Faithventure Forum

The lack of investment capital for social enterprises holds back the growth of this blossoming sector. As much as social enterprises would like to set themselves apart from the giving model of traditional philanthropy, the lack of a pure profit motive when solving societal problems hampers the resourcing of new projects. In our organization, Belay Enterprises , we seek to create ventures that employ and job train individuals rebuilding lives from addiction, homelessness and prison. We are constantly uncovering great new potential projects that are only limited by our ability to fund their start-up. If a consistent social capital market were developed, it could greatly benefit our efforts. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done because social change doesn't easily pay investment dividends. So it's with great interest that I am watching the development of social impact funds by investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. They are built on the assumption that...

As I have explored before on this blog, one of the big problems with unlocking the capital markets for social enterprise is the difficulty of providing adequate financial returns to reward investments with social aims. I've also written about how reducing recidivism can provide big savings to the government by reducing the cost of incarceration. In Great Britain, Big Society Capital has creatively married these two issues in a Social Investment Bond it has formed as part of its social investment bank, Social Finance. As the project reduces recidivism among its target of 3000 prisoners, the investment delivers corresponding increasing returns. This is a fascinating approach which you can learn more about in the latest Stanford Social Innovation Review available free online until the end of the month: The target population of the first SiB-funded program comprises 3,000 prisoners due to leave Peterborough prison over six years. In the United Kingdom, around 60 percent of s...

A job can change a life...especially in the case of ex-offenders re-entering society from jail. The leading factor as to whether a former inmate will return to prison is their ability to obtain a job. That is why my organization Belay Enterprises partners with the church to create faith-based businesses that employ individuals rebuilding lives. A few years ago, we began asking what would happen if we started the relationship with ex-offenders before they were ex-offenders? I became intrigued with this idea when reading about how the Prison Entrepreneurship Project in Texas saw developing the relationship with individuals while they were still in jail as key to the lower recidivism rates they achieved. I'm excited that Belay may be able to test this idea in the future with a possible partnership with the Denver Jail to create a food packing and culinary training business in the jail's new commercial kitchen. Two friends of Belay, Walt Hawley and Brad Behan, have put together...

If you are in charge of reducing the rate of ex-offenders returning to prison, what are the four top factors leading to a decline in recidivism? With that very question, I start many of my presentations about Belay Enterprises . I like it because it helps groups to focus on a main reason for our incubation of faith venture businesses . And it gives a chance to interact with the group while wrestling with the issues around recidivism . About a month ago, I started my presentation to 50 business people at the Partners Worldwide/Belay breakfast with that very question. I was prepared for the standard give and take but then someone unexpected raised their hand. It turned out that a homeless man had found his way into the gathering and was enjoying breakfast and the talk. He raised his hand and answered my question: “Employment, type of offense, counseling, and education.” The crowd missed the fact that this man had hit a home run. Each of his points were true and in perfect order o...

The Pew Charitable Trust released an interesting report on prison recidivism in the United States. State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America's Prisons explores how more than 4 of 10 ex-offenders return to prison in 3 years even though states have dramatically increased the budget for prisons. For some reason, Colorado was one of 9 states that didn't provide recidivism rates for the study. This is disappointing because I believe, as the report argues, that defining and measuring recidivism success is extremely important for measuring prison performance and saving tax dollars. 200 years ago when prisons were started in the United States rehabilitation was the primary aim. In recent years, it has changed from rehabilitation to "command and control" where "setting up inmates for success when they leave has not been part of the job description." ( State of Recidivism , page 27) Tracking recidivism rates is the first step towards government performan...