Change Please - 2025 impact report review
I saw the Change Please CEO and founder, Cemal Ezel, speak around 10 years ago, not long after he founded the business. I loved how clearly positive impact and commercial success go hand-in-hand. In fact, it’s what the Cemal says at the very start of his introduction to the impact report:
“This year, we’ve proved once again that social impact and commercial success don’t have to compete; they can, and must, power each other.”
👍🏻 Three things I like:
1. EFFECTIVE COMBINATION OF DATA & STORIES
This report is a great example of combining numbers with individuals’ stories to bring impact to life. The numbers don’t show the impact on their own – but they do ground the report in fact and comparables, whilst demonstrating scale. The stories are where you can really feel the impact.
2. DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM
The detailed thought that has gone into the whole end-to-end training process is clear. They have clearly refined and improved it over many years.
This demonstrates that they’ve got under the skin of the social challenges they’re addressing, and have spotted where things might go wrong / where additional support is required.
The approach also comes across as very human and empathetic. For example:
“We don’t just ask someone to show up and train, we meet them where they are, remove as many barriers as possible, and assist them in rebuilding their own lives.”
3. SO MANY PARTNERSHIPS
They are totally reliant on partnerships to deliver impact – e.g. crucial support throughout the training process and partnerships with businesses that can provide longer term employment opportunities.
Systemic change requires collaboration and I loved learning about the ecosystem Change Please have built to ensure they have meaningful impact.
❓Three questions it raises:
1. WHAT MADE THE YEAR TOUGH & WHAT DID THEY LEARN?
They talk about it having been a tough year – but what exactly happened? How did they respond?
What impact did it have on their plans? What did they learn? How will this affect future plans?
2. WHAT’S THE MODEL FOR SCALING IMPACT?
They have deep impact but at a relatively low scale in comparison with the size of the problem.
What have been the challenges of national expansion? What have they learnt and how does this impact their strategy / plans for scaling impact?
How might they scale their model without needing to do more of the same?
3. HOW DOES THEIR PURPOSE AFFECT CORE TEAM RECRUITMENT?
What about recruitment of the core team? How does their purpose around tackling homelessness impact this?
For example, have some of their employees experienced homelessness? Do they provide ongoing employment to any of their trainees?
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You can read the report for yourself here. Let me know what you think!
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