launching the impact union

Today sees the launch of the Impact Union and you can read all about it here.

We are the Impact Union. We stand for meaningful practical impact on the challenges of our age, delivered by a community of diverse, committed, change-making entrepreneurs, who share values of fairness and the importance of purpose, working in our own ways to make a real and positive difference in the world.

I’m really excited about this, because:

• We need new ideas to make progress on tough challenges like climate change and social justice. It’s very, very hard to go from an initial pilot to a viable and effective larger scale activity if you are really tackling the hard, complex problems encapsulated by the sustainable development goals. Supporting entrepreneurs through this phase is critical, and a gap in the current ecosystem.
• It’s always struck me as strange how so many startup and venture support programmes are defined by the organisational types they accept. Of course, if funding to ventures is being offered, that means a need for different types of money and funding vehicle for for-profit and non-profit organisations; but these programmes tend to emphasise their other benefits as being the real reasons to take part. In the purpose-driven world, an venture which is scaling, pivoting or considering new business models or vehicles to support investment will be in great need of advice and support. At this moment that it might need to change organisational form or add another element, it is most absurd that we filter by current incorporation type.
• The for-profit scene, even if it’s profit+purpose in the form of social enterprise, tends to predominate the venture scene. This might be understandable, but this model (alone) is not always the best way of creating change in a complex interconnected world. The stewardship or collective ownership and responsibility offered by a nonprofit foundation can be a powerful tool, especially as concepts of value creation and intellectual property in an information age start to operate differently. It’s also useful to have different organisational structures available when a venture created in one country seeks to have impact and to operate at scale in others — particularly countries with radically different wealth levels today.
• New ventures need support in their ongoing operations, not just for the short duration of a programme, particularly one that intentionally takes them out of their normal place and work patterns. A different sort of programme can offer genuine ongoing support and a meaningful community, worthy of investment and design.
• Also, a different model can recognise the strengths and skills and knowledge of the teams coming through, understanding that the leaders of such ventures will often be best placed to support others, not always as senior mentors or ‘gurus’, but as peers.

Check out our launch announcement and get in touch if you’d like to be part of it, and can support us with time, resources, or contacts, in the run up to January or at the event itself. If you’re part of a team who could benefit from our programme, or know folks who are, send us your application, or drop us a line to let us know what sort of challenges you face, or help you’d like to see us provide. Contact us anytime at hello@theimpactunion.com.