Prosono has worked with many clients to document their assets and identify opportunities to better leverage what a business has to contribute to collective impact with community partners. We call this process Asset Mapping which is simply “a process to leverage the full spectrum of an organization’s products, services, resources and people towards social good”.
One of the key structural components to our process is the notion of the “6 capitals”. Historically, businesses have cared about two traditional capitals– financial (the money we spend and receive) and infrastructure (the things that make, the things we sell). These capitals are carried over from the Industrial Revolution with railroads, oil, steamboats, and other machine-related businesses. Businesses decided to invest financial capital in infrastructure capital to help them make more financial capital.
As we navigate the Information Revolution, we need think about new capitals that are being used to make the things (both tangible and intangible) we sell. These additional capitals include:
- Human – the employees and their competencies, skills, experiences, and motivations
- Social – key relationships, trust, common values, brand, and reputation
- Intellectual – patents, trademarks, organizational knowledge, and designs
- Natural – renewable, nonrenewable, environmental resources
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed many businesses (including our own) look at their 6 Capitals in a different way than they had previously ever considered. One example is DaVita repurposing its unused cafeteria and already contracted service provider for meal prep to help local nonprofits provide meals to those in need. Another is Folsom Custom Skis that has repurposed its CNC machines and materials to create PPE for frontline workers and local stores. By documenting your assets and mapping them to the needs of community any business can better leverage its existing assets to make a difference.
If you are looking to get started with Asset Mapping, Prosono has created with our clients a high level 5-Step Process to Asset Mapping. It involves understanding the above “6 Capitals” at your disposal and documenting your organizations inputs and outputs. Click on the links to learn more or contact us at prosono@prosono.com.