Busy week this week, but will hopefully get to a round-up later. In passing, worth drawing attention to some audio-visual material. New(ish) podcasts:
– The BeBold podcast which is from US social entrepreneur support organisation Echoing Green, co-hosted by prolific non-profit blogger Britt Bravo
– Also the PRI social entrepreneurship programmes (19 of these), as funded by the Skoll Foundation, are now also available through iTunes; worth noting the Skoll Foundation blog (see previous link) where I got that news from….
Over on the other side of the pond, the big recent news (apart from that little McCain-Obama stuff) has been the SoCap 08 conference. There is something about the language (SoCap, "at the intersection of money and meaning") which slightly jars with a UK sensibility, but there's been some interesting content. And much of it has been blogged about or can be viewed online: see Matthew Bishop's keynote on his new book Philanthrocapitalism below for example (you can find the book in the SSE store, though it's not released here till mid-November, presumably to tie in with Global Entrepreneurship Week; I've added Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism for balance)….Worth digging around the blogosphere to find more nuggets.See if you agree with Bishop's optimistic view of the current financial situation…and about the relationship between business and the social sphere.
Listening to the first edition of the new series of the Bottom Line on podcast this morning, and my hackles rapidly got raised (not what you want on a Monday morning). I like the Bottom Line a lot: simple format (3/4 CEOs, Evan Davis asks them questions), and useful insight. This week, they had on both a hedge fund manager and the CEO of CafeDirect (Anne MacCaig), and, needless to say, much of the discussion was about the current financial crisis.
If you want a concrete example of why we’re in the current mess we’re in, I’d advise you to download the episode and listen to Hugh Hendry, the fund manager in question, who puts on a quite extraordinary display of immodesty, smugness and self-satisfaction. I can only assume they invited him on to wind everyone up, and provoke a response….in which case, they’ve succeeded here.
So, why am I so "Disgusted of Bethnal Green" about it? Well, firstly, he criticises the banks for leveraging and irresponsibility, before revealing that his hedge fund is, er, leveraged (to a degree he can’t admit) and that they indulge in consistent, and some would say irresponsible, short-selling (which played a significant part in bringing those banks to their knees). Secondly, he calls himself the ‘guard dog’ of capitalism, before mixing metaphor midstream to describe himself as a ‘sharp pencil’ jabbing at the spine of businesses. Hedge fund managers as guard dogs? Warning and protecting? Er…ok. Looking at the current scene, one would suggest they haven’t done a great job as a guard dog, and have ripped the spine out of several businesses, rather than jabbing at it.
Finally, and most unbelievably, he then attacks the business model of CafeDirect, which is, by all accounts, a sustainable, fair, transparent, honest, ethically-run organisation (Anne MacCaig gets a good plug for Triodos in there). There’s no sense that this may be more sustainable (and profitable) because it invests in its producers and provides what its customers are looking for. Or that, gasp, greed is not good. How depressing to hear someone at the heart of a collapsing financial services system to have no sense of what real people are feeling, or any sense of how things ought to change. Quite how, in the midst of a crisis/crunch that has been largely caused by the financial services, this programme ends up with a hedge fund manager giving a fair trade coffee organisation a hard time over their business model, is utterly beyond me. (And Davis does little to turn this around; kudos to the man from Waitrose for doing so).
I’m not absolving the banks from blame, or saying that this is representative of all hedge fund managers, or pretending that CafeDirect is perfect in every way. But this broadcast should be a wake-up call to those saying that the current climate could be social enterprise’s greatest opportunity / a chance for a fairer business system. On this evidence, there’s a remarkably long way to go for that to even be on the horizon.
OK, so this was meant to be a Friday round-up, but Capacitybuilders expressions of interest defeated me. And what a sunny weekend it was, unless you work at a bank / building society, or use one….or prefer watching telly.
– And starting on that subject, after mycontributions, a cavalcade of apocalyptic now-is-the-chance-for-social-enterprise-in-this-time-of-capitalist-collapse articles and posts from the social entrepreneur blogerati: Craig Dearden-Phillips, Rob Greenland and Rod Schwartz; would love to hear your views on whether this is challenge / opportunity….
– In connected (ish) news, the European Venture Philanthropy Association had its fourth conference in Frankfurt last week. Philanthropy UK’s report included a call for philanthropists to "keep the faith", and the interesting comment that "In the current economic climate venture philanthropists may need to
help charities merely to survive rather than to grow or replicate"
– ECT update news from TheLawyer.com (a first for this blog) from the law firm who helped dispose of its various subsidiaries, after what they call a "disastrous diversification". Ouch
– Can the effectiveness of third sector organisations be measured and compared? It’s an old chestnut, but that doesn’t mean people will stop trying to crack it….see Intelligent Giving’s take on a new US initiative, the excitingly-monickered Portfolio Data Management System.
– Social Enterprise Ambassador news: Daniel Heery of Cybermoor fame is also heavily involved in using technology to improve healthcare in Cumbria with some really innovative practice. See this piece on Alston Healthcare
– Every blog in the world is covering this, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t: Google’s 10 to the 100th, a call for ideas to change the world
– Co-operatives UK have released a new publication on community investment by sector expert Jim Brown; it is, the blurb tells us, "The most comprehensive guide to undertaking community share issues to date"
– FOOTSEY no. 7 is taking place in Yorkshire this October 16th. Promises to be the biggest ever and, based on last year’s event, I’d say it’s well worth a visit. Unfortunately, it coincides with SSE’s residential, but I’d encourage all those in the area (and outside) to attend.
– How is social enterprise like a mammoth with no memory? Because it’s "woolly and confused", of course, according to the sector press’ take on the OTS research I reported on previously. There may be momentum building behind the South West’s Social Enterprise Mark….though SEC has started its own identity project. No mammoths involved as yet.
– And finally, following Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod calling Shine 08 "one of the best entrepreneurship conferences I’ve been to all year" and exhorting people to attend Shine 09 (now being planned), there are also some more photos and videos emerging from the event.
More Shine 2008 Flickr photos:
And check out the Dutch Kaos Pilots video of their trip over….
Last week, I discussed whether the credit crunch would have an impact (positive or negative) on the world and field of social entrepreneurship. In a post before that, I’d asked if CSR would be the first thing to be cut in times of trouble….
Is there a ‘perfect storm’ coming for social entrepreneurs where public sector spending will be cut (due to national debt, downturn in economy, new government) and private sector credit / sponsorship will be radically reduced, and trusts + foundations will give less because of the declining value of their endowments….oh, and the public will have less to spend on retail if that’s your model.
Or has the movement made enough traction in enough areas for the majority to make it through and access the funds and support they need? Will the persistent, committed, resourceful, innovative, dynamic social entrepreneurs survive and even thrive in the hard times? Possibly….and it is they who will benefit if (and when?) this holed tanker starts to turn round. It is the time for the hard-headed side of the social entrepreneur, not just the high-minded side.
Interestingly, as Servane from Ogunte points out in this comment, it may well be those who (contrary to efficient bottom lines) invest in leadership, in soft skills, networking and communication that do best. Never has there been a greater need to differentiate and communicate why it should be you / your organisation, and never a greater need for leadership, or strong relationships. Or, to continue the laboured ‘storm / tanker’ metaphor, for inspired captaincy on the bridge to hold it all together.
Ian Baker (SSE‘s Development Director) and I attended the launch of New Philanthropy Capital’s new report last week about funder reporting, entitled Turning the tables in England. It was Ian’s third report launch in 36 hours, setting some sort of unwanted sector record possibly, but was a fairly interesting (if not revelatory) event. The report, despite featuring some of the most banal photography imaginable (the black and white shot of some shelves on p.16 is a particular highlight), has some good stuff. The main finding is that the reporting costs for statutory (government) funding are 3 times higher than independent (trust and foundation / corporate etc) funding. Not a surprise to any seasoned sector-heads, but ‘ouch’ all the same.
Their recommendations on the back of that are somewhat predictable: standard reporting where possible; funders understanding costs of reporting more (charities making this clearer more); charities should question funders’ requirements more; funders should be able to justify their requirements….and so forth. Of course, this all sounds great, but very difficult in practice. The examples given of consolidating reports were either a) different streams with one funder (Southwark Council) or b) various streams with exactly same type of funder (PCTs in London). But, for example, SSE gets funding from: local, regional and national government; corporates; housing association foundations; housing associations; trusts and foundations; individual philanthropists etc. etc. Standard reporting? Fat chance, I’m afraid. Particularly given the ‘projectization’ of our activity through this funding matrix.
There’s certainly something to be said for pushing charities to report how much it costs them to report (if you see what I mean), and there’s something to be said for exploring how existing reports might be used for other funders. But there is also the possibility that the monitoring/reporting burden is simply shifted to the funder, in that they have to look at annual reports / returns / online materials to collate their own report. And, from a taxpayer point of view especially, does it matter if the 9% is wasted at the funder end or the funded end?
It is, as Phil Hope put it at the launch event, about the ratio of cost:value, because reporting is extremely important for all funders, and rightly so, to prove the social impact of their investments. And to ensure that their funding is being used as in the original application / proposal. What I’ll take away from this is for us to think about the bare bones of a standard report which might prove the basis for other bespoke reports (and might, occasionally, prove enough on its own), and to ensure that we adequately cost our reporting. We’ve got better on this, but my gut feel is that we are probably still underestimating.
Worth reflecting, finally, on another industry where a severe lack of regulation and monitoring has caused such a financial crisis. I’m referring to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, of course, and the other banks that have been bailed or are needing to be. Towards the end of last week, I was advising an SSE Fellow about a presentation he was giving to the Corporate Responsibility representative from…..you guessed it, Lehman Brothers. We shouldn’t underestimate the impact that the financial crisis may have on this sector: either directly in the case above, or through a reduction in philanthropy, or through a complete readjustment of corporate priorities. Will CSR still be the first thing to be cut in times of trouble? And, tongue partly in cheek, will charities have to do due diligence on which corporates they seek to work with? I think the Charity Commission might want to advise them on having sufficient reserves.
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