The Top 5 social entrepreneurship debates…in the world…ever

Posted on October 28, 2008 by sse

Part of me thinks I should blog about the new £6m Bank of Scotland social entrepreneur awards, announced this weekend in the Times. Obviously all new money and publicity for the movement is welcome…but my excitement lessened slightly on reading that the awards were for 2 organisations and of that £6m, only £600k was actual cash: the rest is loan, admittedly at very friendly rates in this credit crunch age. Is this what we need in the social entrepreneurship world? Possibly, I guess: will be interesting to see. But with CAN's Breakthrough, Impetus Trust, Venture Partnership Foundation, UnLtd Ventures, Ashoka, Schwab, Futurebuilders et al all concentrating on scaling up/recognising a small number of organisations, is this the best use of £600,000 for social entrepreneurship? Let's hope one of the awards goes to a new outstanding organisation that hasn't benefited from similar sources……

So, instead, I thought I'd discuss a post on the (relatively) new Social Entrepreneurship blog on Change.org (US non-profit social networking site), which I've been enjoying of late. Nathaniel Whittemore posted up what he considered the Top 5 Controversies in Social Entrepreneurship. These were as follows:

– Individual vs. collective
– Definition
– Scale
– Symptoms vs. causes
– Non-profit and for-profit relations

Reading those, and thinking of the posts over the last two and half years and 327 posts (oh yes), I thought that was a pretty decent stab at what lies at the root of most debate and argument across the sector. I guess the symptoms vs. causes one (i.e. are social entrepreneurs ever going to achieve systemic change, addressing the causes) is probably one that is less relevant here; the 'philanthrocapitalism' debate has been predominantly held in the US to this point.

My other point would be that some of these contain more than one debate; the definition debate is about social enterprise vs. social entrepreneurship (structures vs people), but also about earned income vs. structure (eg. 50% earned income means you are…), and, further about Ashoka-Schwab-Skoll social entrepreneur vs. UnLtd-SSE social entrepreneur….although the latter is also about heroic individual vs. networked changemaker, and about scale as a criterion of definition.

So, with large hat tip to Nat for the idea, my 5 would be:

– Scale: by which I mean the "can (lots of) social entrepreneur-led organisations in this movement scale and still retain what made them work in the first place?", but also the "do you have to scale to be a social entrepreneur?" question

– Importing private sector practice: slightly different emphasis from Nat here (who discusses the profit imperative), as I think the large issue is the effective and appropriate use of business and private sector practice, be this in venture philanthropy, evaluation, mergers & acquisitions etc

– Definition: in the UK, particularly, this is a social entrepreneurship and social enterprise question; always sounds semantic squabbling, but is much more important than that: ultimately, it's about where resources are most effectively invested to create social change. All the CIC debate etc is about people vs. structure, ultimately….

– Role of individual: puncturing the myth of the 'heroic individual' is a common thing for us, pointing out that successful social entrepreneurs need to inspire, engage, motivate, network and build effective teams and supporters; but also pointing out that community groups don't spring out of the ether as a fully-formed group…there is always an individual who is the catalyst or spark-plug

– Public service delivery: again, more UK-specific, I think, but you can't move for conversations and debates about whether social enterprise should be responding to the public service delivery agenda (see today's slightly terrifying headline: "Let social enterprises run the NHS") or whether, seeing as they are also meant to be entrepreneurship, innovation and risk, they should in fact be meeting needs NOT being met by public services; not to mention the independence from government, reliance on funding issues…..

So what do you reckon….have I missed an enormous elephant in the social entrepreneurship room?

Made To Stick: why some ideas take hold

Posted on October 27, 2008 by sse

Back in the summer, my role switched to Policy and Communications Director here at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, which has meant a) that this blog is now officially part of my role and b) I've been reading about communications….in the form, most recently, of Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. It's a book all about what makes some ideas 'stick' (i.e. memorable) and, ultimately, about how to communicate ideas effectively. Inevitably they have an idea to help make their ideas about ideas memorable…if you see what I mean:

Simple

Unexpected
Credible
Concrete
Emotional
Stories

You'll note the (near) SUCCES(S) acronym. And it is successful, because I finished the book a couple of weeks ago and have just done that from memory. That boiling down into 6 words gives you the essence of the essence, but there's much more in the book to enjoy, and there's much that lies behind those six words. Particularly relevant to me, given that I head up our evaluation and impact work, was the aspects of how you can use statistics to create credibility…and keep it interesting. For, as the Heaths put it, "Statistics tend to be eye-glazing. How can we use them while still managing to engage our audience?"

No set answer, but different ways of expressing them, through analogies and stories, seems one method (which is presumably why journalists measure things in numbers of double-decker buses and multiplications of the size of Wales).

In the Emotional chapter, there's some interesting research for those seeking direct donations on why people give. And how stories are better than statistics (and better, in many cases, than a combination of stories and statistics) for making an emotional connection that engages. It's interesting to consider, in the context of the rise of philanthropy brokerage, how people who are primed to feel are much more likely to give than people who are primed to calculate. Of course, it's about tailoring to your audience (the geek donors love those metrics, presumably), but the fact that being analytical "hinders our ability to feel" stayed with me.

Most of all, though, I will take away much from the chapter about Stories. Particularly, stories as a means of making people act (while a credible idea makes people believe, and an emotional idea makes them care, stories can inspire and simulate…and lead to action), which is really at the heart of SSE's practitioner- and peer-led methodology. At times, I felt the Heath brothers were writing our material about why we use expert witnesses: "The story's power, then, is twofold: it provides simulation (knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act). Note that both benefits, simulation and inspiration, are geared to generating action". Which is something to quote when we get asked why we don't use teachers and modules, and why the students have to have a project they are working on (so they can act!).

There's much here to ponder, and to push you towards action in your own communication… "Stories are like flight simulators for the brain", "Avoid the curse of knowledge", "If all the stars in the Milky Way were grains of salt they would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool" and so on. Some might seem obvious, but the book frames this stuff really well and, as you'd hope, communicates it effectively. It's been on my shelf for a while, but will now be transferring to the office shelf, which is high praise….

Friday round-up: capitalism, CICs, Camfed and collars

Posted on October 24, 2008 by sse

Quick pre-weekend round-up.

– I covered the Enterprising Solutions Awards earlier in the week, but there was also some good coverage in the Times which is worth checking out

– Whilst we're on awards, huge well done to former SSE Director of Learning Matthew Thomson (pictured left), who is now CEO of London Community Recycling Network. They won the Innovation award in the Third Sector Excellence Awards; congrats to all the other winners and nominees as well, including SSE witnesses and friends Craig Dearden-Phillips, Afrikids, Toby Blume and..er…Duncan Bannatyne.

– Amongst countless "we need a new form of capitalism….now is the time for social enterprise" speeches and articles (to which I will no doubt contribute at some point….), this one by Charles Leadbeater struck me as one of the more interesting/thought-through:

"For most people the next year will not feel like a search for a brave
new economic model: it will be more like hand-to-hand combat to keep
hold of what you have……In all likelihood we will get a mix of subdued capitalism, social capitalism and ugly capitalism, even within the same cities."

– Social Firms UK do consistent, high quality work under CEO Sally Reynolds, and this is a thoughtful piece by her about why the model is important, particularly in the current climate

– Another kick for CICs; in this case from Apprentice winner Tim Campbell…..

– Jeff Trexler is never short of strong opinions; see what you make of this post: "The social enterprise movement has yet to grasp the extent to which it is as much a
product of the bubble as subprime loans and credit-default swaps–it's
not just a coincidence that do-gooders started talking business when
business was good"

– Great article on Camfed in the Financial Times; Camfed was started by SSE Fellow Ann Cotton.

– Harvard Business School Global Business Summit Explores Future of Capitalism might be a title to send me running away, but there's some interesting stuff in here about what is needed to foster social entrepreneurship. Interesting to see business leaders still pushing venture capital and private equity models in this context as a route to solving social problems

– Lucy Bernholz, network queen of US philanthropy, has seen the future, and it looks like this

– I must mention Social Innovation Camp, to which SSE is a Community Partner: check out the site and send in your ideas…..deadline for submissions is coming soon!

– Lots of stuff being lined up for Global Entrepreneurship / Enterprise / Make Your Mark / Unleashing Ideas etc week (slightly confused branding, methinks…)……and SSE staff and representatives will be covering as much ground as possible: particularly on the 20th November which is Social Enterprise Day (coming just behind Christmas and birthday here, of course). Check out Unleashing Ideas for a sense of what's happening around the world.

– And finally, check out this story in the Huffington Post about how a book about "Green Collar" workers reached the bestseller lists. Just try not to wince when you read the bit about how revolutionaries are being replaced by "solutionaries", which must be officially the worst thing done to the English language this year….

Cheers!

Enterprising solutions awards 2008

Posted on October 21, 2008 by sse

SSE attended the Enterprising Solutions Awards last night at the V&A Museum, and despite our esteemed CEO being on the judging panel, we had no idea about the winners. Click on the previous link or read this article to see the full list. I was delighted to see Sunlight win an award (for best new SE), as I think they are a really credible organisation that delivers and has its values written through it; and was great to see lots of them enjoying the ceremony and the event to the full. The main winner, presented by new Minister for the Third Sector Kevin Brennan, was Phone Co-op, which is well deserved. I remember switching our broadband to them about 3 years ago, and they have our business on customer service and price as well as the added social value.

Most people around me were particularly taken with NMC Design and Print (check out the site) and they showed their entrepreneurial spirit by promoting themselves and their services wholeheartedly in the networking afterwards. Well done to Dan and Alan (who I chatted to for a while) and the rest of their team. They’re on our list for our next design and print job.

And, of course, well done to the team at SEC, especially Mamoona Shah who looked somewhat frenzied when we arrived (as is the nature of these things), but pleased and relaxed later on. The event went without a hitch pretty much, and there was a very good buzz at the networking afterwards. Difficult to get a dynamic energy going in such a grand, enormous hall, but the networking cut through the church-like atmosphere and the enjoyment took off from there (NB – this may be connected to alcohol consumption). I stumbled across 3 SSE Fellows chatting away (and monopolising the hamburger canapes), chatted to the good people from the Westminster Children’s Society, and chewed the fat with several of the nominees and award winners. Also had great chats with Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod and with Caryl and Vandna from Voice4Change.

Gossip was thin on the ground (though perhaps the after-party might have been more fruitful in that respect), but I was thoroughly delighted to be barely recognised by Liz from the OTS because I was wearing a suit…a definite compliment, I think.

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Made To Stick: why some ideas take hold

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