Our Theory of Change
Metabolic Ventures' intentions, theory, and assumptions around how it seeks to make a deep and lasting impact
Here you can explore Metabolic Ventures’ Theory of Change – the change we seek to make and our approach to making it. It lays out the outcomes we seek to contribute to and bring into being, and what activities we undertake to enable these outcomes.
This theory continues to evolve as we evolve and the world around us changes, and will be updated over time.
Long-term Outcomes
- There are too few examples of organizations addressing root causes of key issues using new economic principles and alternative organizational models; more examples would diffuse and inspire others.
- If it were easy to start and resource organizations working on critical challenges, many more people would do so.
People and environment-centric organizations are able to flourish and reinvest capital into their missions and communities. For-profit organizations are becoming the minority.
There is an abundance of finance available for not-for-profit organizations and widely accessible supportive infrastructure – including programs, tools, and education serving many different contexts and geographies.
More people see entrepreneurial pathways as relevant for them to affect change; groups like activists, communities, and innovative NGOs are increasingly inspired and empowered to take entrepreneurial approaches to challenging issues.
Intermediate Outcomes
- There are too few examples of organizations addressing root causes of key issues using new economic principles and alternative organizational models; more examples would diffuse and inspire others.
- If it were easy to start and resource organizations working on critical challenges, many more people would do so.
- If entrepreneurship becomes a way of thinking and a means to an end (rather than a mythologized career choice), various non-traditional actors will engage in applying its principles to addressing important challenges.
Root causes of key issues – rather than their symptoms – are being effectively acted upon by entrepreneurial initiatives and organizations in the most important/impactful areas of our economy.
Thriving organizations, demonstrating new economy principles and transitioning key aspects of our economic system, become role models for others to replicate.
Financiers, policy makers, public servants, and NGOs increasingly see new economic principles, alternative organizational models, and social entrepreneurship as key vehicles to address shared challenges.
Outputs
- Access to simple and actionable tools and resources can lead to higher adoption of methodologies for building mission-driven ventures.
- Ventures are a critical vehicle for addressing complex challenges and can effectively play a role in doing so.
- Demonstrations of new organizational models that work effectively will inspire a broader range of stakeholders to act.
A growing number of ventures that embed new economy principles and deploy needed solutions to critical problems.
Tools and resources that help guide the development of initiatives in achieving ambitious impact goals – resources make it easier to understand problems, develop solutions, shape organizations, and plan for a scaling approach. These resources are made widely accessible and help navigate complex but important topics.
Thought leadership that contributes to the field of entrepreneurial approaches to societal challenges – bringing together existing approaches, proposing new methods and tools, and encouraging people to act.
Activities
- Building organizations that effectively address root causes of societal issues often require new legal and financial structures to succeed.
- A significant number of social entrepreneurs could focus more on root causes of problems rather than their symptoms – and in doing so could build more effective solutions – but lack resources and infrastructure to do so.
- New ventures are needed to effectively tackle root causes, embed innovative models, and demonstrate transformative potential.
Designing and executing venture-building programs and initiatives that build new teams (or support existing ones) to act upon key points of leverage and maximize their impact potential – within the context of their geography and set of strengths.
We work on integrating new models for revenue generation, governance, ownership, financing, intellectual property, and collaboration that can realign incentives and embed principles of a new economy.
Designing and delivering trainings, workshops, educational modules, and useful tools that develop new skills for impact-driven venture building and empower pioneers to apply them to selected challenges.
Inputs
Holistic insights about the most pressing issues and challenges on our path towards a truly sustainable economy, including a deep understanding of the highest points of leverage for change.
Experience and expertise in areas like ideation, validation, leadership, governance and business models – knowing how to work with and empower entrepreneurial teams to find solutions to societal challenges that are both ambitious and practical.
Aligned financiers and partners like aligned think-tanks, public entities, venture support stakeholders that understand the specifics of a topic, regional context, and/or practitioner needs.
Entrepreneurial individuals, teams, and organizations with a drive and passion for changing certain aspects of our current system towards building a truly sustainable economy.
Want to explore more?
- A deep dive into Metabolic Ventures’ Theory of Change
- About Theories of Change and why they’re important
- Read more about Metabolic Ventures
connect with us
If you’re an entrepreneur in the early stages of building a venture, consider crafting and publishing a Theory of Change. If you’re an established organization that needs help revising or reformulating your Theory of Change, please reach out to us.
