Colloquium for Social Entrepreneurs

The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has established the Colloquium for Social Entrepreneurs. Their website has fully detailed coverage. Below are four of the core items, giving you an idea of some of the wonderful value that this dialogue circle has established:

Contents
1. What is Social Entrepreneurship?
2. Mission
3. Key Components
4. Target Audience

1. What is social entrepreneurship?
Social Entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector by:
adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value)
recognising and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission
engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning
acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand, and
exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created.
(J Gregory Dees, director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business)

2. Mission
The Colloquium for Social Entrepreneurs (CSE) has a threefold mission:
To build capacity among social entrepreneurs and their stakeholders, enabling them to be more effective through practical skills development and networking opportunities
To increase awareness about social entrepreneurship among practitioners and in broader society, including the business school community and the business sector as a whole
To build a body of knowledge and a theory towards social change that communicates the relevance and application of social entrepreneurship.

3. Key components
‘Building to Last’ Strategy Programme
‘Building to Last’ is the flagship of the CSE programme. The objective of ‘Building to Last’ is to present the delegates with an intensive learning experience that highlights the role of the social entrepreneur at an individual, community and organisational level. Delegates consist of a peer grouping of social entrepreneurs who occupy strategic leadership positions.
Management Seminars
The Management Seminars are aimed at supporting specific social entrepreneurship needs that are currently lacking at an individual level. By addressing these needs, the CSE believes it is supporting the capacity and innovation of social entrepreneurs in addressing the organisational challenges they encounter.
Networking Events
The networking events create interfacing opportunities with fellow social entrepreneurs, the public and private sector. The networking events play numerous roles that including popularising the notion of social entrepreneurs, clarifying the needs of social entrepreneurs, creating a networking platform for social entrepreneurs to find common ground and align their work more closely.
Research: Building Knowledge in the area of Social Entrepreneurship
In the past year, the Colloquium of Social Entrepreneurship at GIBS has developed a significant body of original content in the burgeoning field of social entrepreneurship. This content includes 19 personal stories profiling individual social entrepreneurs, three academic case studies expanding on the successes and challenges of various social entrepreneurs, and a wealth of isolated documents that pull together relevant international research. To date, the CSE has developed 3 business case studies that focus on the stories of social entrepreneurs within the context of leadership and strategy. They can be accessed through the GIBS Information Centre.

4. Target Audience
Primary Focus: Social Entrepreneurs
Social Entrepreneurs are the target audience of the CSE. The core group is primarily engaged through the research and networking arms of the CSE. In most cases, social entrepreneurs have already acquired the necessary skills and are well networking within and outside of the sector. There are two main areas to tap into in enlarging the primary focus of the CSE. The first is to regionalise the CSE to include SADC. The second is to attract more social entrepreneurs who are on the fringes of the primary focus. This includes social entrepreneurs who are operating within a business context.
Periphery 1: Non Profit Leaders: NGOs and CBOs
While not a primary focus area, Non Profit Leaders are attracted to the CSE because of the affordable and relevant organisational skills development on offer. In addition, the CSE provides a strong networking opportunity to these individuals within their sector and at an interfacing level with other sectors. The CSE does not have a strong network of CBO leaders.
Periphery 2: Public and Private Sector Leaders
This secondary focus area is one that the CSE can expand on in order to popularise the notion of social entrepreneurs and how best to support them. This can include interfacing sessions between social entrepreneurs / private sector, social entrepreneurs / public sector

Go to their website>> for the full contents of what they offer.

* At last a place where meaningful dialogue can openly take place!
* What are your thoughts?

Social Investment Model

Who is Social Ventures Australia (SVA)

They are an independent non-profit organisation, who have a new and unique model of social investment that aligns the interests of philanthropists with the needs of social entrepreneurs to combat some of Australia 's most pressing community problems. With a focus on accountability and impact, SVA provides funding, mentoring and organisational tools to a carefully selected portfolio of non-profit ventures led by outstanding social entrepreneurs. In doing so, they seek to boost their effectiveness, efficiency, capacity and sustainability through their hands-on approach – effectively delivering a ‘24x7 due diligence' reassurance to the philanthropists who support the work they do.

They seek to strengthen the broader non-profit sector by making their organisational tools accessible to all interested ventures through regularly scheduled workshops, annual conferences and an interactive online portal. (Their online portal is currently being updated.) SVA has Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status and therefore any donations to SVA made by individuals, corporate entities or trusts are tax-deductible.

Their mission and vision

SVA's mission is to identify visionary social entrepreneurs and support them to achieve sustainable social change. SVA unites people in the belief that they need to do more as a community to provide all Australians with the opportunity for Sustainable economic participation - by increasing the number of people with access to, and engaged in, productive and purposeful activity within the community. Meaningful social connection - by building connections with marginalised, diverse and disparate groups to increase the number of people participating in community with a sense of ownership and belonging. A lasting sense of personal significance - by increasing the opportunity for contribution and reciprocity, building a sense of self-worth and value in all people in our community.

To get a full understanding of SVA visit their website on http://www.socialventures.com.au/

• Is this the social venture support model we need in South Africa?
• How do we build the network and linkages with such organisations and others to strengthen our own social ventures in South Africa?
• What are your thoughts/comments?

A new model for Positive world change

Social Profit Network

Around the world, a new form of social change is taking place. In contrast to traditional NGOs, a core set of extraordinary individuals and organizations—called social entrepreneurs—are using business rigor to develop and implement economically sustainable, high-impact solutions to social and environmental problems. Social Profit Network is working with some of the most powerful social entrepreneurs in the world, helping to scale their solutions and maximize their impact.
They help social entrepreneurs:
• Become economically self-sustaining— even cash flow positive—as quickly as possible
• Use cash flow from successful social ventures to launch others
• Develop cost-effective production and distribution methods that maximize both social and economic profit
The social entrepreneurs they work with have:
• Turned traditional medical and technology development, distribution, and profit models upside-down, by making their products affordable for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status
• Changed the way humans view, interact with and protect their surrounding natural environment by creating economically sustainable community engagement models
• Begun to change the way mainstream companies’ design and produce products in ways that don’t just minimize impact but actually contribute to natural systems.

Social entrepreneurs—the highest- impact investment on the planet.

Many people in the world have the common goal of improving the social and environmental state of the planet. Social Profit Network (SPN), believe that one of the most powerful ways to fuel world change is to put more power into the hands of proven social entrepreneurs. SPN defines social entrepreneurs as individuals and organizations that combine the passion of a social mission with business rigor, innovation and determination. The social entrepreneurs with whom they engage strive to make all of their projects economically self-sustaining, and, in many cases, cash flow positive. In their experience, those are the social entrepreneurs who have the greatest impact because they work more efficiently than any other group. Social entrepreneurs are, by definition, entrepreneurial—they have lean, agile, high-functioning teams that work quickly and intelligently to create and implement solutions.

Read the rest of this article and learn more about the Social Profit Network and visit their website on: www.socialprofitnetwork.org

• Is this the way forward for the South African Social Enterprise/Entrepreneurial landscape?
• What are your thoughts/comments?

The Seeds of Change in Philanthropy

“The fish is the last to know it swims in the water”. - Chinese proverb

The new ecology opens up a wide range of opportunities to reinvent and improve the way that philanthropy operates. Many donors are experimenting in response, working hard to improve and adapt while questioning traditional notions of how philanthropy has been done in the U.S. Some are experimenting with their grantmaking strategies, while others are rethinking available resources, redefining the spheres of activity, creating a culture of learning, aggregating actors, and even questioning the foundation form. The result: seeds of change being planted all around, sprouting, cross-pollinating, and in a few cases, bearing real fruit. The second section of the guide looks at the patterns emerging in these innovations, and explores numerous examples of philanthropists who are experimenting with alternatives to the traditional ways of doing things.

Have a look at the OLD PATTERNS OR HABITS and SEEDS OF CHANGE in the full report found at the Future of Philanthropy link: http://www.futureofphilanthropy.org/

What are your thoughts about this? How will this effect the philanthropic landscape in South Africa? Are we entering the 'New Philanthropic Era' with a clear understanding of the issues?

(Source: Looking out for the Future, “An Orientation for Twenty-First Century Philanthropists, Executive Summary written by Katherine Fulton and Andrew Blau of the Global Network and Monitor Institute, members of the Monitor Group)

What is a Social Entrepreneur (SocE)?

There are many definitions of what a Social Entrepreneur is.

The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognise when a part of society is stuck and provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionised the fishing industry:

Identifying and solving large-scale social problems requires a social entrepreneur because only the entrepreneur has the committed vision and inexhaustible determination to persist until they have transformed an entire system. The scholar comes to rest when he expresses an idea. The professional succeeds when she solves a client’s problem. The manager calls it quits when he has enabled his organisation to succeed. Social entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities, societies, and the world.

* Do you agree with this definition?
* Do you have a better way to describe a SocE?
* What are the core strengths of a SocE?

I would be interested in receiving your input and comments.

Study confirms SA's charitable nature

You will be surprised to know that recent findings of the "State of Giving Project's" research report suggests that individuals contribute an average of R920 million per month toward poverty alleviation and development in South Africa. Add to this Corporate Social Investment , Government Social Investment at all levels, Donors etc and you have a substantial investment in Social Development in South Africa. It would appear that contrary to most peoples belief, funds are not the problem:

• Why then do we not feel/see the outcomes and impact on the ground?
• How many Social Entrepreneurs (SocE's) currently exist and where are they?
• What Sectors are they active in and what issues are they addressing?
• Who are the real beneficiaries of their programs?
• What additional support is there for them
• Do we have business mentorship/coaching skills available to be transferred to SocE's
• Are we able to measure and quantify the social impact?

These are just some of the questions needing answers. What are your thoughts/comments?

What is Venture Philanthropy?

Venture Philanthropy is the philanthropic application of venture capital principles and practices to innovative non-profit organisations.

The practice emerged in the 1990's in the US and was based on the premise that if social entrepreneurs could be supported with funding and given access to tools and business advice that would accelerate their ability to achieve their goals, great things could happen.

The establishment and maturing of pioneering organisations is driving real change. There are now 30 venture philanthropy funds in the US, UK and Australia.

Practises that characterise a venture philanthropy model are:

• Multi-year funding;
• Support to a select portfolio of non-profit ventures where depth of impact is received;
• Capacity building and strategic management advice via business mentoring; and
• Outcomes measurement and reporting the social return on investment.

Is this the way of the furure for Social Enterprise (SocE) development in South Africa?

Social Enterprise Development

How do we make Non Profit Organisations or Social Enterprises (SocE’s) make a bigger impact in the region? These SocE’s do exist, driven by passionate people that want to make a difference, but need capacity building to improve their performance? Where to from here?

Social Partnerships

How do industry, government, stakeholders, individuals and social entrepreneurs find a platform where they can interact to engage around empowering social ventures in their drive to address social issues?