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.