What does it really take to scale social impact?

Many organizations with a social purpose assume that if they want to increase their impact, their path is the same as for any business: they must grow. Onboard more staff, open new offices, and secure larger budgets. Growth is often seen as the path to greater impact.

But according to Ignasi Carreras, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Strategy and General Management of Esade and member of the Institute for Social Innovation, this assumption misses the point. "When we talk about scaling, what interests us is scaling social impact," he explains. Success should not be measured by an organization’s size but by the positive change it creates.

This was the focus of a recent Esade discussion on scaling social initiatives. By evaluating the experiences of three organizations from different fields, the session explored how social innovators can make a positive impact on people, strengthen communities, and influence entire systems without necessarily needing to grow themselves.

Three ways to scale impact

There is more than one way to scale social impact. It could involve improving an existing program’s quality and thus enhancing outcomes for the people it already serves. It could mean reaching new communities or regions by expanding on a successful smaller-scale initiative. Or it could mean taking a more ambitious approach by attempting to change the systems that create social problems in the first place, integrating solutions into public policy.

Three different approaches, one objective: maximizing impact rather than organizational growth. “If an initiative grows but fails to create greater social impact, then growth alone has little value,” says Carreras.

This perspective encourages organizations to think beyond budgets, employee numbers, and office footprints. Instead, the focus is on creating lasting change for people.

Start with the problem, not the solution

Rocío Del Mar Álvarez is director of TuTecho, a nonprofit organization in Spain, working to improve access to affordable housing. TuTecho has turned the problem of housing on its head. Their initial idea was not simply to purchase or manage properties, but to first look at the root causes of housing exclusion. Their mission started with a key question about why so many people are without stable housing despite the existence of large numbers of vacant properties.

Spain has three million empty homes. Many require renovation to make them habitable. This is where TuTecho steps in. TuTecho brings together investors, social organizations, and other partners to acquire and refurbish these homes before renting them at affordable prices to people in vulnerable situations.

But that’s not all that TuTecho does. Residents also receive tailored social support designed to help them rebuild their lives. As Álvarez explains, "Housing alone does not solve social exclusion, and support without the stability of a home doesn't either."

Effective solutions often emerge from understanding the underlying problem first and then building partnerships that address multiple aspects of that challenge rather than focusing on a single intervention.

Success for TuTecho’s initiative is apparent in the numbers. The organization has mobilized €70 million and currently manages 450 homes across 24 provinces through social organizations at a cost of €4.50 per person per day, 80 percent less than a traditional homeless shelter. This has been achieved within four years.

Collaboration beats ownership

In contrast to TuTecho’s approach, Equitat.org is an organization that scales impact by identifying successful educational initiatives and encouraging other organizations, schools, and public institutions to adopt them. The goal is to expand equal educational opportunities across Catalonia.

Director Ismael Palacín explains, "We created an alliance that today includes more than 180 municipalities. It is what we call a Living Lab—a community that develops solutions, where different municipalities and around 400 social organizations adopt and share challenges and methodologies under the common Educación 360 brand. It's a community of practice built around shared objectives."

Equitat aims to create a major impact, but not through its own growth. “That wouldn't be sustainable,” says Palacín. “Also, we didn't want to replace the legitimacy, expertise, or local leadership that already exists. Cooperation is what moves the world."

The same principle underpins the work of UpSocial, which helps proven social innovations reach far more people by supporting their adoption in different cities, regions, and countries. Founder Miquel de Paladella argues that organizations should focus less on growing themselves and more on sharing what works. As he puts it, "In many cases, achieving scale is more about knowing how to share—and share well—than about finding ways to grow your organization."

Change the system, not just the organization

Perhaps the most ambitious way to scale impact comes when we can change the systems and policies that govern society.

Much like TuTecho’s work today, the Housing First approach, developed in the United States in the 1990s, provides homeless people with permanent housing first and then offers tailored support services after they are safely housed. Traditionally, homelessness has been addressed by first requiring individuals to resolve issues such as addiction or unemployment before they earn the right to a home.

The program has had a significant global impact. It has a housing retention rate between 80 and 90 percent across diverse international implementations. Studies across North America and Europe consistently show that providing immediate, stable housing significantly reduces emergency room visits and arrests among chronically homeless populations. Furthermore, participants report improvements in physical health, mental well-being, and overall quality of life once their housing stability is secured.

If society can fundamentally change its response to homelessness in this way, and governments, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations can all adopt this new approach, the potential impact could extend far beyond the organization that originally developed it.

In Carreras’ eyes, this level of systemic change should be the ultimate ambition for many social initiatives.

Working together

Scaling social impact is clearly about collaboration. "The most important social changes I've seen were not scaled by organizations. They were scaled by open ideas," concludes Paladella. "Scaling isn't growing."

The future of social impact lies less in growing organizations and more in sharing knowledge, building partnerships, and creating the conditions for lasting change at scale.