The first week on the job is rarely a revelation. No matter how excited- or hesitant- one is, I’ve found that the first week is often mundane. You settle in, organize your desk, meet your new co-workers, maybe get introduced to your first assignment, and try to avoid making any catastrophic (or idiotic) mistakes. Whether fantastic or disastrous, week number one is also- in my experience- a reliably shoddy indicator of what lies in store over the months or years ahead. At the close of my first week at Investing In Communities, I’m no more able to divine my future here than any average newbie on the job. But I will venture this: something unique is afoot here, something that may have significant impact. It may even turn out to be a game-changer; not just for an industry, but for society at-large.
At the moment, however, the only thing that’s large at IIC is potential. And vision. Our office is small, our staff – thin. Each day is spent courting NGOs across Chicago and the country, encouraging them to join IIC as partners, explaining time and again the concept, the revenue model, the sheer potential of this new “social ecology.” That’s right, you read it first here- social enterprise has a new buzzword to contend with. And while social enterprise is applicable to IIC, it’s also a bit narrow to reflect the kind of systemic change that IIC intends to effect.
IIC harnesses the market forces at work in a highly competitive industry – real estate – as a mechanism to generate funds for NGOs anywhere. In most all real estate transactions, commercial or residential, brokers work on the behalf of clients. These clients may be building owners looking for tenants, potential tenants looking for space, or prospective buyers. Regardless, brokers receive a commission for their services- a percentage of the closing value of a deal. As a condition of membership, IIC Member brokers commit to earmark no less than 10% of their commission fee to the NGO(s) of their client’s choice. Clients can select any NGO within the IIC network of Partner NGOs to receive the funds from their real estate transaction(s). In commercial deals with high closing values, this 10% of a commission fee can amount to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It costs NGOs nothing to partner. Member Brokers, in return for access to a growing market of socially conscious clients (individual, corporate, and institutional), are asked to pay annual dues (the revenue stream on which IIC will support itself). Considering that brokers are accustomed to paying referral fees of 25-40% of a commission on all deals referred to them by a third party, the 10% earmark set by IIC is a small price to pay for market access, publicity, and competitive edge. What client wouldn’t prefer a broker that gave – at the client’s discretion- 10% of their commission to the American Red Cross, Chicago Community Loan Fund, the Boys and Girls Club, or the Princeton AlumniCorps?
Though large companies closing multi-million dollar deals can obviously have an incredible impact through IIC, so can the millions of homeowners and small businesses across the country as they allocate IIC funds. Those transactions may be smaller in size, but they are much larger in volume. Indeed, IIC threatens to make philanthropists of us all.
My first week at IIC was, well, perfectly average- neither as boring nor as frantic as first weeks elsewhere have been. And yet, I have a distinct sense of being on the cusp of change. I think that the little wave I’ve paddled onto just might become tidal before the year is out.
An American City 