Toward Greater Impact: A Path to Reduce Social Problems, Improve Lives, and Strengthen Communities

By James M. McClelland

Many major social problems – poverty, low education levels, crime, and a host of health issues, including alcohol and substance use disorders – are frequently interrelated and often reinforce and compound each other. Yet, in the U.S. we tend to treat those problems individually in isolation from the others. The public sector often does this through large bureaucratic silos, while the not-for-profit sector – a large part of which focuses on alleviating social problems – is incredibly fragmented. While many good programs and services do exist, we have generally not done a good job connecting them. We tend to be program-rich and systems-poor, and siloed and fragmented approaches to complex problems frequently fail to result in lasting impact.

In Toward Greater Impact, author Jim McClelland draws on decades of first-hand experiences and describes a path to connect some of the many good programs and services that do exist in a more holistic, often whole family approach that can help reduce a variety of social problems, improve lives, and make more effective use of existing resources.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098373429

Book preview

Author

Introduction

During the first two decades of the 21st century, I had the privilege of being involved in efforts to reduce some major problems in our society—multigenerational poverty and the opioid crisis.

The first of those was during the last 15 years of my four decades as CEO of a large not-for-profit organization, Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana. (Now, as the result of a merger since I retired, it’s Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana). The evolution of that organization during those 15 years was unique and transformative—at least among the more than 150 organizations that are members of Goodwill Industries International, Inc.—and resulted in a holistic, two-generation approach to serving people.

The second major problem I was involved with, the opioid crisis, was as the Indiana drug czar. (The official title was Executive Director for Drug Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement.) I found that much of what we had learned during those crucial years at Goodwill about how to help reduce multigenerational poverty applies equally well to reducing substance abuse and helping those who have substance use disorders achieve and maintain recovery.

In particular, a holistic, whole-person approach—often a result of relationships among organizations within and across sectors—is critical to achieving a lasting impact on these and related issues.

Many of the most serious social problems in the U.S. (e.g., poverty, inadequate education, crime, and a host of health issues, including alcohol and substance use disorders) are frequently interrelated and often reinforce and compound each other.

Data suggest that despite a huge proliferation of not-for-profit organizations, plus enormous increases in public spending over the past half-century to remedy such problems in the United States, some major social indicators have actually gotten worse. Unintended consequences of some mostly well-intentioned public policies have likely played a role. But it is also, at least in part, a reflection of our tendency to treat each problem individually, in isolation from the others.

The public sector has often done this through large, bureaucratic silos that frequently don’t communicate effectively with each other, while the not-for-profit sector—a significant portion of which focuses on addressing social problems—is incredibly fragmented. Most of the organizations in the sector are small and have great difficulty aggregating capital or talent to achieve scale. Despite such limitations, many of them do good work. But typically, each is addressing only a piece of a larger, more complex set of issues, and we have not been very good at connecting the pieces.

I hasten to add that in addition to trying to alleviate major social problems, the not-for-profit sector serves a number of important functions in U.S. society. Two examples are providing short-term relief and responding to natural or man-made disasters. The sector also plays a crucial role in the civic life of communities of all sizes and helps improve the quality of life in many ways. In the process, not-for-profit organizations provide opportunities for many individuals to develop and apply leadership skills. The sector can also experiment with new approaches to serving people and the larger society.

Put all of this together, and there’s a strong case that not-for-profits help strengthen the very fabric of our society.

My emphasis here, though, is on approaches that might substantially reduce some of the large, complex social problems in the United States. Neither sector, public nor not-for-profit, is structured optimally to accomplish that goal. As others have noted, we tend to be program-rich and systems-poor.

At least in the foreseeable future, we are not likely to dramatically change the structure of either the not-for-profit or public sector. Changes are likely to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. And while each sector has unique characteristics that make it more suitable for some purposes than others, there has been an increasing amount of overlap and direct competition in recent years between organizations in different sectors (e.g., for-profit and not-for-profit; not-for-profit and public). The competition is often for talent as well as for customers, clients, patients, or students.

In my experience, when the need arises for direct human services, people and communities are often better served by well-run not-for-profit organizations than they are by government or for-profit companies. Still, either of those might be preferable to a poorly run not-for profit. And there are now some additional options available in some states, including low-profit limited liability companies (L3Cs) and benefit corporations that make it possible for for-profit companies to emphasize social goals as much as financial goals.

But where I see enormous potential—and this is a major focus of this book—is in leveraging the resources and capabilities of organizations within and across sectors to cause good things to happen that are otherwise unlikely, increasing overall impact and making more effective use of all the resources available.

I’m encouraged that there is a growing recognition of the importance of working with the whole person, and often with the whole family (two-generation approaches, for example), to achieve lasting results. Both lay publications and academic and professional literature increasingly make references to wraparound services and addressing all of the social determinants of health. Interest in collective impact is growing, and there are now numerous such initiatives involving multiple organizations, all working together to accomplish a worthy goal beyond the reach of any individual organization.

One of the oldest and best-known collective impact initiatives is StriveTogether, based in Cincinnati. Focused on increasing student success, it has developed into a cradle-to-career approach with many partners. Other collective impact initiatives have had different primary goals, but generally without the kind of holistic, whole-family approach that I emphasize in this book.

Most of the books and articles I’ve seen on collective impact are written by consultants or academics. Throughout my working life, I’ve learned a great deal about many topics from consultants, those in the academy, and others who do research. My intent in this book, though, is to augment what I’ve learned from their knowledge and insights by conveying some of my hands-on experiences along with the lessons learned from those experiences.

Much of this book was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The magnitude of that health, economic, and human crisis is unprecedented in modern times. The impact of the opioid crisis I was focused on for the preceding three years was devastating, but it has been dwarfed by this new global pandemic.

As I am writing this, we still don’t know when COVID-19 will cease to be a major factor in our lives or what changes that have occurred as a result of the pandemic are likely to be more or less permanent. Regardless, the social problems identified in this book will still be with us, and some of them, in fact, are likely to be significantly worse. A large segment of the population that was struggling before—many living paycheck to paycheck—has been severely affected by job losses and sudden disruption of patterns of daily life and sources of support. Many individuals and families are finding their problems magnified. Moreover, the need to isolate socially to control the spread of the coronavirus conflicts with our need for close relationships and social interaction to help prevent and respond to mental health, substance abuse, and other issues.

While, overall, our response to many such problems may be somewhat different in the months and years ahead—and, I hope, better than before—the essence of what will be needed to alleviate many of those problems will be the same. Certainly, the importance of relationships, connections, and community (people coming together—whether virtually, in person with physical distancing, or some combination of the two) is likely to be greater than ever. The need to work in a holistic manner with people who need help, often with the whole family, will be essential for the greatest lasting impact. And the need for organizations within a community to work together across sectors, leveraging resources in focused ways to address serious, interrelated social problems, will be even more vital than it was before.

Those who lead organizations of all kinds will be more aware than ever before of the importance of being able to adapt quickly and effectively as their external environment changes. If we didn’t understand the importance of resilience before, we do now. And while organizations of all types in all sectors must strive to become more resilient, so, too, should individuals.

Finally, we have seen examples of good and bad leadership at different levels and in different sectors during this pandemic. We need to learn from both the good and bad examples and ensure we’re preparing ourselves and future leaders to be able to respond and lead as effectively as possible as circumstances change.

Meanwhile, the examples described in this book—and the lessons to be drawn from them—might well be useful to