Hello! I am Annie Hodges, an outspoken millennial who dreams of massive transformational social change. I believe in the power of partnerships across sectors, and know the only lasting solution to large scale social problems is through taking creative risk and accepting compromise. There are heaps of incredible nonprofits in existence around the world. Scores of intellectual and driven individuals, working tirelessly to help guide the world in a new direction. As we are all know, we still have a long way to go. Business as usual wi never get us there. We need to think bigger, we need to combine the strengths and lessons from the nonprofit, forprofit, and government sectors to find new solutions to old problems. In fact, we need to totally redefine our societal concept of value in our society. Value can be the delicate balance of of social change and the creation of wealth.
This blog will touch upon many cross-sector topics but will primarily focus on Impact Investing. The elusive term of Impact Investing may seem overused and trite, however there is a great need for a commonly agreed upon terms to generate effective discussion. So for now, until there is a better solution, I will use this term as described by GIIN (Global Impact Investing Network) to mean, “investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.”
So, if you’ve read this far you may be asking, what does Build a Door mean? I came across a quote a few years ago in the midst of my grueling job search that goes, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” Clearly this fits for job searching, but I think is also highly relevant for this space. Most of the topics I am most fascinated by are hardly known by the general public. The very concept of social entrepreneurship and B corporations sounds like useless jargon that promotes overly idealistic values. This whole arena of cross-sector partnerships and restructuring the basic model of nonprofits and forprofits is a relatively new concept. I kept waiting for the sector to grow, expand, and legitimize itself, which it IS doing, but we don’t have the luxury of waiting decades, or centuries to figure things out. Opportunities to fix social ills do not just appear, we have to build it. You in?
Build A Door 