Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) have an important contribution to make to social and economic development and therefore need innovation.

The environment and people's needs are constantly changing, which challenges NPOs to respond innovatively to social developments. At the same time, the economic survival of the organisation and its competitiveness in the market must be ensured. Competition as a basis for innovation is only partially given. The objective of innovation cannot be tested for its monetary effectiveness as in classical value chains; rather, it is oriented towards sustainable innovations. Innovation activities are placed in a holistic context and are oriented towards social and human factors.

From the perspective of modernisation theory, social innovation is understood as new ways of achieving goals, especially new forms of organisation to better address societal challenges. Social innovations usually consist of various components: new processes, organisations, procedures, laws, technologies or structures. Often, a social innovation only emerges from the combination of different components. The emergence of social innovations is characterised by a participatory development process. They achieve their greatest impact when they are cross-system.
The topic of "social innovation" is receiving more and more attention, although the term remains elusive and is used in different ways. Social innovations differ from techno-logical innovations primarily in that they explicitly pursue social goals.

The strong practical orientation for the promotion, development and awarding of social innovation is characterised by the diversity of the actors involved.
NPOs must be able to adapt to market and environmental situations and take risks. Findings and recommendations from the field of innovation management, as well as innovative business models, must be adapted to the respective NPO and specifically developed, as innovation in NPOs has so far been mostly organisation- and person-related.

With the first Innovation in Nonprofit Organisations conference, we are creating a platform for knowledge transfer, exchange and inspiration for actors from nonprofit organisations.
The diverse input presentations show exemplary prerequisites, models and design approaches for innovative action.Participants are encouraged to take different paths and to develop new perspectives.
1st symposium
Innovation in Nonprofit Organisations
Inputs, approaches and perspectives
Tuesday, 26 June 2018, FHNW, Campus Olten

For registration and more information you can click here.

Posted in NPO Training, NPO Strategy