One of our law firm's retired partners, Emily Morrow, returned to Vermont this summer after several years in Sydney, Australia. To her amazement, she learned that Vermont is known in Australia as a hotbed of innovation for nonprofits, also known as non-governmental organizations or NGOs. Emily recently shared her insights with a group assembled by the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF). I was pleased to be a part of it.

Emily was an estate planning attorney with our firm for most of her law career.  She has been actively involved with Vermont nonprofits, including serving on the board of directors of Shelburne Farms, the Lake Champlain Land Trust, BankNorth of Vermont (currently TD Bank of Vermont, formerly Howard Bank) and others.  She currently serves on the board of directors of Burlington College.  She continued her interest in nonprofit work while she and her husband Paul lived in Australia for the past few years.  

In Sydney, Emily was involved with an organization that pooled resources for charitable giving to the top 20 nonprofits in Australia identified based on their performance and innovation.  At a national conference for the organization and the top 20 nonprofits, Emily learned that 4 of the 20 were modeled on Vermont nonprofits.  She met the leaders of 4 nonprofits who told her that they had relied on specific Vermont nonprofits as their models:  Recycle North; the Intervale Community Farm, a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm; HomeShare Vermont; and the home hospice service of the Vermont Nursing Association (VNA).   Emily was astounded that Australian nonprofit executives see the Vermont nonprofit sector as a world leader in terms of excellence, innovation and best practices.

In her presentation to the VCF group, Emily discussed the social return on investment (SROI) that communities and donors (social investors) gain from investing in nonprofits.  The nonprofit sector creates "social capital" in our community.  Emily also advised Vermont businesses to incorporate community values into their products and marketing because the Vermont market does not readily accept businesses, products, services or marketing techniques that violate our sense of community and ethics.  She illustrated this point with an anecdote of a sales professional who tried to transfer cold-calling techniques that had been highly successful in a major metropolitan market to Vermont, only to find that efforts to convince Vermonters to make purchasing choices based solely on monetary factors, without a relationship of mutual trust and respect, were a spectacular failure.

Responding to Emily's comments, we noted in the group discussion that the entrepreneurial nature of Vermont's economy likely contributes to the success of Vermont' s nonprofits, many of which are highly entrepreneurial in spirit and function.   This fascinating intersection between the entrepreneurial and the nonprofit is referred to as "social entrepreneurship," a hot topic in business schools in recent years.  At least two Vermont colleges offer MBAs in sustainable business practices and socially responsible business (Green Mountain College and Marlboro College).  Social entrepreneurship is the driving force behind the new L3C business entity (this year Vermont became the first and so far only state to authorize L3Cs; click here to read my prior post on L3Cs).   

I serve on the board of directors of three nonprofits.  I am a director of Wake  Robin Corporation, a continuing care residential community (CCRC) in Shelburne, Vermont, and I serve on the Finance Committee of the board.  I am chair of the board of Directors of Far Post Soccer Club, Inc., a nonprofit providing soccer education and competition for youth and adults.  And I am on the board of Leadership Champlain, a division of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce.  These organizations support our community by promoting health and welfare of children, adults and families, and developing a sense of community purpose and commitment among aspiring business leaders, to perpetuate our community strength.  I previously served on the board of the Lake Champlain Land Trust and as a founding director of the South Hero Land Trust, organizations that promote private and public investment in Vermont's ecology, landscape and rural culture.  I know from firsthand experience that Vermont nonprofits and their staffs and directors are energized, entrepreneurial, and committed to developing the social capital of our community. 

The Vermont Community Foundation (VCF) is a resource about Vermont nonprofits, opportunities for highly effective charitable giving, and grant funding sources in Vermont.  The VCF manages charitable funds and provides philanphropic advising and support.  The VCF staff including my friends Peter Espenshade and Scott McArdle are extremely valuable resources for Vermonters who are interested in charitable giving and impementing effective solutions to issues facing Vermonters.

By the way, Emily Morrow is too young to be "retired," and she is actively involved in the Vermont community again.  She is working as an executive coach, which is something she has been doing informally for many years and started doing professionally in Sydney.  We can expect to hear much more from her.  Emily is a good friend and mentor to me and I am very pleased that she is back in Vermont.