Page 10 - 2019 Spring Conference Ebook
P. 10
General Session
LARGE-SCALE CHANGE YOU CAN MEASURE
As president and CEO of the Los Angeles-
based Billions Institute, Margiotta leads an
organization that has trained more than 600
nonprofit and foundation executives on how
to design and run effective large-scale change
initiatives. The institute’s approach is called
“Model for Unleashing,” where nonprofit leaders
are encouraged to create the conditions where
thousands of people — including their workforces,
stakeholders and clients — can move in the same
general direction. The challenge, she shared, is to
determine what that desired direction should be.
Data – Tool for Oppression or Liberation?
Speaker: Becky Margiotta, Principal/Owner, Billions
Institute The Billions Institute approaches large-scale
change from the perspective of justice: if someone
When it comes to data and measurement, has something that works for somebody, then
Becky Margiotta, principal and owner of the that person has a moral obligation to share it
Billions Institute, readily admits that she has a with others who could benefit quickly. Data and
complicated relationship with them. But ask the measurement, she said, can be used as tools
West Point graduate about the philosophical for oppression or liberation, with the middle
importance of data and how large nonprofits like being where most initiatives live. To her, data and
Goodwill should approach tracking it, and she measurement should always be used to advance
couldn’t be clearer. liberation and justice in the world.
Lessons on the Streets of New York City
In 2003, Margiotta was hired to help reduce street
homelessness by two-thirds in New York City’s
Times Square over a three-year period. After
studying the work of more than 30 nonprofit
“What we measure really organizations in the area that held homelessness
contracts, she concluded that the act of offering
matters. It reflects our people who didn’t own homes a place in a shelter
was ineffective.
values, our beliefs and our
Along with an AmeriCorps volunteer and a
collective wisdom at the graduate school student, Margiotta sought to get
to know homeless people and ask them about
time. And that collective their circumstances. They discovered most
people wanted housing. Using an approach called,
wisdom changes.” “Housing First,” the trio started filling out housing
forms for people they met on the streets while
– Becky Marigiotta they were still sleeping outdoors. Within a year, this
change in strategy resulted in 40 people moving
into housing.
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