Measurable Social Impact – Guest Expert Julie McDowell CEO of ClearlySo Canada

Numbers Tell the Story

As the Founder of ClearlySo Canada, I spend most of my days working with entrepreneurs that are trying to change or improve the world through their commercial ventures as well as with investors that are keenly involved in financing entrepreneurial companies.   Increasingly I find my role as one of translator; explaining the concept of blended financial, social, environmental returns to investors and helping the entrepreneurs in our network understand how the average investor thinks about risk and return.  When I meet with investors, I usually begin by trying to assess his/her expectations relating to financial and social return.  Often the response is something like, “I’m interested in a risk adjusted average annual return in the range of 20-30% payable on exit.  All entrepreneurs (social or otherwise) should be able to deliver this to investors if they know what they’re doing.”  As I’m sure you can imagine, the response from many of the social entrepreneurs in our network is, “Yikes”.

But in my role as translator I like to probe further and follow up these comments with questions like, “Well if I could prove to you that by investing in this organization, there will be fewer homeless kids on the streets of your city, would that be worth a discount on your financial return?”  The reply is always one of two things, “Yes, but you need to show me the numbers that prove that”, or “That’s what I do with my philanthropic donations.”  And the conversation continues from there.  Sometimes they eventually get it and sometimes they don’t and that’s o.k. because every investor has different personal interests, goals and individual financial needs.  What I am reasonably sure of is that only those social enterprises and businesses that can exhibit real, measurable, meaningful social returns on investment are going to convince a savvy investor that they should lower their financial expectations, and accept a lower than market rate financial return.

Canadian Entrepreneurs Leading the Numbers Innovation

Through ClearlySo Canada, I am delighted to be associated with organizations like ZOË Alliance,  a company that has a well thought out system to measure their impact, and to have the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs like Stephanie Robertson of SiMPACT Strategy Group, a leader in the world of Social Return on Investment.  What ZOË Alliance and SiMPACT have in common is a commitment to ensuring that the real and full value of social and community change be clearly articulated to investors, donors and other stakeholders. Tools and resources to help social entrepreneurs and investors measure their impact and the value of the change they are creating are being developed throughout the world and Canadian entrepreneurs are world class innovators in this field.  At ClearlySo Canada we think that’s worth celebrating.

About the Author – Julie McDowell – President TARIS Incorporated and Founder ClearlySo Canada

Julie believes in the power of entrepreneurship as a means of tackling the world’s most difficult challenges.  She has been working in, with and for small and mid-sized enterprises for the past 25 years.  As President of TARIS Incorporated she invests in people, projects and corporations aimed at maximizing the effectiveness of social and mission oriented enterprises and social investors. ClearlySo Canada, a national on-line marketplace for social enterprise and investment is one of those projects. As Founder of ClearlySo Canada, she works with a growing network of international professional advisors and consultants dedicated to celebrating, supporting and connecting Canada’s rapidly growing network of social entrepreneurs with the tools, resources, contacts and capital they need to maximize the outcome of their work and build effective, sustainable businesses.

She has held leadership positions with both social purpose organizations and in private industry. Most recently she served as Board Chair of the Canadian Abilities Foundation and was Regional Director for ORBIS Canada, based in Toronto.

She worked for 17 years in the apparel and textile industry, and has held sales and management positions in retailing, manufacturing, and small business consulting.  She was founder and CEO of Millenitex Inc., a successful promotional merchandising company that she sold in 1999.

Julie holds a Master of Science from Cornell University where her research focused on the effects of international trade policy on small and mid-sized businesses in the textile and apparel sector.

E-mail Julie at julie.mcdowell@clearlyso.ca