Thursday round-up: karaoke, kicking and kiva

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Ok, a brief round-up of some useful links and info, having surfaced for air from various bits of writing. Sadly, no photos or film from the SSE Christmas do last night as yet (which ended with karaoke), but perhaps in the New Year…All I'll say is that there was a version of Hallelujah which won't be appearing on X Factor any time soon. On to more important things:

– Starting unbiasedly with ourselves, SSE has contributed the Social Entrepreneurship chapter to the Philanthropy UK Guide to Giving. I think it's a useful one-pager for people looking for an introduction to this world.

– Voice 09, SEC's big event, is coming together. Check out the details online…and probably see you in Birmingham.

– Piece in the Times today on celebrities and social enterprise which is interesting-ish

– Good report on tackling worklessness by Blackburne House CEO (and SEC Chair) Claire Dove which pushes the need for (socially) entrepreneurial mindsets and self-employment

– Rod Schwartz continues to kick CICs, this time calling for action to change some of the regulations in light of the rapidly decreasing interest rates

– You may well have read the report on the Social Enterprise Ambassador programme shake-up (with two asked to leave); there's an interesting post + comments over on Rob Greenland's blog where I've contributed a fair bit

– The Spark programme for homelessness / social enterprise projects is renewed and open to new applications

– Third Sector covers the social enterprise debate / identity project

– Lord Mawson responds to the Queen's Speech and uses the opportunity to talk social entrepreneurship

– SSE Australia is happening; see here and here for more info

– I found this post, entitled Kiva is a menace very good in terms of how what seems to be an "internet-based" idea that can easily be replicated is actually much more particular, not least of which is that their leadership (I've met both Flannery's on different occasions) are so bloody good. Essential reading for those who are doing a "It's like Kiva meets MoveOn" type project

– NESTA are doing some interesting things in social finance

– And Nathaniel Whittmore continues to write great content on the Change.org blog; let's back his Make Social Entrepreneurship Support part of the National Service Plan (US) idea

– Check out Robert Mulhall, a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Fellow (we love SEI), talking about his work on Irish TV

Till next time…..

Human bandwidth

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Human bandwidth is a new term for me, which somebody used in conversation yesterday. They meant it specifically in relation to being able to deal with the amount of information that flows into our inboxes, TV sets, radio stations, newsfeeds…..but I think it's a useful, more general way of thinking about our own personal capacity to do things, or process them. Or, as this post puts it, "what can you eliminate from your routine?"

Which, given that there seems to be an increasing trend for deadlines around the Christmas period, resonates strongly with me at the moment.

Longer posts to follow when bandwidth increases…..

Social Entrepreneurship Summit video from Toronto

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Just a quick link to the video footage from the Social Entrepreneurship Summit in Toronto in mid-November. And, though there are few things worse than watching yourself on video (and this is no different: it's all learning, I guess…!), here's the video of my presentation at the conference, along with that of Nigel Biggar from the Grameen Foundation. (To skip to the true horror, my bit is from about 6 minutes in, and also feature in the Q & A at the end; the presentation that goes with it is here).


SES08 – Social Metrics and Educating Social Entrepreneurs from SiG @ MaRS on Vimeo.

Bank of America funds SSE

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Yes, we've been awarded funding by Bank of America under their Neighbourhood Excellence Initiative Awards, which is marvellous news. Bank of America are also really enlightened about the way they fund, making clear it is completely unrestricted and comes with a leadership / capacity-building support programme for two people in the organisation. So our Chief Exec Alastair Wilson and Development Director Ian Baker will be taking part in that, along with 40+ American organisations and one more London-based organisation (Trees for Cities). We're dead chuffed, of course, and it's been great getting to know Beth, Amy and the rest of the team at the bank. Kudos to Ian in particular who wrote our stellar bid. Which is why it's only fair that he got to hold the big cheque, receive the award, and make the speech! Good work!

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Most excitingly of all, come January time, the part-nationalisation of Bank of America makes us funded, at least a little bit, sort of, by incoming President Barack Obama. What's not to love?

Death, sex and doughnuts (learning from experience)

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One of the best things about travelling overseas for work (and there are plenty of downsides too) is the people you end up meeting. Often, strangely, this is not the people in the country you are visiting, but the people coming out from the UK for the same event. Indeed, some of my best UK networking has happened overseas.

The same was true on the recent trip to China, where I was part of a delegation including people from the Young Foundation, NCVO's Compact Team, the Office of the Third Sector (including Anne McGuire, the new government adviser on third sector innovation), the British Council, and the Welsh Assembly. It was fascinating to learn over dinner (and the odd drink) about their various experiences which had led them to this point, which ranged from conducting research on doughnuts (and why they are big sellers in Colombia and Saudi Arabia), reading articles on the sex lives of armadillos, and seeing behind the scenes at crematoria. Not hugely relevant to social entrepreneurship, you might think (and indeed, you might be right) but there is something about freeing up your brain and getting outside experience that brings you back to the organisation with fresh eyes and ideas. And about other people (with equally fresh eyes) asking questions about your work and your organisation from different fields and sectors that challenges and causes you to think anew about your work.

And about death, sex and doughnuts, of course.