Failing Forward celebrates learning and iteration from falling short of desired outcomes as necessary steps toward achieving true social impact- meaningful, measurable, sustainable change- in this compelling case study.
Underwritten by: the Aspen Institute, the St. Davis’s Foundation and Good Measure with support from Sooch Foundation, Bill Wood Foundation, and Webber Family Foundation
Sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Premiered at the Austin Film Society Cinema. April of 2019
CUSTOM LEARNING DESIGN & FACILITATION:
The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, Aspen, CO
Social Venture Partners International Annual Meeting, Vancouver, B.C.
Grantmakers in Health Annual National Conference, Seattle, WA
The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Austin, TX
The Resources to Results Senior Leadership Intensive,
Sponsored by Applied Materials and Austin Central Public Library (Created and Produced by Fox Serving Pie)
St. David’s Foundation, Austin, TX
Measuring What Matters, Austin, TX
Grant Professionals Association Annual Funder’s Forum, Austin, TX
Data Leaders Academy, Austin, TX
FILM SCREENINGS WITH PANEL MODERATION:
Measuring What Matters Opening Session
Good Measure’s Data Institute
LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas
Austin City Hall
Texas Nonprofit Summit
Saving Philanthropy highlights how organizations that learn from their data, and manage program activities and performance towards outcomes, help save philanthropy from being ineffective and causing harm.
Underwritten by:
The William+Flora Hewlett Foundation and Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
with support from the Austin Film Society, Social Solutions Global, Inc., and Rocky Mountain PBS
Premiered at The Center for Effective Philanthropy Annual Conference, Boston, MA in 2011
FILM SCREENINGS WITH PANEL MODERATION
Multiple Events Including:
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Yale University’s School of Management
Arizona State University Loadstar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation
New York University Wagner School of Business
Stanford Social Innovation Review Nonprofit Management Institute
The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati/InterAct for Healt
Social Solutions Annual Conferences, Baltimore, MD
Charity Navigator National Forum on Outcomes, New York, NY
The American Jewish World Service, New York, NY
Northern Illinois University Center for NGO Leadership and Development
YNPN National Leaders ConferenceThe San Antonio Area Foundation, San Antonio, TX
St. David’s Foundation, Austin, TX
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco
InterAction Forum
BACKGROUND
As the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Social Solutions Global, I began asking how some nonprofit organizations achieved meaningful, sustainable, measurable change (while most did not). This question led to the PBS documentary film Saving Philanthropy (2011).
During this time, I was deeply immersed in the Masters of Fine Arts Program for Self-Producing Theatre Artists at Towson University. I defended my thesis “Using Devised Theatre to Improve Self-Efficacy” a few weeks before the premiere of Saving Philanthropy.
In 2014, while my youngest child was in the NICU, I created, co-directed, and performed the long-running improvisational series Mothering Apollo. This devised theatre series became a vital way of coping, educating family and friends, and gathering love for my family.
In 2016, after realizing I had failed to appreciate the significance of organizational culture in achieving measurable social change, I became fascinated by the interconnected roles that organizational leadership, culture, and learning play in continuous improvement and achieving measurable outcomes. This exploration became the film Failing Forward (2019).
I gave several keynote presentations about failing forward in 2019:
bbcon Annual International Conference, Nashville
Grant Professional Association Annual Funder’s Forum, Austin
University of Wisconsin Nonprofit Leadership Institute, Madison