Social Innovation Forum
This is the second in a series of stories capturing reflections from the SIF team and the 2020 Innovators to mark their graduation from the Social Innovator Accelerator. Read the first installment here.
OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center
Reflecting back on her time in the Accelerator, Musau Dibinga, Executive Director of OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center, says,"I now lead the organization as more of an Executive Director as opposed to an older sister.”
OrigiNation was founded 27 years ago, by Musau’s sister, Shaumba-Yandje, who currently serves as the Artistic Director. OrigiNation transforms young people’s lives through the art of dance, theater, and spoken word. For Musau, participating in executive coaching and being part of a cohort of other nonprofit leaders contributed to changing her mentality about running an organization.
She describes the cohort as providing a council of advisors who face many of the same challenges, regardless of budget. Ultimately, Musau reflects that in order to grow and bring in more ideas, she had to let go of control and let others build their leadership in the organization, which has created more room for her to focus on strategic planning and fundraising.
Her fundraising efforts were supported by SIF’s relationship mapping process, which introduced her to various funding resources she was not aware of. Musau also notes that the pandemic and racial reckoning have led to long overdue recognition of the work of women of color who are leading organizations.
For OrigiNation, this visibility has contributed to an overall increase in funding and specifically a rise in funding for general operating expenses.
Musau says, “People want to fund programs, but you can’t run programming without staff and a space. My hope is that it will stick around.”
Get to know Musau and OrigiNation and learn more about how you can support them!
Adaptive Sports New England
Joe Walsh, Executive Director of Adaptive Sports New England (ASNE) also sees leadership development as a benefit of participating in the Accelerator. Along with a small team, Joe leads ASNE’s mission of providing programs, services, and advocacy that facilitate increased participation in sports among youth and young adults who have visual or mobility impairments.
The theme of focusing on organizational management, instead of just running programs, stood out to him in early cohort meetings and was reinforced through his work with his executive coach, who supported him to lean into his role of managing the organization. In total, three staff members from ASNE worked with coaches, and engaged in a group coaching session that supported team relationships, effectiveness, and alignment.
During the pandemic, Joe’s increased focus on organizational management has coexisted with a need to attend to difficult programmatic decisions. COVID has disproportionately affected their athletes, among whom are individuals who were already experiencing isolation and health concerns. What’s more, ASNE depends on community partnerships to access facilities, many of which are still not open to them.
As Joe has led the organization through these challenges, he has weighed the costs and benefits of running programming, noting that spring and summer wheelchair track practice, for example, can be held safely outdoors, while indoor basketball practice presents more safety questions.
As the organization continues to move into more in-person programming, the outcomes they originally established through the SIF Accelerator process remain relevant. In particular, the focus on the interpersonal benefits of being on a team are particularly salient as the ASNE community begins to reconvene.
Joe says, "Moving forward we need to make sure kids who are participating are getting the benefits of being on a team and the interactions they need, so they can learn those lessons and not just focus on their physical fitness."
Looking ahead, Joe’s goal is to build up the financial resources and team capacity that would allow him to deepen his focus on leadership and organizational management
Get to know Joe and Adaptive Sports and learn more about how you can support them!
SIF has made a commitment to support funders in allocating resources more equitably. Doing so includes acknowledging inequities in the structures of philanthropy, which result in only 10% of foundation grants going to communities of color and unrestricted assets of organizations led by leaders of color being 76% smaller than those led by whites. Throughout this series, you will see opportunities to direct resources towards closing that gap by supporting grassroots organizations and organizations led by people of color. We invite you to consider the following commitments:
