March 23, 2014 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The management principles known as lean start-up celebrate the idea of “failing fast”—figuring out what doesn’t work and moving on to something better. But failure isn’t something that foundations are typically eager to support.
Many nonprofit experts acknowledge that adoption of lean-start-up ideas—an approach popular at technology companies—may be inhibited by the often-genteel relationships between nonprofits and the foundations that support them.
Charities frequently stick to the script that allowed them to get a multiyear grant, even when they realize midway through the process that their approach isn’t working.
“So often, you hear, ‘We’re going to do this and that, and the clouds will part, and wonderful things will happen,’’’ says Emily Tucker, executive director of TaroWorks, a division of the Grameen Foundation that is developing new technology tools for charities that work internationally.
“You get entrenched in that kind of thinking,” she says.
Ms. Tucker thinks fewer charity leaders would make such unrealistic promises if more grant makers and charity boards embraced the lean philosophy as a cheap way to conduct quick tests of whether programs actually work.
Pivot From a Dead End
More foundations seem to be embracing the benefits of failure.
At the national conference of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations this month in Los Angeles, plenty of speakers used the term “pivot”—lean-start-up lingo for recognizing a dead end and shifting gears.
Christie George, director of New Media Ventures, which helps investors and donors invest in and make grants to progressive media organizations, says more foundations should think about carving out a percentage of assets for risky grants to early-stage charities.
Her organization established a separate “innovation fund” and earlier this year awarded $25,000 each to nine start-ups.
“We felt like we needed to create a dedicated fund if we were going to walk the walk around supporting efforts that might be more experimental in nature,” she says.
Kevin Conroy, chief product officer at GlobalGiving, which uses lean-management approaches internally and encourages similar principles at the international groups that are supported through its site, says nonprofits and social-good entrepreneurs may find over time that a willingness to fail actually helps them raise funds.
“The moguls of our generation are the tech titans,” says Mr. Conroy.
“As more of them create foundations, they’re going to naturally want to support nonprofits that speak their language and are accepting of failure.”
