Honing in on a big idea: helpful learnings from Last Mile Health
This week, Stanford University hosted a terrific Engine of Impact event, featuring inspiring lessons from the high-impact nonprofit, Last Mile Health. On November 27th, Engine of Impact co-author Kim Jonker and Last Mile Health cofounder and CEO Raj Panjabi took part in an exciting discussion on “Achieving Impact in the Social Sector”, co-hosted by the Stanford Center for Global Poverty Development and the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and moderated by Laura Hattendorf of the Mulago Foundation. Raj Panjabi shared his personal lessons of leadership and learnings so far for Last Mile Health. Lauding the importance of themes of “focus, focus, focus” in Engine of Impact’s Chapter 1, “The Primacy of Mission”, Panjabi stressed the importance of focus in a nonprofit’s activities (versus breadth and diversification). Panjabi shared that the early years of Last Mile Health looked very different from what the organization is today. Initially, Last Mile Health’s interventions were broad, including agriculture, sewing & more! But by honing in on a single concept – professionalizing community health workers – Last Mile Health has achieved massive impact. It was featured as an exemplary organization in Engine of Impact, cited for its current clear and focused mission.
Last Mile Health was also featured in Engine of Impact for its impressive ability to scale, which earned it a place in the ‘Promised Land’ on the Readiness to Scale Matrix.
For more on Scale, and to learn where your organization fits, take the Engine of Impact Diagnostic, or view the Scaling Matrix here.
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Strategy is all about what you say NO to: Landesa's Journey
On November 15th, Kim Jonker and Tim Hanstad led a discussion at the ARNOVA (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Organizations) Annual Conference in Austin, TX. Kim shared insights and themes from Engine of Impact, with Landesa as a case example of an organization that has mastered so many of the essentials of strategic leadership. Audience members were keen to ask Hanstad, who just stepped down after 32 years at the helm of Landesa, about the challenges posed and lessons he’d learned co-founding a small organization that went on to have incredible impact at scale. “Strategy is all about what you say no to,” said Hanstad. He shared that his team’s commitment to Landesa’s focused mission had led the Landesa team to turn down enormous sums of grant money that would have led the organization astray.
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New Video: "The Engine of Impact"
In their research for Engine of Impact, Bill Meehan and Kim Jonker interviewed nearly a hundred high-performing nonprofits; the best nonprofits build and tune their "engines of impact" and find the fuel to scale that impact. Watch the video to hear directly from the authors and go to www.engineofimpact.org to learn more.
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"Find mentors who are willing to be your sparring partners! They feel how much you care...and care enough to help you get there."
— Raj Panjabi, at "Achieving Impact in the Social Sector", Stanford University, November 2018
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