Innovative Philanthropy to create a transparent marketplace
Dec 14, 2010
You must have read Genia’s write up about mission investing. The piece examines transition from philanthropic approaches to investing for impact at the bottom of the pyramid, and the value that can be had from it. Wonderful, and very thought-provoking.
In my last piece, I asked myself, and us – what can be done to create marketplaces, or support them to work in a transparent and fair manner? What is the role of philanthropies here?
This month, I will dig in briefly into Gray Matters Capital’s APS Rating System (GMC)– not in as detailed a fashion as a case-study would, but examining what it is and how it can be helpful. The idea is to get a bird’s eye view of the process and examine it in the context of innovative philanthropy. I’d love for readers to suggest other interesting examples of innovative philanthropy in the education sector or from elsewhere – it would be great for all of us to see and understand what the best efforts out there are to have impact. Prior to investing, marketplaces need to be created. Marketplaces are great only if they are free and fair, and information plays a big role in this. . By investing its programmatic dollars into creating an information/rating system, and making efforts to develop a sustainable marketplace around it, GMC has shown how philanthropic dollars can be invested through programs into marketplace creation and development.
What is a rating system?Quite simply, it is like a rating for any other service – hotels, financial services, hospitals. Discerning consumers across sectors seek and rely on credible third-party information on institutional performance, and we hope that the APS market, driven by parents, is no different.
Why is a rating necessary?Markets, in their evolution trajectory, move from siloed operations and lack of transparency to having a free flow of information that is easily accessible by all. As of now, schools operate in this fashion, except in pockets, where formal ratings exist. In order to enable parents to take their decision in an easier manner and provide the information they seek (read the Policy Innovations Report for more information on this!), a rating is useful. Quickly, parents will be able to sift up their preferences to the top.
What is GMC’s APS Rating system? GMC has designed a rating tool that is comprehensive, light and affordable, and is applicable to any school. The tool has been offered to nearly 150 schools and is in the process of evolution. Along with the tools, GMC’s Rating system will offer benchmarks and ratings (such as 5-star schools or A+ schools) to enable both marketing (by schools) and decision-making.
Of course, other methodologies exist. NABET, the ISO-2001 methodology and school rankings (in pockets) are all already available achieving different objectives.
Why is this innovative philanthropy?Because the effort could just have been to assess or rate a few schools and stop. On the other hand, GMC has directed its capital to creating a market for the rating and interestingly, chosen a market-type solution to do its work. Doubly innovative? I think so. First, the choice of product. A product that has its philosophical foundations in a free and fair marketplace make it very innovative and interesting. A marketplace is free and fair if participants/providers submit themselves to assessments by third parties. Second, GMC wants to create a marketplace for the ratings. Over some time, by bringing in raters and creating a competitive marketplace for ratings, GMC is trying to ensure that the ratings continue beyond the existence of GMC. Moreover the significant market development efforts through Leadership Conferences for schools would have the same effect. Even assuming GMC transitions to working on other aspects of education or other geographies, because of the efforts in market development and the choice of the solution increase the probability of ratings remaining.
What other ways do you think philanthropic capital can be applied to encourage the development and dissemination of more information? Have you seen any other examples – in other sectors? What efforts can be made to make this sustainable? How can the assessment be more and more cost-effective to be relevant to all types of schools, and how can it be made applicable across all types of schools? I look forward to hearing from you!
Next month: I will examine another of GMC’s initiatives – a program called the School Improvement Voucher Program, which is an effort to create a marketplace of services and products for APS. I’ll try and conclude with some questions (of course, questions! I don’t have any answers) oninnovative philanthropy and its applications in market based solutions, entrepreneurs and impact.
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