Fundacion Capital Scaling Snapshot

This case study from the Scaling Pathways series outlines key scaling strategies, the history of the scaling journey, and insights and lessons learned. https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/yyyyyyyy/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/02/ScalingPathways_FundacionCapital-ScalingSnapshot_March-2019.pdf

Leveraging Government Partnerships

For many social enterprises, partnering with government in some way is an essential strategy for achieving impact, especially when seeking systems-level change. Effectively leveraging government partnerships requires a marathon mindset: clearly articulating the goals you want to achieve, preparing for the race ahead, and tapping into helpful tactics to make progress as you move toward […]

Financing for Scaled Impact

The world beyond start-up financing is complex, but we break it down with tips and advice to maximize the impact of your external funding (e.g., flexible capital, impact investing, RBF), and to effectively leverage your internal options (e.g., earned revenue, cost reduction, hybrid forms) to fuel your journey. The lessons shared throughout this paper are […]

Imazon Scaling Pathways case study

Recognizing that they could not solve deforestation alone, Imazon scaled its impact through government partnerships and open source data — rather than growing its organization. https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/yyyyyyyy/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/11/FINAL-Scaling-Pathways-Imazon-Case-Study-5.11.17.pdf Erin Worsham, Catherine Clark, Robyn Fehrman 2017

Evidence Action Scaling Pathways case study

After a successful RCT and pilot, Evidence Action’s scaling efforts led to decreasing impact. It took a step back to focus on behavior change, right-sizing data collection, and improving infrastructure. https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/yyyyyyyy/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/11/FINAL-Scaling-Pathways-Evidence-Action-Case-Study-5.11.17.pdf Erin Worsham, Robyn Fehrman, Catherine Clark 2017

VisionSpring Scaling Pathways case study

VisionSpring launched — and then shuttered — a retail “hub and spoke” model in Latin America. The scaling experiment led to valuable lessons about knowing when to pivot and preparing to fail. https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/yyyyyyyy/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/11/FINAL-Scaling-Pathways-VisionSpring-Case-Study-5.16.17.pdf Erin Worsham, Robyn Fehrman, Cathy Clark 2017

Pivoting to Impact

What is scaling social impact and why is it so hard? Pivoting to Impact cuts across sectors and geographies to distill critical lessons learned for all social enterprises and funders seeking impact at scale. Pivoting to Impact shares key takeaways about scale: Five common roadblocks to scale are described in this report along with tips […]

From Money to Meaning and Three Themes in Between

By Erin Worsham At the Social Capital Markets conference, SOCAP13, nearly 2000 social entrepreneurs, investors, foundations, corporate and government representatives gathered to discuss the latest trends in impact investing and how to “build this market at the intersection of money and meaning.” Reflecting on the conversations that the author had during the conference, she shares […]

Scaling Social Impact: A Literature Toolkit for Funders

By Cathy Clark, Cynthia W. Massarsky, Tamara Schweitzer Raben and Erin Worsham With support from Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO), the authors set out to document and analyze the currently available literature on scaling, in order to both highlight the best set of resources available that are useful to funders actively pursuing grantmaking strategies around […]

Teaching Social Entrepreneurship: An Interview With Greg Dees

By Erin Worsham Greg Dees is often referred to as the “Father of Social Entrepreneurship Education.” Over the past 20 years, he has taught social entrepreneurship courses in some of the United States’ top business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, and now at Duke. As interest in social entrepreneurship skyrockets and more universities engage in social […]