O0YQ5

Insights on Innovation
4
Why Innovation Matters
Why is innovation an imperative for charities and social enterprises? We need
to innovate to expand our impact, scale up our reach and make the best use
of scarce resources. This means we can change the lives of more people,
more profoundly, sustainably and efficiently. Some people in our sector say
we need to innovate because of the tough external environment. ActionAid
and New Philanthropy Capital (and many other contributors) argue that
innovation is essential if we are to deliver on our mission more effectively.
Nuggets of pure gold can be gleaned from the report:
• Innovation is a frame of mind. It enables you to think differently about how
to approach seemingly intractable problems. This ability to think in a positive,
open, exploratory, unfettered manner is an essential spark for ideas.
• It is important to distinguish between types of failure – failure resulting from
poor management is quite different from failure resulting from well-considered
and executed innovation or because a pilot didn’t work as anticipated1.
• It is important to ‘fail fast’ and fail cheaply.
• Shareholders of commercial organisations are more accepting of funds being
used for innovation than are taxpayers and the charity-giving public.
• We must gain the support of our financial supporters for our need to take
calculated, well-managed risks with their money to achieve our mission.
• The funding landscape can either enable or block innovation. Some give
compelling examples of necessity being the ‘mother of invention’, while other
examples show that funding is essential for innovation to thrive. Used effectively,
unrestricted funding can be more enabling than ‘tied’ project funding.
• We need to create open dialogue within and between organisations about
innovation and failure. This requires cultural change.
• It is hard to turn innovation into sustained organisational change.
• Technology and digital are essential for reach and scale up.
• Regulation and legislation are essential but must provide space for innovation
to thrive.
There are some other golden nuggets in the report. As you will see, many of the
contributors have recommended their favourite book on innovation and failure.
Roxanne Persaud, from the University of Southampton, has also provided an
extensive further reading list.
1. Although all types of failure can be a rich source of organisational and individual learning, this report
does not address failure resulting from poor management