We recently connected with Suzanne Smith and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Suzanne, thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand does that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Fifteen years ago, I started Social Impact Architects with one disruptive goal: to reimagine nonprofit consulting. As every social entrepreneur does, I started with the problem. Based on my experience and research, I identified four key issues in the nonprofit-consultant relationship:

Nonprofits often felt that consultants provided cookie-cutter approaches without the ability or aptitude to customize them.
Nonprofits often felt consultants were too expensive and spent money on unnecessary items (e.g., fancy offices) that did not provide value or made quality consulting out-of-reach.
Nonprofits often felt that consultants, especially those who came from the for-profit space, did not have enough nonprofit experience to assist them.
Nonprofits often complained about the power imbalance between them and consultants in which nonprofit leaders were underestimated because they worked for a nonprofit.

I knew from day one of Social Impact Architects that it needed to be incorporated as a Benefit Corporation, a mission-driven company that balances purpose and profit – not only to practice what I preach, but also to hold myself accountable to larger societal goals. In addition, we went the extra mile and became B Corp Certified, which means we have a third party – B Lab – look at our practices and grade our efforts. In addition to 2024 marking our 15th anniversary as a company, it is also our 10th anniversary as a Certified Benefit Corporation. We were honored to be recognized as “Best For The World” by B Lab for many years until it discontinued the award.

One of the most important parts of this work has been to make nonprofit consulting accessible to all nonprofits. To do this, we use sliding-scale pricing, break even each year and provide pro-bono/low-bono consulting to start-up nonprofits and large-scale community projects. We also want all of our frameworks and teachings to be open-source so people can use them freely, adapt and improve them.

In addition, we develop an impact report and regularly upgrade our work. For example, in 2020, we established an Equity Statement and worked with many clients to embed similar goals into their strategic plans. We also take steps to limit our environmental impact and urge our readers to do the same.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A third-generation Texan, I was raised by career educators who were deeply committed to making a difference through education. Their example led me to become a social activist and entrepreneur at a young age. On this path, I have worked as a social “intrapreneur” (or someone who brings entrepreneurial ideas to their role inside a nonprofit), lobbyist, professor and social entrepreneur. Along the way, I developed a strong belief that everyone is a changemaker. In 2009, after receiving my MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, I founded Social Impact Architects to reshape the business of social change. Now, my calling is helping nonprofits, foundations and socially responsible businesses, and individuals, especially students and young entrepreneurs, maximize the potential of the social sector to create real, scalable impact.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Failure is a tough thing to bring up in the social sector. It is our F-word. Seldomly, do we talk about it or learn from it. I never realized how strange this was until I went to business school, where failure was almost considered a badge of honor. I learned there were venture capitalist firms that wouldn’t consider entrepreneurs’ ideas unless they had a track record of failure. Why? Because they knew that an entrepreneur with past failures had grit and knew how to learn from their mistakes. In my opinion, this fear of failure is holding the social sector back from greater success. Failures ultimately shape future successes. My own fabulous failure was when I led a team on childhood obesity at the American Heart Association. We had to move quickly, and because of that mistakes were inevitable. I found it was hard for my team to come to me with these mistakes when it was still possible to fix them. So, I changed the mindset. Instead of calling them mistakes or failures – which are clearly loaded words – we decided to call them “skips in the CD.” For those who remember CDs, skips happened all the time, and you never knew the reason. So, when individuals came to me and said this, we instantly course corrected without playing the blame game. Instead of focusing on beating ourselves up for making a mistake, we learned from it and fixed it. As they say in the corporate world, we learned how to “fail early and cheaply.”

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

You have probably heard the phrase, “Without money, there is no mission.” But the reverse is also true. If you do an excellent job of bringing impact to your community and you do a great job of telling your story, revenue (and brand loyalty) will follow.

At Social Impact Architects, we believe brand loyalty starts with core values. As I mentioned earlier, one of our core values is to share strategies and frameworks freely with the world. That’s why I started my weekly blog – Social TrendSpotter – over a decade ago. It’s designed as a user-friendly resource where social sector professionals and students alike can draw inspiration, share ideas and develop new thinking on best practices so we can all ultimately create a better sector. Over time, I have been lucky to draw a large audience around the world via email and social media. One reader in our annual survey said, “it is the only blog I read every week.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://socialimpactarchitects.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialtrendspot/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialImpactArchitects
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/social-impact-architects & https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannesmithtx
• Twitter: @socialtrendspot @snstexas
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZSEJwri6IDoe5i3aBVtw1g
• Other: https://vimeo.com/socialimpactarchitects