No. 51 (2018): Issue 51 | Greater Seattle's Social Innovation, Social Enterprises, and Public/Private Partnerships

Dear Reader,

The Social Innovations Journal is driven by the belief that the potential for good ideas to inspire more good ideas cannot be underestimated. The value that social sector partnerships, entrepreneurs, and innovators bring to local communities and regions across the nation cannot be underestimated.

We believe one way to harness and advance this energy is through curating REGIONAL SOCIAL INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS by sourcing/publishing regional social innovations, social enterprises, and public private partnerships. For this reason, The Social Innovations Journal has joined forces with Impact Hub Seattle, Client Accelerator for Conscious Entrepreneurs, Social Venture Partners Seattle, Seattle Impact Investing Group, City of Seattle Innovation and Performance, and Fledge to publish a Special Edition highlighting Greater Seattle’s SOCIAL INNOVATION, SOCIAL ENTERPRISES, AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. This edition showcases Greater Seattle’s most innovative solutions to solve society’s toughest problems.   

This issue holds special relevance related to how two cities can share knowledge as it comes on the heel’s of a symposium held last month that included an incredibly diverse group of 145 cross-sector Philadelphia leaders who traveled to Seattle for the Economy League’s Greater Philadelphia Leadership Exchange (aka “GPLEX”), to study how the Emerald City works, moves, lives, thrives -- and how it deals with major challenges. Seattle has incredible wealth and a political system and culture conducive to collaborating with other communities to solve public problems. We applaud Seattle’s collective work that together is developing a pragmatic approach that finds points of common ground and leverages assets to advance social impact.   

Demonstrating the value of sharing good ideas to inspire more good ideas we look at some of the benefits provided to Philadelphia leaders.  

“The coming together cements us, sharpens our ability to problem solve. The ROI is higher because we get to know Philly’s leadership, our collective self-reliance increases because we know our context.” – Beth Miller, Executive Director, Community Design Collaborative

“You know what’s the most important thing to me? Data. Data I did not have before. I am more informed.” – David Grasso, CEO Grasso Holdings

"I’ve walked away energized and determined to see how I can be part of the solutions that may enable us to apply some of the lessons observed into lessons learned and acted upon." – Michael Mittleman, President, Salus University

Read more in the introductory article by Jeff Hornstein of Greater Philadelphia Economy League and Vanessa Briggs of Brandywine Community Health Foundation. 

Across the globe, and in Seattle, there has been a rapid rise in the number of social sector innovators and entrepreneurs who want to find innovative ways to solve or “move the needle” on society’s problems, and they are increasingly deploying the methods of business and private capital if that helps them to do so. They include people in the social sector who can now tap the markets for finance in addition to seeking grants from donors, and philanthropists who are willing to fund innovative ideas and businesses driven by social entrepreneurs and social sector organizations if they offer a greater likelihood of achieving the social impact they desire. The force capable of driving a social sector revolution is Seattle’s social innovation, enterprise, and partnerships that harness innovation, entrepreneurship, partnerships and capital to power social impact. 

We hope this edition (article summaries are below) will achieve our mission to inspire leaders and organizations to dream; create the space for leaders to tap into their own creativity to innovate; endow leaders with the tools and knowledge to launch and grow their ideas; challengeleaders to become better versions of themselves; and transform leaders and their companies.   

Yours in innovation,

Nicholas Torres
Tine Hansen-Turton  
SIJ Co-Founders