Being Disruptive: How Open Growth is Delivering Effective Social Change at a Fast Pace

• Main Authors: Delyse Sylvester, Elisha Muskat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Carleton University 2012-07-01
• Series: Technology Innovation Management Review
• Subjects: crowdsourcing; open growth; open source; scaling-up; social entrepreneurship; social innovation; social networks; transparency
• Online Access: http://timreview.ca/sites/default/files/article_PDF/MuskatSylvester_TIMReview_July2012_0.pdf

Both innovators and funders need tools that map the entire constellation of solutions in a sector. Innovators, often labeled and isolated as system disruptors, need to be linked with their global peers offering and seeking each others proven strategies to accelerate positive change. The impact investing space needs a simple, open, and transparent way to find, convene, support, and track the progress of innovators. This article describes how the Ashoka Changemakers.com online community creates a space for: investors to find and support multiple innovations; social innovators to find each other, work together, and source funds; and disruptive innovations to grow over time where disruptive change is needed, fast. Crowd-sourcing, transparency, and open growth are keys to accelerating large-scale change and creating a world of changemakers.