Making Moonshots Possible: Insights from the ENGAGE scaling story
Achieving change at scale is incredibly hard. “Collaboration, government engagement and persistence” are among the elements required. Yet it can and does happen – and philanthropy can be an important enabler for the ambitious “moonshots” that aim to address social and environmental challenges and open up a brighter future for all.
In a recent CSP breakfast kōrero, we invited our community of givers and supporters to hear the story of one such initiative currently under way in Aotearoa. With the help of our “Scaling for Social Impact” small group wānanga facilitator Isabella “Izzy” Horrocks, we’ve compiled 5 key insights givers can take away from ENGAGE and its remarkable scaling journey.
1. Start where the evidence is
ENGAGE had its foundations in The Dunedin Study. This internationally regarded multi-year research identified self-regulation as the single biggest determinant of life outcomes. Social entrepreneur Jimmy McLauchlan and his team conducted three external evaluations to ensure that ENGAGE is an effective way to improve self-regulation skills before deciding to scale.
2. Make something people want
The team at ENGAGE spent a lot of time understanding demand before attempting to scale. In Jimmy’s words, they “hung out with their intended audience (of ECE teachers), a lot”. They asked questions and listened. Thanks to this deep understanding of demand, ENGAGE now has a long waitlist.
3. Work as a collaborator, not as an island
It’s easy for organisations to feel that they need to solve things alone, but ENGAGE built success through being highly collaborative, and acting as an intermediary between academics, implementers and funders.
4. Have a clear “endgame” for the solution at scale
Philanthropists can help for-purpose organisations decide whether they’re ready to scale by asking good questions. An important one, is “What’s your endgame?” Sometimes the best answer is not “expanding our services to reach more people”. ENGAGE aimed for government adoption. That means government pays for the scale up (not private donors). And it means that at scale, the programme is embedded in our public education system, delivered by ECE teachers (not the ENGAGE team). *Source: Alice Gugelev & Andrew Stern, Stanford Social Innovation Review
5. Government scale is possible, it just takes strategic non-partisan effort over the long term
It took the ENGAGE team hundreds of meetings in Wellington over eight years, working with politicians from both parties (opposition parties have most time to engage), and with civil servants to build a consensus behind a solution and have an ear to the ground for when big funding and policy decisions are being made.
Our thanks to Jimmy McLauchlan, Tindall Foundation Manager John McCarthy, and Professor Stuart McNaughton, Chief Scientific Adviser for the Ministry of Education, for sharing the inspirational story of ENGAGE. And to Christchurch-based journalist Rebecca Macfie for chairing the Q&A discussion at this event.
This event was free for Partners and invited guests. If you’re a giver interested in joining future CSP events, please contact kristen@cspnz.org.nz