Alumni Consulting Team (ACT)

Success of a social venture is something to celebrate, but it inevitably raises new challenges, including the question of scale. Once the initial area/target population is saturated, the next logical step is to replicate current operations in a new area for a fresh target population. The major question becomes: What path will enable the organization to get the greatest social return on its investment while minimizing the possibility of weakening the current operations?

• Explore replication by reviewing secondary literature and talking to experts in the field.
• Identify similar organizations, create an interview guide, and conduct interviews with those organizations.
• Identify key replication considerations such as potential funding sources, protecting the brand, and key operational capabilities necessary for success, by interviewing present and former board members.
• Perform an organizational assessment of the present management team to evaluate the organization's internal capacity for expansion.
• Perform a competitive analysis of current or potential competitive programs.
• Draw conclusions and recommendations for the optimal timing and approach to replication.

• Organizations want to replicate because they've been successful. Your job is to make sure they are ready for this difficult stage. Lay out a self-directed path for replication, based on the organization reaching key milestones. An executive director may not listen if your team tells them not to replicate, but they may follow your flow chart for replication (which can slow down their efforts until they are ready to move forward with a high probability of success).
• It is important for an organization to be willing to segregate current operations from the replication operation - separate budget, separate staff - or they risk de-focusing the organization and doing harm to what they've already established.

A flow chart that outlines the go/no-go decisions they should make to proceed through the process of replication (expand this section for samples).

• A comparison of the organization with the checklist of key questions outlined in the Taylor, Dees, and Emerson article listed in Articles can also be very helpful.

• Businesses United in Investing, Lending, and Developing (BUILD)
• College Track
• Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT)
• Upwardly Global

Melissa A. Taylor, Gregory Dees, and Jed Emerson, "Chapter 10: The Question of Scale: Finding an Appropriate Strategy for Building on Your Success," in Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson, Peter Economy,  Strategic Tools for Social Entrepreneurs: Enhancing the Performance of Your Enterprising Nonprofit, John Wiley and Sons, February 2002 (www.amazon.com).