Jonathan Coburn, Think - Consultancy for Social Sector

Think! Research for Social Change was the brainchild of Jonathan Coburn, a social entrepreneur with a strong track record of success in the social sector, local government, and private business. Think! was born out of his frustration at the lack of rigorous evidence available to inform the development of new social ventures and better ways of doing business. To pursue his vision, Jonathan left his position as Director at one of the UK’s leading economic and social research companies. To help realize his vision he brought together a group of like-minded associates and partners. YourStory caught up with Jonathan to learn more about Think.Think! was established as something quite different. Jonathan describes it as a ‘think-and-do tank’; an organization that attempts to blur the artificial divide between research and action. It was established as a joint venture with non-profit partner CEiS, now one of the UK’s oldest and largest social enterprise support agencies. It has adopted a hybrid business model; one that seeks to make profit through its consultancy work, but where the majority of profits are diverted into charitable work. Think! now works across the UK and through international partnerships – conducting research, gathering evidence, influencing policy, creating new social ventures, and supporting others to do the same.

On focusing on the social sector

So why establish a social purpose business? And why now? At a time of considerable economic turbulence, people across the world are searching for alternatives; socially responsible ways of doing business and new ways meeting social needs in a financially sustainable way. The team behind Think! has spotted the opportunity to use ideas and evidence to empower communities, stimulate social action, and carve out an even greater role for social ventures.

Think! targets its support towards social sector organisations – frontline social entrepreneurs, NGOs and social enterprises – as well as those agencies that sit behind and support the frontline (state agencies, development organisations, funders, and investors). It only works with clients that share its passion for social change.

On the services Think! provides

Think! provides a variety of research and consultancy services. These are designed to help clients think outside of the box, gather evidence, test new social ventures, and take them to scale.

It also provides services that help to inform the work of public bodies. This includes conducting research to inform the redesign of public services in the UK and collecting evaluation evidence that can reveal the difference that services are making.

Increasingly in it involved in helping values-driven organisations to prove and improve their social impact. It provides training and consultancy services based on cutting edge tools such as Social Return on Investment (SROI); one of only a dozen or so companies across the world accredited to use this approach.

Organizations/Projects they have worked with.

Think! is still a relatively new venture, but one that has a fast growing reputation on the UK and international scene.

It has a broad portfolio of contracts. Current work includes gathering evidence to help establish new social ventures (e.g. one of the UK’s first urban wind parks), developing city strategies to find better ways to support social enterprise, providing programmes of support to help fund the work of NGOs, and conducting a variety of evaluation and social impact studies for leading UK charities (e.g. Age UK).

It has also embarked on interesting international collaborations. Most recently the Think! team worked with non-profit partners in Canada to help to understand the types of leadership and skills that can best support the fledgling social enterprise movement there. It is also in discussions surrounding the roll out of its expertise, social impact training, and tools to other parts of the world.

You can follow the adventures of Think! on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/WeAreThink) and find out more information at www.thinkresearch.org.uk.

The Think! team is currently in discussions surrounding the roll out of its UK-based social enterprise expertise, social impact training, and tools to other parts of the world. Think! partners CEiS also currently chair the Social Enterprise World Forum, which brings together thousands of social enterprise leaders from across the globe on an annual basis. From his travels in India, Jonathan is a strong believer in the huge untapped potential for social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and social impact in the country. Credible Indian partners and investors who share the vision and ambitions of Think! step forward.