Beyond's Approach to Social Impact is Featured in Authority Magazine

Scott Curran recently spoke with Yitzi Weiner of Authority Magazine about how Beyond Advisers is developing a single, simplified, scalable approach to sustainable social impact. Check out the interview below!

Scott Curran of Beyond Advisers: 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Lead a Nonprofit Organization or Social Impact Initiative Yitzi Weiner

As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Curran.

How Scott Curran is developing a single, simplified, scalable approach to sustainable social impact.

Scott Curran left corporate law for philanthropy, eventually becoming General Counsel of one of the fastest growing, most impactful, highest profile, and most scrutinized nonprofits in history, the Clinton Foundation. Now, as CEO of Beyond Advisers, a social impact consultancy that “connects the best advice, guidance and tools in the world with the best ideas and efforts to change it for the better.” He is on a mission to simplify social impact for nonprofits, social enterprises, and businesses, while also teaching a first of its kind law school course, and says he’s still just getting started!

Thank you so much for doing this with us. Before we begin our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?

I began my career as a 24-year-old corporate attorney with no plans to remain one forever. I’m now one of the happiest lawyers who has ever lived! After 5 years of corporate law firm practice, I detoured to Arkansas to get a Masters of Public Service degree. What was supposed to be an 18 month detour turned into a nearly two decade whirlwind. As part of that master’s degree program, I became a 31-year old intern at the Clinton Foundation (yes, “that” one!), which led to a 1-year Fellowship working on rural philanthropy, which then resulted in one day “accidentally” starting the in-house legal department at the Clinton Foundation. This eventually resulted in a 10 year journey that ended with my being General Counsel with a team of 16 in-house team members and a dozen outside law firms supporting the global work of one of the most dynamic, impactful, and scrutinized nonprofit organizations in history. I attempted to begin my departure from the Foundation in January 2015 but failed, remaining on until 2016 when I finally left the General Counsel role but remained a consultant to the Foundation for most of that year.

Despite my extreme aversion to the idea of ever being a consultant (I’d seen far too many fail to deliver value promised during my career to date), that’s exactly what I became, though one intent on always delivering real value!

In Fall of 2015 I established Beyond Advisers, a social impact consultancy, with a hunch — that nonprofits, social enterprises, and cross-sector social impact efforts might benefit from having a deeply experienced and fully equipped General (and Strategic) Counsel’s office on call. After all, the toolkit we had developed supporting the organization and operations of the Foundation, along with its dizzyingly diverse and fast-moving program portfolio had proven time and again to not only work well, but to withstand the scrutiny being heaped upon the Foundation as it was turned into a political football during the 2016 election. It’s worth noting that despite all the innuendo and accusations, there was never a single material governance, compliance, legal, or operations failure at the Foundation. At the end of the day, we knew whose name was on the door the entire time, had already been through one Presidential election (in 2008), and were simply a super exciting and collaborative global operating charity that was designed, built, and operated to do really fantastic world-changing work.

Can you tell us the story behind why you decided to start your social impact consultancy?

As I was contemplating my post-Clinton Foundation career, I looked across the fast-growing, expansive, dynamically evolving social impact landscape while also taking an inventory of what we had built at the Foundation in supporting our 2,000 colleagues working in over 40 countries on over a dozen vastly different initiatives. I thought that perhaps this “toolkit” we had created might be useful to others who didn’t have or couldn’t afford a full-time, fully-equipped general counsel’s office.

At its core, the “toolkit” was an incredibly expansive but relentlessly simplified set of advice, guidance, and tools that had supported global philanthropy, social enterprise, and cross-sector partnerships at the absolute highest (and most scrutinized) level at scale.

That toolkit and the experience that went into developing it, deploying it, and supporting the program teams all over the world — and across issue areas — was incredibly effective. And it worked with all subject matter areas and was accepted (and sometimes outright “borrowed” or adapted) by all of our partners. The subject matter areas included global health, climate change, international development, supply chain innovation, childhood obesity, early childhood education, women and girls’ empowerment, global conferences and convenings, museum and special event operations. And our partners included other philanthropic organizations, governments, program and implementing partners, Fortune 100 businesses increasingly committed to corporate social impact, and some of the most influential and dynamic individual social impact leaders in the world. And the advice, guidance, and tools we provided worked for all of it, all the time, 24/7/365, because the sun never set on our work.

So I knew two things. First, that toolkit was likely to prove incredibly helpful to other organizations.

Second, the work it took to develop it meant that it wasn’t likely available anywhere else and that others who might benefit from it had to hunt and peck and cobble together pieces of it from myriad service providers if they could even find them and/or afford their services, which isn’t guaranteed by any means.

So I wanted to find a way to test whether my “theory of the case” was true — that this is a helpful toolkit others could benefit from and that we might be able to create a new way of making it available.

With that, Beyond Advisers was born. It’s a social impact consultancy. And while not a law firm or a “traditional” consulting firm, we draw on the best of big law firms, in-house counsel teams/approaches, and dynamic consultants relentlessly focused on making things easy to understand and simple to use for any/every organization and program team working to change the world in a positive way.

Can you describe how you or your organization aims to make a significant social impact?

By supporting others’ ability to “do more good, better” using the single, simplified, scalable approach to social impact success we’ve developed, refined, and deployed time and again with the world’s leading social impact organizations.

We genuinely believe that no social impact initiative, whether a nonprofit, social enterprise, private sector social impact initiative should ever struggle for lack of access to proven tools and approaches that work at scale. In our work to date — both at the Clinton Foundation and through Beyond Advisers, we’ve worked with the absolute best of the best and have seen — at scale — what works and, importantly, what doesn’t.

We know what makes excellent, impactful, well-governed, compliant, and needle-moving organizations, operations, and programs work. And we can very quickly spot what can impeded and even derail such efforts.

By making hard things easier for those working to make the world a better place, we enable them to eliminate the struggle that distracts them from mission-focused program work. We envision a world where no organization ever has to struggle with the organizational, operational, and/or program design and implementation challenges that too often stunt their growth and impact. We believe strongly that “success leaves clues” and we exist to help replicate what we know works in supporting social impact at scale.

And given that our work uniquely applies to 1) nonprofits; 2) social enterprises, and 3) the private sector (including corporate social impact efforts and even law firms moving beyond pro bono alone), we are incredibly excited about what our approach to social impact at scale — rooted in simplicity and proven success — can mean for the entire social impact landscape, spanning all industries.

Without saying any names, can you share a story about a client or two with whom you’ve worked?

Absolutely! I can share a few examples from across our client profiles, which span nonprofits and the wider social impact sector.

The family foundation of an A-list celebrity family invited us to help streamline their organizational operations during a time of exciting growth. They had some of the tools they needed to do their work. Like so many others, they had gotten a tool here or there from attorneys or other service providers who supported the family in their other endeavors. And despite the best of intentions, two challenges commonly emerge.

First, those tools — derived from a practice in a different industry altogether — aren’t always the best fit for the truly dynamic nonprofit and/or social impact work their foundation was developing. That makes it really hard for a small nonprofit team, which is already stretched in their day to day work to clearly and confidently use and/or develop them for maximum impact. And busy (and expensive) lawyers, accountants, or other service providers don’t always have all the time they’d like (and are rarely ever embedded in the day to day work) to support the teams that really need more of their time to truly understand and leverage the tools provided.

That’s where we came in! We were able to come in quickly triage some of their tools and operations to assess, update, or revise (when necessary), and stick with the team in their use of them to basically train the team in real time.

Along the way, we’d proactively issue spot, contribute when appropriate on program-related work, and just become fresh (experienced) eyes and enhanced bandwidth to their team, effectively on-call and regularly available, bringing our deep bench of experience to their work. It was incredibly fun and rewarding. Not only were we able to help grow their organizational and operational impact and efficiency, we developed close relationships that continue on long after our work ends. The ultimate compliment came when they asked us to expand our work to help streamline and simplify some of the organizational and operational work of their other businesses.

The nonprofits/foundations adjacent to two major brands (both household names) also came to us seeking help.

One was very young, fast growing, and focused on an important subject area regularly in the news. Their greatest need at the time was growing the governance, compliance, and operations of the nonprofit. They needed to go from startup to scale with the right tools and practices in place to support sustainable growth of their organization, operations, and programs.

The business that spawned their existence had everything it needed through exceptional, high-quality (and high priced) outside law firm help, and they naturally offered to be helpful to the nonprofit. But (there’s always a but!), as is often the case, it wasn’t the best, most nimble, efficient, or cost-effective “fit” for a separate, small, budget-limited nonprofit which was moving much faster and further than well-intentioned pro bono offers could actually or effectively support. So our team came in, working collaboratively with everyone involved, leveraging that pro bono help as much as we could, but moving a bit quicker to support the faster paced day-to-day needs of the nonprofit with streamlined efficiency to help them develop key policies, procedures, and day to day practices that would help them grow their dynamic work (and fast growing team) with simplicity and ease as the scope of their program work (and the teams running it all) grew. From the Board engagement to HR to day-to-day operational tools like MOUs, sponsorship and/or research agreements, we helped the team both develop and use them day in day out. We still work with that organization now five years later!

The other corporate foundation was focused mostly on the program front and needed some additional bandwidth and fresh perspective as they were working through the unexpected circumstances of a global pandemic that required their small but mighty team to have to reimagine how they approach corporate philanthropy in a rapidly changing world. They wanted to uniquely grow their impact while also knowing how they compared to other corporate foundations. In the midst of that engagement, the George Floyd situation unfolded, requiring another unexpected pivot driven by a sincere desire to be part of the solution. They wanted to keep up their great work while growing beyond it to be a nimble and responsive corporate citizen in a rapidly evolving civic and social landscape.

Finally, the family office of one of the largest hedge fund families in the country engaged us to help them design and build the early stages of an entirely new approach to a “big bet” social impact initiative. This client wanted to move way beyond traditional philanthropy to design and build a wildly audacious approach to social impact. From day one the client said “this is so bold that we’ll likely fail. But we’re going to get caught trying.” This is the space we love the most.

The impatience with current models, the desire to chart a new course, and the drive to explore new models for change — all deeply rooted in building on what works to forge new models of what might/can/should work — is the space we love most. Our team contributed from the earliest blue sky brainstorming days, through to meticulous issue spotting and wrangling of complicated corporate, tax, and other legal considerations, working with one of the largest law firms in the world with unique experience with similar cross-sector initiatives. It’s a delicate balance of big thinking and very precise governance and compliance obligations. It’s equally exciting, nerdy, tough work that challenges your brain while pushing the adrenaline and making your heart swell. It’s an incredible way to spend your days and keeps you up at night in the best ways possible!

Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you accelerate this vision for cross-sector social impact work at scale?

Yes! Recognize that every person, every organization (across any sector) and every dollar has social impact. Organize your efforts toward what that impact looks like and should look like in the future. Market your efforts — in every conversation, with every member of your team and to every customer/client/constituent you serve so that they are acutely aware of your approach to making a positive social impact. And measure what you do so that you can continue to keep score and share your social impact story. Every single person and organization can do this. And it is increasingly imperative that they do! The desire and demand for social impact on an individual and market basis is only growing. The most compelling and inspiring people will lead in this space. And the most competitive organizations in any/every sector will proactively meet client and talent demand in ways that will achieve extraordinary “double bottom line” results that will separate them from their competition. But that competition is coming…so it’s not a matter of “if” every individual and organization moves with clarity and purpose in this direction, but “when” and “how.”

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

Action and teambuilding.

As to action, whether an individual, organization, or operation, what it does and the impact they/it has defines their leadership position. Don’t get me wrong, words matter. I do words for a living in many regards, and there’s a place for leadership there. But actions speak louder.

And teambuilding is incredibly important. None of us have all the answers. Bringing together the right group of people, perspectives, and professionals is critically important to great leadership. We’ve seen some leaders suffocate great ideas and efforts with too tight a grip and an unwillingness to grow and trust a wider team. “Teamwork makes the dream work” isn’t just a super catchy quote. It’s also 100% true. The right team (and delegation to and within it) can be a make or break factor.

Based on your experience, what are the “5 things a person should know before they decide to start a nonprofit or social impact initiative.” Please share a story or example for each.

1. It is simpler and easier than you think!There are commonalities and patterns that every social impact initiative (including, but not limited to nonprofits — but especially nonprofits!) have in common. No matter how special the focus, approach, initiative, program, project, or organization, none is that unique. Special, of course (we’re ALL special!) but not really that unique! And that’s GOOD news! It means that others have gone before and paved the way.

2. Success Leaves Clues!This builds on the above. It is extremely likely, with few exceptions, that someone else has blazed the trail before you. So borrow from the available successes of others who have gone before, who you admire and/or want to emulate. Ask them for help. Chances are good they will! Use good/vetted resources, templates, and tools that are already available. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Far too many organizations and social impact efforts — all well intended — embark on their journey as though others haven’t gone before them and struggle, unnecessarily in my view, with creating things anew for which proven tools and resources exist. From Bylaws to Board practices, to template NDAs, MOUs, HR resources, etc. Borrow from and use what works! Trying to create something new when something perfectly usable already exists is a potential unforced error that can consume precious time, resources, and momentum.

3. Pause and assess before beginning!If what you are planning isn’t new, specific, and measurable, give it an honest second thought before you start! For the same reasons noted above, you may unnecessarily be going the long way to having the greatest impact for your effort. If other organizations exist to address the same issue in a similar way, ask if it is worth staring something new that will be duplicative, if not outright competitive. Then consider whether joining and/or partnering with another existing organization might make sense. I don’t want to discourage anyone from pursuing their big bold goal. But consider the best “how” of doing so! It may not always be starting your own/new thing! The social impact market is increasingly dynamic, diverse, and creative. There are tremendous opportunities to join existing efforts in one way or another that may not require starting something new at all!

4. There IS a recipe for success!There really is!!! It is born of experience and pattern recognition that comes with that experience. But just as certain as there’s a recipe behind a great dish, there’s a recipe for great nonprofits and social impact success followed by the biggest and best organizations in the world. We know because we helped design, build and modify it over time, and we’ve observed at work in hundreds of other organizations with which we and our clients have partnered in their work. As you begin your nonprofit and/or social impact endeavor, follow the recipe for success that works universally well and includes your Board (you’ll have a Board that strongly and steadily guides you along the way), operations (amazing operations that bring your organization to life) programs (your world-changing programs that are your reason for being), and partnerships (that help bring the transformation you seek to fruition for the stakeholders you serve). That’s the recipe! NOW…there’s a lot of ingredients underneath it all, and you’ll need to assemble them in the right order and at the right time. Execution (the “how”) is everything. But use that recipe as your guide and you’re well on your way!

5. Seek the right kind of help at the right time.It may feel good to have a volunteer, team member, consultant, law firm, accounting firm, or service provider express interest in helping you and your organization. And if you can afford it all right out of the gate, excellent! But whether you can, and especially if you can’t, get the right help at the right time, don’t mistake activity for progress! Especially when it comes at an expense of time, effort, or resources, which are almost always in shorter supply than anyone likes. Know what stage you are in (startup, growth, pivot, crisis, etc.) and get the right sized help at the right time (and right price — even “pro bono” can prove expensive!) so that you can keep your focus tailored, operations as lean and effective as possible, and programs and partnerships impactful. If in doubt, contact us and we’ll point you in the right direction!
   

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world who you would like to talk to, to share the idea behind your work? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell, Simon Sinek, Gary Vaynerchuk have each provided extremely helpful lenses through which we view and guide our work to scale social impact with a focus on systems change rooted in simplicity and derived from experience and pattern recognition at scale. Their work has informed our work, which we hope is a meaningful contribution to the world-changing efforts of so many others.

And, of course, the dynamic world changers with whom we’ve had the good fortune to work, from multiple former Presidents (they know who they are!) to other world leaders, CEOs, nonprofit innovators, and even law firm leaders. So many of them are responsible for inspiring the work that makes ours possible.

Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson” Quote? How is that relevant to you in your life?

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”

― Henry David Thoreau

How can our readers follow you online?

Visit us at www.beyondadvisers.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success in your mission.

"Toward Social Impact: How working at the Clinton Foundation helped shape this changemaker’s career"

See Change Magazine recently interviewed Beyond Advisers’ Scott Curran to discuss the making of Beyond Advisers, the industry-changing work we do, and the future of social impact.

Check out the article below!

Toward Social Impact: How working at the Clinton Foundation helped shape this changemaker’s career

A group of former Clinton Foundation lawyers have taken the best practices they learned and are making for-profit social good a scalable endeavour. Foundations like Starbucks, United Nations and Chobani-adjacent Tent, as well as family foundations like Will and Jada Smith are helping more people and doing more for their social impact dollar by leveraging the best practices of Beyond Advisers.

We sat down with its founder and CEO, Scott Curran, to discuss his unique career path and how his background in law and experience working with the Clintons inspired his next steps. Scott also shares the growing importance of social impact today and offers some advice for those looking to help influence that impact, whether as a consultant or an organization doing good work.

Tell me about your background and why you pursued a career in law.

At the time I applied to law school, the question wasn’t whether you’d have a job after law school, but which job you’d have and what direction you’d take with your career. So it was an exciting grad school option that had always intrigued me, even though there was an element of mystery about how I’d use it and where I’d go, instead of a specific desire to “be a lawyer” in a traditional sense. There was a bit of curiosity and excitement for me – which has continued throughout my career and still continues today! I initially wound up on a “traditional” path, practicing at a corporate law firm for about five years before taking the “nontraditional” detour to Arkansas (for a totally different grad school experience) and into philanthropy back in 2005. My career has been a wild ride since, none of which would have been possible without my legal education and experience.

I remain as bullish and optimistic as ever on the value of a legal education and life as a lawyer. I believe that the legal profession is one of the most important in human history and that now is one of the greatest times ever to be a lawyer! The need is great and innovation and opportunities within the law are exciting and inspiring. In all the social impact work I do, across sectors, a common through line is the important role of thoughtful, proactive, innovative lawyers and the opportunities for them to contribute to this exciting work.

I also teach a law school class called Lawyers as Social Innovators: An introduction to Social Impact Law, which highlights how the growing sphere of social impact work – transcending nonprofits, for-profits, social enterprises, and cross-sector partnerships – all need lawyers to help design, build, and grow this work. Law school grads and seasoned lawyers alike are seeking out this work. They love it, are inspired by it, and want to do more of it.  So between client and talent demand, the profession – and especially law firms – need to pivot to meet that demand.  It’s a really exciting time for lawyers and the law! My initial “why” of law school was driven by curiosity and opportunity. That remains a through line for me now and I’m just as (if not more) excited about the opportunities now as I was then!

What’s the story behind your social impact consulting firm Beyond Advisers?

In early 2015 I was contemplating leaving the General Counsel position at the Clinton Foundation (yes, “that” Clinton Foundation!). I knew it was likely the “biggest” job I’d leave and needed to decide what the best move would be. I also knew I had an incredibly valuable toolkit filled with the experience, resources, tools, and guidance that supported social impact work at scale across issue areas and organization types (from nonprofits to social enterprises to private sector work). It’s almost hard to describe the value of that toolkit since it was based on and proven to work for about every team working on every initiative across every area of the globe. My primary driver was how to determine whether it would work outside of the Clinton Foundation’s ecosystem (I suspected it would) and to what extent.

I had no intention of becoming a consultant as I had a pretty skeptical view of many consultants, having seen hundreds of all varieties come and go during my time at the Foundation with a real mixed bag as far as value delivered for fees paid. I knew I didn’t want to go into a traditional practice at a law firm. That option, while available, didn’t spark my curiosity or innovation-driven spirit and would confine the toolkit that excited me to too narrow a space. I also didn’t want to go in-house at another single non-profit. That also felt too narrow to me as the goal was to make the advice, guidance, and tools that comprised our toolkit available more widely in a way that could meaningfully help scale the sector and its work.

So taking a fresh look at all the factors and opportunities in front of me, and with no immediate urgency to leave (we were plenty busy at the Foundation at that time), I took a look at the landscape, the toolkit I thought was so valuable, and the best ways it could be deployed if I was thinking as big as possible about its use. That’s what ultimately gave rise to Beyond Advisers.

The original idea and a common through line for us is that we sought – and still seek – to connect the best advice, guidance, and tools in the world with the best ideas and efforts to change it. Over five years later, I can say that’s exactly what we’re doing, and we’re just getting started!  We’ve got some big ideas about how to take the same toolkit and make it available to every one of the 1.5 million nonprofits, social enterprises, and corporate do-gooders in the US who might find it helpful too!

How important was your experience at the Clinton Foundation in shaping who you are and what you do today?

It was everything. And nothing I do now would be possible without that experience (just like nothing I did at the Clinton Foundation would have been possible without my legal experience prior to that). For all the Clinton Foundation has been through having been turned into a political football prior to and through the 2016 election, let me say that I’m insanely proud of and remain inspired by its work and my colleagues there. Notwithstanding the weaponization of the organization in the political arena (which was ultimately little more than a sideshow of mudslinging and innuendo), there’s simply no denying the core truths of its work.

It was one of the most dynamic, diverse, fast-growing talent magnets that was an inspiring and driving force in the global philanthropic movement of the early 2000’s. At warp speed, it went from being a small Arkansas-based foundation focused on building the Clinton Library to a global juggernaut that expanded its work, reach, and dynamic partnerships that put laser focus on moving the needle in global health, climate change, international development, supply chain innovation, global convenings to drive real change, childhood obesity, early childhood education, women and girls empowerment, and so much more.

The “worst” part of it all is 1) how much I miss all my other colleagues and the adrenaline-inducing work of the Clinton Foundation in its heyday; and 2) my continued anxiousness about taking what we learned from it further to scale. In my view, every organization working to make the world a better place should have the toolkit we’ve developed – which was squarely derived from our experience at the Clinton Foundation – and be able to use it in their work to the extent some/parts/all of it can be helpful. It’s why we do what we do at Beyond, it’s what I teach in my law school class, and it’s the nucleus of everything I think any and every social impact organization (nonprofit, social enterprise, or private sector initiative) should have access to.

What was the biggest takeaway from that experience?

The biggest takeaway is twofold. First, social impact is everywhere, regardless of sector, leader, or theory of change and everyone and every entity of every type has a social impact – positive, negative, or somewhere in between. Second, we must be intentional about the design, building, and execution of our work for the greater good. There are common issues and patterns in all of it. While every organization and initiative is special, none is actually that unique.

We need to standardize a certain set of principles and practices in our approach to social impact that lay the foundation for all that is built atop it.  That worked seamlessly at the Clinton Foundation, it works just as seamlessly for each and every client we’ve served at Beyond, and I believe with every fiber of my being and every minute of my experience to date that it can work for any and every other social change agent on earth. Not that I have strong feelings about it…

Why does social impact matter in 2021, and why are more companies and organizations looking to improve in this area?

Every one of us and every organization on earth has a social impact. Period. There’s no escaping or denying it. The only questions are what that impact looks like (or should look like), how any/every organization is contributing to “doing more good, better,” and how to get there. Moreover, the market, capital, consumers, and talent alike are all increasingly demanding that social impact be woven into nearly every product and service in life.

Social impact work is no longer reserved to nonprofits and governments. It hasn’t been for a long time. Going back 50+ years we’ve seen “CSR” (Corporate Social Responsibility) efforts throughout the private sector (the equivalent in the law being “pro bono”), “charity” in the philanthropic sector, and “social programs” of government. Fast forward to today and we see updates and innovation in each of those sectors, expanded scopes, and blurred lines between and among them.

Nonprofits are innovating and acting more like businesses than ever before with earned revenue models, commercial co-ventures, and even mergers and acquisitions. Businesses are acting more like nonprofits than ever before, eschewing old school CSR work for far more dynamic social impact work where the “doing good” is woven into and part of the business model itself, no longer just funded by profits produced by that business model. And in between we see social enterprises and entirely new models and approaches from small L3Cs to B-Corps, to dynamic use of existing models that break the mold like the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Emerson Collective, and Omidyar Network just to name a few. That’s all in addition to major name brand foundations and corporate philanthropies, which are also innovating at breakneck speeds.

And not to be overlooked, government has always been a highly relevant part of the equation, remains so today, and will be in the future. There’s a multifaceted and symbiotic relationship with the government, which is critical to issues of scale, among others. To say nothing of the current events of recent months that provide a stark example of social impact and how cross-sector actors – from individuals to corporations to elected officials – rely on and impact one another in material ways.

Bottom line is that social impact is here and isn’t going anywhere, is more in demand than ever before (a trend that is only going to grow), and being intentional about it is a business, social, and societal imperative.

In what ways do companies and organizations typically fail in the area of social impact?

Awareness and planning. Awareness: Being aware of the reality that every organization has a social impact and must be intentional about it is the first blindspot and opportunity to pivot toward a social impact growth mindset. Planning: We’ve all heard that “failing to plan is planning to fail.” And when it comes to social impact, failure is not an option! The world and future generations to follow are depending on us!

With society undergoing major changes during the pandemic what predictions do you have for the future of social impact in business?

Explosive growth and innovation. Pandemics, civil unrest, challenges to the core pillars that hold up civil society, in addition to other intractable challenges already emphasizing the point, all sharpen the focus on the importance of attention to the role each and every one of us (individuals and organizations alike) play as social actors in our shared world.

It’s not possible to sit on the sidelines anymore. We all know that the world is increasingly hot, flat and crowded. Pandemics and civil unrest are just the latest amplifiers.  But we saw way before 2020 that corporate actors were moving from an exclusive shareholder primacy focus to a broader, more inclusive (and I’d argue more accurate) focus on stakeholder focus. Hat tip to Jamie Dimon and the Business Roundtable for that one. We’ve seen the growing work of nonprofits, social enterprises, and cross sector partnerships innovating and scaling at an unprecedented clip. And their work, their voices, and their relevance is greater than ever during these times. I’ve even seen and helped lawyers and law firms pivoting their practices to more purposefully feature their commitments to social impact writ large, far beyond pro bono alone.

Bottom line is that the opportunity to do good while doing well is greater than ever. Growth and innovation are the order of the day for everyone in this space.  And we’re increasingly attuned to the fact that everyone is indeed in this space!

What are the most frequent or daunting challenges encountered when working with a client?

When we’re a good fit and engagement is properly defined, there are very few challenges. We work primarily with growth stage nonprofits, social enterprises, and/or cross-sector initiatives (i.e. not startups or crisis clients).  So these clients have usually experienced enough challenges to know the value we bring in helping them design, build, and grow for even greater successes and to avoid/fix/design against the challenges they’ve already experienced. When we’re in our sweet spot with clients, the enthusiasm, optimism, and hunger for what we offer them is usually high and challenges are few.

With some larger or older organizations, we can bump into structural or budget limitations, or the classic “we’ve always done it this way” or its counterpart “we’ve never done it that way.” And only occasionally we’ll find someone who overlooks the practical value of a simple tool – whether that be a policy, procedure, practice, or template that seems overly simple to them.  But a reminder that the tools and their simplicity are born of deep experience and continued refinement and are supported by proven best practices usually gets those rare situations back on track.

On the whole, our clients are eager, enthusiastic partners with whom we find few bumps on the road we travel together.  It’s a really nice way to work! 

What sets your firm apart from those that provide similar services?

Though we are not a law firm and don’t provide legal advice, our experience provides a foundation of depth and breadth, attention to detail, issue spotting and pattern recognition that uniquely develops from the role of being leaders of a legal team like the one we developed at the Clinton Foundation. That’s usually the point of entry and greatest interest for most of our clients.  We add on other practice areas and expertise of other team members from there, becoming full service in the social impact space like few others can, while still being a boutique consultancy. That model is unique to Beyond. Oh, we’re also super fun to work with (but that’s not necessarily unique to us – most folks in this space are pretty awesome)!

What advice do you have for those wishing to go into the field of social impact? What traits are most valued in your field?

As far as advice, become AMAZING at something of value to the social impact marketplace. It’s a large, growing, and increasingly diverse industry. There’s plenty of need and incredible growth opportunities. So whatever your professional skillset, passion, or focus, become amazing at it, develop a keen sense of awareness of how it can help social impact clients, and be meticulously awesome about it.

As to traits that are valued, curiosity to find and see new solutions, proactive thinking to creatively design and execute new and different approaches, issue spotting ability, the capacity to continually iterate on ideas, and being adept at collaborating with others across industries and professional skillsets. Also, enthusiasm and optimism are essential.

It’s an extraordinary field that increasingly needs great, experienced, and enthusiastic talent. Join us!

Beyond Advisers Speaks With Responsible Investor

Beyond Advisers and founder Scott Curran were featured in Responsible Investor, where Scott addressed the increasing role of corporate actors as global citizens, in light of his experience as General Counsel at the Clinton Foundation, and his current work at Beyond Advisers.

Interview: Former Clinton lawyer on what Trump’s legacy means for social impact

Scott Curran says corporates and investors will no longer be able to be apolitical

Vibeka Mair

As President Joe Biden celebrates his inauguration as the 46th US President this week, eyes are also turning to what President Trump’s next move will be. It’s likely to be highly unusual. His decision yesterday to skip Biden’s inauguration breaks with 150 years of tradition.

Scott Curran, CEO and Founder of social impact consultancy Beyond Advisers, says depending on who you ask, Trump’s next move could be as celebrated or vilified as what President Bill Clinton did when he left office in the early 2000s

Curran became a staff member during the early years of the Clinton Foundation. It broke the mould of what former US Presidents did in their post-presidency, such as writing books or one-off initiatives. “Bill Clinton was not done with public service,” Curran explains.” He was the youngest former President in American history and he had big ideas for how he could continue service.”

Curran, who started with the Clinton Foundation after graduating from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, jokes he was quickly faced with the opportunity to set up a legal department from scratch. It grew to a 16-person team after a decade with Curran acting as legal counsel.

During this time, the Clinton Foundation faced “a level five hurricane of scrutiny and criticism that rivals that of Trump” and included FBI and Justice Department investigations on allegations of corruption and “donations for access”. The media also dogged the organization.

From Curran’s point of view, he spent a decade helping the organization in its efforts including building game-changing work in global health, climate change, early childhood education, childhood obesity and international development, among other initiatives the Foundation undertook.

“Tackling these issues in real specific and measurable ways every day is extraordinarily exciting. Helping in an emerging situation like the tsunami in Southeast Asia or the earthquake in Haiti, which required all hands on deck when the former President said ‘Ok we’re going to help, let’s figure it out’. That’s 72-hours of your life where you don’t get to sleep.”

Curran has taken this experience to his now 5-year-old firm Beyond Advisers where he advises on social impact with multinationals and global foundations. He says conversations he has had with clients since the US Capitol riots have brought into sharp relief the fact that everybody has a social impact, especially corporations.

The fall-out from the violence in Washington D.C. has seen waves of companies, such as Cisco and Goldman Sachs, publicly stopping political donations. Deutsche Bank ended business with Donald Trump. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who advises the city’s pension funds, has called on eight companies to suspend donations to Republican “election objectors”.

Corporate lobbying has been on the radar of responsible investors for years, especially on the issue of climate change. The events at Capitol Hill are likely to bolster investor action.

“It has illuminated with clarity the impact that corporations have as actors in our society,” says Curran.

He says the trajectory was already in motion with the Business Roundtable’s announcement on moving from “shareholder primacy” to “stakeholder primacy”.

“We’ve been seeing it for a long time, which is the increasing awareness of corporate actors as global citizens. That they matter. Their voice matters.”

“And so what we’ve seen here in the US just in the past weeks alone, in the narrower context of what has been described as an insurrection on the US Capitol for the first time in our history, is that global brands have come out and stated their opposition.”

“Corporations are not only staking a claim on where they stand on democracy, they’re pulling funding from politicians who they believe are on the wrong side of the current situation. There’s no way any corporate actor, at least here in the US, can now suggest they can be apolitical. Not when they are writing checks for politicians who make policy that impacts the people and creates the reality in which we all live in. There’s simply no denying it.”

Since the US Capitol riots he has also seen more interest from companies wanting to strengthen their position as corporate citizens. “I would say that applies equally to investors today and shareholders today who are looking to deploy their standing, their purchasing power or their investment dollar for greater and more positive social impact.”

Curran adds that talent retention is also a big driver for companies: social media platforms’ recent action to remove President Donald Trump was spurred on by concerned staff. He has clients who have left well-known social media organizations and created new organizations with their wealth. They predict a reckoning for the industry which was already under investor pressure on issues such as privacy, hate speech and child protection.

“‘What is our obligation as a corporate actor?’ That's usually the first question they are working through. They're not ignorant to the impact that it has on perception of favoritism one way or the other, or picking sides. But at the end of the day, if their platform is being misused and they have terms of service that make that clear, they have an obligation without regard to preference or personal politics.”

“There's an evolution happening and an ongoing reckoning that will almost always be imperfect and that will require hard choices to be made,” he adds. “But make no mistake, the market, consumers, and investor capital are paying attention to those choices.”

He says only time will tell what the already unprecedented post-presidency of Donald Trump will look like, and how history will interpret his actions going forward. For now, America and the world must wait and see what further choices the 45th President will make and the repercussions they might have.