Social Entrepreneurship @ Work

Social Entrepreneurship News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:22:00 +0000

Looking for Social Entrepreneurship news? Check out: http://social-entrepreneurship.alltop.com/

Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship: The Top 100 Tweeps to Follow

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Posted originally on: http://www.socialedge.org/

With Matt Flannery, founder of Kiva, transitioning from blogging to twittering, we thought this would be a good time to help Matt and others joining Twitter to hit the ground running with a list of the best social entrepreneur twitter folks to follow.

These are folks we have run into in our specifically social entrepreneurship circle. I'm sure there are many more people we have not yet met, and would like to meet, so I encourage you to comment here with your recommended additions.

That said, we have selected a few, well 100 to be exact, to get you started on "Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship". We suggest you start with the first 20 below and see how it goes. Then start adding in some of the other clever people listed when you are ready. (By the way, if you are considering how to start tweeting for yourself or your organization, see also Twitter and the Social Entrepreneur - a guide to mission-aligned twittering.)

For Social Entrepreneurship--20 essential folks to follow:
@socialedge (that's us!) @skollfoundation @poptech @civicventures @echoinggreen @ashokatweets @changemakers @AshokaGenV @acumenfund @nextbillion @UnLtd @UnLtdWorld @SchSocEnt @socialcitizen @casefoundation @thinkchangeind @socialearth @BeUnreasonable @socialentrprnr @ideablob

Social Entrepreneurs--an eclectic collection of 20, some small, some large orgs (and there are many, many more not listed), to follow:
@kjer (Forge); @leila_c (@samasource); @mattflannery (@kiva); @camfed (Camfed); @CollegeSummit (College Summit); @staceymonk (@EpicChange); @lend4health (Lend4Health); @SHEnterprises (Sustainable Health Enterprises) @ineedapencil (INeedAPencil.com); @kenyanpundit and @whiteafrican (@ushahidi); @ConsciousChange (Global Grassroots); @playpumps (PlayPumps); @JRandomF (Benetech); @RoomtoRead_MN (Room to Read); @RugMark (RugMark); @fairtradeusa (TransFair USA); @Gillian1Sky (@1Sky, @TheHub @witnessorg); @teachforamerica (Teach for America); @waterpartners (Water Partners) @endovershoot (Global Footprint Network)

Others in the social entrepreneurship field, 20 peeps I like to follow:
@global_x @tomjd @jnovogratz @rodneyschwartz @jongos @slboval @Montero @judechia @Kevindoylejones @AmiDar @emeka_okafor @trielly @tomwatson @dnbornstein @davepeery @peterdeitz @EncoreTerry @mdangear @stevecase @zyOzyfounder

Philanthropy-related gurus, 20 thought-leaders you should follow:
@Philanthropy @OnPhilanthropy @p2173 @tactphil @Philanthropy411 @philosopher20 @pndblog @fdncenter @gatesfoundation @Grameen_Fdn @idealist @worldchanging @sustainablog @davos @takepart @e180 @startingbloc @atlascorp @dosomething @globalgiving

NP/VC/Tech/social media for social good geeks, 20 great guides to follow:
@kanter @bbravo @afine @mashable @webb @jessicashortall @hildygottlieb @TechSoup @appafrica @afrigadget @socap09 @SVNetwork @newprofit @SVTgroup @nesta_uk @socialgood @Ventureneer @socialbusiness @socialactions @netsquared

Not enough? See more lists of Twitter recommendations for social entrepreneurs:
by Appfrica
by Echoing Green
by Social Earth
by John Madigan
by ODE magazine

More places to find social entrepreneurs on Twitter - see who tweets with the following hash tags or terms
#SocEnt (social entrepreneur/entrepreneurship)
#SocEntChat (monthly social entrepreneur chat by Ashoka)
#socialentrepreneur (for those who don't know about #SocEnt)
#Prize4SC (prize for social change)
#4change (that's right, "for change")
#BoP (base/bottom of the pyramid)
#nonprofit (self-explanatory)
#nptech (nonprofit technology)
#SSIR (Stanford Social Innovation Review)

the top Twittering Social Entrepreneurs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Name - Erik Hersman
Twitter - @whiteafrican
Why You Should Follow - Founder of Ushahidi, blogger at AfriGadget and WhiteAfrican, all around smart guy and great tracker of the African technology and innovation

Name - Guy Kawasaki
Twitter - @guykawasaki
Why You Should Follow - Founder of Alltop, social media evangelist and best selling author on entrepreneurship, tweets regularly with practical advice for traditional and social entrepreneurs

Name - Vanessa Mason
Twitter - @vanessamason
Why You Should Follow - Blogger and tracker about all things global health, international development, and creative solutions to poverty and inequality

Name - Marc Dangear
Twitter - @mdangear
Why You Should Follow - Founder of Entrepreneur Commons and general advisor to social entrepreneurs

Name - Joe Solomon
Twitter - @engagejoe
Why You Should Follow - Social media consultant working with Social Actions, Joe's Twitter stream is a hub for all online social innovation

Name - VCTips
Twitter - @vctips
Why You Should Follow - An aggregator of great tips for those entrepreneurs who are pitching or looking to pitch to venture firms and angel investors

Name - Jon Gosier / Appfrica
Twitter - @appfrica
Why You Should Follow - Jon's Appfrica project does a phenomenal job keeping track of social technology innovations with ramifications for the developing world

Name - Social Entrepreneurship at Change.org / Nathaniel Whittemore
Twitter - @socialentrprnr
Why You Should Follow - Our official Socialentrepreneurship.change.org Twitter account - get updated about new posts and interesting projects

Recap of Guest Speakers at Social Finance Forum 2008 in Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:00:00 +0000

DEREK BALLANTYNE

CEO of Toronto Community Housing

Derek Ballantyne has worked in the housing sector for about ten years. He has a background in the public and private sectors. Derek has worked with a variety of partners and with housing organizations to renew investment in housing and to garner support for households living in social housing. He is a Director of Family Services Toronto as well as the Social Housing Services Corporation and SHSC Financial Inc.

RICHARD BRIDGE

B.A. LL.B
Barrister & Solicitor
Non-profit and charity law

RichardBridge is a lawyer who recently relocated from Vancouver Island to
Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. His primary area of practice is charity and non-profit law. His clients are a wide range of charitable organizations, foundations, non-profit organizations and philanthropists throughout B.C. and across Canada. Other areas
of work include: co-operative development and public sector organizations and issues. Richard has worked internationally, most recently in China, and has created courses and taught in these areas at the University of Victoria Law School and BCIT.

TIM BRODHEAD

President and CEO
J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

Tim Brohead who has served as president and CEO of the Montreal-based J.W. McConnell Family Foundation since 1995. Prior to joining the Foundation he was Executive Director of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), a
national organization representing over 120 non-profit Canadian international development agencies.

Mr. Brodhead attended McGill University and subsequently
spent five years in Africa with the Canadian organization CUSO. He went on to do
international development work in Africa and South Asia and co-founded Inter Pares, an
Ottawa-based non-government organization.

In a voluntary capacity he has served on a number of Boards, including currently
Vartana, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the
ETC Group (formerly Rural Advancement Foundation International) and the Calmeadow
Foundation. He is past Chair of Philanthropic Foundations Canada, the national
association of Canadian independent foundations.

In 2001 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada and in June, 2002 received
an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Carleton University in Ottawa.

MARK CONVERY

Partner, Ogilvy Renault LLP

Areas of Expertise:
Cleantech; Corporate and Commercial; Corporate Finance and Securities; Governance and Directors' Liability; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity

Mark Convery is Toronto Chair of our Business Law Group. Mr. Convery has extensive experience in business law generally and in corporate and securities law specifically. His areas of expertise include mergers and acquisitions, private placements, public offerings, private equity fund formation and investments, corporate governance and investment funds. Mr. Convery has considerable experience in cross-border transactions and has advised clients at all stages of development from start-up to mature public companies, multinational companies and private equity funds.

Mr. Convery is currently a member of the Securities Advisory Committee to the Ontario Securities Commission.

ÉTHEL CÔTÉ

Board member & Co-chair, Policy Council – CCEDNET
President – Économie solidaire de l’Ontario
North America Representant – RIPESS – Intercontinental Network of Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy

Éthel Côté has been involved in the economic, social, cooperative and cultural fields for more than 25 years. As general manager for the Cooperation Council of Ontario (CCO) from 1994 to 2000, she revived this movement and fostered the implementation of some thirty work, services and production cooperatives in addition to supporting agricultural, agri-food, housing and child care cooperatives. She holds a Canadian university level certificate in Agricultural Leadership (CALL 2001) and obtained her Masters Degree in Community Economic Development from Concordia University.

In addition to teaching Community Economic Development at Concordia University between 2000-2008 and Hearst University since 2008, she has also mentored hundreds of communities and promoters of socio-economic development initiatives. She has been involved with the Canadian Community Economic Development Network for several years and Co-Chair the National Policy Council and member of the International Committee. She currently chairs the Ontario Solidarity Economy Network. She is now the Canadian representative on the Board of the Réseau intercontinental de promotion d’économie sociale et solidaire (RIPESS). Now she is responsible for social enterprise development at the center for Community Enterprise, member of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada and the Social Enterprise Ontario. She succeed to mobilized over than 16M$ to support social enterprises throughout 20 years.

DEBORA DONCASTER

Executive Director, Community Power Fund

Deborah Doncaster is the CPF Executive Director. She was the founding Executive Director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association formed in 2001. Under Deborah's leadership, OSEA accomplished the delivery of a Standard Offer Contract Program for Ontario. She was also one of three Project Developers with the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative and worked on their Exhibition Place turbine project on Toronto's waterfront. Deborah holds degrees in Philosophy, Law and Environmental Planning.

TIM DRAIMIN

Executive Director, Social Innovation Generation (SiG)
Chair, Causeway Social Finance,
Senior Fellow, Tides Canada Foundation.

Tim Draimin is the newly appointed Executive Director of Social Innovation Generation (SiG) and the Chair of CAUSEWAY Social Finance. A partnership between The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Toronto's MaRS Discovery District, the University of Waterloo and Vancouver's PLAN Institute, SiG unleashes the creativity of social innovators to tackle the profound social and environmental challenges facing Canadians. As Executive Director, Mr. Draimin will manage SiG's growing network of academics, field practitioners and entrepreneurs investigating ways to improve the health and resilience of our linked social, economic and environmental systems.

CAUSEWAY is a new collaborative initiative (including SiG plus Carleton University and the Canadian Co-operative Association) dedicated to enabling the accelerated development of "social finance" capital instruments in Canada.

A leader in the non-profit sector, Mr. Draimin was the founding CEO of Tides Canada Foundation, which focuses on the environment and social justice. During his time at Tides, Mr. Draimin guided the Foundation's expansion, established Canada's first national support system for social entrepreneurs – Sage Centre – and supported a world-renowned model of integrated conservation: BC's Great Bear Rainforest initiative. He will continue to serve Tides Canada as a Senior Fellow.

Tim Draimin brings to SiG 30 years of international career experience. He is the author of Canada's first national study of social entrepreneurship and a frequent advisor to government, as well as to non-profit associations and leaders. He is a past board member of the Social Investment Organization (SIO), Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network (CEGN) and past member of the Voluntary Sector Forum's Finance Action Group.

AL ETMANSKI

Special Advisor
Plan Institute for Caring Citizenship

Al has been a leading advocate for people with disabilities and their families in Canada for more than two decades. He is widely recognized as a visionary thinker in areas of social policy, community development and individualizing services for people with disabilities.

Al is an author, advocacy consultant and social inventor who specializes in finding innovative, non-governmental solutions to social problems.

In recent years, Al has become known for his expertise in fostering social enterprise within the civic sector, converting social capital to economic capital, the innovative use of non- profit, profit and public sectors as problem solving partners and creating alternatives to legal guardianship.

He is the author of A Good Life – For You and Your Relative with a Disability and Safe and Secure – Six Steps to Creating a Personal Future Plan for People with Disabilities. Al is a parent of 5 children.

DON FAIRBAIRN

President of DCF Consulting.
DCF Consulting provides strategic advice to public and private sector clients and is focused on achieving value through public private partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and effective strategic planning.

Don has extensive experience in the development, financing and operations of infrastructure projects. He has managed the successful development of independent power generation, light rail transportation, water treatment and natural gas utility assets. He has led over $2 billion of mergers and acquisitions involving both corporate and pension fund investors. Don also assists governments and community organizations achieve successful outcomes for supportive housing and social financing initiatives.

He been an active member of community organizations and is currently the Chair of the Board of Governors of Vancouver Community College and a Board Member of Streetohome Vancouver Foundation. Don is married and has four children.

TESSA HEBB

Director
Carleton Centre for Community Innovation
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Senior Research Associate
Oxford University Centre for the Environment, UK

Senior Research Fellow
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, US

Dr. Hebb is the Director of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University, Canada. Her research focuses on the financial and extra-financial impact of pension fund investment in Canada and internationally with particular emphasis on Responsible Investment and Corporate Engagement and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Government of Canada. The Carleton Centre for Community Innovation is leading knowledge producer on social finance tools and instruments.

Dr. Hebb is also a senior research associate with the Oxford University Centre for the Environment and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. IN 2008 she completed a multi-year research project revitalization funded by Rockefeller and Ford Foundations on the role of US public sector pension funds and urban revitalization, based at the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School.

Dr. Hebb has published many articles on pension fund investing policies and is the co-editor of the volume Working Capital the Power of Labor’s Pensions. Her new book No Small Change: Pension Fund Corporate Engagement is available for Cornell University Press as of September 2008.

BRIAN ILER

Partner, Iler Campbell LLP

Brian is a partner in the Toronto law firm Iler Campbell LLP, and advises many of Ontario’s co-operatives and non-profit organizations. For the Ontario Co-operative Association, he has had a central role in crafting the regulatory environment for co-operatives and co-operative securities. For Options for Homes, he developed the legal framework for its innovative affordable ownership housing model, and, for its now numerous successful projects, acted as development counsel. As a founding director of Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative, which incubated the wind turbine at Exhibition Place, and as a director of both the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association and The Co-operative Fund for Community Power, he has been a principal contributor to the development of community-owned green energy generation in Ontario.

JESSICA JACKLEY FLANNERY

Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer of Kiva

Named as one of the top ideas in 2006 by the New York Times Magazine and called "revolutionary" by the BBC, Kiva (www.kiva.org) is the world's first online micro-lending marketplace for the working poor. Kiva lets internet users lend as little as $25 to specific developing world entrepreneurs, providing affordable capital to help them start or expand a small business. Kiva has been one of the fastest-growing social benefit websites in history, with thousands of people lending millions of dollars to entrepreneurs in over 50 developing countries.

In the midst of these successes, Kiva remains focused on a very simple idea: bringing people closer to each other. Kiva’s mission, “to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty,” and the idea that relationships are a powerful force for positive change, remain foundational for the organization’s strategy – and for Jessica Jackley Flannery’s life work.

Jessica has worked in a variety of other organizations across the public, nonprofit, and private sector, including World Vision, Potentia Media, the International Foundation, Amazon.com, and others, and serves as an active board member with nonprofits in the Bay Area and internationally. She graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with her MBA in 2007, including Certificates in Public Management and Global Management.

ROBERT M. LANG

Mary Elizabeth & Gordon B. Mannweiler Foundation Inc.
L3C Advisors L3C

Robert (Bob) Lang is CEO of the Mary Elizabeth & Gordon B. Mannweiler Foundation, Inc., CEO of L3C Advisors L3C and CEO of Fabrique Cosmetique Inc. He has a BA in Economics with a minor in English from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The foundation’s focus is akin to venture capitalism in the nonprofit sector. One of the major projects has been the L3C, which is based on the use of for profit LLCs to perform socially beneficial services and use PRI funding as a source of capital, particularly equity. With the passage of the L3C law in Vermont on April 30, 2008, he intends through the very first L3C - L3C Advisors L3C to work extensively with his partners and staff to develop L3Cs all over the US. He is leading an international group in a project to develop social finance structural harmonization around the world to facilitate investment in L3C type structures worldwide. He is also an active board member of the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, which presents free classical music concerts at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park in NYC. He is also a cosmetic chemist and designs and develops cosmetic systems and machinery. He lectures frequently and participates in seminars and on panels worldwide. He has been published in trade publications, popular magazines, on the web and newspapers.

RON LAYTON

Founder and Chief Executive
Light Years IP

Ron Layton has chosen to combine successful careers in economic development and Intellectual Property (IP) business to design the Light Years IP vision of engaging IP business techniques to alleviate poverty and secure higher export income for low-income producers, particularly in Least Developed countries. Since forming LYIP as an NGO in 1999, Ron Layton has been creating mechanisms for poor producers in developing countries to improve the amount and security of export income from all types of distinctive products, including primary and finished products. This process utilizes various forms of IP to assert the right to income from intangible values created and owned by poor countries. LYIP also assists producers with the products of innovation, including inventions, tribal names and all forms of designs, some traditional and mostly modern.

Ron has acted as IP consultant to producer groups, exporters and tribal groups, to businesses in fair trade and sustainable development, to the World Bank and the USPTO, and to Governments as different as Ethiopia, Niue and Bermuda. In 2004, the World Bank published a book titled "Poor People’s Knowledge" that included coverage of his work on IP and Poverty Alleviating Trade. In February 2004, Ron was elected as a Global Fellow by the Ashoka Foundation, recognition as a leading social entrepreneur working on a global level. In June, the Light Years IP publication “Distinctive Values in African Exports” was launched by the UK Secretary of State for International Development at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town. The US State Department proposed to the G8 that Ron address the G8 committee on Intellectual Property at an event in France in November, 2008.

Ron is educated in economics and mathematics and worked as lead economist on numerous development projects in more than 25 developing countries for UNDP, AusAID, SPC, the Commonwealth and many governments. He has specialized in Intellectual Property for 30 years and in Intellectual Property for Development for 20 of those years. He began in 1977-80, originating and implementing jurisdictional Intellectual Property solutions in small developing countries which are uncompetitive. He led a project covering analysis and development of jurisdictional Intellectual Property sector in several countries where IP produced over 60% of government income and over 80% of export income. To acquire direct understanding of the role of branding and other Intellectual Property in Trade, he added ten years of commercial experience in earning export income, successfully distributing film product and derivative consumer products to over 100 world markets. Now, the focus of LYIP is on countries like Ethiopia, with 80 million people aiming to overcome competitiveness constraints due to location by using IP business strategies in exporting distinctive products. In 2008, the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry reported that export income from fine coffee had been raised by around $100m per year due to the LYIP-assisted Ethiopian Fine Coffee Trademarking and Licensing Initiative.

STEPHEN LLOYD

Senior Partner and Head of Charity & Social Enterprise Department

Stephen Lloyd is Senior Partner and Head of the Charity and Social Enterprise
Department and formerly Chairman of the Charity Law Association.

He has been acknowledged for a number of years as the top charity lawyer in the UK. He is especially appreciated for his business acumen, can do approach and knowledge of charity and social enterprise law. He is the author of numerous books on law including Charities Trading and the Law, the Fundraiser's Guide to the Law and Keeping It Legal. He is also the originator of the concept of the Community Interest Company (CIC) which came into force on 1st July 2005, since when over 2000 CICs have been formed. He is Chairman of the Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action; a trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) Common Investment Funds; Chairman of Lifehaus Plc, an environmental building company, and Chairman of CaSE – Charity & Social Enterprise Insurance Management LLP a specialist provider of insurance solutions to charities and social enterprises.

ROD MACGILLIVRAY

Vice Chair,
Board of Roots of Empathy

Before retiring two years ago, Mr. Macgillivray had 40 years experience in the investment industry during which he was based in Europe, the United States and Canada. Throughout most of his career, he advised governments and their Crown Corporations. With governments this initially involved debt financing in domestic and foreign capital markets as well as considerable work on deficit and debt reduction strategies through the 1990s. Most recently, he advised governments regarding the changes happening in the electricity industry. Over this time Mr. Macgillivray also developed a very close relationship with the publicly owned utilities in this sector.

Mr. Macgillivray was a Managing Director with CIBC World Markets and a member of its Power and Utilities Group where he led this group’s activities with public sector utility clients and their government owners. In this respect, he worked, on a wide variety of assignments with virtually every public sector entity in this industry in Canada. These assignments included the development of government policies and corporate strategies, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and disaggregations as well as corporatizations and privatizations.

In the Toronto community, Mr. Macgillivray is currently Chair of the Board of the George Brown College Foundation as well as being a Board Member of Roots of Empathy.

GUILLERMO MACLEAN

Vice President
Deutsche Bank
Quality of Life Markets

Guillermo is a Vice President in Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets and leads the development of the Deutsche Bank Quality of Life Markets.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Guillermo developed the “Quality of Life Markets” concept and others as part of his own innovation consulting firm and business incubator, Santeandro Creations Boutique – Innovative Technologies for Human Capital Development. In total, Guillermo spent 15+ years in a variety of roles, from Mergers & Acquisitions, to Equity Research, Investment Portfolio Management, Corporate Development (crossing many functional and business areas) and Equity Derivatives at firms such as the International Finance Corporation (The World Bank Group), Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Putnam Investments, AllianceBernstein and Deutsche Bank.

Guillermo holds an MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BA in economics from Georgetown University. He enjoys the outdoors and graduated three times from Outward Bound Wilderness Expeditions

ROBERT MARUS

Robert Marus, Manager, Community Business Banking, Vancity & Citizen’s Bank

Robert has over 20 years experience in the financial industry with the last eight years focused on banking services for the Not-For-profit community. He brings to the table a breadth of experience garnered over his tenure at Vancity since 1984. In 2000, Robert moved from a commercial account manger role to one of specializing in lending to Not-for-Profits. In 2004, Robert was the architect of Vancity’s Community Business Banking department, a specialized area of Vancity/Citizen’s Bank which serves both the individual and organizations needs of the “under-served” and the “under-banked”.

Over the years, Robert has been led the credit union in its credit and product development as well as the manner in which it provides its NFP banking products and services. This attention to the needs of Not-For-Profits has resulted in the growth of Vancity’s NFP Portfolio to almost $600 Million.

Robert focuses his time on the development, improvement and implementation of a variety of Social Finance mechanisms within the Not-For-Profit sector. He also manages a number of key community member relationships and is an active member of many of the credit union’s internal committee’s focused on NFP’s.

Robert leads Vancity’s Financial Sustainability Workshops series, an educational component aimed to increased the financial well-being, long-term sustainability and increased capacity for the not-for-profit sector.

Robert brings to the community his extensive expertise including board involvement, international studies and participation on local, provincial & federal committees.

NANCY NEAMTAN

President and Executive Director
Chantier de l'économie sociale

Nancy Neamtan is President/Executive Director of the Chantier de l'économie sociale, a non-profit organization administered by 30 representatives of various networks of social enterprises (cooperatives and non-profits), local development organizations and social movements.

The mission of the Chantier de l'économie sociale, a Quebec-wide organization that emerged from the Quebec Summit on Economy and Employment in 1996, is the promotion and development of collective entrepreneurship.
She is the President of the Board of Directors of the Chantier d'économie sociale Trust, a $53 million investment fund offering patient capital to collective entreprises. She was founder and President of the Board of Directors of Réseau d'investissement social du Québec (RISQ), a $10 million investment fund dedicated to the non-profit and cooperative sector from 1997 to 2006. Since 1999 she has been Co-Director of the Community-University Research Alliance in the Social Economy(ARUC-ÉS).
Prior to this, Neamtan was Executive Director of RESO ( a community economic development corporatin devoted to the economic and oscial renewal of southwest Montreal) from 1989 to 1998. She was Executive Director of IFDEC (Training institute in community economic development(1986-87), and Director for Community-Development at the Point St .Charles YMCA (1984-1986).

AMY STEIN

Director of Finance, Evergreen

Amy is responsible for the financial stewardship of Evergreen’s growth, focusing on financing for Evergreen Brick Works, risk management, systems development, leasing and licensing, and cost controls. Before she joined Evergreen, Amy was Director of Investments at Social Capital Partners, providing growth financing to employment-based social enterprise businesses. Prior to that, she served as a financial consultant, advisor and board member to numerous social enterprises, and worked for several years as an investment banker with one of Canada’s leading financial institutions. Amy has an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School, an MA in Economics and an Honours BA in Environmental Studies and Economics, both from the University of Toronto.

DR. RALPH STROTHER

Senior Program Officer, Max Bell Foundation

Ralph Strother was an Associate Professor and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Kinesiology at the University of Calgary for fifteen years. Ralph served on the Calgary Foundation, retiring as Board Chair in 2002. He was recently Vice President of Trout Unlimited Canada and currently serves on other non-profit Boards.

DR. MICHAEL SWACK

Research faculty and professor economics and management in the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire

Michael Swack, a pioneer in the field of community development lending and investment joins the University of New Hampshire as research faculty and professor of economics and management in the Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

As the founder and Dean of the School of Community Economic Development, Southern New Hampshire University. Michael Swack wrote the legislation that led to the creation of the Community Development Finance Authority. In 1983, he was the founding president of the New Hampshire Loan Fund.

Michael Swack received a Ph.D in Community Development and Management from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

ILSE TREURNICHT

CEO of the MaRS Discovery District

Ise Treurnicht joined MaRS from her role as President & CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a start-up stage venture capital fund focused on the advanced technologies sector. Prior to Primaxis, Ilse was an entrepreneur with senior management roles in a number of emerging technology companies. She serves on a number of Boards, including the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), BIOTECanada and Aggregate Therapeutics. Ilse holds a DPhil in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.

ARTHUR WOOD

Social Financial Services Ashoka, UK

Arthur Wood brings over twenty years of experience in the finance sector to his work on social investing. He heads the Social Financial Services (SFS) at Ashoka, engaging global financial service firms in investing in the social sector. He creates strategies and delivers insight into how investors can use their capital to increase the flow and efficiency of financing to the social sector, prior to joining Ashoka,

Arthur worked with a number of banks – both institutional and private – creating product models and services that have been widely accepted and replicated across the sector. At Coutts, the UK’s most prestigious private bank, Wood conceptualized and managed a project for the innovative use of Offshore Insurance products which has now been adopted across the private banking industry as a key planning tool.

As a Director of another leading UK bank, Kleinwort Benson Private Bank, Wood re-engineered and headed the teams associated with Product Development across the entire range of financial instruments. The group was voted the most innovative product team in an award by Private Asset Management magazine. Arthur was also head of e-commerce for the private bank, and he pioneered a model which McKinsey & Co. described as the cutting-edge of strategic web development. He attended the London School of Economics, HEC in France, and Bocconi School of Management in Italy.   As an accomplished debater and innovative thinker on finance, Arthur brings a valued perspective on financing the citizen sector.

BILL YOUNG

President and CEO Social Capital Partners

Bill Young is the President of Social Capital Partners (“SCP”) a company he founded in 2001. SCP is a social venture capital company whose primary goal is to prove that businesses with both a financial and a social purpose can succeed at both. It provides attractive financing to a variety of businesses that employ disadvantaged populations as part of their human resources strategy. SCP facilitates the recruitment of these individuals and ensures they have the appropriate skills to be successful employees.

Before founding SCP, Bill worked for approximately twenty years in the private sector primarily as CEO of Hamilton Computers, and Optel Communications Corp. He began his career as a Chartered Accountant and holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Harvard. Bill currently sits on the boards of Inner City Renovations, Vartana, Renaissance and a number of Advisory Boards.

Recap of Canada's 2007 Social Finance Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:51:00 +0000

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Canada’s ﬁrst national conversation on social ﬁnance with the mainstream ﬁnancial industry was held in Toronto on October 15, 2007, building upon a number of successful forums held from 2004 – 2006 in Vancouver on innovations in social ﬁnance. Over 80 participants from the traditional ﬁnance and social ﬁnance sectors, academia, federal and provincial governments, funders, credit unions and co-operatives attended the Forum hosted by “Causeway”, a national collaborative working on effective pathways for ﬁnancial investment in public beneﬁt. They came to learn about Canadian and global best practices and success stores in social ﬁnance and the challenges and opportunities for scaling up social ﬁnance nationally. Participants were asked to consider how the ﬂow of capital to address growing social and environmental challenges could be increased and what role they could play in the effort.

The Forum was sponsored by SiG @ MaRS, Social Capital Partners, The J. W. McConnell Family Foundation and Tides Canada Foundation and coordinated by the Causeway Steering Committee, comprised of Tim Draimin of Tides Canada, Tim Brodhead of the J. W. McConnell Family Foundation, Carol Hunter of the Canadian Co-operative Association, Ted Jackson of Carleton University, and Al Etmanski of PLAN and Ashoka Canada. The Committee also greatly beneﬁted with advice from Laird Hunter.

Canadian social ﬁnance practitioner panelists commented that there is a need for a creative non-proﬁt investment bank, a need to build social entrepreneurship, a role for federal and provincial policy to support social ﬁnance, and a need for recognition that high risk capital investments in underserved markets can be proﬁtable.

The Canadian Disability Savings Plan was proﬁled as a public policy and ﬁnancing innovation that could both generate social ﬁnancing for enterprise development and inspire the opportunity of market-based approaches to social inclusion.

A number of international case studies were reviewed for replicability to the Canadian context, including the UK experience with fostering the development of a social ﬁnance sector particularly the role of tax incentives, community development venture funds, foundation investment, bank disclosure, sector association and structures and models for local social venture ﬁnancing.

The Deutsche Bank’s Eye Fund, the US Low Proﬁt Limited Liability Corporation and the US Financial Innovations Roundtable were considered as examples of how the traditional ﬁnancial sector can generate blended social and ﬁnancial investment returns; how new legislated corporate models can foster social innovation; and how sectoral collaboration can help advance market sophistication in the social ﬁnance sector.

Participants were asked to identify highlights of the day and suggestions for next steps to be included in planning future phases of the Causeway initiative. Groups reported that there is a need for more collaborative structures, there is an opportunity to build a social capital marketplace based on the experience of others, the perception of risk is higher than actual risk, there is a role for government to advance the sector, Canadian institutional investments should be mobilized and the opportunity exists to leverage up good Canadian practice.

The Causeway Steering Committee committed to incorporating input from Forum participants in developing an action plan for furthering the dialogue and collaboration towards the creation of a social capital marketplace in Canada. Social Finance Forum 2007: Report on Canada’s First National Social Finance Forum – PDF, 407.6 KB

SOURCE: Mars

Renewal2 - Open to Foundations

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:36:00 +0000

It’s an interesting time for foundations, and some like the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Gates Foundation are making bold moves by setting up their own venture funds or indicating that they are moving toward spending down (vs. preserving endowments). I hope that some more foundations take these steps and look to investing in funds like Renewal2 Investment Fund to spur the different forms of innovation that are possible.

Perhaps these structures coupled with the change in financial tides might spark some more urgent and innovative investments among foundations. As history has now proven - they can and do perform better than the market.

From the Renewal2 update:

“We have three investment entities: a Canadian Limited Partnership, a U.S. Limited Partnership and a Canadian Trust. The U.S. LP was set up to make it much easier for U.S. individuals to participate in Renewal2. The Canadian Trust has been set up to allow Canadian foundations to invest. We believe Renewal2 is an interesting vehicle for mission related investing by foundations. No such trust is necessary in the U.S. as U.S. tax laws, unlike Canadian tax laws, do not prevent foundations from investing directly in LPs. We completed the trust documentation last week so now all of the legal structures are in place.”

"Social Capital" discussion on SocialEdge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:57:00 +0000

Starting 12/9/08, Marc Dangeard (Founder of Entrepreneur Commons) will be hosting a discussion on Social Capital on the Social Edge website (http://www.socialedge.org/).

The point they would like to resolve is the following:

- world issues such as poverty, diseases, wars, etc... are too big to be resolved by government or philanthropy alone. We will need everybody to contribute.
- beyond personal involvement, we should help every business become a social business, and it should start by expanding the definition of a social business to something as broad and inclusive as possible.

Is Canada Competitive enough?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:10:00 +0000

"How should Canada Compete?

According to a recent study from the big brains at McKinsey & Company, the competitiveness of Canada’s economy has tumbled over the last 25 years. First up, the bad news:

Since 1990, our national competitiveness has dropped from 5th in the world to 10th (according to the OECD’s per capita analysis).
Our share of global FDI (foreign direct investment) slid from an impressive 10% in 1980 to a woeful 3% in 2006.
Key export sectors like manufacturing have underperformed their global peers - and further affected our overall productivity.
China has replaced Canada as the largest trading partner of the United States.

Thankfully — as MaRS gets to see every day — the country also possesses considerable strengths.

According to McKinsey’s analysis, Canada possesses a competitive advantage in both human resources and natural resources (one of only three countries in the world thus blessed — along with Norway and Australia). We control the world’s second largest oil reserves, the third largest forestry reserves and enormous quantities of water and mineral rights. The OECD ranks the Canadian educational system as the world’s fifth-best. We’re also fourth on the UN’s Human Development Index (though we ranked #1 from 1994-2000).

However, the report offers far more than pages of analysis. It’s also deliberately and explicitly prescriptive - laying out a series of focused, compelling steps that government, industry and innovation stakeholders should take to enhance Canada’s economic competitiveness. The recommendations are clustered around the themes of (1) capital (2) collaboration and (3) culture - language very close to our heart (and perhaps this shouldn’t surprise, since the report includes an expanded shout-out to MaRs on p.33). Here’s a few that struck especially close to home:

On capital: First, reduce or eliminate the kinds of policies that discourage foreign investment (like withholding taxes and foreign ownership restrictions. Second, get out into the world and market Canada as a top-tier investment location. Third, develop a world-class VC community.
On collaboration: First, develop new and improved public-private collaboration and co-investment models. Second, select a handful of top-tier cluster opportunities and back them aggressively. Third, develop global partnerships across key industry value chains.
On culture: First, attract the best graduates to teaching. Second, develop new IP ownership models that help researchers and institutions commercialize their discoveries here at home. Third, help emerging business (ed. - and government) leaders learn across sectors, industries and borders."

SOURCE: MARSBLOG

Social Finance Educational Information

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:05:00 +0000

Key documents from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. which highlight evolving thinking and new initiatives in Social Finance.

SOURCE: TidesCanada

Canadian Social Finance online resources

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:03:00 +0000

"Canada’s social and environmental sectors are dramatically underfinanced. To scale up their programs and increase impact, they need access to new forms of capital.

The increased scale and impact of social finance in Canada will generate significant long-term benefits to Canadian society.

Our focus is to map an accelerated growth plan for the financial infrastructure urgently needed to support Canada’s charitable sector.

Tides Canada hosts Causeway, a new national collaboration to accelerate the growth of social finance options for charities and community organizations.

Learn more about Social Finance from Tim Draimin, Tides’ senior fellow and Natasha van Bentum of Tides’ PowerUP Canada Fund in the Charity Village cover story Social Finance: A hopeful alternative for mission success by Elisa Birnbaum.

Innovation & Social Enterprise: Building Financial Capacity
Is the person possessed by a truly new idea for solving a public need? Is it a truly transformational innovation, or just a tweaking of how things are now done? How is it different from what others do in the field?
View the PDF
Strengthening Organizational Capacity
If you find it increasingly tough to cultivate and manage a gaggle of funders and their divergent needs, an emerging class of financing may become a vital new source of sustainability for your organization. According to the findings of a recent survey1 on the emerging world of social finance, senior executives from nonprofit organizations around the world are keen to access new forms of capital for their organizations.
View the PDF
Social Finance Forum MaRS Discovery District
Canada’s first national conversation on social finance with the mainstream financial industry was held in Toronto on October 15, 2007, building upon a number of successful forums held from 2004 - 2006 in Vancouver on innovations in social finance.
View the PDF
Building Social Finance Momentum
An underdeveloped but essential aspect of sustainable investing in Canada prepared by Tim Draimin, Tides Canada Foundation; Ted Jackson, Carleton University for the Social Investment Organization (SIO) Conference.
View the PDF
Scaling Up the Canadian Social Finance Sector
There is considerable interest in the opportunity of scaling up social finance in Canada. To that end, Tides Canada, J.W. McConnell Foundation and PLAN, with funding from Vancity Credit Union, hosted a 1.5 day social finance strategy session with national leaders in social finance on October 19 and 20, 2006. The purpose of the meeting was to map an accelerated growth plan for the financial infrastructure needed to support Canada’s competitive, innovative and entrepreneurial social sector.
View the PDF
The Social Purpose Capital Marketplace
There is growing interest in the opportunity of scaling up social finance in Canada, as a means to foster social innovation and leverage additional capital to advance the social and environmental quality of life. This paper compiles recent thinking on the opportunity of creating a social capital marketplace, with a focus on the role of charitable organizations, both as financiers and recipients of social finance capital.
View the PDF
21st Century Financing: Exploring New Sources of Investment For Social Transformation
Tides Canada Foundation, the Plan Institute for Caring Citizenship, Ashoka and Vancity Credit Union hosted a roundtable dialogue on 21st Century Financing: Exploring New Sources of Investment for Social Transformation.
View the PDF
Over the Horizon: The Future of Canada’s Capital Market for Social and Environmental Innovation
Tides Canada Foundation and Social Capital Partners hosted a roundtable dialogue on the state of “social” capital markets in Canada to look at the new forms of innovation in finance for social purpose initiatives led by non-profit or charitable organizations or hybrids involving for-profits.
View the PDF
Social Finance in Ireland
This document sets out to examine the opportunities for social finance provision in Ireland. It is written to support and inform the work of those engaged in and supporting local development in Ireland.
View the PDF"

SOURCE: Tides Canada

Social Finance Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Socialfinance.ca is an online platform for the community of people and organizations that are actively trying to advance the development of a social finance marketspace in Canada.

Evergreen: An Interview with Geoff Cape - Recipient of the Schwab Foundation award for Canadian Social Entrepreneur

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Interview by Catarina Abreu

On Monday afternoon, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Geoff Cape who is the executive director of Evergreen. As a recent recipient of the Schwab Foundation award for Canadian social entrepreneur of the year, he has been inspiring social and environmental change through the green design of Canadian urban landscape.

Evergreen originally began as a tree planting company that evolved into a multi-million dollar charity through which various projects are executed. They involve integrating ecology into urban neighborhoods as well food growing programs aimed at enhancing children’s educational experience. Entrepreneurship is no simple feat, and the enthusiastic feedback provided by Mr. Cape proved to be both informative and motivating:

CSEF: How do you define the role of social entrepreneurship, and how do you see yourself fitting into it?

Geoff Cape: I regularly look at the voluntary sector as [helping] societies that are in need by trying to change certain aspects of it on a day to day basis. [As a social entrepreneur] I try to work on problem solving and moving society into a new place. I enjoy starting my own thing and under a format I can help shape. This entrepreneurial approach to problem solving in society is creating a dialogue with community. It’s critical to have this type of process, you can’t just dump solutions onto society, it doesn’t work that way. It requires constant problem solving that requires creativity. It is an artistic experience, and I really enjoy that creative process. It is always the same sort of mind that is required. When you are doing something new and different, it needs that sort of mind set.

CSEF: What led you to your interest in social entrepreneurship and the creation Evergreen?

Geoff Cape: I started Evergreen fresh out of university in 1999. I wasn’t burdened by the thought of building a career and didn’t feel too stressed by that. I have a great appetite for risk, and that might have something to do with growing up with great parents who always encouraged me to take risks. Starting Evergreen, I wouldn’t have guessed it would have become what it did. The world is constantly changing. Being entrepreneurial is about responding to that and constantly evolving your strategies to adapt. It is more of a stylistic thing. This is why I go back to the concept of artistry. It requires a certain type of nimbleness. Usually it plays out during the process.

A social entrepreneur is someone prepared to take a risk and prepared to take steps. Social entrepreneurship is about taking a step in one direction, with a partial vision and a little bit of clarity, taking the first step and then looking around and taking the next step and the next step. I think entrepreneurship works that way. There are few instances where [entrepreneurs] can see the full picture in their head and spend the next twenty years working on that.

CSEF: What are the challenges facing current social entrepreneurs?

Geoff Cape: The biggest one is access to capital to make ideas happen. They tend to be massively under financed. If you look at the private sector, such as a company [that wants to] revamp the way public transportation works, or networking solutions for mobiles phones…they don’t rely on a ten thousand dollar grant from a small foundation to get that going. It takes millions of dollars.

Number two barrier would be assembling the right group of people to help execute an idea. It becomes a challenge in putting together the right team internally and externally. It depends on the social networking abilities of the individual. Also, high quality people working for free are hard to assemble.

I think there is a third one which is maintaining enough fluidity and flexibility in your finances and team to be able to make the constant changes required to keep you heading in the right strategic direction. It is almost about constant reorganization and organization as you refine your idea. Every company does it. No idea is ever linear. You always have to have enough flexibility in your finances and ideas.

CSEF: What advice can you give to current social entrepreneurs in Canada?

Geoff Cape: The idea of patience. It is an important ingredient. Another one is to get really comfortable with talking about your idea, gaining advisors and coaches, and growing your social network. It is inevitably your biggest asset. It will enable flexibility, and they will also be there for you if that network is strong and well managed. Communications [and] selling your idea is [also important]. Not necessarily having a good logo with the right colors but having a way to convey the idea in a creative way, plugging it into the social momentum and not trying to fight it but work with it. Another bit of advice would be to engage your obvious enemy, and what I mean by that is, if you are trying to change something, then working with someone or something you are trying to change is the quickest way.

CSEF: How would you describe the current support systems for social entrepreneurs in Canada, and how do you think they can continue to grow?

Geoff Cape: [It’s] getting better. It’s a concept now that people recognize. There is lots of room to develop it further.

CSEF: I noticed in your 2006 annual report that there is interest from the private sector in your organization. Do you see growth in their partnerships with social entrepreneurs?

Geoff Cape: I think so. Part of it comes from the fact that people on the other side of the fence are simply people with the same challenges we all have. We are working with Toyota, and the folks in Toyota are just as interested in change as we are. They are committed into making this the broader issue, and becoming active in making change. Many corporations are looking to get involved. Continuing the old way is an unrealistic possibility.

CSEF: What are your current projects?

Geoff Cape: Our core program right now is Brickworks, it is heading into construction this summer and fall. We are beginning the fifty five million dollar project to revitalize old industrial buildings and transform them into a natural center for green cities. We are also finishing the fundraising for that project, [to]close the gap financially for it, and getting the construction process going. It feels like we have some momentum, and we feel good about that. We are continuing to advance our projects and opening offices in Calgary and Vancouver.

CSEF: I noticed that your first international project was in Cuba. Do you see potential growth for future international projects?

Geoff Cape: That project has been growing for ten years or 9 years now. It was a big project…with 12 acres [in a municipal part of Havana]. It was a very successful project to bring urban agriculture and ecology into cities such as that, and the community was very easy to work with. If every project would unfold like that, we would be very happy to keep on going with this.

In the 2006 annual report, there was a large emphasis on the Brickworks project, as well as the green design of school grounds. Can you describe these projects in detail, as well as their impact on their respective communities?

The school program is about working with communities across Canada to turn their outdoor landscapes into natural learning environments. It is about us bringing a variety of resources to the community and working with them to make this change. We want to listen to their thoughts and ideas so that they can take ownership and make them. In some respects it has been our flagship program, and one that seems to epitomize the organization. It is about kids, and they will be eventually working in the economy. This can have some big impact.

CSEF: I was intrigued by the quote given about food on your School Food Garden’s pamphlet. The quote is “Learning to make the right choices about food is the single most important key to environmental awareness-for ourselves and our children.” Can you explain what this means, and how it fits into your goals as a social entrepreneur?

Geoff Cape: Food is the sort of thing that brings people together. The idea of breaking bread with people is a larger metaphor of them coming together and discussing ways to solve problems. Food itself is a solution. Addressing the food issue is [more than] an environmental and social issue. It is massively complex medium that involves many issues and we are developing programs that help address this-[for example] nutrition programs and gardening programs. It is a metaphor in its own right and is a gateway to other issues. Working with food is a very rewarding tool to helping social problems. Part of being an entrepreneur is about recognizing the complexity of [food as] an idea and maximizing the artistic and creative outlets it involves.

CSEF: Congratulations on receiving your award from the Schwab foundation. How has it been for you since receiving it? How has the experience been for you?

Geoff Cape: It’s been great, and incredibly exciting. I had the experience of participating in a world economic forum. Ideas moved globally, and seeing how that elite class of decision makers which included financial, political and social entrepreneurs-who were involved in a substantial way-weren’t consumed about making money and wanted [to create] change. The award has a powerful way in advancing the winner by creating networks and opportunities for interactions and partnerships that weren’t there before.

CSEF: As a final part of this interview, I would like to ask you for solutions to posed problems.

Problem 1: How to increase green architectural design in Canada, and poorer countries that are experiencing urban growth.

Solution: I guess the simple bit would be to operate within their culture in a more meaningful way, and not look for solutions elsewhere. Look within communities for solutions, and how they want to grow as a community because it needs to come from within.

Problem 2: How to increase support and domestic growth and distribution of organic foods.

Solution: I think the best way is to try to advance urban agriculture as an idea, and learn about food in a very hands on way. Inevitable, there will come a greater appreciation for it and the idea of what organics and local food is all about.

Problem 3: How to increase support from the for-profit sector for Canadian social entrepreneurs.

Solution: Share in the risk. One point is to recognize that great strides in the private sector were made by taking risks, and they create advances only when they take risks and are supported in the risk taking. This approach needs to be translated to the social entrepreneurial sector by taking risks and leaping into the unproven. The aspect of risk is going to be part of a fundamental change for which we all are looking for.

CSEF: Thank you for your time. It was pleasure speaking with you!

For more information on Evergreen, visit www.evergreen.ca .

JUMP Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:03:00 +0000

Inteview by Catarina Abreu

John Mighton, the founder of JUMP-a non-profit mathematical education aimed towards improving academic preformance. Although Canada was ranked highly in a PISA study which compared student preformance in various categories including mathematics, immigrant and lower economic class children struggle more than their remaining peers. John's program attempts to bridge the gap between the high and low preformers of this subject with successful and rewarding results.

What it your personal definition of social entrepreneurship?

Anyone who is trying to tackle a problem rigorously but not for profit. Entrepreneur[ship] usually means making profit, but social entrepreneurs aren't like that. There are reasons to use this work, they need a way to evaluating their work. For [social] entrepreneurs it is the social results of their work.

Measuring this impact?

In a complex system, difficult to gage long term effects of your actions. This is why some social entrepreneurs understand complexity. Mathematicians have shown that in complex systems the best way is to present a number of solutions to a problem, and test them and learn from failure. Social entrepreneurs need to be able to adapt [to] this way, and constantly adapt their business.

What inspired you to create JUMP, and what challenges did you face in setting up this organization?

I was tutoring years ago mathematics to make a living. I saw changes in my first students that really shocked me and made me thnk that there was a lot more potential in my students than the school system was nurturing. Started charity to give local kids tutoring in math after school. Teachers invited me to work in classrooms. It was surprising to see how the weakest kids would change when they were called upon in class, showing off in front of their kids.

Challenge has been working in a conservative system that wants to keep things the same; finding teachers who could demonstrate the impact of the program; and developing the materials. Being willing to learn from my mistakes has helped, and also the good will of teachers has helped enormously. When they are presented with the means of doing so, they get passionate.

What role do you think the education, government and private sector could play in the growth of social enterprises?

Governments and educational institutions should be testing new ideas rigorously and put resources in testing them. Having organizations of communities who evaluate objective bodies. Very quickly we would find things that work.

Educational sector has to start working with doctors and psychologists. Real scientists that understand how the brain works and do real vigorous testing for programs in schools. We have to test them to see why they are not working, and which ones are working. There is no excuse for leaving these kids behind when they are born with these abilities. We have to stop accepting the failure of so many kids.

What are the main challenges for children learning mathematics in the current school system today? And what steps does JUMP take to approaching them?

There is all kinds of research now that shows the brain is plastic and can develop new abilities at any age. Very little happens if the brain is not excited and attentive. The first challenge is how can you get kids to be engaged in learning? In JUMP we do this by confidence building exercises so they can believe they can. We have limitations of brain [such as] poor memories. [So the program includes] practice for ideas to solidify. We need review. Jump materials try to provide all those things very rigorously. Teachers have to know mathematics very well. They have to present the lesson of one idea leading to the next so that kids can fill the gap and make their own discoveries.

What future role do you see your organization playing in Canadian math education?

There are schools now working closely with us to train teachers and provide them with materials. The program is growing exponentially because the results speak for themselves. We expect to continue training teachers and develop good materials for them. We have now formed partnerships with psycholoigists, educators, doctors, who are now designing experiments to test the program to prove its effects and also to improve the program.

For more information on the JUMP program, visit the website at http://jumpmath.org/

Omar Yaqub, Canadian Social Enterpreneur - (now Director of Operations at Socialenterprisefund.ca) - Interviewed Originally September 2007-

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:02:00 +0000

Original Interview done September 2007

This interview was completed after Omar had just returned from Africa. It was there that he used product placement in Nollywood (the world’s third biggest film industry) to generate publicity, help normalize use, promote brand, and create positive associations with a stigmatized but highly beneficial product, mosquito nets. He secured PermaNet® product placement in 20 high profile movies and two hugely popular soap operas. This was the first attempt ever to use Nigeria’s film industry for adult education.

Interview with Omar Yaqub

Question 1: What is your definition of Social Entrepreneurship and/or a Social Entrepreneur?

Omar: For me social entrepreneurship is working across the spectrum of philanthropy, business, and innovation to achieve measurable results in the citizen sector. This can be conducted by big business, small entrepreneurs, NGOs, or government, the key thing is measurable, sustainable results.

Question 2: Why have you been defined (labeled) a Social Entrepreneur?

Omar:Hmmm, isn’t this a question you should be answering?

Seriously, I think I’ve had the opportunity to work in some pretty interesting environments, and been lucky enough to take some rather whimsical ideas and make them into something tangible.

My work with MBAs Without Borders and Vestergaard Frandsen allowed me to try some new things, like using product placement in the worlds third largest film industry, Nollywood, to help combat negative attitudes towards mosquito nets, the best tool toward preventing malaria. It was an immense opportunity to combine business marketing acumen with the larger goal of combating needless human suffering.

Previously I worked in rural Tanzania and had a chance to work with 30+ NGOs Private enterprises, and charities. I managed to bring some of these disparate groups together to form a simple tech co-operative that was later incorporated into the workings of GTZ (German Development). This experience allowed me to learn about what makes effective development, and solidified my resolve to make meaningful change.

Question 3: Provide a brief description of your work that led to your recognition as a Social Entrepreneur. Explain business model, ups and downs, partner organizations, final achievements, metrics used for success, sustainability model.

While working with Vestergaard Frandsen and MBAs Without Borders I recognized that a key barrier preventing people from using life saving long lasting mosquito nets was the perception that nets were unsightly, ‘old school,’ backwards vestments. People didn’t want to use nets, even people who were highly educated, because they thought they looked ugly. So I repurposed a tool, product placement, and found partners in Nollywood (Third to Hollywood, and Bollywood) to showcase nets in a new and more aesthetically pleasing way.

Nollywood was an effective partner because it has tremendous reach throughout the continent, and the actors have tremendous sway with the general population. It offered us an opportunity to cut through the barrage of public service announcements in a an environment that is as media saturated as time square.

Marketing via Nollywood was only one component of the work. Marketing along can’t solve a problem. We also worked to redesign the product. My initial assumption was that we needed to add lots of ‘bling bling,’ and bring in fancy designers to generate the buzz we needed and change perceptions. However, I was wrong, after criss crossing the country our research showed that we could achieve dramatic results by simply altering the colour, pink nets had tremendous appeal in the north of the country, blue in the east, green in the west. Simple changes had a dramatic result.

My work in Nigeria is probably the most compelling and sensational, but I’m also the Director of Innovation at MBAs Without Borders, an organization that connects those with high level business acumen to those in emerging economies who need the skills to grow their organizations. We work in five main areas Healthcare, Agriculture, Financial, Income-Generation and Climate Change.

I also keep in touch with some of the organizations I worked with in Tanzania, and in 2006 together with a dozen other like minded youths we held a fund raiser to outfit mobile eye camps that operated throughout Tanzania.

Question 4: Tell us a little about you. Who are you? Where were you born, raised, academic experience, travels, personal passions, greats goals achieved in life and what will be the next chapters in your life?

Omar: I’m a proud Canadian. I was born in Edmonton, and always miss the open skies when I’m away from home. I cherish my South Asian roots, and the fact that Canada allows me to enjoy a wealth of cultures simultaneously. I completed my undergraduate in Computing Science with a minor in mathematical science, and a MBA with a specialization in technology commercialization at the University of Alberta. I deeply enjoying working on hard problems, that require a muti-disciplinary approach.

The next chapter of my life will be a tug of war between trying to achieve positive social change and trying to do all those other important life things.

Question 5: What can other Canadians learn from your social entrepreneurial work? Can “Canadian social entrepreneurship” work not only globally but locally? Why is it working globally?

Omar: Canadians have a tremendous gift, a huge opportunity to have a positive impact on the world. We’re so incredibly privileged here, it’s really incumbent upon us to share our good fortune. Not only for altruisms sake, but also because it is a tremendous learning opportunity that will have a positive impact in your everyday life.

I’d encourage people to try an overseas placement if they can. If they’re not able to do that try to make a positive impact in the community you’re in. Don’t wait for a great idea to come to you before you act, start volunteering and working now, the great ideas come by listening and observing.

Question 6: Is Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise (as sector) developing in Canada? If so how? If not, why do you think it is not?

Omar:Yes, but we’re still quite a few years behind the states. This is due primarily to our smaller size, but the flip side is that we have a lot of successful examples we can learn from, and there are lots of opportunities in front of us.

Question 7: How can Universities, Governments, Organizations like CSEF/Ashoka continue to grow the field of Social Entrepreneurship in Canada?

Omar: Continue to scour and support good ideas. Promote social entrepreneurship through all mediums possible. And, most importantly be systematic in the way they document and measure results. Businesses have some really concrete ways of showing success we need to develop similar metrics to show progress, and make it easier for people to discuss and comment on social entrepreneurship. This isn’t an easy task.

Question 8: Are you interested in being a judge for CSEF’s online social ventures competition in the coming months?

Omar:I’d love too.

The site is beautiful!

Thanks to Omar for us time! To keep track of Omar's latest ventures please follow him on his blog: http://omar.yaqub.org/

Update: Omar is currently Director of Operations for the newly created www.socialenterprisefund.ca

Background on Omar Yaqub

Omar received a lot of media attention for his work in Africa. Here is some information about his work in Nigeria.

Omar Yaqub
Project Co-ordinator (2006–2007)
Vestergaard Frandsen Nigeria

Problem: How do you combat malaria, and build a new company in highly challenging market?

Solutions:
1. Innovative adult education and brand building…

I used product placement in Nollywood (the world’s third biggest film industry) to generate publicity, help normalize use, promote brand, and create positive associations with a stigmatized but highly beneficial product, mosquito nets. I secured PermaNet® product placement in 20 high profile movies and two hugely popular soap operas. This was the first attempt ever to use Nigeria’s film industry for adult education.

Required: Convincing management and coworkers to embrace an unconventional marketing approach, establishing strong relationships with the film industry in a foreign country, educating partners, product evangelizing, creating marketing guidelines, brand management, and plenty of follow-up.
2. Designing a better product…

We recognized that the barriers preventing people from embracing nets weren’t only finances and education, but also convenience and aesthetics; so I evaluated, commissioned, and tested prototypes throughout the country and found cost effective solutions to increase consumer appeal of mosquito nets and promote use.

Required: Building productive partnerships with designers both globally and locally. Conducting and analyzing market research, evaluating production costs, and making sound financial forecasts.
3. Consumer research, advertising, and performing ordinary tasks with enthusiasm and panache…

I led the market research projects for both a new vector control product, and the redesign of our main product. I evaluated and helped to select an advertising agency to promote our product, helped in the creation of POS promotions, and radio/TV/print campaigns. I also created the technology plan for our office and provided technical support for my co-workers. Most importantly, I ensured the continuity of my projects by working with (not against) colleagues, ensuring buy-in, documenting my actions, and training a successor.

Required: Coordinating people and resources across four continents and six time zones. Co-operating with NGOs and government to gain access to prior research and new opportunities. Digesting large amounts of information, conducting field research. Creating promotional materials. As well as keeping current with technology, and local global events.

Other achievements: Introduced multitudes of Nigerian children to skipping rope and rock, paper, scissors.

SocialEnterpriseFund.ca - A new Social Enterprise Fund based out of Alberta, Canada!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:57:00 +0000

www.socialenterprisefund.ca

Who are they?

The Social Enterprise Fund (SEF) provides non-profit organizations with flexible financing, business expertise and more. They help non-profit organizations in the Edmonton area whose core business is improving the social environment. Our main offerings are loans, seminars, direct engagement, and path to loan grants. They look for ideas with blended value, where social returns are balanced by fiscal sustainability.

Contact Information for SocialEnterpriseFund.ca

780 756 0660
office@socialenterprisefund.ca

Unleashing the Power of Social Enteprise: A speech by the Honourable Paul Martin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:36:00 +0000

This Word document contains the text from the "Unleashing the Power of Social Enterprise" speech given by the Right Honourable Paul Martin.

Volan Ventures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 May 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Volans Story

Initially based in Geneva, London, Oxford and Singapore, Volans Ventures supports the evolution and deployment of scalable solutions to the great global divides mapped in The Power of Unreasonable People. Full details will be released later in 2008.

Volans began to come together late in 2007, during conversations between John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan, Geoff Lye and Sophia Tickell. The central concept is that Volans will work in partnership with other organizations, providing a flexible, highly leveraged means to support innovators and entrepreneurs working to bridge—and ultimately close—the great economic, social and environmental divides that pose such a profound challenge to our collective future.

And our name? We have the flying fish (Piscis or Pisces volans) to thank for that. In Latin, volans meant ‘flying’ or ‘flying thing’— which seemed appropriate as we began to work toward a big jump forward in our field and working lives. Volans is also a constellation in the southern sky, first described in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria in 1603, which brought to mind thoughts of navigation and the deep structure of things.

Volans Ventures is still embryonic, with this beta website providing place-holders for several key components.

Meanwhile, we have a number of strategic relationships, most notably with the Skoll Foundation and SustainAbility, where three of Volan’s co-founders remain on the Board.

Accelerator of Change

Volans Ventures systematically connects and integrates the worlds of social and environmental innovation with business-driven wealth creation.

Volans partners and clients come from four key sectors:

Social ventures that need help in scaling up their successes in fast-growing and sustainability-driven markets—and in ramping up their efficiency and effectiveness.
Global corporations, financial institutions and cities committed to growing their businesses and/or economies by reinvigorating their strategies and people—and reinventing their business and/or economic models.
Public servants and agencies determined to harness the power of social and corporate partners and surrogates to achieve the public good in tougher times.
Intermediaries serving the above constituencies.

There is new urgency to finding and implementing solutions to critical economic, social, and environmental problems—including climate change, poverty alleviation, access to medicines and human rights.

Innovative solutions already exist. They have been designed, tested, refined and implemented by innovators and entrepreneurs worldwide. Some have found ways to provide high quality drugs and diagnostics to the poor at prices they can afford. Others offer new ways to use information technology to dramatically improve education, health care, and access to credit, insurance and markets for low-income communities. Still others have devised business models that improve access to clean water, affordable housing, more nutritious food and renewable energy.

Volans opens up these high-impact innovations to companies, policy makers and investors so that they can be replicated, scaled and strengthened far beyond what a single entrepreneur and his/her organization could ever hope to achieve.

Based in London, Geneva and Singapore, Volans is spearheaded by a founding team whose members have helped to define the business strategy, sustainable development and social entrepreneurship agendas over decades. They are:

John Elkington, co-founder of SustainAbility (established 1987) , based in London, New York, Washington, D.C. and, from later in 2008, India. John is a best-selling author, described by BusinessWeek in 2004 as “a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades.” He has served as chair or member of many boards and advisory boards in the public, private and citizen sectors.
Pamela Hartigan, until recently Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (from its inception) , Geneva, Switzerland, is an author, academic, and former Director at the World Health Organisation (WHO), and Chief at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Sophia Tickell, Chairperson of SustainAbility and Director of Pharma Futures is an author and advisor on business, development, healthcare and environmental issues. She was previously Senior Adviser on Private Sector Strategy on extractives, pharmaceuticals, coffee commodities and retail with Oxfam.
Kevin Teo, Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum and Head of East and Southeast Asia at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. He previously developed enterprise software systems at Silicon Valley startups and now runs our Asia operations from Singapore.

Volans Ventures operates through Volans Connects and Volans Advisory.

SOURCE: http://volans.com/

Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship & Podcasts from 2007 Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:35:00 +0000

Canada: The Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was founded in 2007 after the success of their inaugural event, the Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship.

The Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was founded to bring individuals and organizations with a professional, business-minded discipline together with those who have a passion for social change.

Their MENTORSHIP program helps budding social entrepreneurs get the in-depth education and skills they need by pairing them with established leaders in their chosen fields.

Their CONFERENCES and LECTURE SERIES help to educate the community on the need for, and opportunities available to, today's social leaders.

They look forward to seeing you all out at their events, or taking part in their programs! They are currently seeking VOLUNTEERS, so if you would like to get involved please drop them a line.

Contact Information:

Email:	info@laurelcentre.ca
Website:	www.laurelcentre.ca

Podcasts

Podcasts from the 2007 Waterloo conference are now up.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PODCAST

Training of social entrepreneurs - Part 1: Social entrepreneur education and training

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:08:00 +0000

Some of our readers are looking for information related to the training of social entrepreneurs and education related to social enterpreneurship and education related to social enterprise.

We at CSEF and Social Entrepreneurship @ Work Blog are working to create a series of blog postings dedicated to providing you with resources related to "Training Social Entrepreneurs".

We encourage our readers to send us emails to let us know what type of training they are looking for or to define out what they mean by training social entrepreneurs.

Please provide FEEDBACK or REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION to CSEF.ca HERE

Training Social Entrepreneurs: Resources

Columbia Foundation: "The Columbia Foundation funds training for social entrepreneurs -- people who use their entrepreneurial spirit and drive to help develop ideas, communities and social programs. Experts at building networks and generating innovative ideas, they use skills normally associated with making a profit to help make a difference!"

click here to go to the Columbia Foundation

Social Edge: Skoll's Social Edge provides some fantastic resources for those interested in "Training Social Entrepreneurs".

click here to go to Social Edge.org

Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship:

The Laurel Centre is providing training for social entrepreneurs. Here is an article written up in "therecord.com"

"People who run social organizations rarely think of themselves as entrepreneurs.

Yet there is common ground, because "entrepreneurship is a lifestyle decision," says Geoff Malleck, one of the speakers at an upcoming "boot camp" offered by the Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

The social entrepreneurship boot camp takes place May 12 to 14 at the University of Waterloo.

Aimed at community groups and students interested in social change, it includes speakers and workshops on subjects such as business planning, legal issues, marketing and branding, as well as finding sponsors and dealing with granting organizations.

Malleck, assistant director of student development at the University of Waterloo's Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology, says entrepreneurship is "a way of thinking, reasoning and acting," to turn an opportunity into reality.

In the non-profit world, even the best ideas for the most worthy of causes will fail to generate support if leadership skills and entrepreneurial thinking are lacking, Malleck says.

For example, one of the key factors in the success of a business or a social organization is putting together a team of people who "know more than you do," he says.

The boot camp evolved out of a social entrepreneurship conference held last November, says Suzanne Gardner, director of communications for the Laurel Centre for Entrepreneurship.

The program, which is limited to about 30 people, has the small classroom setting that provides a more "hands-on" experience, she says.

Depending on the response to the boot camp, the Laurel Centre may offer similar programs in the future, says Jeff Henry, the centre's director of community relations. "We are trying to build this into a sustainable organization," he says, adding that "we are so good at technical innovation here in Waterloo . . . why can't we be as good on the social side as well?"

John Baker, chief executive of Aperio Inc., a Toronto-based consulting firm that serves social organizations, says leaders of social sector organizations typically come from a social work rather than a business education background.

With governments pulling back funding, these organizations are under more pressure to generate their own revenue, and business skills have become more critical, says Baker, one of the speakers at the boot camp.

Social service organizations also can fall apart in human resources management, Baker says. "In a counselling centre, for example, counselling somebody is not the same as managing somebody."

Andrew Dilts, chair of the Laurel Centre for Entrepreneurship, says interest in social entrepreneurship has grown in Canada, largely because of the funding pressures.

Dilts notes that there are issues in non-profit organizations that are not the same as in the business world. Social organizations are looking for a longer-term or deeper impact, and "that can be harder to measure" than just the financial bottom line.

Also, social organizations typically depend on volunteers and the approach to motivating them is different than in the paid business world, Dilts says.

Yet there are also many lessons from the business world that can help social organizations do the work they are passionate about. "A lot of that knowledge exists in the business world, and so it's not as if social organizations need to reinvent the wheel."

The boot camp, which includes meals and accommodation, costs $250 for students and $450 for community members. See www.laurelcentre.ca for more."

SOURCE: http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/347254

Canada: Social Finance Education Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:23:00 +0000

TidesCanada has a fantastic list of PDF resources for readers interested in Key documents from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. which highlight evolving thinking and new initiatives in Social Finance.

Thanks to Tides Canada.

Social Finance: An underdeveloped but essential aspect

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:34:00 +0000

For our readers who are interested in the growth and development of the Social Finance sector in Canada - below is a solid powerpoint presentation presented by Tim Draimin, from the Tides Canada Foundation and Ted Jackson, Carleton University.

This presentation took place at the Social Investment Organization (SIO) Conference Tuesday May 29th, 2007 in Montreal, Quebec.

Here is the outline of the powerpoint presentation:

Social Finance Orientation
Financial flow to public benefit
Across a continuum of risk and return
Gaining momentum
The Canadian Context
Coming from behind
A framework ready for updating
Potential leverage points
Exemplary Possibilities
CAUSEWAY a national collaboration
Discussion and Next Steps

DOWNLOAD HERE

Canada: Grants for Social Entrepreneurs Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Right now for Canadians looking to find funding/grants for their social entrepreneurial activities it's tough to find support. We at The Canadian Social Entrepreneurship Foundation are working on developing a FUND for social entrepreneurs, however until that happens our not for profit mandate is to provide users with as much information as possible.

Click here to email The Canadian Social Entrepreneurship Foundation about your funding needs. Example: What size of grant is your organization looking for?

Below are some general links focused on resources for emerging or developed social entrepreneurs.

For those interested in some new initiatives being launched in North America regarding funding the Citizen Sector - have a read of Ashoka's recent PDF release:

"Ashoka's Social Financial Services initiative co-creates innovative legislation to fund the citizen sector":

http://www.ashoka.org/sites/ashoka/files/ANewTemplateforFundingPhilanthropy.pdf

General North American focused Resources for Social Entrepreneurs

Business Support

The Acadia Centre for Small Business & Entrepreneurship
The Acadia Centre for Small Business & Entrepreneurship supports the global development of economic, social, and community entrepreneurship by liaising between the resources of Acadia University and the broader community.

alt.Consulting
alt.Consulting is a nonprofit, economic development organization that operates like a management consulting firm but is driven by a passion for economic justice. Their on-site business assistance enables sustainable organizational growth.

The Association of Rehabilitation Marketing
The Association of Rehabilitation Marketing is a non-profit association for those professionals whose primary responsibility is marketing, sales and the development of products or services for agencies providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities.

Bureau of Business and Economic Research
University of Memphis
The Bureau of Business and Economic Research provides information on U.S. median household incomes by Zip Code.

Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
Business for Social Resposibility (BSR) provides members with innovative products and services that help companies be commercially successful in ways that demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities and the environment.

Center for Economic Options
CEO is a non profit organization that works throughout West Virginia to advance entrepreneurism and assist people in achieving economic success.

Community Enterprises Corporation
The Community Enterprises Corporation mission is to provide services to organizations that are committed to provide economic opportunities and safe, decent, affordable and permanent supportive housing to low income persons with special needs. This includes business assistance, and linking affordable housing with supportive services.

The npEnterprise Forum
This listserve discusses practical ways that nonprofits can enhance their organizational capacity, mission impact and financial sustainability through business development.

Enterweb
A knowledge portal for small business, Enterweb is a collection of sources of information on finance, international trade, entrepreneurship, enterprise development and the economy.

Entrepreneurial Edge to Peerspectives
Information, insight and inspiration for business owners. Researched and developed by the Edward Lowe Foundation.

eVenturing
The Kauffman Foundation has assembled an extremely comprehensive website on the subject of entrepreneurship and business development.

Lycos Small Business Page
Excellent links and search capacity for a variety of small business needs. Definitely worth surfing to.

Origo
Origo develops and executes partnership and financial strategies from all three sectors that guide businesses to becoming successful social enterprises.

RISEbusiness Links
A great listing for information and assistance to small business managers with business resources on the Web.

Small Business Administration
This organization provides nearly inexhaustible resources to small businesses through national and local chapters.

Small Business Advisor
The Annenberg Incubator Project at the University of Southern California sponsors this online journal and discussion site.

Finance

Internet Resources November 1999
Internet Resources November 1999 has Banking Data and Research including the URLs for the Federal Reserve System, other Federal finance sites, professional organizations and banking groups.

National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives
The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives is an independent, politically progressive, nonprofit institute providing research, education and consultation on innovative solutions to problems facing America and the global political-economy.

National Center for Employee Ownership
The National Center for Employee Ownership is a private, nonprofit membership and research organization that serves as the leading source of accurate, unbiased information on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), broadly granted employee stock options, and employee participation programs.

Law

California Attorney General’s Web Site
This is a free resource for people interested in the laws governing nonprofits.

Don Kramer’s Nonprofit Issues
A newsletter of nonprofit law you need to know.

Hurwit & Associates
Specializes in legal counsel for philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.

National Economic Development Law Center
NEDLC is a multi-disciplinary legal and planning resource center whose mission is to contribute to the abilities of low-income persons and communities to realize their full potential. They do this by collaborating with community organizations to develop integrated community-building skills, indigenous leadership, and community-building creativity in order to build local capacity and achieve greater economic, social, cultural, and human development.

The Welfare Law Center
The Welfare Law Center works with and on behalf of low-income people to ensure that adequate income support — public funding provided on the basis of need — is available whenever and to the extent necessary to meet basic needs and foster healthy human and family development.

Nonprofit

CharityChannel
This website, sponsored by American Philanthropy Review, offers fifteen different Email-based forums: Advancement, Annual Fund, Arts, Boards, Charity Law, Charity Talk, Consult, Events, Grants, Grants and Foundations Online, Health, Mentors, Planned Giving USA, Volunteer Online, and WorldGift.

Charity Village Resource Library Canada’s supersite for the nonprofit sector — 3,000 pages of news, jobs, information and resources for executives, staffers, donors, and volunteers.

Civic Practices Network The Civic Practices Network (CPN), Born of the movement for a “new citizenship” and “civic revitalization,” is a collaborative and nonpartisan project dedicated to bringing practical tools for public problem solving into community and institutional settings across America. This site offers numerous case statements and multiple resources.

The Free Management Library
A complete, highly integrated library of resources for nonprofit and for-profit businesses, with 675 highly integrated topics.

GPO Access
GPO Access provides access to full text versions of Federal Registers, as well as more than 70 other searchable databases of federal information and reports.

Guidestar
The national database of nonprofit organizations.

Idealist.org
Idealist.org/Action Without Borders connects people, organizations and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives. The organization’s work is guided by the common desire of their members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect. The website carries information on 20,000 organizations in 140 countries.

Interactive Knowledge for Nonprofits Worldwide
www.iknow.org is a collection of portal sites that together make up an impressive map of the world of internet based information and resources for nonprofits. Areas include governance, fundraising, human resources, legal issues, business services, volunteers and education. There is also an .Ask IKnow. feature which allows visitors to ask the IKNOW team specific questions if they don.t find what they need.

The Internet NonProfit Center
A page with a wide variety of resources of interest to non-profit managers, staff and volunteers. A program of The Evergreen State Society in Washington.

Jiva Institute
Based in India, Jiva Institute’s Enterprise division works towards helping non-profit and funding organizations in India achieve greater impact through the application of efficient management techniques, innovative income strategies, and enabling technologies. It carries out grassroots ICT projects, provides consultancy, and develops effective tools for non-profit management and communication.

KnowX
KnowX site allows you to search public records nationwide.

Meta-Index for Nonprofit Organizations
Links to tons of topics and generally good stuff regarding funding, poverty, homelessness and on and on...

NetSource@USC
Provides prospect/fundraising research on the Internet.

Nonprofit Gateway
A network of links to Federal government information and services, Nonprofit Gateway provides information on grants, budgets, volunteer opportunities and agency partnerships.

Philanthropy Journal
The North Carolina-based A.J. Fletcher Foundation launched this Web-based news service to provide daily updates on fundraising, giving, volunteering, managing, and the use of technology in the nonprofit arena.

Seattle Public Access Network
The Seattle Public Access Network (PAN) consists of a free public website and e-mail list server, operated and directly funded by the City of Seattle. The primary purpose of PAN is to serve as an electronic City Hall, allowing Seattle citizens to communicate with City officials and obtain City information and services electronically. This link is to the Human Services Department’s portion of the site. Their mission is to find and fund solutions for human needs so that low-income, vulnerable residents in greater Seattle can live and thrive.

Social Edge
Sponsored by the Skoll Foundation, Social Edge is a lively and provocative online community for the social sector where you’ll find social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, nonprofit professionals, activists, academics, friends and colleagues.

Social Entrepreneurship Incubator (SEI)
A program of the Three Guineas Fund and the Women’s Technology Cluster, SEI is designed for start-up social entrepreneurs building early stage organizations for girls and women. Recognizing that there are few opportunities for non-profit start-ups to have regular access to peers, training, onsite consultants and professional facilities, the SEI is designed to help social entrepreneurs develop their early-stage non-profits into successful, sustainable organizations.

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management
The Alliance is the professional association of individuals and organizations devoted to improving the management and governance capacity of nonprofits — to assist nonprofits in fulfilling their mission.

TMC Development Working Solutions
Working Solutions is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that assists underserved microentrepreneurs in the Bay Area access the capital and resources they need to successfully start and grow their businesses in order to strengthen the economy, create jobs, reduce poverty, and build strong communities.

Social Enterprise Business Plan Competitions

Global Social Venture Competition
Columbia Business School and The Goldman Sachs Foundation have partnered with the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley to grow a national platform for social ventures through the Global Social Venture Competition. The unprecedented partnership brings together the academic and financial worlds to support the creation of social ventures.businesses with financial and social returns on investment.

National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations
Yale School of Management — The Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures
The Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures provides educational and financial support for nonprofit enterprise. The Partnership offers business planning assistance, cash awards, and access to the investment community through its National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations.

The Nonprofit Funding Competition
The Nonprofit Funding Competition is a joint project between Social Stimulus and the Keiretsu

Forum Charitable Foundation awarding $100K in cash prizes, as well as supporting in-kind services, to social ventures.

Tax

IRS
Tax Information for Charities & Other Non-Profits

IRS Newsroom
The IRS Newsroom is an index of news releases and fact sheets.

Ruling on public welfare investments
This is the final ruling on national bank investments designed to promote the public welfare.

Technology

Coyote Communications Tip Sheet for Non-Profits on the Internet
Coyote Communications Tip Sheet for Non-Profits on the Internet is a listing of helpful links and suggestions regarding non-profits and the use of appropriate technologies.

Techsoup.org
TechSoup is the technology Web site just for nonprofits. At TechSoup, nonprofits can receive donated & discounted technology products for a small administrative fee. TechSoup also provides a wealth of free technology information: Articles & News, Tools & Resources, Interactive Community, and a weekly e-newsletter.

Thanks to REDF.org

The Power Of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:43:00 +0000

Originally broadcast on Social Innovation Conversations.

"Pamela Hartigan

Founding Partner, Volans Venture

The Power of Unreasonable People

Pamela Hartigan

Play now: \| Download MP3 \| Help with Listening
Comments (0) \| Link \| Subscribe \| Excerpt
[runtime: 00:31:32, 14.4 mb, recorded 2008-02-16]

Host Sheela Sethuraman interviews Pamela Hartigan, the founding partner of Volans Ventures, about her new book titled The Power Of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World. Pamela addresses several questions related to the book -- Why are social entrepreneurs considered 'unreasonable'? What are the different kinds of social enterprises? How does one measure impact of a social cause? Why is it necessary to for social entrepreneurs to create partnerships and device new funding mechanisms? How are social entrepreneurs different from business entrepreneurs?

Hartigan also discusses the origin of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and explains that the Foundation was established to meet three important needs of social entrepreneurs -- to lend them legitimacy in their own countries, to provide them with access to a network of leaders, and to mobilize capital.

In addition, Hartigan explains how the research on the book led her to establish Volans Ventures -- an effort that hopes to address some of the gaps in the social enterprise sector.

Our publication of this program was made possible by the support of the following:

Pamela Hartigan is the founding partner of Volans Ventures and also the founding Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation. She joined the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship as its first Managing Director in October 2000. Of Ecuadorian origin, she holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in International Economics from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and the Institut d'Etudes Europeenes in Brussels. She also has a Masters degree in Education and a PhD in Human Developmental Psychology from American University and Catholic University, respectively, both located in Washington, D.C. Pamela is bilingual in Spanish and English and speaks French.

Her career has included over a decade working with youth; supporting the spawning and consolidation of community-based organizations serving the Latino community in Washington, D.C.; and twelve years at the World Health Organization, beginning at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), WHO's regional office for the Americas. There, she spearheaded initiatives to build collaborative work between governments and Latin American non-governmental organizations working in health and development. Subsequently, she became Chief of the Women, Health and Development Program where, among other initiatives, she launched region-wide mobilization to address violence against women.

In 1997, Hartigan was selected as Program Manager for the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) where she also coordinated efforts in Applied Field Research in tropical diseases. Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, as Director-General of WHO, appointed her to head the Department of Health Promotion at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, and later as Director of the newly formed Department for Violence and Injury Prevention.

Resources

This program is from our Design For Change series.

For The Conversations Network:

Post-production audio engineer: John Paxton
Website editor: Sathyaish Chakravarthy
Series producer: Kevin Shockey"

SOURCE: http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3562.html

Social Entrepreneurship Tool Box - Social Entrepreneurship Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:31:00 +0000

Here is a Social Entrepreneurship Tool Box created by authenticityconsulting.com. Click on image below to download:

Download Now (PDF Format)

This “toolbox” of suggested resources is provided courtesy of Authenticity Consulting of Minneapolis and Toronto. It is designed to introduce nonprofit managers and leaders to the expanding field of social entrepreneurship. It is a part of the handout materials for their workshop, “Social Entrepreneurship: Introductory Workshop for Nonprofit Leaders.”

NOTE from Authenticityconsulting.com: "Contact our workshop leader, Andy Horsnell, for details at andy@authenticityconsulting.com or 877.501.7020 Authenticity Consulting, LLC provides practical, action-focused approaches to nonprofit capacity building. See our website for details at www.np-org-dev.com"

Social Entrepreneurship: How to Change the World Social Entrepreneursand the power of new ideas! books.google.ca

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:24:00 +0000

Books.google.ca has released David Bornstein's "How to Change the World". Click on the image below and you'll be taken to the "e-book".

Resources:

How To Change The World Official website: http://www.howtochangetheworld.org/