Great news from the University of Oxford! Social Edge friend Pamela Hartigan, who was until recently Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, has just been named Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

She said to Social Enterprise Magazine: "This new generation coming in is absolutely going to change things. That's why the Skoll centre is so exciting… It's not just the MBA but the opportunities across Oxford - the students who are saying, 'I want to be an engineer but how can I affect society?'"

You may want to watch her X-Interview, where she shared with Global X that "soon, all entrepreneurs will be social entrepreneurs!"

You may also want to see a picture of Pamela Hartigan with Muhammad Yunus at the 2007 Skoll World Forum. Or read excerpts of the book she wrote with John Elkington, "The Power of Unreasonable People," in which they introduce a new generation of social and environmental entrepreneurs and investigate their business models and leadership styles.

FAST COMPANY just named organizations to their Social Enterprises of the Year honor roll. Each is singled out for “bold and timely ideas that wow us” with “the kind of innovative thinking that can transform lives and change our world.”

We noticed a few Social Edge friends among their selection, for example:

- Acumen Fund: Jacqueline Novogratz was interviewed by Global X last year in Oxford (watch her X-Interview), as were Acumen Fund Fellows Jocelyn Wyatt, Ayeleen Ajanee, Eric Berkowitz, Nadaa Taiyab and Keely Stevenson, who also kept a wonderful blog on Social Edge, From Tribeca to Tanzania.

- Civic Ventures: Marc Freedman, CEO, was on a Skoll World Forum panel on Addressing the Talent Gap.

- HopeLab: Pat Christen, a Peace Corps volunteer who served in Kenya in the early eighties, is now President of HopeLab. Listen to her audio interview here.

- Institute for OneWorld Health: founder Victoria Hale received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

- Mercy Corps: Global X interviewed David Lehr several times, and he is currently hosting a great discussion on Social Edge about Mobile Phones and Development at the BoP.

Elizabeth Hausler, who launched BuildChange to build earthquake-resistant houses in developing countries, won last night the 2008 Equality Award at the Tech Museum.

She recently told Global X that she was finishing her Ph.D. in engineering at Berkeley when an earthquake hit India and killed 20,000 people. That's when she realized that "it's not the earthquake that kills people, it's the building collapsing."

Thanks to her, many homeowners in seismically active developing countries can sleep at night.

Marie Deatherage, Director of Communication & Learning at the Meyer Memorial Trust, wrote on her blog a nice post about the FORGE saga developing right now on Social Edge:

Way better than reality TV

"In case you haven't been following it, there's something really exciting happening on the Internet that I believe deserves the rapt attention all nonprofit organizations, foundations and donors these days.

It's important on a number of levels. It's an amazingly fascinating story. It provides insight into financial challenges facing nonprofits right now. It illustrates the power of collaboration. It reveals how donors think and behave. And it provides a model for radical transparency in communication.

[...]

I must say, this is way better than any reality tv..."

Read the whole post here.
 

For the past six months, Wilford Welch (a former U.S. Diplomat, professor of international business, and publisher) and David Hopkins (a recent college graduate and aspiring social entrepreneur) have been keeping a blog on Social Edge, The Tactics of Hope, a wonderful series of case studies based on a book they wrote about social entrepreneurs and the people who want to join the movement and become part of the solution.

They just released a new video outlining the core concepts of their book. Available on YouTube, it explains what social entrepreneurship is, why it has the power to change the world in profound ways, and how people can join the movement. The video highlights several inspirational initiatives, including Kiva (see The Kiva Chronicles).

Our good friend Martin Burt is one of the 12 finalists in the BBC World Challenge.

In a recent X-Interview, he told Global X that "with dignity, with appropriate finances and the appropriate curriculum, you can turn a poor, 15-year old rural adolescent girl into a rural entrepreneur by the time she is 18, a person who can get a good job in the private sector or make her own job."

Check the BBC video presentation and vote for him!
 

Our friends at NYU Reynolds are starting a new blog on social entrepreneurship to provide a forum for fellows, scholars and practitioners from a wide variety of academic and foundation based social entrepreneurial programs to share updates on their work and their thinking on trends and developments across sectors that impact the world of changemakers.  NYU Reynolds Expert Advisors and Social Entrepreneurial Coaches are also invited to participate. 
   
This new blog should provide an interesting perspective by harnessing the thinking of those that are out there right now, trying to change the world in pattern breaking, sustainable and scalable ways --a virtual place where active changemakers and thinkers can come together and share their thinking with the global community.
 

We at Social Edge are big fans of Sam Goldman. We first met him over a drink in California and agreed immediately to interview him for our Peace Corps Entrepreneurs podcast series. Sam grew up in Mauritania, Pakistan, Peru, India and Rwanda and studied biology and environmental studies in Canada, then launched an NGO in Benin while in the Peace Corps.

He went on to Stanford to get his MBA while launching d.light design to replace toxic kerosene lighting in rural areas with solar-powered light emitting diodes (LEDs). “My neighbor’s son in Benin was badly burned by a kerosene lamp. I decided to provide a source of light that is safe and cheap,” remembers Sam.

That's when he ran into Global X, who interviewed him for our X-Interview series. And that's when we also offered him a chance to share his story on Social Edge. The result: a fascinating blog, let there d.light!

And today, we found out that Sam Goldman had just raised US$6 million in venture funding in a round led by Nexus India Capital. Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures, Mahindra & Mahindra, Acumen Fund and Gray Matters Capital are also participating.

Social Edge, along with its community of emerging social entrepreneurs, is very proud of Sam Goldman. And we should all remember that his advice to social entrepreneurs was: Don’t be afraid of change!

Before arriving in Benin, he was not too fond of the capitalist system, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw that businesses were having a faster positive impact than traditional development organizations. We are glad venture capitalists are joining him in his efforts to fight against toxic kerosene lights.

You may remember that Kjerstin Erickson (watch her X-Interview here) took the risk to be transparent in her blog on Social Edge. As I described in my two previous posts, FORGE's founder very openly blogged about how market fluctuations and misguided strategic decisions were impacting the social venture she launched to help refugees in Africa.
 
There is a new twist in Kjerstin’s story and at least one lesson fellow social entrepreneurs should learn from her experience: transparency may actually pay off. Sean Stannard-Stockton, who wrote on Tactical Philanthropy that hers is "The Most Important Nonprofit Blog,” is now helping Kjerstin get access to a strategy consultant and a PR advisor. For free.
 
Curtis Chang, the strategy consultant who will work pro bono for FORGE, is now posting on Social Edge to help us all understand what Kjerstin and her team should (and shouldn’t) do to make sure FORGE survives:

"Our main role will be to outline a long term plan that builds FORGE’s capacity to market, fundraise, and manage itself in a sustainable fashion. If FORGE makes it out of this current foxhole, they – and their donors – will know what they need to do."

He adds:

 "When the folks at Social Edge heard about this arrangement, they thought it would be a further interesting experiment in transparency to share publicly about our process. They asked Kjerstin and me if we would jointly blog during the project.
 
We agreed but I stipulated that the normal client expectations of confidentiality would then not apply. For instance, if I discovered that FORGE really didn’t have a prayer, well, then I would blog about that. If you’re going to survive by the sword of transparency, you’ve got to be ready to die by it. Kjerstin agreed without hesitation."

Sean Stannard-Stockton has the last word (for now):

“Whether FORGE is saved or not, Kjerstin has displayed amazing bravery. FORGE exists to help refugees rebuild their lives. Kjerstin is willing to do whatever it takes to help them. She cares about the cause over the organization and so should all of us.”
 

1. Get a warm introduction.  It's all about the networking, baby, and if you don't know how to find and cultivate the connections you need, check out Beth Kanter's secret sauce to pumping up your professional network on Social Edge.
2. Anticipate.  Allow yourself plenty of runway and pitch from a position of strength.  Saying "I need money now or I won't make payroll next week" does not instill confidence.
3. Have a clear strategy and seek those who are looking for you.  Know what stage your organization is at, and what stage the funder supports (seed, early stage, growth, late stage). Don't ask for money from people who do not fund organizations at your stage. And depending on your stage: Seed level needs to show they can attract top talent and build a team. Growth stage needs more than a team in place, they need to demonstrate that they can develop and manage talent - a leadership pipeline.
4. Look at the funder's portfolio.  If they have been successful with similar ventures - great!  If they have been burned by similar ventures - it's a hard sell and probably not worth your time.
5. Tell a good story - what makes a good story?
   1. Eye-catching statistics and a problem that resonates.  Clearly state the problem and your solution (what you are doing now), proposed expansion and path to scalability (what's next), and what is needed to increase impact (what they can do to help).
      
   2. Who you are. Show you are a galvanizer with tenacity. It's not the time to be shy.
   3. Who's on your team. Show that you know how to pick and recruit top talent with very relevant experience.
   4. Who's on your board. They want to see that super influential expert in your field stake their reputation on your endeavor.  Funders can't be the subject matter expert in every area so they look for those with unique knowledge to back you.
   5. Great aha moment that makes an emotional connection. What got you into your venture? The beneficiary view on the lasting, significant impact of your endeavor.
6. Plan for 5 minutes (and cover all the important points) but be prepared to speak for an hour.  Too often people are cut off at the knees before they get to their point.
7. Be ready for "No". A lukewarm response means no.  Don't let them string you along.  You probably have 10-15 prospects, get to an answer and move on. Time is precious.
8. "No" is not bad. If you get to pitch, you are already successful.  They are not passing on the opportunity based on the merits of your program but rather based on the fit with their priorities. Find out: What about the venture concerns them? Why is it not a good fit for them at this time? Who would this project be a better fit for and would they share your proposal/business plan with them?
9. Keep the conversation going.  You are selling yourself and your vision.  Continue to get advice and offer your help and expertise.  Be authentic and share your passion for the issue.
10. Avoid the big Red Flag:  A weak, unformed, or uncommitted management team is the kiss of death for investors.