Using business to address social issues

Using urban agriculture to generate an income

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Abalimi operates to promote urban agriculture in the townships of the Cape Flats near Cape Town.

Abalimi means "The Planters" in Xhosa and they have helped individuals, groups and community-based organisations to develop permanent food-growing and conservation projects as the basis for sustainable livelihoods, job creation and poverty alleviation.

They provide training and low-cost, subsidised gardening resources like manure, seeds, tools, and organic pest control at its two gardens in Nyanga and Khayelitsha townships, which are staffed by fieldworkers from those communities.

The Fezeka Community Garden in Gugulethu has 5,000 square meters that is used for growing vegetables.

Albalimi helps farmers develop their own organic vegetable gardens to supplement their diet and provide additional income.

Mike.

Cancer Research UK turns to social enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:24:00 +0000

Cancer Research UK is turning to social enterprise in the hope of increasing its revenues.

The Open Ventures Challenge in aid of Cancer Research UK, one of the UK's biggest charities, is challenging budding entrepreneurs to come up with ambitious ideas for new ventures which the charity can support in order to generate more money to tackle cancer.

Whether it be independent business ventures, new ventures for an existing company or a new venture for Cancer Research UK to run itself, the Challenge will take these ideas, and the people behind them, through concept creation, team building, funding and launch.

The competition was thought up by Mojo, an organisation which seeks to broaden the pool of people able to participate in positive social change.

Cancer Research UK will select three winners from the ideas submitted who will each receive financial and organisational support to nurture their enterprise in the hope that each one will be able to raise around £10million each over five years.

The public are able to vote on submitted ideas, with some of the highlights including: After School Running Programs, Family Fun Runs and Recycling Advertising Space.

To read more about the competition visit Social Enterprise Magazine.

Visit the Open Ventures Challenge website.

Mike.

Measuring and estimating social value creation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:23:00 +0000

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have released their report on Measuring and/or Estimating Social Value Creation.

The report profiles eight cost approaches to measuring and estimating social value creation, which are:

1. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, which is a form of economic analysis that compares the expenses and outcomes of two or more courses of action.

2. Cost-Benefit Analysis, which is often used to help assess the case for a project proposal

3. REDF Social Return on Investment (SROI), provides an alternative to purely economic measurement of return of investment.

4. Robin Hood Foundation Benefit-Cost Ratio, profits a method for assessing and tracking value creation amongst non-profits

5. Acumen Fund BACO Ratio, provides an alternative to measuring social returns

6. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Expected Return, the concept of providing a consistent, quantitative process for evaluating potential investments

7. Center for High Impact Philanthropy Cost per Impact, introduces a "cost per impact" approach where the social impact and costs are measured and compared

8. Foundation Investment Bubble Chart, illustrates a set of reporting metrics at the organizational or program level that are common across the programs of a non-profit or a segment of a foundation portfolio.

This report makes for solid academic reading, which is what you would expect from the Gates'. But it does also emphasise that there is not a one size fits all approach to measuring social return on investment with the remark that "there is no perfect methodology".

The best recent advice I have heard on social return on investment (SROI), as outlined in an interview on the Social Innovations Conversations, is to identify the one most appropriate key performance indicator (KPI) and use it to focus everything you do, rather than multiple metrics that can become confusing and difficult to track.

For example, if your organisation treats Tuberculosis sufferers, your KPI could be "Number of TB patients who have completely recovered from the disease."

Of course you need to ensure this metric is the most approiate one to track...

Click here to read the Gates report in full.

Read more on SROI here.

Mike.

Focus on opportunities within your current proposition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:09:00 +0000

Focusing on opportunities within your current proposition allows you to stick with what you know whilst adjusting your behaviours where required.

This is the fourth step in our series of moving your charity in to a social business.

For example, you may be a charity supporting the homeless by providing beds, clothing, food and other forms of care they so desperately need. You may be reliant on schools for donations of blankets and bedding, low cost rental from local businesses and possibly multi-lateral organisations for grants to cover basic operating costs.

I suspect that these donations are not provided indefinitely, and that they are made in conjunction with specific projects that may have a set lifespan. This means that at the end of the project you will need to reapply for funding, using valuable time and effort to obtain the funds needed to run your organisation.

If you looked at replacing, for example, the blankets and bedding that are currently donated to your organisation, with a commercial opportunity that pays for itself. This could be through selling goods that your beneficiaries made - perhaps bedding or linen that a typical consumer would buy.

This would be providing your beneficiaries (previously homeless) skills that they did not have before and a new income stream for your organisation.

This could be taken a step further by partnering with a well known brand or designer to design the goods that you are selling. This would help the designer, since he or she would be providing a valuable service to communities in need, and also give your products an associated brand that would help sell the them.

By using opportunities that are within your current proposition, allows you to reduce the risk of trying something completely new, whilst also using existing contacts and resources to move your organisation from a charity to a social business.

Mike.

Change your behaviours to operate as a social business

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:05:00 +0000

The third step in moving your charity to a social business is adapting your behaviours in order to start thinking and operating as a social business.

Many leading authors and leadership experts believe there are three key aspects to effective leadership in an organisation, with the ultimate “leader” being proficient in all three:

1. Technician

2. Manager

3. Entrepreneur

If I use the example of a school, the teacher is the technician, the headmistress is the manager, and the entrepreneur is she that finds new opportunities and ways of working that are used for the benefit of the students.

It is the role of the entrepreneur that needs to come to the fore when converting your charity to a social business.

You need the ability to adapt or change your behaviours in the following key areas in order to be successful in this transition.

Be an agent for change - use tactics that will work within your environment, focusing on commercial drivers to transform your organisation in becoming a social business.

Use existing resources - don’t incur high costs to make the changes required. In the short term aim to stick to your current team size and overheads, whilst focussing your energy on commercially driven revenue models rather than on donations and grants.

Commercial focus - use the opportunities provided with open markets to generate the revenue required to support your social and environmental objectives.

Don’t lose sight of the reasons why your organisation exists, stick to your vision of addressing social issues, whilst retaining strong leadership attributes to support and steer your team in becoming a social business.

Mike.

Micronutrients

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:10:00 +0000

You’ve heard of microfinance, microcredit and possibly even micropayments; but have you heard of micronutrients?

Micro nutrients is the concept of providing key nutrients to mothers and children at times in their lives when they most need it.

The Micronutrient Initiative is an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that the worlds most vulnerable get the vitamins and minerals they need to survive and thrive.

They develop, implement and monitor sustainable solutions that provide vitamins and minerals to what they refer to as “hidden hunger“. Hidden hunger refers to those who are typically malnourished caused by poor diet, with UNICEF saying that “Vitamin and mineral deficiency is the source of the most massive ‘hidden hunger ’ and malnutrition in the world today”.

Read more about the Micro Initiative’s Toolkit, called “Vitamin A in Child Health Weeks: A toolkit for Planning Implementing and Monitoring”.

Mike.

The Papillon Foundation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:01:00 +0000

The Papillon Foundation has made an incredible difference to many people in need over the last 7 years. They contribute to communities in need in a number of areas, including provding computer training and project management skills.

I asked Stephen Smith, Director at Papillon, some questions on how they go about the building relationships with their funders, challenges with paying staff a low wage and the benefits of community project ownership.

1. You mention on your website that in the early days you found it very difficult to pay salaries and now your staff are receiving just the bare minimum wage. What challenges did/does this present to you and your staff in meeting your social objectives?

Answer: Firstly it has to be noted that it takes a lot of time and effort to train a person in the skills required to perform at optimal level in their duties and tasks.

It is an unfortunate situation in our country and I suppose on a global scale that the head hunters in the corporate market are aware about the excellent skills training that NGO volunteers receive and we suffer regular debilitating losses to the corporate fields, due mainly to our inability to match corporate salaries.

We can however not in any way prevent any of our staff from taking up these offers and therefore we simply persevere in the training up of new recruits.

A benefit in this regard is that those that choose to join the corporate market, are really empowered to bring about change in their own communities and we continually emphasise the importance of social outreach efforts to all that engage with our cause.

2. Your philosophy seems to be one of self sustainability with your projects focussing on community ownership. Can you outline how this works in practice and how you gain the buy-in and support of those involved to make it a success?

Answer: Community ownership of a computer training set up for instance results in trust and dignity restoration.

It is a well known fact that any person will perform greater efforts if they feel that they are doing it for themselves, as opposed to doing something for someone else.

Ownership of a social outreach project increases the responsibility factor and ownership of the resultant credit is a sure catalyst for increased efforts, that leads directly to the benefit of the destitute.

Mutual trust plays a major role in all of Papillon’s social outreach efforts and our growth over the past 7 years clearly reflects the importance of the trust factor.

3. What are the typical challenges you come across when funding a new project?

Answer: We simply refuse to be daunted by any challenges, especially once we have the communities buy in and we simply roll up our sleeves and get stuck in.

The importance here is that it must never be a project that is forced upon the community, but rather a well researched effort that meets with the affected communities’ needs.

People, regardless of their situation, are not fools and they will soon know if you mean well, or if you simply want to stroke your own ego.

The amazing thing is that everything such as infrastructure, materials and any other requirements seem to appear, as if almost guided by a magic hand.

Believe it or not, this is exactly how we started Papillon in 2002 and some of us worked the entire first year for free.

4. You have a number of partners supporting the Papillon Foundation. Why do your partners invest in your organisation?

Answer: Billions have been poured down the drain in past “giving to the poor” efforts that resulted in the old hand out culture that makes our work so difficult today.

A culture of entitlement was created and it is this culture that we are trying to change by showing people that they have the talents to help themselves, by bringing them quality opportunities in subsidised skills training to unlock their own natural abilities.

Just as the poor are not fools, so also our supporters are not fools and they see the results of their support in our reported achievements, knowing that they also have a full partnership in these achievements.

5. Do your partners play a decision making role in how the projects that they have invested in are run?

Answer: Yes, indeed, we offer our partners the opportunity to bring their own experience into play, especially in the formation of any new projects as this delivers guidance and satisfaction to all parties concerned.

The past has taught us that a comprehensively owned clear vision can work wonders for all concerned.

6. Many investors are now approaching funding where they look for a financial return on their investment, so that these funds can be reused for other social causes. Do you partner with organisations that look for a financial return on their investment?

Answer: As we currently plough all gains directly into the expansion of our successful outreach models, we are not yet in the position to deliver financial returns upon investments.

It must be realized that Papillon is currently in the process of assisting needy communities in Cape Town to also open a training branch (which will complement the training branches in Soweto and Pretoria and our dream is to assist needy communities across the African Continent to open training centres.

A full list of Papillon's achievements can be found on their new website, including their 2008 annual report.

Mike.

Backing success by being 'fair'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:11:00 +0000

In Andrew Mawson's book The Social Entrepreneur, he uses the example of how investors backing science projects did not back those that were researching the most importance subjects (e.g. cancer in children), but rather the best researchers.

By backing the best researchers their investments would ultimately be used the most effectively for the public.

This approach is perhaps not the most democratic way to decide on what projects or communities to invest in, but it does mean that those who can make the most significant difference will be invested in.

It is, after all, people rather than structures and governance that make the difference.

In order to be successful in addressing our social issues, we need to invest in our people, not just in our ideas.

This is what I call a fair approach, when the investment is made in the people first.

Mike.

Podcast on social media

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:38:00 +0000

I've written a couple of posts recently about social media and social networking, and how this can help generate awareness and potentially funding for your social cause.

There is a new podcast from Allison Fine on using social media for social causes, with her latest update including some interesting interviews on this topic.

Mike.

Social networks for social causes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:46:00 +0000

Everyone seems to have a Facebook or MySpace account these days, with those under 30(ish) seeming to use these social media websites as the standard way to interact with their friends and families.

Social networks that are created in Facebook exist because people want to connect with each other. And because of these connections they can become valuable supporters of your cause if you are able to interact successfully with their social networks.

They don't join the social media sites to donate to a charity, they joined to interact with their friends.

Applications on Facebook can raise awareness as well as funds for your social cause.

Mike.

Our children showing us the way

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:46:00 +0000

School children in the UK have set-up a Fairtrade Enterprise to help farmers in Southern Africa.

Their business sells snacks and jewellery to raise funds for organisations addressing social issues.

They are supporting a number of charities, including Threaded Dreams in Johannesburg and Jewels of Hope based throughout Southern Africa. These charities are also using business principles through the sale of jewellery, purses and hand-bags.

These are not just fantastic ways of generating income for these organisations, but also teaching these children the importance of Fairtrade and helping those less fortunate than themselves.

Mike.

Stick to your vision and objectives

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:01:00 +0000

This is the second step in converting your charity to a social business.

Your vision, mission and objectives are core to your organisation, irrespective of whether you are operating as a charity or a social business.

Your vision can be described as the reason why your organisation exists. For example, to give the homeless in the Western Cape food and shelter.

Your objectives are related to your vision and are often reviewed each period (at least every year, but often more frequently). They should be measurable so that they are easy to track and you can determine if you are meeting them.

Following on from the vision example, your objectives could be:
- Move 5 people off the street in to shelter each month
- Feed at least 20 people each night
- etc.

If you have and existing vision and objectives, and they are still relevant then you should stick to them. But you will need to change your behaviours and approach to achieving them.

Here is some more on defining your vision and objectives.

Mike.

Think big start small

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:39:00 +0000

This is the first of the key steps to moving your charity into a social business.

It is important to understand what you are trying to achieve by using business, rather than donations and grants, to address your social objectives.

A good reason for doing this is to reduce your dependency on donations and grants, allowing your organisation to become financially independent.

This means you do not have to continually justify your existence by lobbying the Government, Multi-laterals, local businesses and philanthropists for donations and grants to ensure that your organisation can continue operating.

But changing behaviours and habits is not easy to do.

It takes planning, attention to detail, dedication and most of all the willingness to change.

This is what faces those who are turning their charity into a social business.

My advice is to focus on one area of your organisation to change rather than converting your whole organisation over night.

This will allow you to test and track progress on this one area without committing to large scale change.

Large scale change means a larger risk, so by converting individual sections you minimise the risk of incurring high costs, effort and impact to your reputation and brand.

Launching new products or services will take time, but it will give you an income stream that will supplement the donations you are currently receiving.

Ultimately you want it to work the other way round, where you have donations that are used as a top-up for your main income streams, which is selling products and services to cover your costs.

Step 3 will give examples on how you can look at individual sections without committing to covert your whole organisation in to a social business in one go.

Mike.

Using jail to get funding

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:58:00 +0000

I've mentioned recently that if donations can be obtained in a low cost, low effort manner, then they may be a good way to supplement your income stream as a social business.

But was the Jail4Bail initiative taking this too far?

Perhaps, but well done to Gerhard Pieterse, who raised more than R600 thousand for some fantastic causes!

Mike.

Online communities and CausedWire

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:33:00 +0000

Report on Twitter and online communities is available to buy as well as a book from Tom Watson called CausedWired.

I haven't reviewed either yet, but if you are interested in pursuing the ideas in my recent post about donations and online communities then you might find these worthwhile.

Mike.

The power of online communities

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:10:00 +0000

I am a strong believer that donations are not a sustainable way to address social issues, but rather through social business.

However, donations, if obtained in a low cost, low effort manner, can still be a valuable supplement to your income stream whilst operating as a social business.

The continuing evolution of the world-wide web is providing ways to do this.

Recently an organisation called Epic Change launched a 48 hour fund raising initiative that raised $10,000. The funds were raised in typically $5 and $10 donations, mostly from people who found out about the cause at the time of donating. They found out through Twitter, the ever growing social media website.

The initiative was called TweetGiving and was a remarkable success.

There are a number of online tools that are available to do this sort of fund raising. Unfortunately most rely on PayPal and Google Checkout for the actual payments, which at the moment do not accept transactions in South African Rands. Hopefully this will change soon, but if anyone is aware of ways to make this work in South Africa, please let me know.

Read more about TweetGiving here: http://tweetsgiving.org

Mike.

Definition of common terms of social enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Below are the definitions of some key terms on social enterprise, as defined by the Social Enterprise Alliance, a US based organisation that champions social enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Social Enterprise: An organization or venture that advances its social mission through entrepreneurial, earned income strategies.

Earned Income: Payments received in direct exchange for a product, service or privilege. [Earned income for a nonprofit includes such elements as tuition and fees for service, commercial products or services, government contracts, consulting fees, membership dues (when dues purchase tangible benefits), sale of intellectual property, agreement to use the nonprofit’s identity, property rentals, etc. Earned income does not include such sources as corporate, foundation or government grants or subsidies, contributions from individuals, or in-kind donation of products or services.] Examples

Financial Sustainability: The extent to which a nonprofit is able to pursue its mission indefinitely through any or all of the following: earned income, charitable contributions and public sector subsidies.

Self-sufficiency: The extent to which a nonprofit is able to pursue its mission indefinitely through earned income alone without relying in whole or in part on charitable contributions or public sector subsidies.

Double Bottom Line: The definitive benchmark for a social purpose business venture – the simultaneous creation of both a financial and social return on investment.

Triple Bottom Line: A business venture’s simultaneous pursuit of beneficial outcomes along three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.

Financial Return on Investment: ROI – an index of financial profitability that measures the net result of operations as a percentage of funds invested; an indicator of business success.

Social Return on Investment: SROI – the non-financial outcomes created by a social enterprise, measured in terms of the nonprofit’s mission, e.g. people served or jobs created, average salaries paid, amount of transfer payments eliminated, etc.

Social Entrepreneurship: The art of persistently and creatively leveraging resources to capitalize upon marketplace opportunities in order to achieve sustainable social change.

Social Purpose Business: A discrete division, subsidiary or related corporation of a nonprofit or a for-profit company that deliberately pursues financial and social returns within a specific industry segment in the commercial marketplace.

Earned Income Strategies: Attempts to capitalize on the earned income potential of a program or other organizational asset (property, intellectual capital, reputation, etc.) in order to cover part or all of the program’s costs or to offset a portion of the organization’s overall expenses.

Unrelated Business Income: Earned income derived from the sale of products or services that are not directly related to the charitable purpose of a nonprofit organization. Such revenues may be subject to tax and, at significant levels in proportion to total nonprofit income, may jeopardize the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit corporation.

Venture (or “Engaged”) Philanthropy: The application by donors of principles traditionally associated with venture capitalists to improve the capacity or performance of a nonprofit organization or social enterprise. Engaged philanthropy practices typically involve a combination of funding and expertise, more direct engagement with leadership, long-term funding relationships (three to six years), performance monitoring, and an exit strategy.

Mike.

Moving your charity in to social business

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:20:00 +0000

The social business principles make sense when starting from scratch.

But what if you have an existing organisation that is currently being run as a charity?

Below are the ten principles of moving your charity into social business.

1. Start with small changes, but don't lose sight of the big picture

2. Stick to your vision and objectives

3. Change your behaviours to operate as a social business

4. Focus on opportunities within your current proposition

5. Identify the social and financial returns for investors

6. Research and short-list preferred investors

7. Create a compelling investment proposition and sell it to investors

8. Launch your new venture

9. Track and communicate progress to key stakeholders

10. Use profits to invest in new opportunities

Over the coming weeks I'll be writing about each of these principles in more detail. You can keep track via the e-mail sign up page at the top right of this page.

Mike.

How business can change communities

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:50:00 +0000

I've come across this great presentation from Ramla Akhtar.

Ramla has recently reviewed a number of social enterprises in South Africa and is using this to highlight what can be done in Pakistan.

The enterprises include Community Cellphone Cubicles and Hair Salons in our townships.

Here is his presentation, which is well worth the read!

Mike.

Relying on donations to survive

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:39:00 +0000

My recent survey on organisations addressing social issues in South Africa, shows that the vast majority of the sample surveyed, are reliant on donations to survive.

The survey was completed by 153 organisations, and the full results can be found on this blog.

All the organisations surveyed have been set-up to directly address social or environmental issues in South Africa.

Two-thirds of the organisations are reliant on donations and grants to survive, meaning they do not have an independent way of generating an income to help the organisation to survive.

Some organisations that completed the survey are, arguably, in the fortunate position where they are completely sponsored by a parent organisation or trust.

But what happens if the parent organisation gets into financial difficulties or their objectives change, meaning they can no longer support the subsidiary organisation that is striving to address social causes?

Without an independent income source, the organisation will continue to be reliant on hand-outs and have little control over their future existence.

The good news is that a fifth of the organisations that were interviewed do sell products or services that cover their costs.

It's important that more organisations that are set-up to address social and environmental issues start to use the principles of social business so that they can become financially independent and no longer be at the whim of philanthropists.

Mike.

Measure your performance

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:24:00 +0000

You've defined your vision and set your objectives, but how do you know if you are meeting your objectives?

You measure and track your performance.

Commercial businesses measure their performance in terms of revenue and profitability. Social businesses can also do this, but more importantly they need to track their performance against their social objectives.

The social objectives may be the number of homes provided for the homeless, or the number of HIV/AIDs orphans who are being cared for.

Each of your objectives should have a set of tactics that determine how you are going to meet your objectives.

Looking at the example on homes for the homeless, and assuming you are currently an Estate Agency, the tactics could include:

1. Use existing contacts in the construction trade to build or provide the low cost housing
2. Finance the homes through the sale of commercial or residential buildings
3. Engage with organisations that can identify those most in need of homes
4. Etc, etc.

You then need to measure your performance (progress) against these tactics.

This can be done in a variety of ways, but the simplest way is to track your progress is to keep a log (written or electronic) based on set periods (weekly, monthly, annually) with the number of times your are and are not delivering on these tactics, and hence meeting your objectives.

Your tactics should be reviewed regularly, to ensure they are still appropriate.

For example, you may find that your contacts in the construction trade cannot provide the houses you are looking for, and you need to focus on low cost governmental housing, perhaps looking at a Private-Public Partnership.

I've used the example of an Estate Agency here to highlight that you don't have to be a typical non-profit, NGO or charity to be a social business. Although you do need to be careful that your financial objectives do not clash with your social objectives, and may consider having your social business as a separate legal entity.

Mike.

Social business for animals in need

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:22:00 +0000

Here are some social business examples whose social objectives are focused on supporting animals in need.

The Gabriel Foundation, which looks after rescued birds, has a number of ways for generating income, which include:

Sponsor a bird, which allows the public the opportunity to finance cost of looking after their 450+ birds in their aviary. This is of course reliant on donations, but it is done in a commercial way that supplements other revenue streams.

They also sell bird toys and accessories, including supplies, cages and food.

The Humane Society of Boulder Valley sells family portraits with their pets. They also have holiday camps and birthday parties for children. All of these can provide ways of generating income that is not reliant on donations and grants to survive.

The Kentucky Humane Society also has Summer Camps for Kids, which is very popular in the US, but also sell gifts and gift certificates for pets.

Mike.

A clear vision and objectives are a must for social businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Arguably all organisations need a clear vision of what they are trying to achieve and objectives to determine how to get there.

This is especially important to social business, and is the ninth key principle.

A vision provides the over riding direction for the business and should drive everything you do.

It could be something like providing all HIV/AIDs sufferers in the Kwa-Zulu Natal with the healthcare they need; or to supply employment for unemployed women in the Khayelitsha township.

Your vision is the reason why your organisation exists and provides the guiding light for everything you do. It provides the focus and direction required to ensure that you do not deviate from the path you have set.

Once you have a clear vision, you should set objectives. Objectives provide the stepping stones to realising your vision. Examples of this could be that you will get 100 of the HIV/AIDs sufferers in Kwa-Zulu Natal on the right medication in 2009; or that you will gain employment for 2 unemplyed and unskilled women in Khatelitsha in January 2009.

Objectives should be captured in a way that is easy to understand, communicate, and most importantly, measure. If you can't measure your progress against your objectives then it is very difficult to know when you have achieved them. Having numbers, like the financial value or number of items, as well as dates in your objectives help provide the measurement.

No matter what the size of your organisation, all staff need to know what your vision and objectives are. Create posters and display them round the office, post them on your website and keep repeating them at every opportunity.

In this way your vision and objectives can become second nature to all, and ensure that your whole organisation adheres to this key principle of social business.

Mike.

Sell products and services to cover your costs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:09:00 +0000

Don't be dependent on donations and grants to survive, but instead sell products and services to cover your costs.

Making your income from selling products and services is the eighth of the ten principles of social business.

Selling products or services that are aligned to your social objectives gives more focus to these objectives, for example the organisation called Open Africa, where tourists pay for guided tours by locals who might otherwise have no source of income.

Other similar examples include Streetwire and Khayelitsha Cookies.

A recent comment on this blog questioned whether the sales of products and services may be just as time consuming as focusing on donations and grants. That may be correct, but by making sales rather than focusing on charity, you minimise the dependency on those donating and give your organisation more control over your income stream.

There's no doubt that these are challenging economic times, but it is going to be a lot more challenging for those reliant on charity to survive, because charity is normally based on otherwise excess funds (of the organisation donating) and will be the first thing to be cut. Whereas, people still need products and services.

If you are stuck for ideas on what to sell, start with the reason why your organisation exists, for example to support those living in remote but tourist friendly locations in South Africa, and then work out what you can sell that supports this objective, e.g. tourist routes like Open Africa does.

Mike.

Salaries must be paid at market rates

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:38:00 +0000

The best businesses have the best staff. The best staff need to be paid salaries at market rates.

This is the seventh of the ten key principles of social business.

In order to compete effectively and be the best at what you do, you need to make your organisation a great place to work, which includes remunerating staff at the levels their skill and responsibility deserves.

This does not mean that staff need to be paid corporate-style seven figure annual bonuses; but rather salaries that reflect their market value.

There are a variety of ways to determine what market rates are for the positions within your organisation. Recruitment agencies can give you an idea of what these are, but if you are looking for a more accurate figure then salary benchmarking firms, like Celre in the United Kingdom, can provide this information for you, normally at a fee.

Mike.