The Unsexy Role of Impact Plumbers
The pipes that move capital in the impact sector either don't exist, are clogged, or are going towards the wrong solutions.
As I fundraise and build partnerships for Uncharted, I’m realizing how much capital there is that wants to be mobilized for impact. The problem is the pipes that connect that capital to real impact outcomes 1) don’t exist, 2) are clogged, or 3) are directed towards band-aid solutions. We have less of a capital problem and more of a plumbing problem.
Organizations that are “impact plumbers” (intermediaries like Kickstarter, and, I believe, Uncharted), who are fixing and expanding the pipes between financial capital and impact outcomes, are going to play a bigger role in the future than organizations that only have capital (like traditional investors/foundations). The nature of power is shifting: power used to move vertically along ladders of hierarchy.
Increasingly, power will move horizontally in pipes like Kickstarter and through movements like #metoo and #blacklivesmatter.