Top 10 social entrepreneurship posts of 2008

Posted on December 29, 2008 by sse

I love a list, and there's no time like Xmas / New Year for lists. So here's the first of three: the top 10 posts of this blog in the past year. Hopefully you enjoyed these and, if you haven't, now you can.

1) Philanthrocapitalism and new clothes: showing what a buzzword and a bit of controversy can do, this was the top read post of the year. And now you can buy the book in the UK too (half price…).

2) Giant summer round-up: clearly you were all in dire need of information after the summer break…or maybe it was the mention of my impending nuptials? Photos not to follow.

3) Top 5 social entrepreneurship debates in the world ever: inward-looking, navel-gazing, but up at number 3 nonetheless.

4) Storytelling in the modern world: delighted that this was so widely read….best session at the Skoll Forum this year bar none.

5) Virtual social networking: a blessing or a curse?: takes me back to those days when just mentioning "Facebook for charity" could garner you a headline in Third Sector….

6) A sad way to start the week: a tribute to Sarah Dodds, this….and that it was well read demonstrates in part how many people miss her.

7) Friday round-up: Gates, Cotton, Black and Schwartz: there's been many a Friday round-up this year, but this name-dropping link frenzy was the most popular back in January….

8) Innovation brokers: necessary intermediaries? Perhaps proving that ending a blog post with a question mark is a route to success, or that social innovation is hotter than social entrepreneurship? Who knows…

9) Wednesday round-up link fest: Craig, CIC, Catalyst: no idea why this is up there….answers on a postcard / blog comment.

10) What is social enterprise? animation: a non-textual post rounds out the top 10; although even better was the dryest of comments from our former Norwegian-US intern Thor: "You know, in America we have something called digitalized animation, it
works pretty well. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Shrek."

On that bombshell…

Tuesday round-up: Shirky, Scotland, Shoreditch

Posted on July 29, 2008 by sse

Much linkage to get involved with this morning….a bit of a mish-mash, but hopefully of some use:

– Voice 2009 will be in Birmingham; for the flagship social enterprise event, another big venue: the Birmingham ICC. See picture left (CEOs of SEC and Advantage West Mids)

– Couple of interesting pieces about fairtrade (coffee) and online debates; see Ugandan coffee trade and Fairer than Fairtrade

– Campbell Robb on the third sector and public service delivery in the Times, on removing the barrier to allow third sector orgs to deliver etc.

– Less enthusiastically, a piece in today’s Times Public Agenda discusses how devolution is still an ideal, not a practical reality, something which chimes with SSE Fellows’ experiences of local authorities (though it is a varied and patchy picture)

– What is citizen philanthropy? Perhaps not a question that’s keeping you awake at night, but this article is an interesting read: This Is What Philanthropy Looks Like

– Matt Stevenson-Dodd posts on his fellow Ambassador Daniel Heery’s great work in Cumbria

– Scottish social enterprise support is "fragmented, complex, uneven and inconsistent"; apart from that, all is well. More seriously, the report is worth reading, particularly in its call for support providers to talk to each other and work in a more joined-up (hate that phrase) manner. Lessons for England as well as Scotland, methinks.

– Clay Shirky is author of Here Comes Everybody, which is about ‘organising without organisations’: groups, networks and the effects of new technology. "Group action just got easier" is his five word thesis. Anyway, he spoke at Demos the other day, and you can download the hour-long podcast to listen in….

– Bilumi: stands for Buy It Like You Mean It, "an online community of people reviewing and rating the socially
responsible business practices of companies and their supply chains"; interesting Shirky-esque stuff

– The Shoreditch Grand Prix involves kids bicycles, leg-power, and fundraising for social entrepreneurs

– Finally, while I mostly turn to Bubb’s Blog for a smile in the morning (I will be picking out an appropriate tie and bottle of wine for my next meeting at ACEVO), Jeff Trexler’s reaction to the SEC video of social enterprise is pretty entertaining.

Friday round-up: Coca-Cola, Clay, Causes

Posted on May 23, 2008 by sse

Another week passes, and for your Bank Holiday reading, we present… the Friday round-up:

– Some good recent posts from some of the Social Enterprise Ambassadors: Matt Stevenson-Dodd, Daniel Heery and Chris Allwood; all well worth a read

– I’ve banged on a lot about the need for blogs to be authentic and honest; Stephen Bubb’s blog, whilst he divides opinion, continues to deliver on both fronts: entertaining, name-drop-tastic, frank posts that feel like a conversation: how many ACEVO members will follow his lead, I wonder?

– This is a useful intro on using Social Media for Social Change

– And, as a nice foil to that, here’s a piece about how Facebook Causes don’t tackle root causes: or how social media is only useful if it impacts in the real offline world….

– Clay Shirky video that discusses where we find the time to watch TV, blog and the like…. [hat tip Beth]

– Interesting article on developments in Chinese philanthropy of late (post-earthquake)

– Edge Upstarts Awards are happening on June 18th at Lindley Hall (near Pimlico); keynote speaker is Ed Balls….and the Enterprising Solutions Awards are also open for nominations / entries (till July 1st). Don’t be put off by our CEO Alastair being a judge for both!

– The 9 myths of fundraising diversification is quite interesting: for those who need to do it (in these times of credit crunches and the like) to ensure no over-reliance in any one area; it’s been a key part of SSE’s strategy over the last few years, and this is good on stuff to consider before you start

– Simon Berry, CEO of the mighty Ruralnet, has been pushing an idea about using Coca-Cola’s distribution system to help send out rehydration tablets in the developing world; support the campaign by joining the Facebook group or viewing the website here

Have a great weekend…..

Blog honesty and whining

Posted on April 10, 2008 by sse

This image pretty much sums up where I’ve been the last few days: moaning about being overloaded, shouting about government arbitrarily pulling funding streams after days of work, complaining about being bogged down in policy documents & reports & spreadsheets. There’s something about this time of year when people are tired, illnesses are floating round, and the year-end brings an admin mountain….

It got me thinking about the honesty of a blog; I was reading an article about corporate blogging which talked of the dangers of being ‘too open’, and got me wondering about what I hold back organisationally (or personally). It’s been good to see that Stephen Bubb’s blog seems to be pretty true to his tone of voice, and is also fairly open (about ACEVO–NCVO, about Futurebuilders’ coverage in the press and so forth). Of course, though, there are things that don’t get blogged, some as a result of competition (on which subject, it was interesting to read John Craig noting the difference between a (healthy) competition between ideas, and an (unhealthy) competition between institutions)….if I blogged about every opportunity SSE were pursuing, or every new idea, then I would a) do nothing else and b) give away any advantage over competing organisations in different areas. It’s certainly easier to blog about the contest of ideas…

Having said that, looking back over most posts, I think I have kept pretty true to one of the three blogging keys: authenticity (the others being passion and continuity). At times, criticism might be more reined-in online than it is face-to-face, but I don’t think I’m alone in that, and the vast majority of the posts are positive anyway (even if what our intern Thor called "your cynical British tone" may occasionally come through). Ultimately, I’m passionate about this movement, this organisation, the work we do and, most importantly, what this enables SSE students and Fellows to do. Sometimes that means competing with institutions, sometimes collaborating, but also sometimes competing with ideas and with communication. All worth remembering when the papers are up to the eyeballs, and the blog posts have diminished in frequency.

Category Archives: Weblogs

Blog honesty and whining

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