This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

• Law and Social Enterprise Fellows Anurag Gupta and Aroma Sharma of NYU School of Law are hosting Legal Bootcamp for Social Entrepreneurs on Tuesday, May 21st at 6 pm. Tickets are $10 and the session will provide activists, entrepreneurs, and social innovators with a framework for thinking about corporate structure and financing. 
• Microsoft YouthSpark is sponsoring Challenge for Change which offers you the chance to share how you want to spark positive change in your community and the world. If you are between 18 and 25 and want a chance to win an epic life-changing experience volunteering in Kenya this summer, $2,500 to initiate your idea into a reality, a Microsoft technology bundle, and the opportunity to serve as a Microsoft YouthSpark ambassador for a year, enter the challenge with your idea by May 24th.
• Each October, Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation fellows get the chance to gain exposure for their organizations, establish a community of support, and receive a $10,000 financial contribution for their venture at Chicago Ideas Week. If you are 35 or younger and have a venture that is innovative and addresses compelling social needs then you should apply to this fellowship by June 6th—winning could mean launching your venture to another level.
• The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides platforms to highlight and advance leading models of sustainable social innovation. The search and selection process has begun to recognize outstanding social entrepreneurs around the world. Global selection is open to all organizations based in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
• Join guest speakers Joyce Sou, Manager at B Corps and Social Impact Metrics, the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, and David Upton of Common Good Solutions for this free webinar—Social Finance Connects: Demonstrating Impact From Corporate Structures to Certifications.On Thursday, May 30th at noon US EST, this webinar will cover corporate structures and certifications which help social enterprises demonstrate their impact.  

Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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Do you have a social entrepreneurship news story or an event you’d like to see on the StartSomeGood Blog? Email Nicole (Nicole @ StartSomeGood.com) or find her on Twitter @nricchio to connect with us.

StartingGood - Interview with Hildy Gottlieb

Today’s guest is author and entrepreneur Hildy Gottlieb, the co-founder of Creating the Future.  She also has the distinction of leading the first organization on StartSomeGood to run three successful crowdfunding campaigns.  We’ll talk with her about the power of positive language, how to recognize the world of abundance all around us and how changemakers just starting out can raise friends, raise funds and galvanize their community to collaboratively create the future.

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This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

• As part of the New York University Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship R.E.A.L Workshop Spring Series, join Michael Mossoba on April 17th for Do Good/Look Good: A Smart Approach to Sustainable Social Impact. This workshop will explore the Dynamic Cause Value framework. This framework systematically assesses the value of a cause to a brand and will help not only executives looking for ways to improve their corporate citizenship programs but also non-profit leaders and social entrepreneurs.
• Are you ready to change your life’s path? The Villgro Fellowship is an opportunity to do something different with your life. This fellowship aims to cultivate a pipeline of leaders with social commitment, leadership, and operational skills to contribute to village development in India. As a fellow you will experience a year of immersion through adventure, learning, and networking. Fellows will work with very closely with an experienced social entrepreneur and develop an in-depth understanding of innovation and social entrepreneurship. If you’re interested in this opportunity to grow both professionally and personally, then act fast! The application deadline is May 15th.
• HUB Bay Area presents 501 See (3) You Later on Thursday, April 18th in Berkeley, CA. For only $5 you can learn how new business models can sustain the arts. A panel of experts will discuss various financial models including B Corps, Low-profit LLCs, and the emerging economy of social enterprises and impact investing. Experts will share essential information on each model while you mingle with arts, culture, and business professionals from all over the Bay Area region.
• Register now using code “Connect” and save $50 for Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored NYC 2013. On April 23rd and 24th, this event will showcase panel discussions and presentations that address conversation, the future of the city, the future of retail, and the future of the un-startup. Register now to reserve your place today.
• Applications for the October 2013 On Purpose cohort are being accepted until Monday, April 15th. On Purpose is a one-year, full time leadership program combining paid work placement with weekly training and regular one-on-one coaching/mentoring to qualified social entrepreneurs focused on addressing the greatest issues faced by society and the environment.

Shawn D. Ross

I am a Northwest Native living in Washington State. A graduate of Washington State University and University of Phoenix with degrees in Architecture and Education I write about social, cultural, and personal improvement on the StartSomeGood Blog and SDRinspire. I am also a filmmaker and owner of Giraffe and Penguin Productions, a single daddy of two beautiful children, avid reader, writer, and hat wearer (Not in that picture but believe me, I wear ‘em). I am currently at work on my first feature length documentary. Follow me @shawndross and visit my websites: sdrinspire.tumblr.com and giraffeandpenguinproductions.tumblr.com.

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What good do you want to create? Visit our site to learn about how to start your own campaign.

This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

• “What if your job, your finances, and your community were all aligned with what you value?” SOCAP: Soul in Boston will help answer this question. On Saturday March 9th join social entrepreneurs, investors, thought leaders, activists, and creatives for an introspective look into what it means to align what you care about with your job and how you invest your money. Register today and join a movement of people who understand the positive impact the intersection of meaning and money has on business and on their lives. 
• Speaking of SoCap—join them, along with Mycelium and Hub Bay Area, for a Google+ Hangout on March 7th at 1 pm EST. ‘Talk Purpose’ will address common questions raised by aspiring social entrepreneurs such as—What are the different ways to generate startup capital for social entrepreneurs? How do we maximize value distribution in a way that’s profitable? What is Empathic Capitalism? Go to the TALK PURPOSE Google+ page on March 7th and press play to watch the Hangout live. You’ll be able to listen to the conversation, leave comments, and send questions to the speakers in the Hangout.
• Applications for the 2013 Social Enterprise Awards, presented by Social Traders and Foresters Community Finance, are now open! The Social Enterprise Awards are the only national awards for Australian social enterprise. In its inaugural year, this program will present awards for the following categories: Small Social Enterprise of the Year, Medium/Large Social Enterprise of the Year, Youth-Led Social Enterprise of the Year, Social Enterprise Innovation Award, and Social Procurement Social Enterprise Supporter of the Year. Get your applications in by March 21st for a chance at $10,000 or a trip to the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.
• This Tuesday evening, March 5th, join the NJ Social Innovation Institute for a conversation on Measuring Collective Social Impact. Collective impact focuses on long-term commitments from various sectors using a common agenda to solve a specific social problem. A panel of experts launching collective impact strategies in New Jersey will lead a discussion on how to measure collective impact. Registration is free, but tickets are limited so be sure to RSVP today!
• Also on March 5th, but in San Francisco, Alex will be leading a Crowdfunding Masterclass at HUB Workbench. If you’re looking to launch a crowdfunding campaign in the near future, this class is for you. It’s a practical, hands-on workshop for anyone interested in raising funds via crowdfunding for their social impact project. Over half of all crowdfunding campaigns fall short of their goals. Make sure you’re part of the half that succeeds. Learn from a seasoned crowdfunding expert in Alex who knows the ins and outs of what works and doesn’t work in running a campaign. Seats are limited to allow for interaction so make sure to book your spot ASAP!

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Do you have a social entrepreneurship news story or an event you’d like to see on the StartSomeGood Blog? Email the details to Nicole and she’ll be happy to take a look at it.

This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

Young ICT Revolution on Larry King’s Sofa!

If you are young and active online and working towards UN developmental goals then your project may be eligible for the World Summit Youth Awards. Don´t hesitate and take your chance - apply for the World Summit Youth Award 2012 edition!

World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) winners will have the honor to be the guests of CNN legend Larry King who has confirmed his participation at the WSYA Winners´ Event which will take place in Montréal, Canada in October 2012.

A panel moderated by an Emmy-award winner and the author of 12 books – Larry King will be one of the highlights of the event hosted by World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2012). High level celebrities, experts of various backgrounds, and WSYA 2012 winners will be among his special guests discussing how to use Information and Communication Technologies to change the world and put UN Millennium Development into real action. 

“I will try to make it informative and entertaining, I will try to bring the panel to the audience to help them understand in what revolutionary time we are living” said Larry King on behalf of the panel.

The best news is that you can still be a part of the event as the registration for the WSYA 2012 edition will be open until July 16!

For more information, please visit the official website.

Also…

This year’s Ashoka Youth Venture Summit will be held July 26^th- 29^th at George Washington University. Over 100 Youth Venturers will be in attendance. Check out the website to register before July 4^th or to donate and help these youth develop into young changemakers.

Earlier this year, BusinessWeek sought your help in finding 25 of 2012’s hottest social start-ups, including entrepreneurs like GreenDot’s production of biodegradable soft plastic to Sseko’s sandal makers—a program teaching Ugandan women how to design and make sandals to fund their educations. Take a look for yourself and vote for who you think is the most promising social entrepreneur before July 12th. The top five most promising social entrepreneurs will then be announced on July 19.

SoJo has announced its official public launch as well as an endorsement from UNESCO! SoJo is a self-guided online resource to help you develop your ideas and achieve social change. Find out what SoJo’s tools can do to help you by visiting their website.

Rachael Casagrande

I am currently working towards a BS in Information Design and Corporate Communication at Bentley University. Before college, I hadn’t any idea where I wanted life to take me so I decided to just let the wind blow me around a bit. The following summer, I shipped myself off to Romania through Learning Enterprises where I volunteered running English camps. The children I met there made me realize how much just one hello, one meal, or one hug can really grow change in someone’s life. After coming back to the US I’ve been keeping myself busy working odd jobs, studying and taking every opportunity I can to mesh my business degree with my love for positive change. 

Meet Lauren Anderson to Discuss Collaborative Consumption

StartSomeGood’s SocEnt Book Club is pleased to host Lauren Anderson, Innovation Director at the Collaborative Consumption Lab to discuss  What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption on our monthly book club conference call. Our call will be held next Wednesday, April 4th at 2 pm PST/5 pm EST.

What’s Mine is Yours is about the phenomenon of sharing that our new connectedness is bringing. Companies like Airbnb, which lets you rent out an extra bedroom for short stretches of time, and Zipcar, which allows users to pick up and drop off cars without owning them, are perfect examples of the new form of sharing that’s growing in our society.

What’s Mine Is Yours has essential messages for social entrepreneurs. Any good venture will take advantage of the culture of collaborative consumption that is becoming more prevalent. At its root, the rise of collaborative consumption should make anyone involved with social entrepreneurship very optimistic because it arises out of an impulse to mutually benefit and improve the world through that action.

Lauren Anderson is the Innovation Director for Collaborative Lab, working with organizations to deliver socially game-changing and profitable solutions in the Collaborative Consumption space, named by TIME as one of the “10 Ideas That Will Change The World”. Playing an instrumental role in building the Collaborative Consumption brand, growing global movement and researching the latest examples for International book editions of What’s Mine is Yours including the UK and Brazil, Lauren is a leading source of strategic knowledge for entrepreneurs, journalists, and venture capitalists who want the latest market insights on new goods and services in the market.

To RSVP and for information on joining Wednesday’s free conference call, please email Aaron(at)startsomegood.com

SocEnt Book Club Review: Walk Out Walk On

Editor’s Note: We will be having a conference call with Deborah Frieze, author of Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey Into Communities Daring to Live in the Future Now on March 7th at 5 pm EST. Email aaron@startsomegood to RSVP!

By Brooke Parker

    If you ever doubt your capacity to literally change the world around you, Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey Into Communities Daring to Live in the Future Now by Margaret (Meg) Wheatley and Deborah Frieze, will challenge you to seize all doubt, walk out of what you think confines you, and get started now as an agent of change in your community. The book opens with the Zapatista saying, “If this place does not have a world for us, then another world must be made,” and all of the seven communities, who are partnered with the Berkana Institute (http://berkana.org/­), create self-sustaining and resilient communities that defy the world they live in while creating ample space for community togetherness, innovation, and discovery.

           The abundance of color photographs, descriptive narration, and even chances for the reader to witness community decision-making, offer the opportunity for a full immersion experience into the learning journey that Meg and Deborah host through Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Greece, and the United States. It is a learning journey not just from country to country, but from solution to solution; a journey that challenges readily accepted societal structures and in turn changes the face of social entrepreneurship.

            The change-makers and leaders in Walk Out Walk On do not have degrees, money, or connections with outside aid, but they are still wholly capable of making lasting positive changes within their community. Their success lies in the powerful shift that takes place when communities focus on embracing their unique culture, using resources they already have, and coming together through friendship.  If it seems too idealistic, let the success of the communities examined in this book serve as a testament to the strength of this shift in priorities. “Start anywhere, follow it everywhere,” is a reoccurring theme in the book that reinforces both the importance of taking action immediately, and also the significance of communities taking small actions together towards bigger changes. When Joubert Park, in South Africa, became a danger zone, divided by race and full of crime and disease (AIDS), a few photographers decided to start taking pictures of the crimes. This slowly started a decrease in the escalating crime rates. Eventually, more members of the community got involved too, and now Joubert Park houses Lapeng Family and Childhood Center; it is not only a daycare, but also a source of unemployed parents to learn essential parenting and workforce skills. The communities in Walk Out Walk On prove no action is too small and resources are never too few. 

            As part of the learning journey, Meg and Deborah also welcome readers to be skeptical and to embrace feeling uncomfortable, especially when a solution for a community seems to challenge what we would consider “progress” towards the future. Meg and Deborah make it clear that the point isn’t to scale up (through technology and reinforcing the same solutions in different places), but to scale across. To use the essence of a solution but individualize it for each place. For example, the idea of Unitierra (a tuition-free school system) spread from Mexico to the United States, but there’s no patent on it. No one profits if it makes its way to every continent. The idea of scaling across eliminates the destruction of consumerism on the dissemination of ideas and solutions, and places value on communities finding the best solutions for their specific needs through the lens of their culture. 

            Walk Out Walk On is a book that challenges our greatest excuses against taking action towards social change: we don’t have enough money, support, or power to make a real difference. However, Meg and Deborah’s learning journey consistently illustrates the most powerful obstacle against these excuses is the choice to act.

            The question is: are you going to walk out and walk on? Are you willing to walk out of your inhibiting societal norms and walk on to the resources you already have alongside your neighbors, friends, and community? 

Meet Brian Reich, Author of Shift & Reset

StartSomeGood’s SocEnt Book Club is pleased to host Brian Reich, author of Shift & Reset: Strategies for Addressing Serious Issues in a Connected Society, on our monthly book club conference call. Our call will be held next Wednesday, January 4^th at 2 pm PST/5 pm EST.

Join the call to hear Brian talk about the challenges facing organizations in our rapidly evolving society, and what some of the strategies for dealing with those challenges are. You will also have the opportunity to ask Brian questions about his book and about how your organization can thrive in the current climate of connectedness. Beware: Brian won’t sugarcoat the challenges facing your organization. Shift and Reset is a wake-up call for all organizations trying to conduct business in the same way they always have, ignoring a new environment. His book was announced on our blog earlier this month.

Brian is the Senior Vice-president-Global Editor for Edelman Digital and regularly blogs at www.shiftandreset.com. Besides that he is a media (he hastens to remind us that this is a lower case “m”) junkie. He reads oceans of newspapers and magazines and follows mountains of blogs. He has been analyzing the changes Web 2.0 has been bringing to our organizational environment for years so his insight is direct and relevant.

To RSVP and for information on joining Wednesday’s free conference call, please email Alex(at)startsomegood.com