Beyond Advisers is Featured in Rolling Stone Magazine

Beyond Advisers was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, where Scott Curran provided advice on innovation.

Eight Ways to Balance Business Innovation With Financial Stability

Experimenting with a new product or service shouldn’t come at the expense of your core business.

BY ROLLING STONE CULTURE COUNCIL

IT CAN BE said that all businesses are in the business of making money. Regardless of what product they sell or what service they provide, all businesses need to make money in order to survive and, hopefully, thrive. But there’s another component businesses need in order to thrive, at least in the long term: innovation. If businesses don’t innovate or improve upon their current offerings, they may not ever grow or reach their true potential.

However, innovation can be risky, as not all ideas will be profitable or accepted by customers. To find that balance between making money in order to survive and making room for innovation, business leaders should consider the following eight tips from the experts of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Here, they discuss the key to balancing innovation with the financial need to stick with what works, ensuring business leaders can still pay the bills.

Protect the Core and Innovate on the Adjacent

When resources are limited, focus your innovation efforts on what is adjacent to what is already working well. Bigger bets on wilder innovations should be reserved for times when you can better afford the risk. Always remember that more or bigger isn’t always better — better is always better. Innovate on what makes good great, not net new or risky. – Scott Curran, Beyond Advisers

Ensure Innovation Is in Response to Real Need

Innovation must be based on tangible customer needs. The key is to find out what your customers’ biggest problem is and figure out how to solve it — before you create the solution. That way, you reduce financial risk while ensuring your end product will be well-received by your customers. – Dustin Eide, CanPay

Consider the Opinions of Your Stakeholders

It is critical to maintain the perspective that this work is a collaboration between stakeholders and the organization. Do you have a sense of your stakeholders’ appetite for innovation? The areas of innovation that would be exciting to them? Past that, developing an institutional ability to prove the viability of new concepts before making a major investment is key. – Jed Brewer, Good Loud Media

Follow the 80/20 Rule for Resource Allocation

Effectively balance your resource allocation to optimize your business with the 80/20 rule. Create an organizational structure that supports innovation by allocating 80 percent of resources to the core business and 20 percent to developing new products. As new projects progress and evolve, remaining flexible to scale and drive new revenue is essential. – Michael Klein, cannabisMD

Start With Your ‘Bread and Butter’

There is something called your “bread and butter” — the incremental money that pays your bills. Start there. Then, analyze your choices for innovation to implement by the approximate cost of time and money. Next, prioritize them based on whether or not you can handle that innovation’s delivery relatively easily if successful. – Susan Johnston, New Media Film Festival®

Take a Portfolio Approach

Have a portfolio approach and make sure innovation brings in incremental revenue and business. If taking a big step, try to make sure there are paying customers who need and want the new service or product. If possible, do some beta testing with targeted customers to increase your chances of success. – Brian Framson, Citrus America Inc.

Regularly Evaluate New and Existing Initiatives

Businesses should set aside a portion of their budget for innovation, ensuring it does not disrupt their primary income streams. By regularly evaluating both new and existing initiatives, companies can integrate cutting-edge advancements without jeopardizing their financial health. This approach allows for sustainable growth and adapting to market changes while still paying the bills. – Dan Serard, Cannabis Creative Group

Set Objectives, Analyze and Stage Pilot Projects

Balancing innovation with financial stability requires strategic foresight. Setting clear objectives, performing thorough market analysis and staging incremental pilot projects ensure that innovation efforts are sustainable and do not compromise your ability to meet financial obligations. – Matthew Miller, Orlando Informer

Beyond Advisers Discusses Private Philanthropy with Barron's Penta Magazine

Beyond Advisers was featured in Barron’s Penta magazine, where founder Scott Curran discussed how private foundations can drive action in ways that are potentially much faster and more efficient than corporate-affiliated foundations.

Philanthropy Targeting Domestic Violence Has Found an Unusual Source: the Insurance Industry

By Geoff Nudelman

At first glance, the connection between insurance and preventing domestic violence might seem vague, but leaders from the philanthropic arms of major carriers say they can play a crucial role in solving this systemic issue.

“We view domestic violence as a critical social determinant to community health,” says Lucia Corral Peña, chief program director at Blue Shield of California Foundation.

Several large insurance carriers have decided to use their standing in the public health and financial spaces to take on the underlying issues that contribute to domestic violence. Generally, the industry views the issue as rooted in other, broader problems such as racism, education disparities, and income inequality. Though the issue on its own could benefit greatly from more attention from private and individual donors. 

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 10 million Americans every year experience some form of physical abuse. Further, it is estimated that more than 48% of Americans will experience psychological abuse in their lifetime. Domestic violence can take on many forms beyond physical or mental harm, leading to debilitating situations.  

In March, Blue Shield of California’s foundation announced a US$5.2 million investment as a package of 15 grants to support specific organizations working on systemic public health issues that link to domestic violence such as economic mobility, data collection, and restorative justice. The organization operates as its own entity, separate from Blue Shield of California the company, and follows its own strategic path.

At Allstate Foundation, relationship abuse program officer Sharisse Kimbro leads the organization’s work on preventing domestic violence. The foundation operates separately from the company, but she notes that “there are always ways to marry what the foundation is doing with the company strategy, and that the foundation informs the business where it makes sense to do so.” The foundation actually sees domestic violence as a cyclical financial abuse issue as much as it is one of public health. 

About “94% to 99% of those who report domestic violence also report a misuse of finances,” she says. Meanwhile, “finances become a big issue as survivors have very little financial resources.”

Allstate Foundation’s work on the issue began more than 20 years ago with basic financial literacy courses for survivors, and Kimbro says that helped the foundation understand what survivors needed in terms of economic support.

The foundation puts a particular focus on the fact that domestic violence will disproportionately affect people of color. A 2020 Institute for Women’s Policy Research report noted that more than 40% of Black women alone will experience physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime.

According to Allstate Foundation, the nonprofit has given more than US$90 million to aid survivors of relationship abuse since 2005. Last year, the foundation awarded nearly US$400,000 in grants for wellness programs to nonprofits serving BIPOC survivors of gender-based violence. 

Insurance-linked foundations have stepped in to help as “private philanthropy can’t meet the need alone,” Peña says. Domestic violence has long been a siloed issue and a private matter rather than one that can benefit from being acted upon more publicly, she says.

What private philanthropy and individual donors can do is drive action in ways that are potentially much faster and more efficient than a corporate-affiliated foundation.

“Private foundations supporting existing work and causes are more effective (than working through a corporate foundation),” says Scott Curran, CEO of Chicago-based Beyond Advisers. 

Curran and his team work with multigenerational family foundations and other affluent givers who need guidance in directing their philanthropic efforts. Domestic violence is an example of an issue that benefits from resources put toward awareness and prevention, in addition to a number of similar downstream issues such as public health, housing, and more, he says.

Large-scale gifts by donors such as Mackenzie Scott and Melinda Gates are potential game-changers in the way private philanthropy supports domestic violence, especially as an issue that disproportionately affects women and girls, Curran says. Gifts such as these, which directly benefit an organization working toward domestic violence solutions, often produce faster, more positive results as opposed to trying to create a brand new initiative. 

“Sometimes, clients will have a unique competitive advantage , but philanthropy, like so many other fields, is competitive and it’s important to look at existing work,” Curran says. 

For Blue Shield of California Foundation, Peña agrees that outside philanthropy can play a role in elevating the narrative further.

One of these priorities, according to Peña and Kimbro, is that the story around domestic violence and supporting survivors needs to change. 

“A lot of the narrative is trauma-focused rather than lifespan-focused, and there’s room to invest all along the way (in a survivor’s journey),” Kimbro says. 

Last May, the Biden administration released an action plan on gender-based violence that stemmed from the 2021 passage of a bill to further increase essential service support for crime victims. Peña thinks this could elevate the conversation within philanthropy. 

“It will help us consider how we might do something more or improve the way that we respond,” she says. 

Four Tips for Social Innovation Summit Success

“I feel out of place.”

“It was overwhelming - I wasn’t sure how to make the most of it.”

Same.

Even after attending dozens of the highest profile conferences in the world over the past couple decades, still same.

We all feel these feelings as we prepare to head to a conference, don’t we? Even keynote speakers do when they show up, often as nervous and unsure as the rest of us. I have a great (and heartwarming) Green Room story about an A-List celebrity that proves this to be true.

Ask me about it when we meet and it can be our ice breaker together!

This week, the Social Innovation Summit is back in Chicago June 4-5. I can’t wait to see many friends, colleagues, clients, and collaborators.  Not to mention the incredible lineup of topics and presenters. Register via the link below if you’d like to join the fun!

With so much opportunity to engage at highly-curated, invitation-only convenings like Social Innovation Summit, overwhelm and “analysis paralysis” aren’t uncommon.

🤔 Do I belong? 📅 Which session should I attend? 🤝 How can I make the most out of networking? ☕ Should I introduce myself to the person next to me in line for coffee?👋

Been there. I get it. Our mental saboteurs are always pushing these questions into the consciousness even of the most seemingly confident among us.

But success leaves clues, and there are answers!

1️⃣ First, YES, you belong! Shoulders back, chin up, own it (hat tip Troy Hawke)! 2️⃣ Second, attend the sessions that interest you most. Like attracts like, and you’re more likely to have a meaningful experience and great conversation with those in the sessions that excite you most.

3️⃣ Make the most of networking by having a dynamite (and short) intro that is the essence of what is most exciting about you and your work. This lets your conversation partner either ask for more info or move on, depending on the moment and the magic of the meeting. Networking is just relationship building and not every person you meet is a new relationship. Put your best foot forward and see who wants to keep dancing. 4️⃣ Finally, absolutely introduce yourself in line for coffee (and similar spaces). I’ve met some of my favorite people in the world who have become long-time friends in this exact scenario and others like it. Oh, except the bathroom. Awkward, and I’ve seen this go very poorly. Off limits.

The world needs Social Innovation Summit’s ecosystem of world-changing, commitment-focused leaders like you now more than ever. And it needs you to be there as the very best version of you!

Preparedness is key. Use the above steps to make the most of your Social Innovation Summit experience and you’ll not only have a meaningful experience for yourself, but you’ll likely create one for others you encounter!

See you there!