Category Archives: Social Innovation

Virtual Social Networking, a blessing or a curse?

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Here at SSE we find the internet quite useful and employ our blogging skills quite routinely, as you can see. There are countless tools to choose from, web 2.0 or not: along with the blog, we utilise e-newsletters, the facebook group, online resources, an extranet, and more recently an online bookstore. As Brett Bonfield reported recently however, virtual social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo etc) can both be a blessing and a pain to non-profits. Bonfield gives some hints…

Who is likely to get the most value out of social networking sites? To
answer this question, Idealware spoke to a number of nonprofit
technologists working with social networking tools. We searched beyond
the success stories to discover tales of only middling success, or even
of disappointment. What resulted were two sets of guidelines: first,
how to know if social networking isn’t right for you and second, some
of the ways that social networking might benefit your organization.

Bonfield provides a quite useful check-list to go through if you are in doubt if using the web is valuable to your organisation. It should come as no surprise that not all social entrepreneurs find networking sites online helpful, as using the resources correctly is a skill-set that constantly needs updating and development. More importantly perhaps, not all groups that social entrepreneurs target have access to the internet nor find use in online features.

While online sites are good for networking and information sharing, it is sometimes hard to see the obvious benefit a social entrepreneurial organisation can gather from the web. Some SEs base their whole operations online, while others ignore its usefulness completely, finding other ways to get by. As a whole though, it is hard to get away from the fact that tools like blogging, e-news letters, resource sites, facebook groups are very convenient for the social enterprise sector, with their low cost and high (potential) reach.

Could virtual networking work to you org’s benefit? I recommend you take a look at the check list!

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The importance of a citizen base

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In my second full week with the SSE I’ve become increasingly aware of the many SSE Fellows who are out there, still keeping their projects sustainable and still causing positive change. On the tube this morning I was reading the Global Ideas Bank’s  "500 Ways to Change the World" and it really occurred to me how many different people have original solutions to various problems. While the book was edited and compiled by Nick Temple (Network Director at SSE) , the content was created by people who have recognized a fault  in  society and  have an idea  to fix it : ‘ordinary’ people suggesting social innovations.

The fact that so many want to help, and have such ideas, bodes well not only for the future of the SSE model, but also similar projects such as Ashoka’s much welcomed CBI Initiative. While not in Britain quite yet, (although on the way: it’s made it to France ) the Citizen Base Initiative seeks to alter "old funding strategies" and aims at helping citizen sector organisations to think differently about utilising resources, revenue streams etc, so that they can become more self-sufficient/more vibrant/less dependent on erratic funding. CBI tries to help the citizen sector break from traditional funding bodies and the state.

In essence, It’s about a wider view of stakeholders and how they (your organisation’s citizen base) can help access different types of resources, and help provide support. Very much in line with the view that social entrepreneurs create change through building networks, teams and movements, rather than as heroic individuals (see previous post on this subject)

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Is Social Enterprise applicable in academic institutions?

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After my first full week with the SSE and in the
UK, I think I am starting to grasp the basics of both. It took me a while to
get used to the light switch, the traffic system and the British slang, but
it’s amazing how quickly one adapts to a new environment. In my first week here
at the office I’ve been trying to get a sense of the SE sector by poking around
on the web and working on different projects for the network team. At first I
was a bit overwhelmed by all the different companies, names, terms and slang,
but it’s starting to sink in gradually .

One of the things I’ve been working on is the Social Enterprise
Ambassadors programme
, led by SEC and assisted by a
consortium of different organisations, including of course, SSE. It’s been
very interesting to read about the very inspiring  individuals that make
up the ambassadors group and I very much look forward to meeting them at a
training session towards the end of my stay in London.

Although the SE Ambassadors are amazing people, and have been chosen to promote the
movement, what’s been inspiring  to me so far is my
encounters and interaction with the students and  Fellows
of SSE. While social change was an abstract term to me at school, my meetings
with these people have shown me that change doesn’t occur in the abstract or (necessarily) on
the macro level, it happens in our local communities, mostly at a smaller scale.
My challenge in the months to come is to figure out a way to bridge such
practical solutions with an abstract learning model that will work for my college back in Minnesota. SSE programmes are very much about learning, rather
than teaching…and focused on the practical and personal, rather than the
academic and generic.

Since I’ve also learned that much of the conversation
about  social  change indeed occurs through blogging I
would love any input /responses to this question:

How can Social Enterprise/Innovation/Entrepreneurship be taught in an academic setting?

 

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Social entrepreneur round-up: BBBC, Fast Company, Independent

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A few things of direct relevance to the blog have cropped up over the last few days that might be of interest.

– First up, Andrew Mawson, founder of the Bromley By Bow Centre, has written a book (The Social Entrepreneur) which was excerpted in the Guardian this morning, and commented on in their blog; his forthright comments about the failings of politicians and what he would do instead (give £3m to Alan Sugar, for example) make interesting reading….

– Secondly, Fast Company, the US business magazine have announced their 2008 Social Capitalist Awards….which involves them adding some new ones to ones they’ve announced previously…45 social entrepreneurs and enterprises now. Worth checking out.

– Finally, the Independent has been working with Schwab and Boston Consulting Group on their Social Entrepreneur of the Year award (which the Schwab foundation do in many other countries around the world). The shortlist is announced here and replicated here on this blog, where I also responded to the post in the comments (about whether it is needed / how well the UK is served etc.) Some well-known names here: Eden, Belu, the Hub, but good to see some less well known ones also, especially Eric Samuels at Community Food Enterprise. I know that Schwab has canvassed widely in the UK amongst its networks (including with SSE), so will be interesting to read/hear more about it. The SSE blog will be attending the awards event next week, so will report back then.

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GenY: The future of Social Enterprise?

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It seems that the job market is approaching a generational crossroads. Rosetta Thurman  reports that the idealistic baby boomers that once started the non-profits that
blossom today are leaving their jobs to retirement. But who is going to replace
them? Generation Y perhaps? (The Internet generation, born roughly between 1976-2000).
They are young, ambitious, highly selective and are now gradually entering the
job market for the first time.

In China, at least 550 million people fit the profile,
almost double the entire U.S. population. In America however, Generation Y
number about 70 million, still a sizable group. Recent news reports from the
Iowa Caucuses indicate that these youngsters are a
force to recognize,
virtually handing Barack Obama the momentum in the U.S. presidential race.
These echo boomers are techno sawy, they demand change, they are financially smart and they want
to make a difference from day one. At a glance it may seem that the growth of
social enterprises and entrepreneurship should explode any day now, and I
admit, the environment is ripe for harvest. It seems though that the harvesters
are sleeping and unless they act on the momentum the Gen Yers will shift their
attention somewhere else.

Idealism is no longer a word only associated with hippies
and environmentalists but rather a powerful influence on today’s youth.
However, idealism by itself normally does not survive the transition into adult
life unless it becomes real. It is kind of like believing in Santa Claus down at
the local mall; one day your bound to catch him during a smoke break in the
back alley. For many young people, idealism works the same way. You grow up and
realize that it was all a scam and that you cannot matter or make change in the
big picture.

In our day and age, secondary schooling normally work as
this wake-up call. For hours on end I learned about hunger and drought, the
AIDS epidemic, war and terror, ethnic strife, climate change and poverty. At
first I was determined to fix it all, until one day I gave up, thinking I
couldn’t do anything that would make a difference. In schools, students are
shown the big picture but never the solutions, which are almost always small
and local. Schools should of course continue to teach reality, but someone has
to show young people that there are solutions – and that’s where the third
sector comes in!


I am lucky to intern at SSE where I get to witness first-hand the many local solutions that exist. The
social sector has the potential to grow immensely now that GenY is growing up,
but only if it provides opportunities for idealism to continue to exist in today’s
brutal reality. The sector must reach out to GenY and show young idealists that
solutions are real, and many. The first step in this process should be to
transform idealism from an abstract term into tangible, visible and practical
examples. Luckily for us, idealism doesn’t take smoke breaks and doesn’t wear a
fake beard. The question remains however, how can the sector reach out to the younger generation, now ready to enter the job market?

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