Venturesome, the social investment arm of the Charities Aid Foundation, has recently posted a blog about failure – why it is important to recognise that it happens and to learn from it.
We entirely endorse Venturesome’s position on failure. We set out to help people try new things. In some cases these trials, accompanied by some robust measurements of outcomes, can provide a proof of concept which allows charities to go to other grant-givers and to ask for longer term funding than we can offer. Other trials are less successful and we try to work out why – was it the concept? The staffing? The right idea in the wrong place? Venturesome are right to point out that it is important to learn from failure.