Thank you for all your kind words on last week’s edition, which taught me that inventing fictional emails for comic purposes is a sure fire way to success. It also attracted a threat of being sued for defamation by my mother, and I’m pretty sure she was only half joking. Nothing so creative this week I’m afraid, I was out too late last night for my father-in-law’s birthday (Dinner at Spring in Somerset House, which I highly recommend if you can find someone else to pay) and I’m too tired to come up with anything entertaining. Roll on the weekend!
Here’s this week’s news…
- 6 days left to apply to our PowerUp programme, which is for young people (18-30) affected by gang culture or for social entrepreneurs working within organisations that support young people affected by gang culture. The course is running in London and Liverpool. If you know someone who might be interested, put them in touch with us and we can give them more information.
- Controversy ahoy! Jake Hayman didn’t pull any punches in his well-argued piece Not Fit For Purpose: Why I’m Done With the Foundation World this week, which provoked some interesting comments below the line too. As something of a counter Toby Blume added his voice to the argument with his piece ‘Fit for purpose foundations and the ‘grant making tango’.‘
- We’ve still got a couple of places left on next month’s Action Learning Facilitator Training at SSE London. Our October course is pretty much full so if you want to do the course this year this is your best chance.
- I enjoyed this piece by Karen Roter Davis, ‘Creating Your Minimum Viable Company Culture’, which borrows from lean startup methodology and looks at how organisations can create and retain a company culture as they scale. (That sentence is the most business buzzword sentence that I have ever written. All it lacks is some deep diving and blue sky thinking).
- Do you have an idea for a new social enterprise but need funding to set up? If you are based in Tower Hamlets, Newham or Hackney then the Beyond Business Programme is offering a very generous £17,000 grant to get you off the ground.
- Media Trust are running Speedmatching events in London and Salford over the next few weeks as a way for charities to meet media professionals interested in volunteering. (Someone needs to come up with Tinder for volunteering).
- SSE Fellows need your help to win things! First off Christina Wigmore’s organisation has been shortlisted for a Jewson Building Better Communities Award. Click this link to help them bag a load of dosh. After you’ve voted for Chris, then you can help to support Jaki Bent with her entry into the Virgin Media Business Challenge ‘Pitch to Rich’ contest – click here to support her. It would be great to see these two links being the most clicked this week!
- SSE Fellow Rachel Gilkes is organising a live crowdfunding event in Blackburn on May 29th. £10 gets you a three-course meal and the opportunity to pitch for funding, which seems like a steal. If you are in the North West, make sure to check it out.
- If you are more a lunch kind of person who lives in Bristol rather than Blackburn you might like to head along to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bristol on May 5th for a ‘B-Corp lunch‘. What’s B- Corp? Go along and all will be revealed…
- Finally, SSE fellow Caroline Hearst of Autism Matters is offering two places on her workshop “Exploring Invisible Autism: an informed insider perspective” half price (£40) to SSE fellows or current students – email Caroline to register for a place at this special price.
What’s On at SSE:
- Action Learning Facilitator Training – SSE London, starts 8th May
- Marketing Masterclass, SSE London, 8th June
- Sources of Funding, SSE London, 10th June
- Transition to Trading, SSE London, starts 9th July
