied conservative newspapers. Also, 541-560. OhmyNews main page on a daily basis and Urimodu was founded to catalyse a movement 161. Chang Woo-Young (2005) Online civic 161 submits monthly reports. to close down the conservative media, Chosum participation, and political Ilbo. In these ways, ‘netizens’ began to create empowerment: online media and public opinion To ensure high quality information and their own online media as an alternative media formation in South participation, ten conditions for the quality of movement. These websites succeeded in Korea. ‘Media, Culture and Society.’ 27(6), pp. user-generated content were developed under voicing criticism, however they failed to emerge 925-935. four focal points: credibility, responsibility, as a substantive alternative media. OhmyNews 162. Oh Yeon-ho (2007) ‘10 Preconditions for the infl uence and sustainability. The content has was uniquely successful because it capitalised Value of User-generated to be factually accurate, avoid plagiarism, on citizen participation and interactive Content.’ OhmyNews CEO address on the be responsible in responding to the needs communications to forcefully challenge existing 7th anniversary of of readers as well as writers, and aim to media.164 the company. [online] Available from: http:// improve the overall quality of the media. english.ohmynews. Content should have an infl uence online The emergence of alternative online news com/articleview/ article_view.asp?article_ but also, crucially, in building public opinion resources was also facilitated by Korea’s class=8&no=347268&rel_ offl ine. Interestingly, from the start, Oh’s aim extensive digital telecommunications no=1 for sustainability encompassed the desire infrastructure, which was a result of 163. Sutton, S. (2006) ‘The My in OhmyNews: A uses and to “become marketable and to contribute Government-led policies. During the economic gratifi cations investigation to establishing good and sound business crisis of the 1990s, the Government had turned into the motivations of 162 citizen journalists in South models for the media”. The development towards dotcom businesses as a solution. Korea.’ [online] Leeds: of OhmyNews always looked beyond Korea As a result, by 1997 Korea had established Institute of Communication Studies, University of and was intended to become an international a broadband infrastructure linking 80 major Leeds. Available from: model. cities. In addition, high housing and population http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/pg- study/mashow/fi les/ densities made the cost of expanding shaun_sutton.pdf infrastructure relatively low, and by 2000 the 164. Ibid. broadband network had expanded to 144 165. Eun-Gyoo Kim and Hamilton J. W. (2005) Diffusion/scaling up cities nationwide. According to an International Capitulation to capital? The success of OhmyNews and its growth Telecommunication Union report released OhmyNews as alternative media. ‘Media, Culture cannot be properly understood without in 2003, one-fi fth of Koreans subscribed to and Society.’ 28(4), pp. recognising the specifi c socio-political broadband Internet services, the highest service 541-560. conditions that existed in South Korea at the penetration in the world.165 time it emerged. The broader socio-cultural conditions that Between 1961 and 1988 Korea was ruled by anticipated the successful rise of OhmyNews military regimes. Under these authoritarian were reinforced by two specifi c events in regimes, the Korean press had accepted its 2002: the deaths of two Korean schoolgirls role as a voluntary servant to government crushed by a US army vehicle; and the interests. Although censorship was abolished in Korean presidential elections. The incident 1987 and newspapers were no longer required of the schoolgirls, which saw both soldiers to be licensed by government, conservative acquitted of all charges, was downplayed in the dominance remained with three papers mainstream media. However, citizen journalists accounting for 75 per cent of newspaper participated in an online campaign that evolved circulation. These newspapers had accumulated offl ine into protest demonstrations, drawing

45 166. Sutton, S. (2006) ‘The My in OhmyNews: A uses and hundreds of thousands of people to central Over the last seven years, OhmyNews has now gratifi cations investigation Seoul. Widespread anger was directed at the grown to be the world’s most successful and into the motivations of citizen journalists in South US, and the profound enthusiasm of Koreans in developed online citizen journalism website and Korea.’ [online] Leeds: their 20s to 40s, and their support for reformist one of Korea’s most infl uential news websites. Institute of Communication Studies, University of policies, culminated in a close presidential In the fi fth World Forum on E-democracy Leeds. Available from: campaign between conservative candidate Lee hosted by PoliticsOnline, OhmyNews was http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/pg- study/mashow/fi les/ Hoi Change, and reformist candidate Roh Moo recognised as one of the key global players shaun_sutton.pdf Hyun.166 in changing the world of the Internet and 167. Ibid. politics.172 By August 2007, the number of 168. Fifi eld, A. (2004) Korea’s citizen reporters take Voting was scheduled to start on 19 December, citizen reporters had grown to around 60,000, on traditional media. but on the eve of the 18th, Roh’s campaign including around 3,000 overseas who report ‘Financial Times.’ 6th November 2004. partner withdrew his support. OhmyNews in English for the international page of 169. Interview with Jean K. Min, citizens responded throughout the night, with OhmyNews.173 20th March 2007. the website being the epicentre of action for 170. Min, J. K. (2005) Journalism as a reform-minded citizens: 6.23 million visitors Conversation. ‘Harvard and 19.1 million page views occurred on Nieman Report.’ 59(4). 171. Q&A with the Centre for this day alone. The OhmyNews front page International Expansion Citizen Media, Harvard was fi lled with reports and action plans from An English news division was launched in University, compiled 167 by Min, J. K. [online] citizen journalists, urging readers to vote. February 2004 and has had some success. It Available from: http:// Roh won the election by a narrow margin and is produced by nearly 1,500 citizen reporters www.kcnn.org/principles/ ohmynews immediately acknowledged the contribution from more than 100 countries and fi ve 172. Politics Online News, of OhmyNews, granting the organisation an professional editors based in the US and Korea. Tools and Strategies. ‘Net exclusive fi rst interview as President. Yoon The OhmyNews English language edition is and Politics 2004 Top 10.’ [online] Available from: Young-Chul, professor of media studies at targeted at a global audience, however it is http://www.politicsonline. Yonsei University, argues that OhmyNews particularly strong in developing countries com/globalcontent/ specialreports/2004/ exerted “a formidable infl uence” on South where the mainstream media is not felt to top10_2004/ Korean journalism and played a “signifi cant refl ect popular views.174 173. Kambayashi, T. (2006) role in mobilising the anti-establishment public OhmyNews to Put Down Roots in Japan. ‘Japan opinion which certainly helped Roh win the last In February 2006 OhmyNews secured $10- Media Review.’ [online] presidential election.”168 $11 million investment from Softbank Corp., a Available from: http:// www.japanmediareview. group which holds a controlling stake in Yahoo! com/japan/stories/ OhmyNews’ coverage on these political Japan. In addition to the benefi t provided by 060329kambayashi/index. cfm incidents greatly raised its profi le and was very the fi nance, this investment paved the way for 174. Ihlwan, M. (2006) important to its growth. According to Jean international expansion to Japan as well as the ‘OhmyNews: Oh My Biz Problem.’ BusinessWeek. K. Min, responsible for international business development of an OhmyNews international com. [online] Available relations and corporate communications at English Language edition.175 Jean K. Min from: http://www. businessweek.com/ OhmyNews, this was not an accident. With suggests that Softbank’s involvement was not globalbiz/content/ only 20 to 30 reporters at the time, OhmyNews motivated purely for fi nancial gain. He stresses nov2006/gb20061101_ 539412.htm was not a big company and they simply did that OhmyNews was singled out by Softbank 175. Ibid. not have enough reporters to cover all the because of shared values and Softbank’s belief 176. Interview with Jean K. Min, major events of the day.169 Given the strong that Japan’s media needed something similar 20th March 2007. political connotation of their brand and the to OhmyNews.176 In August 2006, the service 177. Zuckerman, E. (2006) ‘Japan versus South fact that they were mainly attracting a young, launched in Japan, led by CEO Oh Yeon-ho, Korea: Can you export highly politicised Korean audience, Oh decided amidst much doubt about its ability to establish OhmyNews?’ [online]. Center for Citizen to optimise their resource management and itself outside of Korea given the unique set of Media. Available from: concentrate on the story he felt sure they circumstances in which it grew.177 http://citmedia.org/ 170 blog/2006/07/13/japan- would be most interested in. A combination versus-south-korea-can- of strategic thinking and limited resources you-export-ohmynews; Kambayashi, T. (2006) transformed a growing media resource into an OhmyNews to Put Down infl uential, internationally known website. Challenges Roots in Japan. ‘Japan Media Review.’ [online]. Financially, OhmyNews has had diffi culty Available from: http:// Given OhmyNews’ meteoric rise, other leading developing a sustainable business model. www.japanmediareview. com/japan/stories/ Korean newspapers have followed its example Currently, 70 per cent of its income comes 060329kambayashi/index. of reader participation. Chosun Llbo, one of from advertising, including the traditionally cfm; Hau, V. (2007) Reinventing new Korean the leading conservative dailies, allows its conservative family-run conglomerates such ‘citizen journalism’ site readers to leave comments at the bottom of as Samsung and LG. Another 20 per cent is faces challenges. ‘San Francisco Chronicle.’ 28th every article. Daum, is encouraging its blogger generated through selling content to the likes March 2007. Available reporters to submit their news to its new site, of Naver and Yahoo! Korea. Donations make from: http://sfgate. 171 com/cgi-bin/article. Media Daum. up the remaining 10 per cent of its funding. cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/28/ An article in Business Week in November 2006 BUG0MOSR8P1. DTL&hw=ohmynews&sn=0 01&sc=1000

46 suggested that the company has only made initiative involving user-generated content.182 very modest profi ts over the last few years As Min says: “The audience is the content and and was forecast to lose money in 2006, with they will decide what they enjoy reading.”183 predicted revenues of $6 million.178 The only way to encourage the growth of citizen reporting is to build from the bottom Ideally, according to Jean K. Min, OhmyNews up. However, Min also notes that it took two would like to have a business model that years before OhmyNews took off in Korea. does not require advertising funding, but this is unlikely in the short term. OhmyNews planned to unveil a new business plan in late May 2007, which may include other ways of funding the organisation. Jean K. Min talks of various potential funding models including a cyber marketplace, where the strong community element of OhmyNews would be used to generate money, and a new way of organising the site which could involve giving readers some editorial rights enhancing user-ownership.179 While commentators have criticised its lack of fi nancial viability, 178. Ihlwan, M. (2006) ‘OhmyNews: Oh My Biz Oh does not see this as the organisation’s Problem.’ BusinessWeek. primary aim. He claims: “I want OhmyNews to com. [online] Available from: http://www. be sustainable, but my ambition is to spread businessweek.com/ citizen journalism around the world, not to globalbiz/content/ 180 nov2006/gb20061101_ make money.’ 539412.htm 179. Interview with Jean K. Min, Addressing the challenges of moving into 20th March 2007. 180. Ihlwan, M. (2006) the Japanese market, Shuntaro Torigoe, the ‘OhmyNews: Oh My Biz chief editor of OhmyNews Japan, cited three Problem.’ BusinessWeek. com. [online] Available crucial challenges that OhmyNews faced in from: http://www. transferring its news model: businessweek.com/ globalbiz/content/ nov2006/gb20061101_ • A different attitude towards politics. In 539412.htm Korea, many citizens are very involved in 181. Weber, D. M. (2006) ‘OhmyNews Japan Ready politics, often voicing their opinions and to Launch.’ OhmyNews. protests. In Japan however, politics is often [online] Available from: http://english.OhmyNews. seen as a horse race, and many people at com/articleview/ the time were content with the then Prime article_view.asp?article_ class=11&no=305292&rel_ Minister Koizumi. Those who were not were no=1 not vocal; 182. Interview with Jean K. Min, 20th March 2007. 183. Min, J. K. (2005) • Differing perceptions of mainstream Journalism as a media. Many Koreans mistrust the Conversation. ‘Harvard Nieman Report.’ 59(4). mainstream media, whereas in Japan the media was held in reasonably high regard; and

• Cultural differences. Japanese citizens were said to be more reluctant to express their views or engage in heated confrontational discussions.181

So far the service has been slow to take off and Jean K. Min puts this down to the need to understand the audience and its motivations better in the new market before launching an

47 Annex 3: Mini Case Studies

Case Study 6: Tower Hamlets Summer University

Name Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU).

Date founded 1996.

Location London.

Purpose To provide a diverse range of educational activities for young people during the summer months.

Means of scaling up Through strong support from Government and foundations, THSU has secured a contract to roll out summer universities in all 33 London Boroughs.

Need and activities like fi lm-making, football and In 1993 Michael Young noticed that when maths. schools broke up for the summer, youth crime would begin to increase after a brief week of A successful pilot programme for young normality. people aged 14 to 21 years was carried out in 1995 with the support of the local Education Business Partnership and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The pilot was extensively Idea evaluated by Dr Tony Flower and other To give young people access to a range of free members of Michael Young’s team. In 1996, and accessible local activities that they would Young, together with Rex Hall, persuaded the want to take part in – thus breaking the cycle Borough to second two staff members from its of boredom and providing the opportunity youth service to help to establish the project to engage in constructive activities over the as a charity, which became Tower Hamlets summer holidays. Summer Education Ltd, commonly known as THSU.

Since then the programme has expanded and Implementation improved, inspiring other London Boroughs Initial research uncovered that young people and areas of Britain to emulate its model and were no longer interested in youth clubs or utilise the empty buildings and infrastructure of ‘top-down’ organised events. Instead, they schools, colleges and universities which remain wanted activities with clear learning outcomes largely redundant during the summer period. and no barriers to attendance such as festivals Today, a major programme of activities is in place for young people aged 11-25, in diverse

48 subjects ranging from Careers in the Maritime In 2005, THSU was identifi ed by Lord Adonis, Industry and Stocks and Shares Trading, then constitution policy advisor in the No. 10 to International Cookery and Wheelchair Policy Unit, and by London Challenge186 as a Basketball. Other popular subject areas include model of excellence in summer learning. Some music, performing and visual arts, new media, months later, THSU was commissioned to roll business and industry, sports and healthy out the model over two to three years across lifestyle, IT and fashion. all 33 London Boroughs, as well as to continue support to all existing Summer Universities. The charity is currently developing a year- This new project was called Summer Uni round programme, Summer Uni Plus, and has London (SUL). an award-winning quarterly magazine, Nang!, edited and produced entirely by young people. Having learnt from the mistakes of SEUK, In addition, it has a highly successful peer the charity ensured that SUL would be well volunteer programme and young ambassadors integrated within THSU. Davies describes the ‘advisory’ group. approach of SUL: “We run all these projects in Tower Hamlets, we deliver, we’ve got all the In 2003 the Metropolitan Police provided knowledge and the information to say ‘this crime fi gures showing that since THSU was works: this doesn’t’. We try lots of different established in 1995, rates of juvenile nuisance approaches: youth magazines; advisory groups; had fallen by 17 per cent, drug offences by peer motivators. We practise what we preach. 25 per cent and there had been an overall At fi rst the SUL team planned to separate in reduction in youth crime in the Borough by 8 a fairly short time frame, however they now per cent over the summer holiday period. These accept the projects complement each other improvements occurred despite the fact that completely and without THSU, SUL would not Tower Hamlets has the fastest growing teenage be a success.”187 population in Britain.184 184. See http://www. summeruni.org/pages/ Ten summer universities ran during the summer about_us/ of 2006, and SUL received an additional 24 185. See http://www. expressions of interest for starting a Summer millennium.gov.uk/ 186. See http://www.dfes.gov. Scaling Up University in summer 2007. Thirty-two of the uk/londonchallenge/ From the outset, the programme generated a 33 Boroughs have joined the Summer Uni 187. See Interview with Sarah Davies, Director of lot of interest from other London Boroughs. network. Tower Hamlets Summer In its fi rst year it won a Commission for University, March 2007. Racial Equality Award for “excellence and THSU secured £1 million from the Jack Petchey innovation in promoting racial equality” and Foundation, with a further £1 million coming for its “delivery of services to culturally diverse from London Challenge, to distribute ‘tranches’ communities”. It was the fi rst award of this of £66,000 to Boroughs that submitted type won by any Tower Hamlets organisation. successful applications for a Summer Uni grant. The Boroughs have to match 50 per Building on this momentum, in 1998 THSU cent of the grant from their own funds. The decided to establish the consultancy Summer ‘push’ provided by the promise of Government Education UK (SEUK), to support other areas funding, has ensured continued interest in the of the country looking to replicate the idea. concept of Summer Universities. However, SEUK failed after it split from THSU in 2002. According to Sarah Davies, Director of THSU, the failure of SEUK was primarily because it never ran projects itself, and SEUK Challenges fi nally ceased operations in 2005. THSU’s aim of opening Summer Universities to all young people regardless of where In 1999 THSU/SEUK was awarded National they live can confl ict with the priorities of Lottery money to help the London Boroughs the Local Authorities, whose primary aim is of Brent, Hackney and Westminster establish to accommodate local residents. The SUL Summer Universities. The charity was grant provides a strong incentive for Summer already running a large Millennium Award Universities to allow young people from outside programme,185 which ran for seven years and their own Boroughs to attend its programmes. by 2002 had worked with young people from at least nine London Boroughs, Slough, Epping If any Boroughs fail to take up the opportunity Forest, Somerset, and Blackburn with Darwen. to apply for an SUL grant by September 2007, THSU will actively seek other partners, for example in the voluntary sector, to establish a

49 Summer Uni in their area. It is also important that pressure from London Challenge for all London Boroughs to quickly establish a Summer Uni does not compromise THSU’s ethos or the quality of provision.

THSU must also overcome obstacles posed by the schools themselves, which can sometimes be diffi cult to work with and can make for arduous and unsuccessful partnerships. Schools may feel that THSU is inconvenient, as they often need to carry out maintenance on buildings and most of their staff are on holiday during the summer months. Some schools have also been slow to accept evidence of the benefi ts to young people who participate in a Summer University. Other challenges have included a lack of resources for publicity or to raise the profi le of the programme, and reluctance on the part of funders to meet the administrative costs of running a Summer University.

50 Case Study 7: Teach First

Name Teach First.

Date founded 2002.

Location London (subsequently expanded to Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham with plans for Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffi eld in 2008).

Purpose To place top university graduates in poor performing schools in order to help meet the shortage of high quality teaching while providing graduates with a variety of new skills.

Means of scaling up Organisational growth.

Need Implementation There was a clear need for quality teaching Initial research demonstrated that the Teach staff in London’s most challenging schools. for America model would not work in the UK Bret Wigdortz, Teach First’s founder, carried unless it was adapted to the country’s specifi c out research into the relationship between a context. Wigdortz wrote a business plan school’s level of deprivation and the quality and took a six-month leave of absence from of its performance. He found that the number McKinsey to establish and launch Teach First as of excellent teachers in a school was one of a charity. the strongest predictors of improved pupil performance, especially in schools with a poor Wigdortz secured the initial support of Rona record. Wigdortz concluded that the best way Kiley at London First, and fi nancial backing to change this was through higher quality from George Iacobescu, Chief Executive at teaching and leadership in schools. Canary Wharf (who invested £25,000), and from February 2002, Wigdortz worked closely with Kiley and John May, former Director of Education at Business in the Community, to Idea make the recommendation a reality. In August 2001, while working on a pro bono study for London First and Business in the It was a challenge to raise the required funds in Community on how businesses could improve the early days. Teach First had to raise a total secondary education in London, Wigdortz of £1 million, including £500,000 from the (then a McKinsey consultant) came up with the Government and £50,000 each from ten other idea of taking a US-based programme called sponsors. The Government was reluctant to Teach for America and adapting it to the UK support Teach First until the organisation had environment. The London scheme would have business backing, while business was unwilling a stronger focus on leadership and closer links to endorse the project without Government with business. support.

The idea was to get top graduates, mainly Political timing was also important for Teach recruited from the Russell Group of universities, First. London Challenge had just been to commit to teaching for two years, gaining established and Andrew Adonis, then at 10 transferable skills for whatever fi eld they chose Downing Street, helped the initiative secure to join afterwards. Teach First aims to address Government funding of £500,000, prompting educational disadvantage by transforming other sponsors to come on board. graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fi elds. They prepare graduates Teach First was offi cially launched on 15 July for the classroom with high-quality certifi ed 2002 by Stephen Twigg, former Minister for teacher training and leadership education. London Schools, with Wigdortz as CEO. Its goal in the fi rst year was to recruit 200 top graduates, so as to create the feeling of a “real cohort, a real prestige graduate scheme”. Wigdortz described how Teach First made a deliberate effort to improve graduates’

51 perceptions of teaching in poor schools: “we national standards, we bring people together to didn’t want it to be just a marginal change, but make them feel part of a national cohort.”190 a radical change, so top Oxbridge graduates would go from thinking [it’s] the worst thing There are also sound fi nancial reasons for they could possibly do, to one of the best schools to participate in Teach First. Schools things they could possibly do. So it wasn’t pay Teach First a small deposit plus an just a little change, but a 180 degree change affordable amount per term for each graduate in people’s perceptions.” Teach First attracted teacher, which covers recruitment, training 1,300 applications for those initial 200 and support to participants. Teach First is places.188 highly competitive with alternative recruitment methods such as the use of agency staff. The The role of funding companies was also scheme has therefore provided an effective, crucial. These companies not only provided though possibly short-term, solution to the money, but also helped to lure top graduates shortage of teachers. with the prospect of future employment and the opportunity to network with executives In 2007, a number of countries including Israel from some of the world’s most prestigious and Estonia have expressed an interest in companies and organisations. the programme. With McKinsey’s help, Teach First and Teach for America are investigating how the two organisations should respond. Wigdortz sees any future project taking the Scaling up form of an international secretariat, rather Raising funds in years two and three proved than Teach First expanding and being run diffi cult and Teach First narrowly avoided from London. This is primarily because he feels closure by bringing on new sponsors including the model should be adapted to a country’s 188. See http://www.teachfi rst. Gatsby, NESTA and HSBC Educational Trust, unique education, socio-economic and political org.uk/what_is_teachfi rst/ more alongside ongoing funding from Esmee context. 189. Ibid. Fairburn and Garfi eld Weston. After this period 190. Interview with Bret they were able to demonstrate success and Over 800 graduates have now been placed in Wigdortz, Founder of Teach First, March 2007. underwent an independent evaluation, which London secondary schools. The fi rst cohort 191. Ibid. made attracting future funding much easier. graduated in Summer 2005 and have embarked For the fi rst three years, graduate teacher on the next stage of the Teach First journey as recruitment remained at 200, but subsequently ambassadors of the programme. grew to 260 and 310 in years four and fi ve respectively.189

Growth focused attention on funding and Challenges also compelled Teach First to closely In 2005, having achieved considerable re-examine their approach in order to prepare recognition from Government and obtained for expansion to other cities where there was some of the funding necessary to expand signifi cant graduate interest. In 2005, Teach into new cities, Teach First faced its biggest First received a signifi cant PR and fi nancial challenge yet. As Wigdortz describes it: boost when the then Chancellor Gordon Brown “One issue has been what our relationship announced in his Budget speech that Teach with Government should be. How should we First was to receive some of the fi rst two work with Government while keeping our to three years’ start-up funding required to independence and allowing us to make the establish itself in each new city. important policy decisions for the charity.”191

Teach First has now expanded to Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham with plans for Liverpool in 2008 and Leeds and Sheffi eld in 2009. Wigdortz explains that Teach First will retain a national model and programme while smaller regions will benefi t from different support mechanisms: “We recruit nationally, and we want Teach First to be like Deloitte, Accenture… Where people feel like they’re part of one organisation, there’s a big core in the organisation, they’re going to get great leadership development, and that there are

52 Case Study 8: Aspire

Name Aspire Group Ltd.

Date founded 1999 (closed in 2004).

Location Bristol (with franchises in other cities until Aspire folded in 2004).

Purpose To give homeless people full-time employment and a source of income through a door-to-door catalogue franchise.

Means of scaling up Franchising.

Need to attract considerable interest from all Mark Richardson and Paul Harrod, both recent quarters.192 Oxford University graduates, felt that many homelessness projects failed because they focused on the symptoms, rather than on the root causes of homelessness. A focus on Scaling up providing full-time employment for homeless Towards the end of 1999, Terrance Roslyn people to help them move away from benefi t Smith, who had previous social enterprise dependency was absolutely central to experience behind him, joined the management effectively addressing homelessness. team of Aspire. Like the founders, he believed that Aspire had to grow if it was to achieve 192. Tracey, P. and Jarvis, O. (2006) An Enterprising necessary economies of scale. It was agreed Failure: Why a promising that franchising was the quickest and most social franchise collapsed. ‘Stanford Social Innovation Idea cost-effective way to do so. Review.’ Spring. pp. 66-70. Richardson and Harrod set up Aspire to 193. Ibid. produce a not-for-profi t fair trade catalogue. In July 2000, an ambitious franchise strategy 194. Ibid. Homeless people would leave the catalogue was drawn up to create 30 outlets by the at homes to which they could later return to end of 2003. Harrod’s charismatic personality collect orders. The homeless person was able to made it relatively easy to secure the £400,000 work outdoors with little or no supervision, and needed to fund the expansion. Aspire Group customers felt they were helping the homeless was established in late 2000 to lead the in a compassionate and constructive manner. franchise operation.193 Homeless people were guaranteed a wage which was not based on sales but on the hours Harrod said they wanted a ‘decentralised they worked. structure’, to enable each social entrepreneur who took on a franchise to take Aspire’s core idea and ‘run with it’. The advantage of this strategy was that the business could be Implementation expanded quickly, but signifi cant challenges Based on research into public attitudes towards arose because headquarters had no control the homeless, and insights from Harrod’s when franchises experienced problems. By own experience as a door-to-door catalogue September 2001, even though the original salesman, Richardson and Harrod secured a business had yet to make a profi t or undergo £5,000 grant from The Prince’s Trust, as well as a proper evaluation, nine franchises were donations from local businesses and residents opened, most of which were embedded within to start Aspire. existing charitable organisations. Moreover, although all franchisees had some experience Helped by local media interest, initial sales of working with the homeless, only four of were reasonably strong, and even though the nine had business or social enterprise it was not profi table, Aspire managed to be experience.194 self-sustaining. Thirteen months after it was launched, Aspire had attracted 4,000 regular Optimism remained high and during Harrod’s customers, had a turnover of about £150,000, time as CEO, Aspire established 12 franchises, and employed 15 staff. The business began taking 300 homeless people off the streets as sales reached £1.3 million. The press was

53 overfl owing with praise, and the then Prime business be reduced to two four-month Minister Tony Blair called Aspire’s employees seasons surrounding Easter and Christmas. an ‘inspiration’. The government started to This change forced franchisees to give up one look at Aspire as a potential model to combat of their primary goals, which was to employ social exclusion and HRH Prince Charles told homeless people full-time and year-round. its founders: ”Your track record to date is most Relationships between Aspire Group and the impressive”. As one franchisee said: “As we set franchisees became increasingly tense as Aspire off, it seemed we were sailing into fair weather. Group’s priorities shifted to fi nancial survival, Risk analysis didn’t feature very strongly in while the franchisees remained committed to our discussions or planning. We were told their social objectives.195 the business model worked, Government and funders wanted us to roll out, and sooner or Every franchisee, including the original Aspire later the economies of scale would make the Bristol, was losing money, and by 2002 fi gures stack up.” franchises in Brighton and Birmingham were closed. Harrod deeply regrets the closure of Aspire Brighton, and admits that he would have replaced the manager had the option existed. Challenges However, the lack of centralised control that It soon became clear that the narrow range of resulted from Aspire’s franchising approach products in the catalogue attracted a narrow meant this was not a possibility. In July 2003, range of customers. The business was also Aspire Group faced a cash fl ow crisis and put highly seasonal, with the vast majority of payments to creditors on hold. Harrod decided sales taking place in the run-up to Christmas. to step down as CEO fi ve months later, and the All franchises started to lose money and catalogue business folded in June 2004. many began to ask questions of the Aspire 195. Ibid. Group, even suggesting that they had been In hindsight, Paul Harrod suggests it would misled into thinking that the catalogue was a have been better to keep the legal, fi nancial stand-alone, profi t-making business. Harrod and governance structure centralised; Aspire now acknowledges that whilst recruiting should have operated with a local advisory franchisees, Aspire often overplayed the group with limited authority. He thinks the feasibility of the business, thus creating a lack of control when issues arose in local culture of distrust between franchisees and groups caused problems that affected the headquarters. entire organisation. In addition, he says it was a mistake to take on short-term loan fi nance Another major problem was that the model from groups such as the London Rebuilding lacked clear boundaries. For example, when the Society, as more ‘patient capital’ would have original model proved unprofi table, franchisees been more appropriate. branched out into secondary businesses, such as bicycle repairs, window cleaning and Harrod also wishes he had stepped aside earlier furniture manufacturing. Aspire Group set up and brought in a more experienced CEO. But a direct-mail business operating independently he acknowledges that handing over control of of the franchises with an even stronger focus your business to other people is: “easier said on supporting fair-trade producers. As a result than done… when you believe passionately of this trend, the ties between franchisor and in the cause and working 16-hour days, the franchisees became increasingly weaker. fear that another person would not have a similar commitment, or that the project would Yet another challenge for franchises was fail without you, is ever present. Nor would it the lack of basic skills among homeless and be likely that the business would have found ex-homeless employees. In addition, many someone prepared to work for low wages”. employees also struggled with addiction and Harrod himself did not earn a regular salary for mental health problems. Franchises were over two and half years. reluctant to lay off staff because of the obvious repercussions for an already vulnerable group of people. Yet, many franchises were forced to do so, signifi cantly lowering morale.

In 2002, a further investment of £250,000 came from a group of individual investors, banks, and social venture capitalists with the condition that the year-round catalogue

54 Case Study 9: Language Line

Name Language Line.

Date founded 1990.

Location London.

Purpose To provide quality telephone interpreting services to organisations dealing with vulnerable members of society.

Means of scaling up Organisational growth and eventual merger.

Need similar initiatives in existence at the time, and The idea for Language Line occurred to because no special equipment was required, Michael Young during a visit to his local the initial service could be established very hospital in East London. He noticed that a quickly. large number of patients of South Asian origin had diffi culty communicating with medical The service was an instant success, and staff because they spoke very little English. was soon in use across the NHS, as well as Ad hoc interpreters, such as other patients other public sector organisations including or cleaners, could sometimes be found, but local authority housing departments, the otherwise patients were asked to return on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the a day when a professional interpreter could Police, and the Ambulance Service. By the early 196. Karney, A. ‘Language Line – A Case Study.’ Paper be present. None of these arrangements was 1990s, Language Line was fully operational presented at the Social entirely satisfactory, leading Young to think of with eight members of staff and 50 part-time Innovation Conference, Chongqing, October 2006. alternative solutions of providing an effi cient interpreters, and was providing interpretation means of communication between patients and services for around 15 foreign languages. staff.

Scaling Up Idea It wasn’t long before the initial grant expired, Young’s idea was to provide free quality and in order to ensure that the service telephone interpreting to organisations remained sustainable, Language Line had dealing with non English-speaking clients from to stop operating as a charity and establish vulnerable groups. Language Line pioneered itself on a proper commercial footing. Young telephone interpreting in the UK in 1990, and asked Andrew Karney, an experienced business its services have since developed around the consultant, to become chairman of the ethos: ‘To improve the quality of life for all company with the mandate to grow the service non-English speakers in the UK by removing all as rapidly as possible and to ensure that it language and communication barriers for every would not require further grant aid. Karney interaction with business and public services.’ recruited an experienced CEO and expanded Language Line to cover more languages and offer its services to other Government agencies and commercial users throughout Implementation the country.196 Charges were increased Young secured a small amount of government substantially, a professional management grant funding to test the concept, and team was put in place, and automation was Language Line was established as a charity introduced. All of these measures proved initially offering services in four languages. The cost-effective and improved the quality of the interpreters, who were home workers and often service. from the same communities as the non-English speakers, were paid to ensure their availability. In the mid 1990s, Language Line moved out of In its earliest form, the service was very basic its original premises in Bethnal Green and took – the telephone handset was simply passed on a fresh identity. The company expanded between doctor and patient and the interpreter the number of languages on offer to more translated what was said. There were very few than 100 (even though 80 per cent of the call

55 volumes utilised 20 per cent of the languages). The start-up costs of the operation in Germany This was a necessary shift as the language and its subsequent failure instigated a re- mix was constantly changing. Languages like examination of aspects of Language Line’s Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu gradually declined business. At this point it was felt that people as a percentage of the whole, while the with stronger business experience were changing geopolitical scene created the need required to replace some of the staff that had for interpretation services in Kurdish, Albanian, performed well within a small enterprise, but Arabic, Farsi and Polish.197 were less suited to take the company forward. Venture capital backing required growth and The growth placed strain on the recruitment expansion and this added impetus to the of telephone interpreters and in response, restructuring process and reworking of the old Language Line set up a training programme in value system. conjunction with London-based universities. It also entered into agreements with US and With a new management structure in place Australian interpreting services to swap traffi c and by concentrating on the core product and manage increased demand and usage more of telephone interpreting, while also moving effectively. This economy of scale also enabled into new areas of translation and face-to- the company to gradually reduce tariffs, face interpreting, Language Line was able to particularly for those clients least able to afford stabilise the business and clear its debts. the service. By 2003 the original venture capitalists had Language Line made further investment in overseen a growth of 250 per cent, with profi ts the telephony systems, accounting and billing trebling, and successfully sold Language Line to effi ciently handle the 1.5 million minutes in a venture capitalist-backed management of interpretation it was getting every year. By buyout for £15 million.199 2006 saw a second 197. Ibid. 1998 the company was still largely owned by buyout from ARBY Partners, a major American 198. Ibid. the Institute of Community Studies and the company. This move brought the organisation 199. Ibid. 200. Interview with Atul Mutual Aid Centre (organisations that preceded signifi cant advantages in the UK including Ambhetiwala, Language the Young Foundation), and to raise funds for access to better technology, the opportunity to Line, March 2007. other projects it looked to sell part or all of make use of the parent company’s marketing Language Line. department and resources, and the ability to present itself as a global company with In 1999 Language Line was sold to a interests in Canada and Australia. management buyout backed by venture capitalists for £4 million.198 Demand for the service increased due to the rise in asylum seekers arriving in the UK escaping the Balkan Challenges crisis. The new backers could provide funds to With rapid growth and diversifi cation, the meet the changing demand, and a decision was ability to recruit, retain and develop the also made to open a subsidiary of the company right staff became a major challenge for in Germany. The company split its brand into the company.200 Language Line now has a Language Line for public sector divisions and healthy training budget in place, but in the Communicado for the commercial sector. past suffered a high attrition rate in senior management throughout the company’s The move to Germany was not successful and constant re-evaluation and growth. The failure the operation was eventually shut down in in Germany and the mixed success of sales to 2001. This failure can partly be explained by the commercial sector highlighted the need for Language Line’s assumption that the initiative management re-structuring, a new business would work in Germany based simply on ethos and proper market research. the strong ethnic minority presence there. Unfortunately, research into the German marketplace was inadequate. Moreover, the market never developed because many client organisations took the view that asylum seekers should learn German before requesting assistance from the public sector.

56 Case Study 10: Sure Start

Name Sure Start.

Date founded 1998.

Location UK-wide.

Purpose To tackle child poverty and improve life chances in deprived parts of the UK through a cross-departmental Government policy initiative.

Means of scaling up Government-backed expansion across the country.

201. Melhuish, E. C. (2004) ‘A Literature Review of the Impact of Early Need sectors, parents and other members of the local Years Provision on Young Children with New Labour sought to tackle social exclusion community, who would work towards the goals emphasis given to children and child poverty in the most deprived areas of tackling social exclusion and child poverty.203 from disadvantaged backgrounds.’ London: of the country. Specifi cally, they sought to A series of seminars was held, bringing Institute for the Study increase speech and language development together speakers and practitioners from of Children, Families and Social Issues. in children at two years and to ensure that child development, social work, health and [online] Available pre-school children were adequately prepared demography, together with local politicians. A from: http://www.nao. org.uk/publications/ for school in order to increase future life review of research evidence was commissioned nao_reports/03-04/268_ chances. There was evidence to suggest that which demonstrated the potential for the literaturereview.pdf service provision was failing those children scheme to achieve successful outcomes.204 202. Glass, N. (1999) Sure Start: the development most in need. The emergence of a growing of an early intervention body of international work and knowledge programme for young children in the United – including the Head Start and the Early Head Kingdom. ‘Children & Start programmes, the Abecedarian project, Implementation Society.’ 13(4), pp. 257– 264. [online] Available the David Olds Home Visiting programme and In 1998 the then Chancellor Gordon Brown from: http://www.nao. the Perry Pre-School programmes in the US announced that 200 Sure Start Local org.uk/publications/ nao_reports/03-04/268_ – showed that children benefi ted from pre- Programmes (SSLPs) would be created in literaturereview.pdf school provision and outreach healthcare and deprived areas across England, with £200 203. National Audit Offi ce 201 (2006) ‘Sure Start parenting programmes. million a year coming from the DfES, which had Children’s Centres: Report been ‘ring-fenced’ for ten years. by the Comptroller and Auditor General.’ London: National Audit Offi ce. The SSLPs provided services tailored to HC 104 Session 2006-07. [online] Available from: Idea the specifi c needs of the local community, http://www.nao.org. Sure Start was a New Labour Government bringing together core programmes for health, uk/publications/nao_ reports/06-07/0607104. initiative launched in 1998 that aimed to education and play, and family support for pdf address the long-neglected policy area of children under four. Emphasis was placed on 204. H. M. Treasury (1998) children’s early years. As a social innovation outreach as a means to access diffi cult-to-reach ‘1998 Comprehensive Spending Review: Cross that used evidence-based policy and open, families and local projects had the autonomy Departmental Review consultative Government,202 Sure Start brought to provide extra services of their choice, for of Provision for Young Children.’ London: H.M. together a wide range of stakeholders including example debt counselling and benefi ts advice. Treasury. [online] Available professional, voluntary and private providers An informal support network called ‘Friends of from: http://www.archive. offi cial-documents. of social services, education, health services Sure Start’ was established, comprising those co.uk/document/ and those running child centres. It aimed outside of Government who were involved cm40/4011/401122.htm) to ‘join-up’ core services with outreach and with the creation of the policy and who would home visiting, placing an emphasis on those be consulted in implementation and further who were hard to reach; providing support for developments. families; providing good quality play, learning and childcare, primary and community health Sure Start’s model, while clear about the care; and supporting children and families with desired outcomes of the programmes, was specialised needs. At the centre of these was relatively non-prescriptive about the means the idea of community control. by which the outcomes were to be achieved in a particular locality. This is something The overall goal was to form effective local partners both appreciated and found partnerships between Local Authorities, frustrating. Shirley Mucklow, involved in primary care trusts, voluntary and private a local programme in Bellingham, South

57 London, claims that the ability to choose the and provide a range of services that go beyond ways in which the programmes operated was the original remit of SSLPs. The scheme has particularly empowering for the members of continued to expand and a target was set the local community, as they had the freedom for a Children’s Centre to be created in every to make changes and try out new approaches. community (a total of 3,500 centres) by 2010. However, more stringent statutory targets were By March 2006, 800 Children’s Centres in later introduced.205 England were providing services to around 205. Glass, N. (1999) Sure 650,000 children. The current target is to Start: the development of an early intervention establish 2,500 centres by March 2008. Since programme for young 1999, the Government has invested £1.8 billion children in the United 208 Kingdom. ‘Children & Scaling up in Sure Start programmes. Society.’ 13(4), pp. 257- By October 1999 it was reported by Norman 264. [online] Available from: http://www.nao. Glass, the Treasury offi cial with responsibility org.uk/publications/ for Sure Start alongside the DfES, that only nao_reports/03-04/268_ literaturereview.pdf two local programmes were up and running. Challenges 206. Ibid. He argued in favour of a cautious approach The National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) 207. H.M. Treasury (2003) suggesting waiting for evidence from the assesses the effectiveness of all Sure Start ‘Every Child Matters small number of programmes already in place programmes in England. The impact of Green Paper.’ London: H.M. Treasury. [online] before moving to establish a ‘second wave’ intervention programmes such as Sure Start is Available from: http:// of programmes.206 However, this caution did diffi cult to assess in the short term,209 but key www.everychildmatters. gov.uk/_fi les/ not deter the scheme’s expansion, and July fi ndings so far include: EBE7EEAC90382663EAC. 2000 saw the announcement that a further pdf 208. National Audit Offi ce 300 to 350 Sure Start programmes were to be • Joined-up working between traditionally (2006) ‘Sure Start established. separate services is challenging, although Children’s Centres: Report by the Comptroller and progress is being made; Auditor General.’ London: Scaling up Sure Start was in part a response to National Audit Offi ce. HC 104 Session 2006-07. the fact that not all disadvantaged children live • There is considerable variation in the funding [online] Available from: in deprived areas. Diffi culties arose because of programmes, with some spending up to http://www.nao.org. uk/publications/nao_ Sure Start programmes could only cater for a six times more per child than the lowest reports/06-07/0607104. small number of children within a particular spending programmes; pdf catchment area, while health agencies and 209. See, for example, the results of the Hi Local Authorities were fi nding great diversity • It is diffi cult and time consuming to ensure Scope/Perry Pre-School in the resources available within a given area. families know about and access Sure Start Programme. [online] Available from: http:// Within some programme catchments, one part programmes. Evidence suggests that www.literacytrust.org.uk/ of the locality might already have relatively those most in need are less likely to access socialinclusion/earlyyears/ 210 highscoperesearch.html well-funded and well-organised early years’ services; 210. Love, J., Kisker, E. E., Ross, provision, alongside another part of the locality C. M., Schochet, P. Z., Brooks-Gunn, J., Paulsell, with little or poorer-quality provision. • It is taking longer than expected to D., Boller, K., Constantine, implement Sure Start programmes and to J., Vogel, C., Fuligni, A. S. and Brady-Smith, The Every Child Matters Green Paper of 2003 deliver a full range of services; and C. (2002). ‘Making a proposed further integration of services and difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and the Government announced plans to create • This partly is a result of Sure Start’s their families: The impacts Sure Start Children’s Centres in the top 20 per complexity evidenced by the fact that on of Early Head Start. 207 Volume 1: Final Technical cent of most deprived wards in England. average at least ten other Government Report.’ Princeton, NJ: This shift effectively re-branded Sure Start initiatives operate in Sure Start areas and Mathematica Policy Research Inc. [online] Local Programmes into Children Centres – a interact with Sure Start programmes. Available from: http:// controversial adaptation of the original idea. www.mathematica-mpr. com/PDFs/ehsfi nalvol1. By December 2004, there was a move by The enhanced role of Local Authorities and pdf the Government to make Local Authorities the speed with which Sure Start has been responsible for planning, establishing and expanded have also affected some key funding these Children’s Centres, rather than principles of the programme. In particular, the continue with partnership arrangements where focus on child development as opposed to one partner took the lead without formal providing childcare places (to support parental legalisation. employment), and the notion of community control, have been compromised. Changes to Since April 2006, the DfES has paid a grant the original conception of the programme have to Local Authorities to fund all Children’s been characterised by: Centres, including all former Sure Start Local Programmes. Local Authorities are now • A gradual shift from a focus on child accountable for delivering Children’s Centres, development towards parental employability;

58 • Children’s Centres developing or the real objectives of Sure Start. The targets strengthening links with Job Centre/Job set – for children’s speech, language, social Centre Plus offi ces; and and emotional development and reducing the number of children in workless households • Children’s Centres increasingly becoming a – have also been attacked as only partial one-stop shop for a range of services that go measurements of programme success. It has well beyond the original remit of Sure Start been argued that academic performance, Local Programmes. health and lifetime earnings should also be assessed, although those indicators will require Local Authority control also raised concerns a longer period of time before they can be about a move away from community control measured. and parental involvement. This shift was seen by some commentators and local groups as removing power from the organisations involved, and in some cases disengaging those it was supposed to empower. This was amplifi ed by the fact that Local Authorities are responsible for funding Children’s Centres and that priorities are based on Public Service Agreements, rather than the priorities identifi ed by parents, carers and other community service users. By handing over responsibility to the Local Authorities, the ring- fenced 10-year funding plan came to an end. The Childcare Act of 2006 formalised Local Authorities’ responsibilities while changing 211. Craig et al. (2007) ‘National Evaluation funding arrangements. – Sure Start and Black and Minority Ethnic Populations.’ London: This has lead to controversy over whether Sure DfES Publications. Start has been recaptured by the public sector [online] Available from: http://www.surestart.gov. and moved away from its roots in the voluntary uk/_doc/P0002437.pdf and community sectors. The process has also led to questions about how the funding for 524 local Sure Start programmes is to be spread over 2,500 (eventually 3,500) Children’s Centres in the coming years.

As Sure Start was rolled out nationally, with allowances made for the different needs of local communities, variations in implementation and service quality started to arise. Early evidence suggests that families and children with less social capital, such as teen parents, lone parents, and workless households, were less able to take advantage of the services of Sure Start Local Programmes than their better off counterparts. A recent national independent evaluation of Sure Start has criticised the local programme scheme for failing to develop a sustained and strategic approach to working with ethnic minorities at a time of increased local tension between different ethnic groups. Good practice existed in some projects but it tended to be isolated, and experiences were not widely shared throughout the programme.211

With respect to evaluation, those chosen to assess the programme have been criticised for being more concerned with targets than

59 Case Study 11: Alcoholics Anonymous

Name Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

Date founded 1935.

Location Originated in Akron, Ohio, US, now operates in 180 countries around the world.

Purpose To help people with an alcohol addiction give up drinking through the support of an informal society.

Means of scaling up Diffusion of a basic idea and organisational principles.

Need Holbrook Smith, a local doctor (‘Doctor Bob’), After smoking, alcoholism kills more people and William Wilson, a New York stockbroker. in the UK than any other drug. According to Wilson told Doctor Bob in very persuasive Government statistics, one in thirteen adults terms that alcoholism was a malady of the is dependent on alcohol. 33,000 people die mind and body. He also told him how he each year due to alcohol-related incidents or managed to remain sober by attending the associated health problems. Alcohol is involved meetings organised by the Oxford Group in 15 per cent of road accidents, 26 per cent Movement (a mostly non-alcoholic fellowship of drownings, and 36 per cent of death in that emphasised universal spiritual values 212. See http://www. fi res. A quarter of accidents at work are also in daily living), taking part in their small alcoholics-anonymous.org. 212 uk/prof/counsellors.shtml drink-related. In 2004/05, there were around discussion groups and following their precepts: 213. See http://www.ic.nhs. 35,600 admissions to the NHS with a primary confession, honesty, talking out of emotional uk/webfi les/publications/ alcoholeng2006 diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorders problems, unselfi shness, making reparations StatisticsOnAlcohol due to alcohol.213 and praying to God as personally conceived. 300606_PDF.pdf 214. Robinson, D. (1983) The Growth of Alcoholics Doctor Bob was greatly moved by listening to Anonymous. ‘Institute for the experience of a fellow sufferer, and was Health Studies.’ 18(2) pp. 167-72. Idea persuaded to stop drinking. Both men set out 215. Ibid. AA revolves around regular weekly meetings to work with alcoholics in Akron City Hospital, of men and women who come together to gathering them together to share experiences share their experiences of alcoholism and and their common struggle against alcoholism. offer support and hope for others as they try By the end of 1935, a second group started and recover from alcoholism. There is an open to take shape in New York, and a third opened membership policy and the only requirement is in Cleveland in 1939. In the same year the the desire to stop drinking. The attributes that foundational book Alcoholics Anonymous was normally distinguish people from each other published, which explained AA’s philosophy are ignored while the one thing which members and methods, including the famous Twelve share (alcoholism) is emphasised.214 Steps of Recovery. The Twelve Steps had been developed by trial and error over the preceding AA was one of the fi rst organisations to provide four years and contained some case studies of common sustained treatment for the recovery early members.215 of alcoholics regardless of fi nancial status, combining religious, psychological and medical support and insights. AA works on the basis of a very simple concept: recovering addicts Scaling up provide support for other alcoholics to work The organisation received initial support and through a prescribed twelve-step programme funding from John Rockefeller, resulting in a to recovery. series of sympathetic newspaper articles which gave AA a heightened profi le and subsequent rise in membership. Membership jumped to 6,000 by 1941 and by 1950 had risen to Implementation 100,000. AA was born in the summer of 1935 after a chance meeting in Akron, Ohio between Robert

60 In 1950, AA held its fi rst national conference in attendance of AA meetings often accompanies Cleveland, where its founding fathers stressed sentencing. Moreover, in societies where the importance of keeping the organisation traditional support structures (church, family, as simple as possible. It was also here that neighbourhood) are in decline, AA and other the AA’s Twelve Steps to guide the alcoholic’s mutual aid groups represent an important recovery and the twelve principles to guide the component of primary healthcare and provide alcoholic’s relationships within the organisation an invaluable support structure for those in and the outside world were consolidated. need.

In autumn of 1948, the fi rst group was formed in London, others quickly following in Scotland and Wales. By 1959, the General Service Offi ce Challenges in London was able to put out a list of over 100 The early success of AA in North America was AA groups. Twenty years later there were over a due in part to its strong resonance with the thousand groups operating in the UK.216 cultural ideas emerging at the time around the need to be self-reliant, individually driven AA is successful because it spread not its to overcome hardship, and to take personal organisation, but its basic idea. It operates with responsibility for success. little formal structure and under conditions of anonymity. As an organisation it has two AA operates in diverse religious settings, 216. Ibid. 217. See http://www. operating bodies: developed and developing countries, nations aagrapevine.org/ with private medical care and state health- 218. Alcoholics Anonymous 1.AA World Service is based in New York and care. However, development has been uneven. ‘The Big Book’ [online] Available from: takes care of administrative tasks with a core Outside of South Africa and Zimbabwe, there http://www.aa.org/ staff of 79 who maintain links with local are few groups in the rest of Africa. Eastern bigbookonline/ groups and prepare and distribute literature. Europe has also been slow on the uptake, while 219. Robinson, D. (1983) The Growth of Alcoholics members in India and the Middle East tend to Anonymous. ‘Institute for 2.AA Grapevine Inc. publishes and distributes be employees of foreign fi rms.219 This can partly Health Studies.’ 18(2), pp. 167-72. 217 the AA magazine, the Grapevine. be explained by the tradition at AA meetings 220. Valverde, M. and White- of members sharing their own life histories Mair, K. (1999) ‘One day at a time’ and other These two bodies are answerable to a General with others, regardless of class, gender, race, slogans for everyday life: Service Body which is comprised of trustees religion, or social status. Thus, cultures which the ethical practices of alcoholics anonymous. who act to safeguard AA’s traditions. put a high premium on privacy in emotional or ‘Sociology.’ 33(2), pp. social terms, or where people are ‘fi xed’ within 393-410. A general service conference is held annually highly differentiated roles and relationships, 221. See http://www. alcoholconcern.org.uk/ involving delegates from AA local groups and have found it diffi cult to accommodate the fi les/20030910_144143_O the General Service Body, thus maintaining core principles of mutual aid groups like AA. utcomes%20of%20alcohol %20treatment%20fi nal.pdf links between the centre and the periphery. Local groups are autonomous and self-funding AA’s early success lay in part upon its insistence with the hiring of halls and sundries fi nanced that individuals, and groups of individuals through ‘passing around the hat’. collected in cohesive groups, should focus their ethical work on changing themselves AA manages to avoid many problems and supporting others. In addition, AA did commonly affecting other organisations as they not engage in the public politics of alcohol grow: lack of shared purpose between core and consumption that was growing rapidly in 1940s periphery, dilution of the original idea, lack of and 1950s America. The ‘alcohol problem’ was capacity to deliver – through its stripped down, viewed as the problem of the alcoholic, not basic organisational structure and emphasis the alcohol industry or wider culture. AA has on a core, straightforward, unalterable never set itself against the alcohol industry, nor tradition, which is enshrined in The Big Book.218 undertaken any lobbying or advocacy work to Simplicity combined with the altruistic nature try and temper the rise of the drinking culture of the treatment, which uses participants as in modern societies.220 ambassadors and mentors, helps spread the work of AA and increases membership. There are also questions over the effectiveness of AA. In reality, AA’s success rate is diffi cult to AA now has two million members with over establish when compared to other treatments 60,000 groups in Canada and the US. Groups for alcohol abuse, (though it is usually argued operate in 180 countries around the world. to fare no better or worse).221 Assessment AA also receives institutional support within is made harder by the fact that it keeps the prison services of many countries and no membership and is a loose affi liation.

61 Randomised controlled trial research would also struggle to identify AA as a unique cause for success against alcoholism, because many people attending AA are also engaged with other therapeutic practice.

62 Annex 4: Literature Review

There is a vast literature on social innovation organisational forms each with its own goals, and a fairly extensive literature on the diffusion structures, roles and capabilities”. 222. Uvin, P., Jain, P. S. and Brown, D. (2000) Think of innovations. There is, however, a much Large and Act Small: more limited literature on the scaling-up and • Mainstreaming: setting up mechanisms of Towards a New Paradigm for NGO Scaling Up. ‘World replication of social innovations. indirect action such as advocacy, lobbying, Development.’ 28(8), pp. training, research, integration and joint 1409-1419. Most of the existing literature analyses ventures to infl uence the functioning of 223. Ibid. 224. See for example Taylor, different approaches to growth along the government or business. Success is achieved M. A., Dees, G. J. and continuum from undirected diffusion to if the organisation infl uences the behaviour Emerson, J. (2002) The Question of Scale: Finding organisational growth. For example, Peter of actors throughout society. an Appropriate Strategy for Uvin et al.222 have identifi ed typical ways in Building on Your Success. ‘Strategic Tools for Social which NGOs can widen their social impact by The choice of model is driven by elements Entrepreneurs: Enhancing increasing their size, taking on new activities, such as the ideology and personality of the top the Performance of Your Nonprofi t.’ Eds. Dees, directly and indirectly infl uencing the behaviour leadership; the socio-economic and political G. J., Emerson, J. and of other organisations and assuring their own environment within which the organisation Economy, P. New York: Wiley Press. organisational sustainability. They suggest operates; windows of opportunity; the type of that decentralisation is more effective than activity; and the members of the public.223 organisational expansion for widening social impact. For these authors, decentralisation This approach is consistent with Greg Dees’ is about: “multiplication and mainstreaming work, which distinguishes between ‘scaling through spinning off organisations, letting go up’ and ‘scaling deep’.224 ‘Scaling up’ involves of innovations, creating alternative knowledge, organisational growth in new contexts and [and] infl uencing other social actors”. Uvin regions, while ‘scaling deep’ means focusing et al. maintain that, whilst trying to maximise resources on achieving greater impact in the and spread their impact, NGOs face strategic ‘home’ community. ‘Scaling deep’ follows choices between three basic models: the logic of ‘small is beautiful’ – achieved through improving the quality of existing • Expansion: becoming a larger organisation. services, greater penetration of a target For example, increasing the size of existing population, developing new ways of tackling activities with more money, employees, and problems, extending services to new groups, benefi ciaries. Success is defi ned in terms of and developing innovative fi nancial and the ability to become a major player in the management approaches. sector. Dees also emphasises the value of scaling social • Multiplication: organisations can spin impact, as opposed to organisational growth. off independent institutions. This often The ideal is to maximise social impact in entails decreasing in size and focusing relation to the resources consumed or invested. on development through multiplication. This requires engaging with the ‘ecosystem’ Success here is defi ned by the diversity and in which the social innovation ‘lives’. The plurality of spin off organisations – the “civil ecosystem, for him, consists of ‘players and society-like multitude of initiatives and roles’ (e.g. resource providers, competitors, allies, benefi ciaries, customers and relevant

63 bystanders), and ‘environmental conditions’ Greenhalgh et al. also put forward a number (such as politics and government, economics of factors which account for differing rates and markets, culture and social trends, of adoption. These include how easily the geography, and infrastructure). knowledge required to use the innovation can be codifi ed and transferred to other users, According to Dees, the greatest impact is likely whether the innovation improves the user’s to result from changes in the ecosystem – and task performance, whether it is supported with for this to happen the lasting alteration of training, customisation or a help desk, and player behaviour must be achieved. This can be whether the innovation poses a risk to existing done through the widespread diffusion of an practices within the organisation. They also innovation or by changing one or more of the stress the importance of the so-called ‘fuzzy environmental conditions. Ways of changing boundaries’ between the ‘hard core’ of an the ecosystem include coalition-building innovation, which cannot be adapted, and the between players, effective communication, ‘soft periphery’ which can. The adaptability creating viable alternatives to existing practice, of the soft periphery is a key attribute in and contingency planning. If social innovators determining adoption rates. engage in such activities, they are likely to create a very positive impact.225 In addition, Greenhalgh et al. argue that individuals are not mere passive recipients 225. Dees, G. (2007) ‘Scaling Everett Rogers, who has also written of innovations – instead, they experiment, Impact with Ecosystem Thinking.’ Presented at extensively on the issue, defi nes the diffusion evaluate, challenge and reinvent them. To Stanford GSB. 9th April of innovations as: “the process by which call adopters ‘lazy’ or ‘laggard’ is, at best, 2007. 226. Rogers, E. M. (2003) innovation is communicated through certain simplistic. There are a number of psychological ‘Diffusions of Innovations.’ channels over time among the members of a antecedents to adoption. For example, where New York: Free Press. p. 5. social system”.226 Successful diffusion occurs an innovation meets a personal need, users 227. Graphically this is the ‘S’ curve. in three distinct stages: an early period when have heightened motivation for use. It is also 228. Greenhalgh, C., Robert, it spreads very slowly; a second stage when relevant whether the meaning attached to the G., MacFarlane, F., Bate, P. replications take off (with a large portion innovation by the user is matched by that of and Kyriakidou, O. (2004) Diffusion of Innovations of total replications over a short period of senior management, other service users and in Service Organisations: time); and a fi nal stage when the number of stakeholders. Systematic Review and Recommendations. ‘The replications drops dramatically and remains Millbank Quarterly.’ 82(4) stagnant until the replication ends.227 A number [online] Available from: http://www.milbank.org/ of factors may affect the rate of adoption of quarterly/8204feat.html any given social innovation: relative advantage, A4.1 Social dissemination models 229. Gerstein, A. (2002) ‘Framing a conversation compatibility, testability, visibility, time, – some shortcomings about taking social communicability and the capacity of staff to act innovations to scale: 229 considerations for as change agents in altering behaviour. Rogers Amy Gerstein points out a number of reformers and funders.’ identifi es, in addition, fi ve stages affecting common pitfalls or ‘instructive mistakes’ with Palo Alto, CA: Noyce Foundation. diffusion at an individual level: knowledge, social dissemination models. To begin with, persuasion, decision, implementation and most studies try to duplicate a programme’s confi rmation. technical element without considering the tacit or informal knowledge embedded in Christine Greenhalgh et al.228 advocate a people and organisations – and which is key more nuanced interpretation of the diffusion to success. Another common problem is what and adoption of innovations, maintaining she calls ‘transplant’ dementia – a programme that we should regard it not as an event but model designed at one particular location as a process. For them a ‘concerns based cannot simply be transplanted elsewhere. adoption model’ is a better explanation of In addition, most efforts fail to meet the how innovations occur and are diffused. This challenge of supporting all those involved with model has three components: fi rst, concerns the implementation of a specifi c programme at a pre-adoption stage related to users’ or to see it through in all its complexity. It awareness of an innovation and whether they is important to acknowledge that there is have suffi cient information to understand how not a magic bullet to success. Yet another the innovation will affect them personally; challenge is the fact that potential recipients second, concerns during early use noting that often fail to understand how the innovation successful adoption is more likely if users have could be made to work for them, which in turn continued access to information, training and limits the adoption of the innovation in new support; and third, concerns among established places. Finally, if a programme is to take root, users over whether they have the opportunity, institutional resources need to be invested. autonomy and support to refi ne the innovation.

64 David Strang and Sarah Soule see diffusion on the margins. Fringe players challenge and as an: “opportunity to observe the cultural repeatedly transform institutional structures. construction of meaning, learn how practices are locally and globally interpreted, and ask why some practices fl ow while others languish”.230 Their analysis focuses on recent A4.3 Organisational growth developments of ‘macro’ diffusion analysis in social movements and organisations, i.e. they Jane Wei-Skellern and Beth Anderson233 study behavioural strategies and structures have analysed the geographical expansion of rather than technical innovations. Strang and non-profi t organisations through branches or Soule identify two structural mechanisms affi liates. The drive to achieve social impact that affect diffusion: fi rst, diffusion into often translates into pressure for organisational a population through external source or growth, but other motivations for expansion broadcast models; and second, diffusion include the desire to tap new funding sources, within a population by internal or contagion build the organisation’s brand, and improve models. The two mechanisms may operate in effi ciency. For them, one of the most important tandem: for example, when people heard the questions facing leaders of this type of news of JFK’s assassination on the radio and organisation when they try to expand is to then ran into the streets to spread the word. decide what kind of organisational structure to But internal and external sources often play adopt. Wei-Skellern and Anderson argue that 230. Strang, D. and Soule, S. (1998) Diffusion in different roles in diffusion. External sources the looser the relationship between the original organisations and social bring ideas into a population through mediums organisations and branches/affi liates, the movements: from hybrid 234 corn to poison pills. ‘Annual like the mass media and the state. Internal faster the growth. Review of Sociology.’ 24, infl uences within a population, on the other pp. 265-290. 231. This is demonstrated hand, are affected by the spatial homogeneity Some of the key challenges in expansion by the phenomenon of and cultural cohesion of the population and include building organisational capacity reverse engineering. the innovation’s cultural status and prestige. and systems regardless of growth structure, 232. Goffman, E. (1974) ‘Frame analysis: An essay Moreover, organisations will often scan cultivating the right culture, and developing on the organisation of horizons to assess competitors and, where strong leadership when expanding through experience.’ London: Harper and Row. necessary, will innovate (or adopt innovations) branches. Branches created and controlled by 233. Wei-Skellern, J. and to retain competitive advantage.231 a central offi ce lack the autonomy of affi liates, Anderson, B. B. (2003) and fi nd it challenging to maintain a close- ‘Non-profi t Geographic Expansion: Branches, knit culture and appoint appropriate people Affi liates, or Both?’ CASE, to lead. With affi liates, the problem is how to working paper series no. 4. 234. Branches have the A4.2 Interpretation and diffusion defi ne governance responsibilities rather than advantage of role models reproduction of original culture. and laboratories for testing new ideas, while affi liates An interpretative process underlies most can be an important source adoption processes. Erving Goffman’s Wei-Skellern and Anderson conclude that of innovation. theoretical interpretative ‘frame’ is useful as: there is no single optimum organisational “an interpretative schema that simplifi es and structure for expansion – specifi c challenges condenses the ‘world out there’ by punctuating vary according the route chosen. Different and encoding objects, situations, events, approaches will be more or less appropriate experiences, and sequences of action”.232 The depending upon context, resources, strategy interpretative process involves the translation and organisational capacity. of concrete practices into abstractions for export – and then unpacking the abstraction They also found that non-profi t leaders into a concrete practice. The diffusion of the favoured branch expansion, but the models practices happens as they are rendered salient, and organisations were generally smaller than familiar, and compelling – thus, it is not the the original institution. Amongst the largest innovation itself which is diffused, but the non-profi t organisations, affi liates dominate. individuals’ and organisations’ understanding Indeed, the looser the expansion method, and perception of the innovation. the greater the growth. Accessing economies of scale appeared to be a leading motivation Not surprisingly, practices which refl ect behind expansion, but for many organisations, mainstream cultural understanding of these benefi ts did not materialise to the appropriate or effective action tend to diffuse degree expected. Wei-Skellern and Anderson’s faster than those which do not. Centrally research, therefore, highlights the challenge placed actors tend to be early adopters of that non-governmental organisations face culturally ‘legitimate’ innovations, whereas as they expand and the importance of ‘illegitimate’ innovations are adopted by those organisational structures in building capacity

65 and systems to support new locations. Such problems may partly explain why the benefi ts from economies of scale tend to be lower than the organisations expect.

Literature in this fi eld is developing rapidly among foundations as well as other supporters of innovation such as universities. However, it still lacks much in the way of quantifi cation and data and, at present, there is relatively little analysis of the impact of different market structures on innovation.

66 NESTA 1 Plough Place London EC4A 1DE [email protected] www.nesta.org.uk

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Published: September 2007 IO/04