Centering Social Purpose Organizations

Meet the members of Common Approach’s first Social Purpose Organization Council!

Common Approach envisions an impact measurement ecosystem where social purpose organizations (SPOs) measure impact only as much as they need to help their own learning and never to serve another organization’s data needs. We recognize that direct input from SPO representatives is needed in the shaping of this ecosystem to guarantee their needs are centered, rather than the needs of foundations, grantmakers and impact investors. With this goal in mind, we are excited to introduce the next step in bringing direct SPO feedback into the Common Approach process.

Common Approach is pleased to introduce the Social Purpose Organization Council! Council members will ensure that the needs of operating charities, nonprofits and social-purpose businesses and those they serve are centered in the ongoing development of Common Approach’s impact measurement standards. The eight individuals and one board member joining the Council were chosen for the expertise, lived experience and enthusiasm they bring to shaping the future of Common Approach.

This is not a council of nine impact measurement advocates; it was important to find members who would challenge our work and represent the diversity of perspectives present in the SPO space. Learn more about Common Approach’s approach to diversity, inclusion, equity and access in the SPO council and beyond here.

Meet the SPO Council Members

Julia Grady

Julia Grady

Julia Grady is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of 10C Shared Space, Guelph’s change-making hub integrating social, physical and financial platforms for community benefit. Working with community connection as her core purpose, Julia has led 10C through 15 years of innovation, expanding into new project areas and providing a voice for valuable community content – and action. Julia is committed to increasing the community’s role in social finance and, over the past few years, has been working with the team at 10C to develop Harvest Impact, an emerging social finance fund. A lifelong learner (and active doer), Julia is passionate about systems change, design thinking, community building, placemaking and demonstrating the potential of social finance and social enterprise. More about Julia Grady.
Mohamed Huque

Mohamed Huque

Mohamed Huque has spent his career advancing social change, from grassroots organizations to global charities. He is the Director, Community Impact at Toronto Foundation, one of the largest community-based funders in Canada. Previously, Mohamed was a consultant advising some of the world’s leading NGOs on programs that ranged from supporting micro-enterprises in Afghanistan to establishing agricultural co-operatives in Sudan. In his experience as a charity executive, he has helped develop Canada’s first national reading strategy and led a frontline agency serving low-income communities. He is a former Board Chair at Amnesty International Canada and Ariane de Rothschild Fellow at Cambridge University. More about Mohamed Huque.
Tristan Smyth

Tristan Smyth

Tristan Smyth (they/them) is the Chief Impact & Strategy Officer with Warshield, a national Indigenous management consulting and law firm that specializes in the economic empowerment of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. As a queer, nonbinary person with living experience of disabilities, Tristan brings over a decade of experience in community engagement and economic empowerment in the not-for-profit sector, having served as a senior executive at regional and national charities. In addition to their work with Warshield, Tristan teaches about impact investing at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy & Administration and volunteers on the board of directors for several Canadian charities and social purpose organizations. More about Tristan Smyth.
Lynette Nduta

Lynette Nduta

Lynette Nduta serves as a Research Coordination Lead at 60 Decibels, a tech-enabled social impact measurement company that focuses on collecting customer-level impact performance data. She is part of Research Operations, whose primary responsibility is ensuring the smooth and efficient execution of data collection activities across different countries with a global community of researchers. Lynette brings prior research experience in the fields of Ed Tech and Governance. Her background in these areas has allowed her to work closely with marginalized communities, with a specific focus on promoting inclusivity. She is excited to bring her passion for applying her passion for impact measurement to community-driven initiatives to achieve better data for greater impact. More about Lynette Nduta.
Colin Corcoran

Colin Corcoran

Colin Corcoran is a social accountant with a diverse background spanning the public, private, academic and community sectors. He is currently the CEO of the Community Sector Council Newfoundland Labrador (CSCNL) where he leads an experienced team of dreamers in doers in championing social and economic well-being. Before his role with CSCNL, Colin was Vice President at Genesis, a provincial innovation hub, where he supported hundreds of high-growth ventures and helped to develop the tech ecosystem in Newfoundland and Labrador. Having also served as Riverhead, St. Mary’s Bay’s former mayor, and having founded SMB Connect to build connectivity infrastructure, Colin has a deep interest in rural community development. He shares his knowledge when possible as a strategic advisor for several social enterprises and as an instructor with Memorial University in the areas of regional development, entrepreneurship and business in society. Above all else, Colin is a husband and a father of three little girls and hopes to build a future in this province with them in mind. More about Colin Corcoran.
Jerry Koh

Jerry Koh

Jerry Koh works with purpose-driven organizations to make sense of complex challenges and drive solutions. He has worked on fostering community wellbeing and economic growth, accelerating municipal climate solutions adoption, and other community-public-private challenges. As principal of Nice Futures Corporation, Jerry helps build strategic partnerships to develop, test, and implement solutions using strategic foresight, systems and human-centered design approaches. As the Impact Lead at New Power Labs, he is working with a coalition of funders and investors to increase access to capital for founders from underinvested communities. Jerry is a systems innovation leader with over 20 years of cross-sector experience spanning governments, nonprofits, startups and multinational corporations in Canada, the US, and Asia. More about Jerry Koh.
Elizabeth Chick

Elizabeth Chick

Elizabeth Chick is the CEO of Buy Social Canada, the Vancouver-based social procurement enterprise. In this role, she coordinates and connects Buy Social Canada’s work with social enterprise suppliers and purchasers in the public, institutional, and private sectors to design and implement Social Procurement and Community Benefit Agreement policies and practices. Prior to her work with Buy Social Canada, Elizabeth occupied positions ranging from legal research and frontline community roles to public sector consulting and social enterprise work in the UK and Canada. She has a degree in Law from the University of Cambridge and is a graduate of Year Here, a post-graduate program in Social Innovation and Social Enterprise. Elizabeth understands the importance of ensuring cross-sector collaboration and community co-creation in the work needed to build healthy, thriving and accessible communities. More about Elizabeth Chick.
Ian Capstick

Ian Capstick

Ian Capstick is an expert in impact measurement and strategy. He is Chief Impact and Communications Officer at Animikii where he leads social impact strategy and measurement. He is also the Co-Founder of Secret Agents, leading initiatives in social research and impact data analysis. Along with his diploma in Horticulture from the University of Guelph, Ian is certified in Social Impact Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Psychological Health and Safety Professional Certificate from the Canadian Mental Health Association. As a queer rights advocate, his work consistently champions diversity and inclusivity, striving to evolve the impact measurement ecosystem. Ian is well-versed in the Common Foundations standard and will use his experience and knowledge to support social purpose organizations in this council position. More about Ian Capstick.
Dan Kershaw

Dan Kershaw

Dan Kershaw is the Board representative to the SPO Council. More about Dan Kershaw and the Common Approach Board of Directors.

We are excited to see how the SPO Council shapes the work of Common Approach going forward! For more on the Common Approach team and other governance groups, visit the Contact & Team page.

Join the Common Approach community to stay up to date on our efforts to make impact measurement better, and help shape impact measurement standards!

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Published October 13, 2023

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