Change capital: Fueling big bets for families

Money doesn’t make the world go ‘round. But it’s one critical type of change capital – which includes intellectual, talent, social, and imagination alongside financial – that can drive programs, practices, and support that families need and deserve. 

As Ascend evolves its strategic direction to meet our current political moment, I’ve been giving significant thought to how we can gather and deploy change capital for and with families. A large part of Ascend’s focus is on the potential of states, which have outsized power to make decisions on family well-being, including budgets – but also on where connections can be made, programs started, systems changed, and opportunity reimagined.

This goes beyond financial resources, all the way to the greatest human resource of all…imagination. 

Change capital, at its core, is about unlocking greater potential – through imagination, collaboration, and commitment to our values.

Yesterday, I was honored to host a panel at Aspen Ideas Festival 2025 with three leaders who are showing us what is possible at the national, state, and local levels when we dream a new future and invest in the big bets to get us there. 

Dr. John Deasy, president of the Bezos Family Foundation, let us into the groundbreaking mindset that sparked their $187.5M big bet that anchors the new Center for Rising Generations, a revolutionary new Aspen Institute program. Instead of starting with a budget, they started with an aspiration. How can we guarantee that civil dialogue, civic engagement, and leadership development become a predictable part of the journey to adulthood in our society and around the world? A true example of money fueling mission, instead of mission chasing down money – a principle we employ at Ascend, and one that is central to the concept of change capital.

Nicole Taylor, CEO of America’s largest community foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), identified the guiding principle behind her big bets:  that communities have the answers if we listen to them. Communities know that families do not choose to be impoverished; policy choices drive family access to opportunity – or lack thereof. Nicole pointed out that in Silicon Valley, in two of the richest counties in the world, one in three children is on Medicaid. SVCF exists to place big bets to imagine a new reality and change those odds. 

Jonny Dorsey, deputy chief of staff to Ascend Fellow Governor Wes Moore of Maryland, offered powerful insight into the state’s recently-enacted Enough Act. It’s not just about saying “enough” to poverty. It’s about delivering enough opportunity. The state is making a historic bet: invest real, sustained resources in communities long denied them, and unlock cycles of prosperity instead of poverty. That’s what it takes to change the game.

As we closed our conversation, Jonny reminded us of Governor Moore’s charge to reject a mindset of “no and slow” in favor of “yes and now.” This will take new thinking, calculated risks, and imagination that employ the full scope of change capital. I left our panel yesterday confident that everyone in that room was on the journey towards “yes and now” to make big bets for families – I hope you will join us.

Photo credit: Leigh Vogel for the Aspen Institute