GreenLight addresses persistent challenges by scaling what works. We use a community-driven approach to tackle economic and racial inequities, remove barriers, create new opportunities and improve economic mobility outcomes.
Here’s how we do it:
- Identify local needs: We listen to the community and prioritize needs where an innovative solution could make a significant difference.
- Match success stories: We find organizations with a track record of success addressing the need and the best chance of making a positive impact locally.
- Invest and mobilize local support: We provide multiyear startup capital and rally local support to ensure the organizations become embedded in the community, complementing existing initiatives.
- Engagement and accountability: We remain deeply engaged with the programs we support and work together to ensure ongoing measurable social impact and long-term sustainability.
The purpose of the GreenLight Landscape Analysis is to ground the selection cycle in priority focus areas of your community while identifying and cultivating a deep understanding of the ecosystem of residents and leaders. We aim to understand the specific needs of the local community and search for ideas that will have the most impact, gain the most traction, and get the most support from any given community. This means we are focus area neutral; our approach is community-based, so we fund what really fills a community need.
We would like a Fels capstone student to create a landscape analysis report that includes the following elements:
Size and Scope of Community Need
● What is the size of the target population? Where in the local community do they live?
● What makes the need urgent?
● Is the need growing or declining?
Potential Collaborators
● What entities are currently addressing the need in some way? At what scale? In what geographies?
● What is the target population of these entities?
Potential Competitors
● Who are the obvious competitors? Who could perceive themselves as competitors?
● What is the target population of these entities?
● Who supports these entities (financially, politically, etc.)?
● What focus areas are still gaps even with competitors in the community?
Critical Local Partners
● Are there gatekeepers for local success? Would they support this program/model?
● Would other needed partners support this program/model? (e.g., nonprofit, government, academic, etc.)
Local Experts in the Field
● Who knows and can provide perspective on the qualitative and quantitative landscape?
● Who can speak to what is possible locally?
● What funders fund in this area, and therefore understand it, the circumstances particular to this city and the gaps in service that exist?
Potential Funders
● Which funders are already providing support in this space?
● Which funders would likely be interested in this program/model?
● Which funders would be interested in being part of a consortium/coalition?
The local landscape report described above.
