Social Effect

22 Questions You Should Ask Before Starting a New Social Enterprise or Non-Profit

2011-11-14T03:40:00.001Z

While in Northern Thailand last year, I was invited to the Payap University in Chiang Mai for a session with some budding social entrepreneurs. A group of University students that were starting a project on multi-lingual learning for one of the local communities they had been working with, needed help with understanding how to implement their ideas. This post is based on the questions we identified during that session. As with many new projects, the solution here was pre-assumed and taken...

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Financing Challenges and Solutions for Non-Profits and Social Enterprises

2011-10-18T09:11:00.001+01:00

It's been a month since I returned home from my two year journey working with social enterprises and non-profits. This post is about new alternative financing options and the challenges they present to social entities around the world. Along the way I worked with more than a hundred social organisations of all types. From ‘first storey’ ones running programmes to secondary and tertiary social institutions like funding intermediaries and foundations. The full list is here. Given the financial...

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The Definitive Guide To Scaling Social Enterprises

2010-03-02T09:02:00.002Z

I was recently asked to give a talk on scaling social enterprises to Oxford MBA students at the Saïd Business School via their partnership with the Skoll Centre for Social Enterprise, which prompted me to put together an outline of the different mechanisms of scaling that I've used or considered in the work I've been doing with social enterprises around the world. The Definitive Guide to Scaling Social EnterpriseView more presentations from Rizwan Tayabali. There is more detail and...

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The Case for Critical Thinking

2010-01-27T13:49:00.011Z

Somewhere along my recent Latin American journey I had a conversation with a friend who suggested that the big problem with people is that they use whatever hammer they possess to hit any nail they're presented with. In other words, management consultants will tell you the answer to your problem is strategy; marketing specialists will tell you it is presentation; IT consultants will chuck technology at it; sociologists will focus on impact; and business people will apply numbers. This is a...

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Dummies Guide To Microfinance

2009-12-04T00:21:00.007Z

(From http://www.globosocial.org/: My global journey covering social enterprise) While in Mexico I had the fantastic opportunity of spending time with Frida Ruiz Fernandez who worked in regulation for microfinance and banking for Peruvian Government for 4yrs, and Juan Ahedo who works with Fin Comun, a microfinance organisation based in Mexico. From Frida I learnt a bit more about Microfinance, much of which is summarised below, and through Juan I was able to accompany a couple of branch...

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How To Write Successful Funding Proposals

2009-11-23T14:00:00.011Z

At it’s core, the goal of any corporate funding is Return on Investment i.e. what your project is going to do for them or their brand. Large corporations want mass recognition and kudos through their association with social projects, and clear indicators of social impact that can go into their stakeholder reporting. So the first thing you need to remember is that corporate funders really only care about 3 things that underpin this Scale (how big in terms of geography and replicability) Reach...

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Fundraising - Recruitment Strategies for Corporations & HNWIs

2009-11-18T18:27:00.002Z

One of the biggest fundraising mistakes that social organisations make is chasing anyone who might potentially have some money, without really assessing whether or not their goals or interests fit the project. This is why generic applications get nowhere, and why creating specific proposals often fails too. You absolutely must have some kind of selection criteria to filter the right organisations to approach, before you spend time on funding proposals. The next mistake involves assuming...

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Fundraising In A Nutshell

2009-09-29T09:41:00.002+01:00

This is more for social enterprises and charities that are raising funds in order to continue to operate and/or grow rather than for startups. The trick is to do these in parallel. Start your research and network to build relationships with potential funders, while simultaneously putting the platforms in place. This means that by the time you've built your relationships with the people interested in your work, you've also got all your messaging sorted out and ready to go. Additional...

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Managing Projects: An Overview for Social Entrepreneurs

2009-09-22T15:56:00.003+01:00

I put together the following presentation for the UnLtd Network Plus training and networking day for the social entrepreneurs they fund. It provides an overview of all the different elements of managing projects. I've kept it a very high level with just one or two key points to remember for each area. If you want the notes for each slide, either view it on the slideshare.net website or download it and view it on your computer. I hope you find it useful. Feel free to comment with feedback or...

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Why Brand Recognition Matters for Social Enterprise

2009-09-12T14:30:00.009+01:00

Here's a quick snapshot of how brand awareness impacts the different audiences for Social Enterprises, NGOs and Non-Profits. If you ever wondered why your organisation should be devoting time to building mass recognition, this should clue you in. * HNWI = High Net-Worth Individuals (Philanthropists, Investors)

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Why Social Enterprises Need Strong Brands

2009-09-07T15:08:00.007+01:00

Having problems loading? View this presentation on Slideshare Here's the jist of it... A brand is what your audience feels , thinks , and remembers about your enterprise. Brand used to be ‘ offline ’ and ‘ online ’ Now it is seamless , and primarily driven by how you are perceived via the web. And now that organisations can create their own profiles , brands can effectively function as ‘ people ’ i.e. In the interactive web 2.0 world, your brand has a personality. So… Brand used to just be...

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Guest Post: Success Criteria For Social Enterprises

2009-09-03T12:19:00.005+01:00

(This post was written by Imtiaz Kaderbhoy - a friend and ex-colleague of mine, who does a lot of pro-bono work with social enterprises and charities in an advisory capacity.) I recently had the pleasure of meeting Tim Cornah last week, whose latest social project, a community interest company called “Third Way” generates funds and provides accommodation for a rural youth project called PYC youth services and is based in Parbold, Wigan. PYC youth services is aimed at empowering young people to...

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Project A - Journeys into the Social Unknown

2009-08-27T09:02:00.015+01:00

Over the past few years I've slowly been moving more and more towards a focus on social enterprise. Along the way I've worked on grassroots projects, run initiatives, joined and chaired charity boards and provided advisory help and input to social enterprises; all with the end goal of covering enough ground to be compelling as a consultant in the social space. However, as I began to understand the UK social sector, I began to develop a curiosity about how things work in other parts of the...

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Social Entrepreneurs, Build Your Website For Free!

2009-07-29T11:53:00.027+01:00

A year of working with different social startups and growing enterprises has highlighted one very unfortunate trend. Too many social entrepreneurs are wasting precious resource on building websites for their startups. If you're about to hand over a few thousand pounds to a designer somewhere to create you a logo or build you a few pages, STOP!! Read this first... Here's a few key fundamentals you should grasp before we get started. A Logo is NOT the same as a Brand. A brand is what your...

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Best Twitter Apps for Novices

2009-07-29T11:26:00.000+01:00

I've just been doing some research into how best to manage tweets while traveling, partly for making and managing connections and partly because I probably won't have regular access to the net so I may need to start scheduling tweets. There's a massive number of Twitter applications available so I thought I'd share my recommendations. Here's the full list of Twitter Apps available http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Apps I went through quite a few, but they either had too many limitations (like...

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3 Reasons Why Your Great Idea Doesn't Yet Exist

2009-07-03T11:11:00.009+01:00

I've recently had a number of people with ideas for startups come to me for advice on how to get these ideas going. In each case the idea has appeared to plug a perceived need in the market, suggesting a no-brainer that the 'inventor' is therefore about to take risks to pursue. After a little investigation however, I'm usually able to find equivalents that already exist, or good reasons for why it's not already being done. So I always urge caution, as there are some obvious reasons why an idea...

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Community Communications 101

2009-05-06T18:42:00.021+01:00

I recently had a very illuminating chat with Caroline Jaine, the Director of imediate, around community communications, so I thought I'd share some of what I learnt. Always start with a clear strategy, Followed by an implementation plan, andFinally outcome monitoring. Key point: Do NOT just rush into comms activity. There are lots of risks and sensitivities, and consequently these programmes often fail. Plan first! The following are the key steps in developing communications for social...

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20 Keys to Building a Successful Social Organisation

2009-04-17T10:44:00.024+01:00

Over the past few years I've looked at problems faced by a number of different social organisations, including new startups, developing organisations, and fully established ones. I typically see one common underlying factor; many of the issues stem from a failure to define some key points with the clarity and simplicity needed to make those definitions useful. Before we continue, let me just say that this is not going to be one of those articles with 20 tenets or pieces of pithy advice. It is...

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3 Types of Partnership For the Social Sector

2009-04-11T16:10:00.005+01:00

In my previous post on whether Partnerships and Collaboration might save the third sector, I suggested that one reason why small charities are failing is the nucleation of the sector caused by self interest in raising funding. However, beyond a point they all have the same collective goal, which is to effect positive social change. Unlike businesses which are just out for themselves, this commonality of higher purpose means that charities and social enterprises are perfectly placed to cooperate...

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Could Partnerships And Collaboration Save The Third Sector?

2009-02-26T13:00:00.005Z

In a recent post on whether the Retail Industry Could Save Itself Using Game Theory I discussed how retailers have exhibited classic non-cooperative behaviour, which has significantly damaged their abilities to survive the credit crunch. By focusing only on individual interest and survival, their collective hyper-competitive actions have likely damaged their entire industry's market size. The charity sector is becoming similarly nucleated by self interest in raising funding. In my previous...

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Small Charities are Struggling to Survive The Crunch

2009-02-19T09:00:00.007Z

Children England, the umbrella group for children's charities just published results of a survey of small charities (under £250,000). Turns out 4 out of 10 are now in a vulnerable state and could be facing closure if their fundings don't come through. This is up from 1 in 10 in 2007, which is a clearly indictment of the current situation. Unfortunately this is something I'd predicted a little while ago in my post "Will Charities Survive The Credit Crunch?" The charities closer to this size...

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Future Trends in Social Enterprise

2009-02-03T09:00:00.002Z

In my previous post I talked about Social Enterprise Trends to expect in 2009. I outlined 5 key ones: Rise in social startups and skills available to the sectorHigher expectations from fundersMore support for big ideasMore partnerships and collectivesBlurring of lines between Charities and Social EnterprisesThe trends outlined below however, are not time-boxed to just 2009. These are shifts I believe will happen at some point between now and the next few years, and are therefore worth...

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Social Enterprise Trends 2009

2009-02-02T17:42:00.011Z

Every January people typically start to wonder what's coming up in the year ahead for their industries. The social enterprise and the non-profit sectors are no different. It's just that fewer people publish anything of value, mostly because these sectors are not awash with analysts in the way the private sector is. Anyway in case you're curious, here's my thoughts on where things might be headed for social enterprise. Let's start with immediate trends to expect in 2009. Most of these are...

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What's in Store For Social Enterprise in 2009?

2009-01-29T13:31:00.000Z

As far as I can see, in the UK at least we're entering year two in the growth of social enterprise. Before 2008 I'm sure there were plenty of organisations doing good things sustainably, but the concept of social enterprise really seems to have become mainstream in 2008. CICs are becoming more common, the concept of Social Return on Investment started to take hold, different models of Social Enterprise were identified, and we even saw the release of a new Self Assessment Framework for Social...

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Will Charities Survive The Credit Crunch?

2009-01-28T09:23:00.001Z

I recently wrote a post on whether or not social enterprises would survive the credit crunch, where I suggested that many would pull through as I believe the crunch will only help drive social innovation faster. It will embed the recognition that we have to be able to help each other, and create not just environmentally sustainable businesses, but also financially sustainable ones. Unfortunately I'm not sure this ability to survive will extend to charities that are entirely dependent on...

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