Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity

Mario Morino · Carol Thompson Cole

Jan 2011 · Mario Morino

About this ebook

Leap of Reason is the product of decades of hard-won insights from philanthropist Mario Morino, McKinsey & Company, and top social-sector innovators. It is intended to spark the critically important conversations that every nonprofit board and leadership team should have in this new era of austerity. The authors make a convincing case that the nation's growing fiscal crisis will force all of us in the social sector to be clearer about our aspirations, more intentional in defining our approaches, more rigorous in gauging our progress, more willing to admit mistakes, more capable of quickly adapting and improving--all with an unrelenting focus on improving lives.

About the author

Mario Morino is co-founder and chairman of Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) and chairman of the Morino Institute. His career spans more than forty-five years as entrepreneur, technologist, and civic and business leader. He also has a long history of civic engagement and philanthropy in the National Capital Region and Northeast Ohio. In the early 1970s, Mario co-founded and helped build the LEGENT Corporation, a software and services firm that became a market leader and one of the industry's ten largest firms by the early 1990s. He retired from the private sector in 1992. Since then, he has sought to level the playing field for children of low-income families, focusing almost exclusively on economic, social, and educational issues. Mario founded the Morino Institute in 1994 to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, advance a more effective philanthropy, close social divides, and understand the impact of the Internet on our society. In 2000 Mario co-founded VPP as a philanthropic-investment organization that concentrates investments of money, expertise, and contacts to improve the lives and boost the opportunities of children of low-income families in the National Capital Region. In 2010 VPP was one of only eleven organizations selected by the Social Innovation Fund, administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, for its inaugural portfolio. In addition to his roles with VPP and the Morino Institute, Mario serves as a member of the board of directors of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution, an emeritus trustee of Case Western Reserve University, a board member of the Lawrence School, and a board member of Saint Joseph Academy. He is a special advisor to Echoing Green and Within3; a member of the PEACE X PEACE advisory council; a member of the advisory board for the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), Fuqua School of Business, Duke University; and a member of the board of governors of the Partnership for Public Service. He also informally advises scores of organizations and individuals across a range of areas. He lives in Greater Cleveland with his wife and three children.