OK, round-up of recent news + links of interest time….
– Couple of great posts on PopTech about the inclusivity (or lack of) and MBA-focused shape of social entrepreneurship, particularly in the US. See Who's in the Social Entrepreneurship Club, and who isn't? and the following post, Coaxing ghost social entrepreneurs out of the woodwork. The posts were partly in response to Business Week's "Bull market for social entrepreneurs" piece, which was very MBA-centric, and led to a further piece on Philanthropy.com called Can Social Entrepreneur Groups be more inclusive?
Worth reading them all (and comments), and good to see that this debate is making it to the US, where our long-tail approach has often seemed anathema.
– Beyond Sport is an interesting initiative connecting sport and social entrepreneurs. You can vote for the London Legacy award, and we would strongly recommend a vote for SSE Fellow Ros Spearing's organisation, Ebony Horse Club
– Government-wise, there's a new central funding website called…er…Funding Central which will be an important place, given that it aggregates lots of funding opportunities. The Modernisation Fund is also open to bursaries of £1k and grants of £10k for small charities / orgs that need it most.There's also a new Cabinet committee on third sector:public service delivery which is important policy-wise….Did I mention we have a new minister as well?
– I met Linda Butcher, the great CEO of Sheila McKechnie Foundation at a meeting this week, and she was discussing both their new website CampaignCentral, and the fact that the deadline for the awards is the end of June. If you're a campaigner, check out the details and apply!
– We're beavering away on a re-brand / re-design of the Ambassadors. In the meantime, there's some good new blog posts up from Matt Stevenson-Dodd (75% want definition) and Daniel Heery (Digital Britain + Social Enterprise NW conference) which are well worth checking out.
– The CIC consultation about dividends and caps has ended: most people seem to think there will be changes, as this article recommends .More on this soon, no doubt.
– Social Edge has done a list of the top Tweeps (that's people who Twitter) in Social Entrepreneurship to follow. Delighted to find that yours truly (@SchSocEnt) is not only included but is essential. *blushes* etc. Great place to start if you're interested in this world and are thinking of entering the Twitter-verse, or whatever it's called.
– While we're in tech-ville, interesting fundraising app has come out on the iPhone that encourages you to Givabit
– The shortlist for the Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneur Awards is announced. Winner finds out tonight. List best described as eclectic….
– Good q&a on impact investing with Kevin Jones
– Echoing Green announced their 2009 Fellows. The best round-up of this was probably on Change.org, so check out Nat's post on the Fellows, which includes several videos of the winners
– Alan Sugar as enterprise Tsar; too many jokes etc…Rob Greenland dissects what this means for us all on the Guardian blog
– Couple of decent recent podcasts on Social Innovation Conversations: Premal Shah of Kiva and Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen Fund.
That's all for now; will leave you with the video of my favourite from thenew Echoing Green Fellows, Dhruv Lakra of Mirakle Couriers:
