The Case for Online Support for Social Entrepreneurs

Hello Social Edge community, I'm excited to host this discussion on the development of innovative tools to support social entrepreneurs. Please post your thoughts below. I'll be sure to respond quickly and/or bring in the right people who have relevant expertise. All the best, Peter

www.1kgbook.org is an open set of public book donations, school libraries, to guide reading, sharing of feedback and other functions of the network platform. In this platform, we establish the channel for a donor, NGO, business, clients and the public funds and help them to donate and manage the books conveniently. These books are all sent to the poor countryside schools in China.

Ironically, the use of the internet to engender a new model of doing business was one of the themes of our founding paper in 1996.

http://www.p-ced.com/about/history/

As a UK business using profit to fund our pro-poor activism in Eastern Europe, we could greatly benefit from business endorsements. With my own 40 years experience of technology and my colleague's pioneering profit for purpose approach, we are not short of the expertise, but have yet to be procured by another social enterprise. The concept of building a social economy exists as words, but is rarely seen in practice, even where SE became part of government policy in 2002.

It's seemingly impossible to be published in any social enterprise publication, even comments submitted to editors are disregarded.

Yes, ordinary people might help connect, but then if they can't find us and don't know what we're doing that probably won't happen. The efforts which will draw most public attention will come from the large organisations that have an abundance of promotional resources.

Jeff

Hi Jeff, I would hope that the representatives of large organizations and companies reading your response can see the opportunity here.

If I'm not mistaken, you are saying that corporate philanthropy / cause marketing / social marketing could be rewired to support social enterprises.

In this department, Advanta has demonstrated tremendous leadership already. The credit card company has poured 100s of thousands of dollars into Ideablob, a crowdsourced platform to award creative business plans (many of which are social enterprises). I would never have known of Advanta without Ideablob. Nor would I have encountered a wealth of entrepeneurs using Ideablob to draw attention to their creative businesses.

Who will be next? Which corporations will take the step of moving their corporate philanthropy dollars from supporting nonprofits to supporting social entrepreneurs? And when they do it, will they simply fund the social entrepreneurs, or will they invite ordinary people to get involved in the work of these budding organizations?

You raise a lot of important questions.

We're in the position of a small social enterprise serving large organisations and government. Many of these are involved in CSR activities of their own or actually sponsor nonprofit type social enterprise and at the same delay or renege on payment for contracted services. This is not deliberate, of course. Just a failure to apply a business wide awareness of the social commitment.

On another business network a conversation with a CSR journalist had her acknowledge that CSR is brand associated and would not trickle down to social purpose business. In that I believe she's correct having been asked to remove a reference to one of our corporate customers (still in arears) from our website. I guess they surmise that we might undermine their business by association.

And yes, the support of social enterprise, engaging them as suppliers is a very new idea. Too new for most to take in I suspect.

I'm a big fan of the transparency that Kjersten Erickson and FORGE is going through right now and love the fact that Curtis Chang is sharing his consulting thoughts with the rest of us to provide an in-depth look of the challenges of FORGE and what might be done. I think this is a great way for the rest of us to learn from the challenges of FORGE and also share our experiences and individual areas of expertise.

Kjersten isn't the first one to blog about her experiences as a social entrepreneur, but she is one of the few that has had the courage to say, "I don't know what to do and I need help." There is a false perception that entrepreneurs need to know everything and many who start enterprises for the first time, think they're supposed to have all the answers. As a result, many social entrepreneurs don't know how to ask for help when something goes wrong (what do I tell my investors and employees? how do I admit I made a mistake?) and when giving the pitch, don't know how to ask for honest feedback. (I know this from personal experience, as someone who started a social enterprise as part of the business plan competition process, and as someone who has TA'ed several classes in social entrepreneurship). We admire those social entrepreneurs that believed that they were right when others were wrong (just read Bornstein's How to Change the World), but we forget how many social entrepreneurs believed they were right when they were actually wrong.

Now that I've graduated and have been working in the philanthropic sector, I see firsthand the importance of being able to integrate multiple viewpoints into the decisionmaking process. It's not enough to surround yourself with people who tell you what you're doing is great - if everyone's not worried, then there's probably something wrong with the methodology of who you're choosing to ask, since starting a social enterprise is inherently a very risky proposition. That's why I think selecting an open-minded, intelligent, and diverse group of individuals to your board is the most critical component of starting a social enterprise - something underemphasized in the social entrepreneurship collaboratories at the Stanfords and Harvards and the mainstream social entrepreneurship books, which focus on business plans and the qualities of the social entrepreneur (i.e. perseverance, good intentions, innovative ideas), respectively, rather than other determinants of success, like developing a strong team and designing good feedback loops.

As part of providing a good feedback loop, I'd love to see something happen on Social Edge, where someone hosts a conversation each week where a real organization or a real social entrepreneur with a real (and particularly interesting) question is able to ask the Social Edge community for help. There are so many people here with unique ideas and experiences that I sometimes think it's not enough to have people blog about their experiences or spark conversation on a particular topic (as much as I do love and read the blogs and conversations here on Social Edge), but that somehow we have yet to really tap into the wisdom of the crowd, because we haven't directly asked the crowd for help. I'd like to see Social Edge or someone develop a successful crowdsource model where every week, an idea is selected and reviewed by the community, and possibly even funded. It would be even better if other resources were connected with this watering hole of sorts, but just having a place to pitch an idea and get honest feedback would be great (I've been to a couple venture capital speed dating events and asking people within my own network has been great, but so far, I haven't really found a good place to get good, solid feedback as a social entrepreneur in the startup phase besides the myriad of networking events, et al).

Tony, your response gets to the heart of the problem, and one that I hadn't fully considered when I was drafting this discussion intro.

For mass public involvement in social entrepreneurship to flourish, social entrepreneurs would have to be open to advice and transparent in what they do.

I'm coming at this discussion from a more nonprofit and opensource perspective. At Social Actions, I blog about everything we're doing, where we're headed, the challenges, the business model, everything. This creates the openings for people to share add their creativity, connections, (and sometimes capital) to the project.

I forget that social entrepreneurs who abide by a more traditional business mindset are often reluctant to bare all online in order to gain the support from a few good souls.

The Kjersten Erickson's are few and far between.

Your suggestion of a weekly critique my social enterprise series on Social Edge is spot on. That would be a great starting point to encourage more social entrepreneurs to be transparent and open to support.

For those of us who are already open to individuals serving as full partners in our work, I maintain that new online tools should be created to systematize this kind of mass participation in our work.

Mild provocation:

Broad public involvement in supporting social entrepreneurs would permit the movement to achieve a scale and impact that even traditional business has yet to achieve. Secrecy and a guarded business plan stunts our collective impact.

Peter,

Great post and something I'm working deeply on now. Some things that have struck me in this process:

• we're ultimately talking about peer-producing organizations (social ventures) - for me that's more about the venture than the entrepreneur (that's what the entrepreneur needs support for) - i think the opportunity is in brokering a social venture's needs (to get things done that advance the venture) with the contributions of individuals (comments, cash, connections...) - if ventures expose their needs and it's easy for people to contribute... i think we'll have the initial conditions for this to happen

Some other side notes: - i think we are overly focused on ideas and smarts in our culture (actions are way more important to a social venture/entrepreneur) - ventures need to expose their needs (themselves) if they want to give people meaningful opportunities to participate in their production. This is very different than transparency which for me seems to come more from the funding/governance/control perspective. Maybe another way to frame it --- I think 'full monty's' are more fun that xrays. :-)

Great stuff... thanks for leading this conversation!

Hi Michael, Thanks for weighing-in on the conversation.

For people who missed it, Michael (@igniter on Twitter) has a presentation on what peer production of social ventures would look like, and it dovetails very well with this discussion.

Please have a look here: http://igniter.com/post308

On Exposing needs versus Encouraging transparency, I appreciate you drawing a distinction. In the nonprofit world, there are plenty of organizations that are happy to expose their needs without being transparent in the least. And there are groups that aspire to transparency without exposing any opportunities for people to get involved in making a difference.

In short, I think the right conditions for inviting people to support the work of social entrepreneurs would require a good dose of both transparency and exposing the needs on the part of social entrepreneurs / social ventures.

I also appreciate your emphasis on action, and not just advice. The tools that I'm envisioning would be geared toward taking action on behalf of a social entrepreneur (see the brainstorm of actions listed above). Are there other actions you think people could take support social ventures? Could they be systematized... ie, click here to introduce this social entrepreneur to someone in your LinkedIn network or click here to make the business plan more inclusive and environmentally friendly.

Thanks again Michael. I'm glad you're voice is part of the discussion.

Peter - i certainly agree that transparency is helpful and important - and in the context of getting people to meaningfully engage there need to be meaningful actions they can take in building the venture. The more transparent the venture the higher the trust and the more able the contributor will be able to make a valuable contribution.

Ironically, I'm actually less interested in a platform that tries to match skills or tries to group types of action. My sense is that people will act based on affinity with specific organizations and find tasks by following ventures they like and tracking the needs they expose... making many contributions to the same venture over time. I think this is a core difference - and maybe a bit more like http://tradevibes.com.

I think too that the tools have to be simple and as much as possible not require anyone to come to a single destination.

Thanks for prompting this because I'm right in the midst of feeling my way through this. We're working with stocktwits.com as a base platform model and will focus on the simple ways to build out venture profiles as well.

Hi Michael, I agree. Multiple points of entry and building long term relations with specific entrepreneurs / social ventures are key. A platform or collection of tools can make this happen.

The alternative is that social entrepreneurs and ventures expose their needs in a one-off and uncoordinated basis, and a result, people have a hard-time finding their way to those opportunities.

Of course, an aggregated approach to identifying those exposed needs could also solve the riddle.

All the best, Peter

Oops

Make that "i'm glad your voice is part of the discussion."

People may also be interested in this post on Change.org, "Support a structure for entrepreneurs to support entrepreneurs"

http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/featured_idea_support_a_structure_for_entrepreneurs_to_support_entrepreneurs

Excerpt: Marc Dangeard, the founder of Entrepreneur Commons, has posted an Idea for Change in America that I'm really excited about. His idea (which is the idea animating Entrepreneur Commons, as well) is that entrepreneurs make the best mentors for other entrepreneurs, and that we should help build alternative startup support structures that bring entrepreneurs together. Check out his informative thoughts below:

What's the idea ? The idea is to provide a platform to allow entrepreneurs help entrepreneurs through mentorship but also new funding opportunities, with an inclusive funding mechanism for entrepreneurs (instead of just luck or the competition model offered by VCs and Angels).

And btw - I love what Marc is doing with the Entrepreneur Commons - particularly the mutual support - reminiscient of the most successful forum components of the Entrepreneurs Organization and Young Presidents Organization. The mutual investment model is very interesting as a way of mitigating risk and encouraging mutual support.

I am finally finding time to get into this discussion. Thank you for mentioning Entrepreneur Commons :-)

On the social networking side we do have a discussion group which could be the beginning of a place where people talk and share ideas and experiences about their social business. However we have been focusing mostly on building real relationships with real people in various location so far, because my experience with online is that while it is a great place to start conversation, nothing replaces the live interaction in the end.

And since change.org is mentionned, I would like to say that this is so far the best user interface I have seen for networking online. But as mentioned at the beginning of this whole discussion, it is unfortunately geared today towards pure non-profit. You have to be a 503c to be listed there, which is too bad. But can be explained by the legal issues that come with trying to fund online anything else.

On the funding side and dealing with for-profits, there are places like prosper.com, zopa.com and lendingclub.com that have ventured into the peer to peer lending but this is still very early stage, and the problem is so complex that they have not been able to expand beyond a very simple product so far. Prosper is now placed on hold by the SEC, which is a good demonstration of the fact that this is a complex issue. LendingClub did a better job on the legal side and they have now introduced a secondary market place, increasing the level of liquidity for the loans by allowing people to resell their loans to one another. A major improvement in what is possible online. Then for accredited investors there is http://www.pcmexchange.com/ which is also just starting. Another great possibility, but again it will have to mature a bit before it gets out of the mainstream investment to open up to social investment.

One the big issue I find is in the definition of what a Social Business is. There is a huge bias towards the definition that Muhammad Yunus has focused on in his book "Creating a World without poverty", which is mostly related to helping with poverty. Meanwhile I believe that any business that decides to focus on being profitable and help the community instead of focusing on maximizing profit is a social business. There is a discussion coming up next week on Social Edge on just this subject I invite you to join and contribute your thoughts on the issue then.

Meanwhile this current bias in the basic definition explains a lot of why there is this gap in the tool provided. It is good that discussions like this one here help bring some light on the issue.

By the way, and since it was mentioned, another way to raise awareness on the issue would be to make the Entrepreneur Commons idea I submitted on Change.org visible enough that we make it to the top 10, so if you read this please vote: http://www.change.org/ideas/view/sponsor_a_structure_for_entrepreneurs_to_support_entrepreneurs

Thanks for adding your comments to this discussion. I'll be keeping a close eye on The Entrepeneur Commons to see how it develops.

On the Change.org side of things, I would be surprised if you see them expand beyond the 501c3 category of social change organizations in the coming years. Their model of high quality blog content plus actions is very sticky. Once proven in the nonprofit space, I'm sure they'll be looking for areas to expand into.

Prosper, LendingClub, Zopa all seem to have a strictly monetary support focus. I'd like to see a platform developed that focuses equally on the transfer of creative ideas and connections as on the transfer of money. Fortunately, creativity and connections are less problematic from an IRS perspective.

Thanks again for joining the conversation.

Hey Peter et all!

Great discussion! Thanks so much for hosting it. These are really important issues and at the heart of a lot of the blogging and conversation we do over at the social entrepreneurship portal on Change.org

One of the things that I think is key about all this is that even if we did have the platforms that enable direct contributions that connect individual skills with social entrepreneurs that need them, we would need to remember that platforms for giving are different than reasons for giving. This is why even though something like GlobalGiving provides an incredible platform for international development project funding, it still needs to find specific contexts like competitions to drive people to provide.

One question then is what are contexts that could be leveraged for this type of social entrepreneurship support? The University setting is one of the best. campusCatalyst (www.campuscatalyst.org) is a great example of how you can take the universities "learning" context and overlay a social mission to create positive change. With cC, teams of 5 students learn about social innovation, nonprofit work, etc and then play a "consulting" role for Chicago-area nonprofits.

What do people think are some contexts - classroom settings, holiday giving competitions, weddings, etc - which could be leveraged to get people to think about coming together and sharing their resources to help social entrepreneurs achieve specific goals?

Hi Nathaniel and Peter, I am enjoying the conversation and the excellent feature suggestions for Social Edge! However, Nathaniel, I think you hit my question spot on. If Social Edge, or another platform, were to offer Open Advice - peer advising for the featured social entrepreneur venture of the week, how could we ensure that the expertise needed was provided?

In other words, what kind of incentives could be offered or what value (besides the intrinsic joy of helping) could the person offering expertise receive? I think for this kind of resource matching to work, there has to be something in it for both parties. A reason to come back and a way to be notified when their specific expertise is needed. Do you think we can come up with that value or do you think there needs to be stipended/paid expertise on-call in addition to peer and community crowd-sourced knowledge to make something like this work?

Your suggestion of the university setting as one context is a great example of this. As with the Global Social Benefit Incubator (whose competition is hosted on Social Edge and begins in January - less than a month away!), the academic partner is key. Not only do they provide expertise, but they learn and the students learn from the experience as well. It's a fit with their curriculum and a value to them as well as the applicants.

Another context might be consultants and service providers, who by sharing pro-bono expertise in this sort of open advice forum, could get, more or less, "marketing" and new clients. Would that be enough motivation? Would they have the time and interest?

In sum, what would take it take to make a successful resource/expertise matching venue? What would give social ventures and "the experts" the incentives to create and maintain a profile and level of participation in such a site? And why isn't there a successful model of this already? Can we in the field of social entrepreneurship together build a prototype of this that others in the nonprofit or larger activist communities could then copy?

Hi Jill, Great questions, and even better answers. Adding value for the would-be supporter of the social entrepreneur should could come in many forms.

The exposure value for consultants providing pro-bono support is an excellent point.

I also wouldn't underestimate the feel-good return on helping. People lend on Kiva because it feels good, and the money boomerangs back. If you were to build out this toolset on SocialEdge, you might want to include the lending model. Users could lend money (and get it back when/if social entrepreneurs succeed), and then they could add their connections and creativity to increase the likelihood that they'll see their money again.

I also think bragging rights will factor in as a value add for serial supporters of social entrepreneurs. I envision that the toolset would include the opportunity to become fans of a social entrepreneur, or add their latest project to your "portfolio". The portfolio could list the date on which someone starting supporting the social entrepreneur as proof that they saw the talent before she reached the big leagues.

Finally, we should be doing some research to see where and how this distributed support of social entrepreneurs has already happened. Our goal is not to invent something new, but simply to systematize and replicate the one-off success stories from the wild.

All the best, Peter

Jill, I think these do exist, though perhaps not specifically targeting social entrepreneurs in many areas. Unsurprisingly it's a subject that arose quickly in the network for co-creating opportunity that erupted from the readership of Daily Kos a couple of weeks ago.

http://kossacksnetworking.ning.com/

In the commercial world, I cite the example of Ryan Notz whose business featured in an Observer newspaper article. I had met up with Ryan when his project was just getting started in 2006. He'd set up Buildersite.com, now renamed MyBuider.com when finding himself in the US travelling long distance for work and knew there must be a way of finding local resources.

In the UK we have various membership organisations, some I believe fully government funded which solicit social entrpreneurs as members, there are some making rudimentary efforts to list their members businesses or services. That includes our Social Enterprise Coalition, who probably don't know themselves that we're a software development business.

One useful resource for promoting services I found is freeindex.co.uk but though I've suggested a social enterprise category there, nothing seems to have happened. As I've also discovered, feedback can only be derived from customers and not beneficiaries, so what one does in terms of a social output doesn't accrue reputation.

Thinking about the context of a campus environment, this along with a national scale policy for delivering social enterprise was one of the recommendations we delivered to the Senate Foreign Relation Committee in a strategy paper for Ukraine, where we're working now. What happened after was the launch of the East Europe Foundation which seems now to be creating all kinds of projects involving business in community endeavours. So, ironically it seems that although we may be able to influence social enterprise overseas, we face an immovable object at home in the UK where it's been part of government policy since 2002.

One last thought, on the idea of Open Advice. Something that seems to happen most in an informal way on Ned.com the former Omidyar network, and perhaps some of the other more recent cause promoting sites. According to UK government there are more than 50,000 social enterprises in the UK alone, a thousand year project if they all turned up here. My impression, perhaps I'm wrong is that what we do see on Social Edge is the MBA graduate entrepreneur story and perhaps a tendency to assume that this is where most social enterprise innovation derives from.

Jeff

Thanks for the comments Jeff. You bring up a few points that I think are critical to designing successful solutions that enable people to offer meaningful support or take actions to aid a social entrepreneur venture.

The first is targeting. As you mentioned, the sphere of nonprofits is huge, social enterprise very large, so it is important to be able to narrow down to hybrid/nonprofit social entrepreneurs (including the range from MBA graduate entrepreneurs to more grassroots social entrepreneurs). People need an easy, manageable and clearly defined way to find and sort through innovative, systemic-change social ventures. (As you point out about freeindex.co.uk, without a category or way to filter/find social enterprise, it is less useful.)

The second is the redundancy. Because of the number of membership organizations (all providing great value), resource matching would be most beneficial if organizations only had to maintain one organization profile page that could be called/served up by all the membership organizations they affiliate with. Think of the time savings. Kind of an open ID for your Organization "About Me" profile page that could be visible and searchable from numerous sites. Then you would have a reason to keep it updated and have a greater chance of having your expertise requests met.

Which brings up the third point which is context. At Ned there is an informal exchange which works where people with shared interests find each other. If there were a way to facilitate offers and requests for help across sites and in a contextual way, this would help more experts see relevant opportunities to help. This is what is so great about SocialActions widget that automatically serves up relevant actions people can take based on the content of an article (such as an article about AIDS and kids in Africa where the widget finds actions a member of the public can do to increase awareness, fundraise, etc. to fight aids, help kids) What if when you were reading the Forging Ahead blog, next to it were Forge's requests for expertise, and requests from other social ventures working with refugees or aiding people in Zambia were there as well? One expert might be able to help all three and the social ventures might even be able to help each other. Multiply this contextual placement across the various social entrepreneurship sites based around the globe.

The fourth topic you bring up is reputation systems. In the private sector there is a growing number of "referral" based reputation sites (some like the MyBuilder.com you mentioned like Judysbook & Yelp, that connect people locally to review service providers and restaurants, etc; and other sites that aggregate activity data to make recommendations- people who bought this/liked this also liked this). In this case, I think it's less about referrals but there is still a need for recognition for quality contributions and a place for displaying credentials. Thoughts?

How important are these things? Is this overcomplicated? Is the real question - are there requests/expertise that social entrepreneurs have that are not being currently met?

Hi Jill, I don't think you've overcomplicated the situation. You've actually boiled it down to four areas that anyone building a p2p solution to support social entrepreneurs would need to consider:

• niche - distribution - placement - reputation

I bet we could put together an incredible team to visualize what the solution could look like, and it would be really awesome to include the existing online hubs of conversation / support of social entrepreneurs, SocialEdge included.

Thanks for the shout-out about the Social Actions Related Ways to Take Action widget. People can find it here (and of course, we can do the same thing for ways to support a social entrepreneur):

http://blog.socialactions.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2062983:BlogPost:5328

To answer your question, "Are there requests/expertise that social entrepreneurs have that are not being currently met?"

YES, emphatically so. Think about all the people who don't happen to live in the Bay Area (read = who don't run into well-connected, wealthy and creative people on a daily basis). The entrepreneurial among them have brilliant ideas simmering and the ware-with-all to make their social ventures happen. With the right online toolset, I feel strongly that we can create a "Bay area simulation".

The NetSquared.org platform has served this role for me, as I was launching Social Actions. I'm sure something more robust (all due respect to NetSquared) and more tailored to social ventures could unleash tremendous good.

People might have a look at the Pop!Tech Accelerator program. They are doing what I'm envisioning, albeit on a limited scale:

http://www.poptech.org/accelerator/

All the best, Peter

Jill, Peter, Nathaniel, et al.

Wow. Very cool stuff! From Open IDs to niche sites, the ideas being proposed here are really, really cool. I still remember when group management systems like Yahoo!Groups and social networking sites like Orkut were the really fun toys to play with (now I feel old, hehe).

So, can we do what Peter's suggesting - put together an incredible team to visualize what the solution could look like - and actually do it?!? I think a team could put together a proposal, get a foundation or affinity group to fund the due diligence and possible development of the project, and make this a reality..

There are definitely requests/expertise that social entrepreneurs have that are currently not being met - everything from finding advisers, consultants, vendors, funders, etc. to board members, staff, sales channels that really could be facilitated by an online hub.

Hi Tony, I'm with you. After this discussion moves off of the homepage of SocialEdge, we should form an exploratory team (maybe in the form of a Google group) to start visualizing the solution.

Since posting this discussion, I have come across a number of networks that are in the process of creating something similar to what we're discussing here. The important part will be to include these networks in the exploratory team, and in fact, champion their projects instead of a new network where possible.

Zoombala is the latest online platform to support Social Entrepreneurs that I have come across:

http://www.zoombala.com/index.html

"Zoombala™ is a social network and online platform developed by Social Entrepreneurs for Social Entrepreneurs. Zoombala™ will connect aspiring social entrepreneurs to the financial resources, mentors, potential business partners, and educational resources they need to succeed.

Zoombala™ wants to increase deal flow. With real time link ups to Mentors and Investors the Zoombala™ Team believes they have a powerful solution to an all to real problem for early stage social enterprises."

It's so funny that you mention Zoombala - Zoombala was started by a good friend of mine, Jason Carvalho (we met at the Skoll Forum a few years ago and stayed at the same dinky hostel) and we had a similar conversation while we were both in Taiwan about many of the ideas discussed in this forum (making the network self-sustainable through monetization, making the network meaningful by increasing deal flow, etc). I'm surprised though that you stumbled upon it, because I didn't think it was on anyone's radar at this point!

Anywho, I think a Google Group is a good idea - and we should invite anyone here who wants to be a part of that conversation once we get the group up and running. My contact info is tonyjwang [AT] gmail [DOT] com.

Jill great thoughts! GSBI is a terrific example and I think some of the work groups like Taproot Foundation are doing are beginning to demonstrate the possibilities for consulting and pro-bono.

One thought: part of the success of Kiva is how quickly the "whole task" is accomplished, right? Within days of your contribution, the project is funded. Incredible. The satisfaction moves so quickly.

Is there a mirror for that when you're contributing skills?

Hi Nathaniel, Great point on speed and relevance. Some of the meaningful actions that people could take in support of social entrepreneurs would provide immediate feedback loops, and immediate satisfaction for the supporter. The returns on other actions would take longer to emerge. I think we should be looking for the right combination of fast-food Kiva dynamics and good things come to those who wait Ketchup dynamics. :-)

On the reason and the way to help: the issue is exactly the same whether we are talking social businesses or regular businesses. They are many platforms to allow mentoring of entrepreneurs and they have the same problems of getting mentors involved. The good news is that people in general like to give advice, so there are always resources available, and there is enough critical mass in the regular business world that it works.

So one big issue when it comes to social businesses is critical mass: social businesses specifically may have more difficulty getting help because they are a small piece of the overall system.

1. We can try to raise the visibility of social businesses to attract more attention to them and get a critical mass of people interested in helping. One issue with this option is that raising visibility means communicating about what is different and so cool about social businesses, therefore increasing the perceived gap between the regulars and the socials.
2. OR we can work on trying to blur the difference between a social business and a regular business, making sure social businesses are included in all the existing programs and communicating on the fact that they are just like any other business except better. Back to my other comment in this discussion, this is why I have pushed the Vindex (www.venyo.org), because any business can (and should) have one and having one gets people to start thinking a little more about what they are doing.

In the end the one thing I know is that if we want to fix the issues we face, we need more than a few social businesses, we need every single business to become a social business. So maybe the prototype we should build is a platform that would list every single business and assign them a social rating whether they want it or not. And then the true social businesses will shine there, and the other ones may want to start reacting to that. The reward for participating would be simple and quick, because you would submit your rating and just doing that is a great contribution to improving the situation.

An example of how this could work is what is happening with the funded.com. People can rate VCs, and they do. And the success of the site creates pressure for VCs to behave better. It also creates the perfect networking spot for people to then share ideas and build relationships. You ask them to rate and once they have done so you let them network. We are currently working on a concept like this at Entrepreneur Commons, using the Vindex.

Interesting suggestions here. I'll have to checkout the Vindex to see how they do their rating. Is it a strict popularity contest, or are different aspects of a VC ranked separately? Before we start imagining a universal ratings system for social businesses, I suggest that we start by focusing on the needs and use cases for the system. The most compelling need / use case that I can think of is making a brilliant success out of a loan social entrepeneur with an idea. If the community and the tools we're envisioning can do this on a few occasions, then that success will make the system very sticky. People will connect with it to either participate in something successful or to gain access to the resource pool of creativity, connections and capital that forms around it.

A rate / review me website for social entrepeneurs is also intriguing. It has a sticky quality about it as well. But for this functionality, I'd suggest we plug into existing systems / networks by building for instance a social entrepreneur rate-me application for Facebook, LinkedIn or openSocial.

Just a few thoughts. I'll be curious what other people think of the ratings / reviews system that was suggested above.

Hi Nathaniel,

Thanks for drawing attention to the contexts issue. I think one answer to your question is transition as context.

• During graduation ceremonies - During career changes - At the time of formal retirement

These are all moments when individual social entrepreneurs might be able to summon their existing networks to gain support from friends, family, and colleagues. Those peer-to-peer events could then serve as attractors for people who generally like to support this kind of work.

The parallel in the fundraising universe, sadly, is disease and disasters. Both events serve as catalysts for people to draw attention to raise money for a cause.

Fortunatley, life transitions are not nearly as depressing as people falling ill and disasters striking.

All this to say, I would like to see a platform that focuses on directing support to social entrepeneurs who are at a moment of transition.

Thanks for adding your comment to the discussion. I hope we'll see a link to this from your excellent social entrepreneurship blog.

All the best, Peter

You've got me thinking - in the donations world - it works because it is easy. Affinity for an issue - being touched by it compels people to act. The greater the effort required for the action, the greater the affinity has to be to compel the action.

So... if we are trying to compel action we have to find ways to build affinity - or pay attention to how affinity develops and nurture it. And if the desire is to broker intensive actions - there needs to be high affinity or else some other significant compulsion to do it (e.g. social or financial remuneration). Doing it for a friend or recognition would be a form of social remuneration.

I think that's probably relevant to any sort of mentorship program. That and the common advisory challenge of sufficiently understanding the culture and context of the specific venture to serve the venture in a way that is truly appropriate and productive.

Absolutely right on. These times of transition are absolutely perfect and provide a great context for engaging social networks in collective action.

Holidays are another one! I'm about to engage my current undergrads to help try to get $5000 from 50 different donors for a project led by an alumni of one of our Center for Global Engagement programs: http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1700/proj1666a.html

The context is the holidays and the spirit of giving back. Tweetsgiving is the most recent (and awesome) example!

Michael mentioned Entrepreneur Commons, I recently spoke with folks at Xigi, meanwhile Acumen and Salesforce are working on a creating a system called PULSE formerly PDMS to measure/report impact, and in the UK they are investigating the concept of a social stock market. And I just discovered a potential future competition to create an index to evaluate social entrepreneurship organizations from SEVEN (http://www.sevenfund.org/contests/future-competitions-projects.html).

My question - what niche does each initiative uniquely serve, is there a core of information common to all of them, how can they interact smoothly, and, most relevant to this discussion, do they have a role to play in informing and enabling people to find and help social organizations?

Measure is a key issue, but a very complex one, so it is not clear what we will be able to come up with that is practical over time. Meanwhile it is certainly worth trying... One other measure that I have been pushing is the Vindex (www.venyo.org) which measures reputation for a person or a business and could be an incentive for people to contribute. The good news with this one is that it is simple yet very powerful in helping people visualize something that is otherwise a vague concept: social capital. Beyond the incentive, what happens when you decide to get ranked by such a system is that it helps you focus on something else than maximizing profit, which is the beginning of having a social business in the broad sense of the term. It gives you a number that you can look at, share with others, display wherever appropriate, and that you can try to maximize (people like competition). And then when you have to make a decision it forces you to think about what impact the decision you make will have on this number.

How these measurements/initiative can interact: there should be a place that list them all, just like I go to a financial news site or paper to get various indicators on the stock market. And then we can let the audience decide which one they really care about. Whoever builds these databases should make sure they do not try to create yet another silo. I am hoping Xigi with their Social Capital Index will go beyond listing social businesses and investors to include with the listing a comprehensive list of all possible ratings for these entities. The more the better at this point, and then when we have accumulated enough history we can start cleaning up between the relevant and the not-so-relevant.

Whew! What an amazing dialogue you're rolling along, all of you. Thanks so much.

I venture to guess that there are MANY social entrepreneurs "out there" (= not in the Bay Area) who are thinking along the same lines, albeit with less expertise/experience with platforms, local networks of like-minded initiatives and individuals, resources, etc. Many of us, too, have chosen to live elsewhere while staying connected to new ideas via virtual discussions like this one (I, for one, left the Bay Area for easier living - as an artist - in Albuquerque, which is teeming with all sorts of people engaged in social entrepreneurship).

Some thoughts about what kinds of online support and collaboration I need, as a social entrepreneur living a ways away from the technology and resource "hot spots":

1. expertise, yes! It takes a lot of time to keep up, especially re: technology/Web 2.0 and what's unfolding. It's probably a better use of our collective resources if not all of us chase down what's cutting edge, and listen deeply to those who passionately follow and develop "best practices" around social entrepreneurship. Actual technical assistance would also be very helpful, either pro-bono, for reasonable fees, or exchange (I totally agree that the value of the exchange has to be reciprocal). This does mean, too, more than peer counseling for many of us, as we need the experts to roll up their sleeves with us and dig in!
2. online involvement, skill building and problem solving via forums like this one or, even better, webinars. I also really like the "offer your skills/request help" links in Social Edge... Highlighting the journey of initiatives like Kjersten Erickson and FORGE is also very helpful - it takes courage to be that transparent, but that kind of examination is essential to the potential of what's happening out there.
3. more inquiry, creativity, and evaluation around alternatives to the usual way that nonprofits support themselves, particularly around fundraising and donors. The huge shifts in global economics that we're all experiencing leaves the door wide open to innovation in this area and that's very exciting to me (like along the lines of a social stock market that Jill mentions, e.g. altruistiq.com).
4. a centralized online space for social entrepreneurs - definitely along the lines of what Mark at Entrepreneur Commons is putting together. Maybe Entrepreneur Commons is a great lab to put some of what you all are talking about into practice?
5. coordinated interaction between all the various entities out there. This may be the most important and also the most difficult given the nature of institutions (e.g., academic - I know because I work for many of them...), the nonprofit world, and the individual politics of scarcity. We need to both think differently and behave differently.

I'm sure more will come to me and I'll chirp in as the discussion progresses. Thanks for the great moderation, Peter.

Cheers, Kristine

Hi Kristine, Thanks for adding your own expertise and perspective to the discussion. Your fifth point is crucial. If the SocialEdge community were to champion one proposal here, I think it should be the coordinated interaction that you refer to. It would be so cool to see the Ashoka's Echoing Green's, Social Venture Commons' ZoomBala's and Entrepreneur Commons' of the world coming together to launch integrated tools to support social entrepreneurs.

This is much easier said than done, because it requires a collaborative spirit and an effort internally and externally to overcome organizational think.

Thanks for drawing attention to the opportunity. And on your other four points, I couldn't agree more. Shared expertise skill-building, creativity, and interaction are all areas where social entrepreneurs could stand to benefit.

All the best, Peter

Exactly what you are suggesting, Peter, is a concept I have been working on the last months with a partner. We developed a platform where African social entrepreneurs could be supported in the ways you describe. Everybody I explained the concept to was enthusiastic. Everybody, except Dutch investors or organisations that submit grants to development projects (the last organisations are the only ones in the Netherlands that submit grants to those kind of projects). Since it is quite expensive to build this kind of platform, I wasn't able to find money to let the platform being built. So somehow Dutch society isn't ready yet for this kind of concept. So if somebody has an idea to find money to let this platform being build, please let me know. Because, yes, it is a very good idea that should be developed.

Hi Petra, I'm surprised that you couldn't find support for this sort of platform in the Netherlands. It seems like the kind of thing any sound-thinking Dutch person with resources would direct resources to. Or perhaps you had set the price-tag too high. I'm quite sure elements of the online tools we're talking about could be built on the cheap. Between open-source software and existing networks, we could start creating flows of creativity, capital and connections without building the entire thing from scratch. More on this when we begin to brainstorm specifics on the system. Thanks for adding your story to the discussion. All the best, Peter

I've been working toward the goal that has been discussed since I created the Tutor/Mentor Connection. While volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are not your traditional SE businesses, they are very entrepreneurial, and the work I do to support them borrows from much that I learn in forums like this.

This link is a map of the knowledge, and the network, connected via the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org site: http://cmapspublic.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1180618335312_621532345_11273&partName=htmltext

If you're someone leading a tutor/mentor program, then you'll not only find information and other people you can learn from, you can load your program into the web site or a Chicago Programs Database, and the site becomes a resource that volunteers, parents and donors can use to find you. The events we organize, and that you support through your own involvement, will help you and each other members attract these resource providers to the web site.

If you forget that this is focused at tutor/mentor programs and just look at the goals and structure, how much of this structure, and how many of the goals, would support the ideas you've expressed for creating a place that supports the work of social entrepreneurs around the world?

I think there's a lot. However, I think it would be more valuable if it were divided into SE categories, either by geography, or by cause. Thus, anyone working on the environment, might be included in one version. Anyone working on health issues might be working in another.

This is what I call a network of purpose. It focuses on a cause that is important to each member, thus there is more reason for people to visit, and more reason for people to encourage others to visit.

There are many areas where we're trying to improve, and we encourage SEs to join us in building this and using it. However, we'd also like to help share the thinking in other sectors, which would be just as valuable to us in innovating our own solutions.

Daniel, I think you're absolutely right that we need to divide into different categories - how many people will have the capacity to focus on social business issues, tutor/mentor issues, and the environment all at the same time?

However, the underlying online structure that connects each of these communities could be the same - and if the funders/affinity groups in each area would fund the development of these communities and everyone agreed that these communities were worthwhile places to spend time and resources (and not just a static place where people take but a dynamic place where everyone gives and receives) then maybe we would see a lot more collaboration. But the development of these communities critically depend on multiple actors moving in coordinated action (it's a Nash equilibrium problem really..).

But like others have mentioned before, instead of registering for a million different sites, it would be nice to have an Open ID. And instead of relearning every system, it would be nice to have some standardization across networks. So why not create a software platform that could be used for all of them?

This is a great discussion.

A bunch of us have created a website keeping the same topic in mind.

please have a look: http://www.p2pinnov8.com/

p2pInnov8 was founded to accelerate and enable innovation where barriers existed. Through technology, information and resources can be connected easier than ever allowing to tap into your peers and social network. Our model aims to enable ultra-light startup companies with products such as low-cost capital goods, software, and services.

I've pointed many times over the past few years to the Boston Innovation Hub as an example of a graphic/web page that unifies everyone in the city of Boston, yet gives people the choice of what area they would want to focus on. The link is www.tbf.org/indicatorsProject/HubofInnovation/innovation.asp

This Creativity Map has similar functionality: http://www.ngf.org.uk/map/map.html

Thus, on the highest level someone could try to create something like this. However, unless there are networks of purpose, each with their own site, the passion of the members for their cause will be lost, and that's what is needed to build an on-line community.

The larger the network, the more likely it just draws attention to those who already are well known, not to those who are trying to be discovered. I use maps to because if someone searches by cause, country, State, City, zip code, they will only have choices of which programs or entrepreneurs are listed for that cause in that zip code. If enough people use this, and draw attention to it, I believe it will lead to a broader distribution of resources to all places where help is needed.

You can see samples of my maps at http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com

Hi Tony and Daniel,

Last week

by complete coincidence -- I had a conversation with the folks at Ning. The overlap in my conversation with Ning and thinking about an online platform to support social entrepreneurs led me to conclude that Ning may be an ideal niche but standardized format for creating the kinds of tools we want to build.

Ning also integrates with openSocial, so specialized tools could be built on top of Ning to facilitate the specific functionality we'd be looking for.

Please have a look at Ning and let me know if you also see potential in using it to get something started.

This is really a great idea. There is need for support to small organisations in third world countries who do not get benefit from big siutes or big donors. I have experienced it myself. Our charity , YOJANA, works with poor tribes and indegeneous communities in India. The bigger donors cannot come to us beacuse they have other priority. We are not very good in politics. So we often face scracity of funds. Though we are social work professionals and we have been working in this non-proft sector over last 2 decades still we donot find it easy to access funding even for a small educational project for the tribal childre.

May be ur idea can help us.

lalit YOJANA NGO India

Hi Lalit, Thank you for adding your comment to the discussion. The system we're envisioning would be created primarily to support social entrepreneurs and their ventures (at the time of creation), as opposed to nonprofits that have ongoing financial needs. That said, the community that forms around the platform we're discussing could in theory help YOJANA take steps to become a self-sustaining initiative. On a separate note, are you familiar with GiveIndia.org? GiveIndia may be a platform that helps your organization find ongoing and distributed support.

All the best, Peter

hi peter. great post.

thought you might be interested in what i'm working on: it's called MiWorld.com, and it's the the first global two-way communications and commerce portal designed to let people in the developed world meet, learn about, interact with, and help out individuals in remote parts of the so-called third world.

i've just retired after 32 years as the top human interest writer at People Magazine (Time Inc.) in NYC, have written a couple NYTimes bestsellers, did a big story for People in Azad Kashmir in '06 after the quake, and have long been pushing the idea of fostering one-on-one human connection by telling stories about people overlooked in MSM-- basically the "People Magazine treatment" for people in the underdeveloped world. this all rests on the astonishing fact that every year in the U.S., philanthropic and charitable giving totals $295 billion-- 75% of which comes from individuals in $50 hits.

basically, MiWorld is a global "magazine" with the added capacity for two-way communication. we'll piggyback on existing NGO's in remote regions for language capability, contacts, story suggestions (in terms of technology, all we need is a single camera-phone or laptop to post stories). and we'll be funded by advertiser/partners who'll sell appropriate goods wholesale for direct shipment to our story subjects all over the world. In short, MiWorld will inject the human component into philanthropy/social mission entrepreneurship, use the magazine model to effect its own financial sustainability-- and help funnel everything from baby shoes, cell phones, shovels and medical supplies, to tractors and college educations, around he world to people who need them most.

we'll also run a comprehensive listing of NGOs working in remote regions, segmented by region and type of work. that will help to publicize their efforts, and also place them in context (i.e. through an individual's story) rather than as some disembodied mega-listing. (on this front, we're trying to address just the frustrations that poster Jeff Mowatt has written about. mainstream media simply isn't capable or interested in providing the kind of publicity that we can, and it's high time for a new global portal that can disseminate, and serve as THE "go-to" portal for this kind of editorial content...)

so you can see why your post caught my attention. it seems to me that each of us brings to the table what we can. what i bring is three decades of experience writing compelling and emotionally engaging stories that were read by 43 million people every week. i just happen to think that if the enormous power of top-tier American marketing and PR can make a star out of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, who knows what it could do for a little 3-year-old AIDS orphan named Amondi, and all the other little kids who live with her at the Double Joy Orphanage in Bondo, Western Kenya? worth a try, right?

anyway, no need to post this long missive, but if you'd like to see our website demo, it's at MiWorld.com; click on "coming soon" and enter the Username - guest and Password amondi. this is just a password-protected prototype, but if you check on the blue links, you'll find the VoiceThread applications, audio pop-ups and film trailers, links to related stories and info, etc. that will comprise MiWorld's content.

love to know how it strikes you. albest, susan

Hi Susan, Wow. Thank you for sharing with us so much information about your soon-to-be-launched website. It takes a lot of courage to transition from mainstream media to online media. I'm impressed with you openness and invitation to the SocialEdge community to get a sneak peek at what your cooking up. I haven't had a chance to look at MiWorld yet, but I will. Don't hesitate to contact me at peter@socialactions.com if you want to explore a collaboration between MiWorld and the open database of 40,000 opportunities to make a difference that Social Actions is creating. All the best, and nice to e-meet you. -Peter

Couldn't agree more. Social entrepreneurs have a tough ride at the best of times, and to have a central place for support is key. Our global and growing community of Disruptive Social Innovators - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=175057500000 - are attracted to a community-run event because it gives them a source of useful, directed support - but also emotional strength to continue fighting for funds, attention and help.

The greatest challenge our community faces is that their drive and enthusiasm runs out in the face of the overwhelming institutional and systemic resistance to big, disruptive, social ideas. Community support and wider help goes a long way to counter this. The public have a vested interest in supporting social innovators do their job - it is their ideas that may end poverty, ecological decay, power shortages, inequality etc

Here in the UK we are working on a web 3.0 platform that tackles some of our clearly shared insights into what social innovators need. It has 3 elements to it; 1) Work together with friends, colleagues, the public and end beneficiaries on systems maps of the sector - maps that are more accurate because of their inclusion and openness. Spot and focus on leverage points for systemic social change. Find other outfits to work with on shared goals. Attract and connect with like-minded people in and outside orgs who clearly have an interest in that sector or problem. 2) Develop and hone your scaleable and systemic social innovations with the crowd - and test them within the system and by inviting collaborators or experts to destruction test them 3) Attract funding from organisations, X-Prizes, individuals and the community itself (cf. sellaband) - people who are interested in supporting and funding ideas that - although likely to be higher risk than the average social enterprise - might have the big solutions the world is clamouring for

Looks like we should be integrating our services!

Nick

Hi Nick, Thanks for joining the discussion about online support for social entrepreneurs, and for sharing the link to your Facebook group. I had no idea your initiative already had the attention of nearly 800 people. That's tremendous. Congrats on making excellent use of Facebook during your prelaunch and build-out phase. I'll definitely tap you as the conversation evolves on how to build out an integrated (Web 3.0 as you say) solution to support social innovators. All the best, Peter

Sorry to be jumping late in this discussion, plenty of material to comment on, but the one thing that jumped out at me was need for a visual landscape and the incentive that would put in for enabling appropriate matching. At the Social Capital Markets Conference, over 2/3 of our attendees input their information into the "Connection Concierge" program (which was developed by Nathaniel Whittemore and Danny Moldovan's Assetmap.org team). They were able to enter themselves by asset class, geographic area of focus, etc and search for like-minded individuals. We hope to build on that data by creating a visual landscape of who is connected through areas of interest to show the full landscape of the social capital sector. This same principle could be built on many steps further. Imagine being able to look at a map and be able to see who is in an individual organization's eco-system classified out by those who invested time, those who invest money and those who have similar interests, areas of focus etc. Entrepreneurs, advisors and investors could see who is in their greater eco-systems for further partnering opportunities. Each organization's widget would include the ability to advise, invest, partner or share information. As Jill said, the sharing information component would keep people motivated to keep information up to date, as would the ability to attract investors, advisors and potential partners.

Hi Amy, I can't wait to see the visual map of the information/knowledge gathered through the connection concierge at SoCap08. Do you have an ETA on when it will be launched? Keep up the great work at SoCap Media. You folks and everyone at Good Capital are making a tremendous contribution to the movement. All the best, Peter

You make a great case for online support for social entrepreneurs. What we need are resources and people who are willing to provide tangible

not just philosophical -- support as we attempt to make a difference in communities where we introduce new ventures.

I am the inventor of a new consumer product, Toothbrush Hygiene Helper (TBH)

www.toothbrushhygienehelper.com My business plan integrates profit and social responsibility, promoting opportunities for mutual benefit with non-profit organizations (schools, churches and community groups).

Thank you for exploring some worthy options.

Fannie LeFlore, Inventor of Toothbrush Hygiene Helper and Owner of LeFlore Communications, LLC Milwaukee, Wisconsin www.leflorecommunications.com

Hi Fannie, Thanks your for kinds words. I'm curious what you mean by tangible. Does tangible always mean capital? Or would you also include creativity and connections in your definition? You can probably gather from my discussion intro that I consider all three extremely important contributions that people can make in support of a social entrepreneur. Good luck with you Toothbrush Hygiene Helper social venture. All the best, Peter

This is such a great discussion. I've read each post multiple times since Peter started, and each time I read it, I latch onto something new or understand something I didn't just the day before because I have moved to a new place in my own journey as a social entrepreneur (if that is what I am?). I am nervous to jump in with such a savvy crowd, but I will do so because I think it's important to hear the perspective of somebody who is totally "green" in this space.

A platform, site, tool, aggregation, etc as being discussed here would be fantastic, to be sure. But I have some reservations:

1. Although I am not sure about this because I'm new here, I wonder if the people commenting here are all social entrepreneurs looking for that boost -- either in terms of expertise or capital? I'm wondering if there are thousands and thousands of "experts" out there who are just dying to help some struggling social entrepreneur but don't know how to find them? In other words, is the need for this platform mutual or just one-sided? (And if only one-sided, it would be much more challenging to make it work.)
2. I would think that all the "experts" are already up to their eyeballs in work (for which they are paid), and the thought of their logging into some site after a day's work to look for more outstretched hands vying for their time/knowledge just doesn't seem like something they would do...? (again, please correct me if I'm wrong). It would seem to me that they would need some sort of incentive (most likely financial) to want to add to their workloads, especially if it was an ongoing, serial kind of deal. For one of these experts to help on a pro-bono basis, well, I think that would require the cause to be so fantastic that they couldn't sleep unless they really dug in and got involved.
3. Now, if that expert were so moved as to get involved and effect significant change on the momentum or direction of the fantastic social project, well then I think that the cause, project, or social innovation should now be rightfully "owned" in part by that individual (especially if they did not receive money for their work). That could entice experts to get involved -- the knowledge that they would partly "own" (share profits of?) the social venture that they just helped create. (would social entrepreneurs be cool with that, or would that turn them off? i would think that if the cause is the driver, then they would most certainly be happy to share the venture because the entrepreneur him/herself is not the focus.)
4. As a social entrepreneur myself (maybe?), I am not really sure that I'd want an expert to help me if I knew he/she was doing so for bragging rights or as advertising (rather than because the cause moved him/her to feel compelled to do it). I would question his/her motives and would worry that he/she was not putting in 100% effort or was not putting the cause's best interests at heart. With a platform like the one we're discussing here, I might question their motive.
5. A word of caution: If it's determined that I am in fact a social entrepreneur (?) I think it's important to note that I had never heard of "social entrepreneurship" until AFTER I started my social venture. If Joe Solomon (of Social Actions) had not "discovered" me somehow on a very back page of a Google search, I would not have been the type of person who would have found or logged into a site or platform like the one we're discussing here. I say this because I think it's important to keep in mind that there may be a bunch of "social entrepreneurs" out there who wouldn't be represented on the platform because they don't know they are one. So perhaps there would need to be a concentrated effort as part of this new platform/etc to go out and "discover" the unknown social entrepreneurs and introduce them to the opportunities available on the site/through the tools.

Thanks for facilitating the discussion, Peter! :)

Hi Tori, I'm excited to see you here.

I'm not sure you're still a novice. After several months of building out LendforHealth from scratch, making talented use of social media along the way, you're quickly becoming an expert tech-savvy social entrepreneur.

As for your points, these so called experts exist in the thousands. We're not talking about a small group of creative and high net-worth individuals camping out in Palo Alto, CA. The premise of my discussion is that ordinary people can make a tremendous contribution to the work of social entrepreneurs, a la Kiva. We're all creative on some level, have a bit of capital (every bit counts), and by virtue of being human, have connections.

The platform that we're envisioning would be for widening the bottle-neck of access to the rich and influential, but rather, changing the shape of the bottle.

All the best, Peter

Oops

Make that, "The platform we're envisioning would NOT just widen the bottle-neck of access to the rich and influential, but rather, would change the shape of the bottle and its contents altogether.

Hi, all. Thank you, Peter, for starting this. Jill, I loved your post describing pieces of how it could work (I just scanned through the whole set of posts so can't cite details). I am racing to get a comment or two done before a baby wakes up or two year old returns from across the street!).

I just found both Kiva and this discussion in the last day or two. I admit to a certain jealousy mixed with my admiration for programs supporting microenterprise in third world countries. I know there is both a need and support for what I have to offer (for example), but I am a United States citizen with "all kinds of opportunities", so limited ways to find that support (and some people take offense at the idea that I am even asking). I know there are countless dedicated and wonderful people who work through worse obstacles than I have. Their existence doesn't change my circumstances or my mix of weaknesses and strengths. There are doubtless others like me who have a lot to offer, and re those other folks, their gifts to the world might have realized decades or years earlier with a little support from each of the people who were excited by their work and cause! I would so love to help that process of finding each other happen, in any way I can!

I attended a presentation once on teaching more sustainable cooking methods abroad, with photos of all these Europeans and North Americans getting Africans to change their ways. I remember thinking that there was also great value in staying home and getting "1st world" people to change their cooking habits! Both useful, the second more likely to be my work (see Writers for A Sustainable Future on wiserearth.org).

I was very attracted by Kiva's structure which would allow a low income person like myself to make a loan of $25 to a very specific, concrete person and project. I would love to see something like that that also encouraged people in affluent countries (who are not necessarily affluent themselves). I realize there is great leverage in using $25 from an income here in the US in a country where that money is worth a lot more, but I also think that investors here could, and probably would, vote with their dollars to encourage those innovators who know how to make a lot happen with a little. Less consumption of resources "here" (US/etc)=less demand on resources elsewhere.

I've worked low paid, satisfying and skill building work all my life while raising three great young adults. No money saved, still working two jobs. 6 months halftime, or a whole year full time for me would cost $6,000-$24,000 and generate a number of small and large projects as well as launch a biz that meant I could turn around and pay it forward/pay it back and then go on helping others. Urgh!! (Thanks for listening! also all the sites people have mentioned).

I also liked the way Kiva approaches accountability and delivery of funds, through an existing organization in that community with some credibility.

Not sure how soon I'll get back to this, but be sure to let me know re any help I can give. Good at writing in accessible language and networking...have a couple of more thoughts but tired and baby awake...where did those thoughts go? Hmm... Alison in oregon

The Uncommon Individual Foundation is a Mentoring Foundation founded in 1986 to assist in developing individual entrepreneurs. Since origination we have been focusing on and encouraging the development of each individual participant’s entrepreneurial spirit and what it takes for him or her to develop, activate and engage it in socially responsible ways. We have developed systems of Protégé Driven Mentoring that we continue to spend substantial time and resources researching, educating and training about how it works. Based on actual experiences, we design our systems of mentoring as a means for individuals to develop, activate and implement the pursuit of their dreams, goals and objectives. In 2003 UIF made the decision to create web based technologies to plan and develop a process for each individual participant to have access to our research, education and training. We encourage use of mentoring to develop, activate and implement his or her entrepreneurial spirit. Since 2006 we have been developing www.MentorSphere.com as a web 2.0+ based mentoring tool designed to enable each individual participant to develop, focus, activate and implement his or her entrepreneurial spirit with a socially beneficial objective. www.MentorSphere.com allows participants to connect with other social entrepreneurs who can help them develop, focus and pursue his or her dreams. Members are encouraged to lend and accept expertise in areas of mutual interest in socially beneficial ways.

www.MentorSphere.com contains many tools that include components for participants to collaborate and create business plans more creatively, inclusively, and environmentally friendly by being paperless. In addition, through organizational growth, www.MentorSphere.com becomes a resource for social entrepreneurs to seek help and connect with mentoring resources. www.MentorShpere.com invests in each and every individual by endowing its membership, use of the platform and access to content and training components to anyone who signs on to www.MentorSphere.com For the past two years our development has been live on line for selected beta participants which allowed us to receive maximum feedback for developmental and functional adjustments. In January 2009 we will be launching our first true operating version with a focus in an organizational environment.

MentorSphere is designed to enable each individual participant to accomplish each objective set forth in your list of desired objectives. It is also designed to enable each participant to accomplish substantially more than what is listed. In January 2009, we would be pleased to do a live web based demonstration of the latest version of MentorSphere and would be interested in getting feedback and recommendations.

Social Entrepreneurship is most often thought of in a not-for-profit organizational context. At the UIF we think of it differently. We focus on each individual participant and recognize Social Entrepreneurship in the context of his or her passionate desires and value system. We define Social Entrepreneurship based on the entrepreneurial objectives of the individual as measured by the benefit to other individuals, mankind and society in general. The following two of my several entrepreneurial ventures reflect and demonstrate this understanding:

In 1986 I started the not-for-profit Uncommon Individual Foundation ( www.uif.org ) to encourage and enable each individual participant to: By all means become the entrepreneur of the enterprise of his or her own life.

In 1989 I started Integra LifeSciences, now a publically traded (IART) for-profit BioMedical company credited with “Envisioning and Creating …….Regenerative Medicine”, a new branch of medicine to enable severely injured and burned patients to recover by regenerating his or her damaged body parts.

While UIF is a not-for-profit and Integra is a publically traded for-profit commercial enterprise, they both have Social Entrepreneurial Objectives to benefit fellow man, mankind and society in general. MentorSphere is designed to enable individual participants to develop his or her entrepreneurial spirit and to pursue either not-for-profit or for-profit types of activities or both types of Social Entrepreneurship simultaneously.

Our dream at UIF is consistent with that of the social entrepreneurial community. When public use of www.MentorSphere.com becomes available, interested parties will be able to access and use www.MentorSphere.com as a tool to develop, focus, engage, activate and implement his or her entrepreneurial spirit in socially beneficial ways.

Wow! Thank you Peter and everyone else for your great ideas! It is so wonderful to see that there is so much energy around creating platforms to support social entrepreneurs and social innovation.

I don't have much more to offer than what has already been said, except, let's get started! Although, I realize many of you have already begun amazing projects.

Over here in NYC, we have been tooling away at the Pure Project for coming up on 2 years now. We are an idea incubator run by a community of creative enthusiasts who seek to influence social, environmental, and economic sustainability through our projects and programs. Our principal focus is to create platforms to support others in achieving their goals as they relate to our core mission. Currently, we are building an integrated platform of on- and off-line tools to support social innovation, or what we call pure projects (projects which have a pure intention at their core and a sustainable financial model to support that work). Many of the off-line tools (events, conferences, workshops, festivals, mentoring) are already in place. We are currently exploring the best access point to initiate the online platform. Many of the ideas outlined in this exciting discussion are included in our plan, which I would be happy to share with those who are interested (just shoot me an email at ryan@pureproject.org). The missing link to activating our platform is the technology team that understands the functional needs of this community and the online tools to facilitate these connections. To this end, I would be forever grateful to connect with others that share our goals in an effort to move this project forward.

Thank you all for your commitment and please be in touch!

Ryan Fix ryan@pureproject.org

Dear Peter, This is really a great concept. I fully agree for the need of such concept. Recently , we are faced with a communal riot situation in India. As we had no capacity to deal with such issues , we needed support which we did not get. So , there is a need.

Lalit mohan President( MA=sociology) YOJANA INDIA

The separation between rich and poor is defined by one word... ownership. It is maintained by " readily available credit"... assuring the rich will profit from the idiocy of the masses acceptance that value borrowed from the rich will somehow make it easier for a rapidly diminishing middle class to live better lives. I have a plan that connects everyday Americans and sweat equity... spreading business ownership like habitat for humanity spreads home ownership... initiating hands-on worker co-ops and self-funding its own operational and venture capital needs. My question is how can I give this plan away... to all who really want to make a difference?

Great discussion. I wanted to point you all to www.changents.com which is a site that provides many of the tools for SEs to promote their work, get supporters, post actions requests, get donations and use social media tools to engage their "fans" in an ongoing way. Timberland is so excited about the Changents platform that they are using it for all of the EarthKeeper work. I encourage you all to check it out. Cheers, Susanne

Hello Everyone, I think this is a great discussion. I am a part time social entrepreneur & founder of www.tashnada.com. This is a website I built on my own using my personal funds and boy is it difficult to run without the necessary support. These are the challenges I encounter as someone trying to make a difference:

• Photography: I take all the photos myself and edit them also & have no clue what I am doing. How wonderful it would be to be able to get some free advice or a free critique on my pictures and how I can make them clearer
• The website itself - I built it myself due to lack of funds. It would have been great to get some support, or prefessional reviews on how to make it look better than the shoe string budget it was built on
• market research - my products are made in Africa and I don't know how to do proper thorough market research in order to properly define my target market and market my products to that market. I have a survey on the site but the responses are from a wide spectrum of people, so I can't tell my true market
• the products - the artisans I work with are extremely talented but I find through no fault of their own, some of their designs are out dated or lack diversity, or they are not contemporary enough for the western market. I am a CPA by profession, so while I do dable around with design from time to time, I really could use the donated skills of a real designer. But how would I go about this without paying thousands and thousands of dollars?

I face many more challenges and would not mind contributing ideas. So if anyone does set up a think tank or Google group to get started please count me IN!!

Hi all!

This a great discussion - thanks for kick starting it Peter!

Absolutely with the premise: the need for a network for social entrepreneurs, and how the majority of existing networks are built for traditional nonprofits.

The need to connect social entrepreneurs around the world and provide them with a platform to share and exchange targeted information is also the rationale that drove us to build UnLtdWorld (www.unltdworld.com), which now connects over 7500 social entrepreneurs in 90+ countries.

The platform already contains a range of features that allow social entrepreneurs to connect dynamically, find and share resources, build knowledge, list services and events and collaborate. We'll also be launching a series of new tools soon to better connect social entrepreneurs with supporters and the general public in new and creative ways.

I'd love to know people's thoughts on how we can further enhance the platform to support social entrepreneurs even more effectively, and explore how you can all get involved to make these ideas happen.

Look forward to your ideas and involvement!

Alberto

At Social Actions, Social Age, etc. you people blog about everything you are doing, where you’re headed, the challenges, the business model, everything.

Is there anything like “mutual support”?! If, Yes, then am afraid we are not experiencing it here in Africa! This is the poorest continent I should accept but less effort has been put into the slogan "Creating a World without poverty" when it comes to Africa.

People up there, please help Africa.

We are experiencing challenges from poor governance to poor housing and lack of infrastructure, not mentioning the global warming effects, and the crunch hitting us hard though secondary but felt.

Please lots of ideas are required from you people, share information, creative ideas, social connections/networking, skills development, training of HR, etc. We acknowledge your leading role in our lives. Poor Africa!

Julie

Okey,

I like what you are saying. I love the voice you raise and the courage and vision, too.

Here's what we are doing, and please I would love your feedback.

We are an artist-owned and minority-owned company that uses art to empower women. We are offering some of our art products to non-profits for fundraising. If an organization has a large list and/or a network with a large list, they can raise funds painlessly, with no initial cost and very little staff time by partnering with us, since we offer the product, marketing material and all automated services.

Here's an example. We offer The Tao of Trees, an illustrated Poetry Book with an Arts & Crafts Kit. I wrote this in meditation with the trees during my recovery from a housing disaster that left me sick and homeless. The experience of reading this book relaxes the reader and opens a meditation path. But it does more. It reconnects the reader with the healing power of trees, which we often take for granted.

In this model, the non-profit partner obtains a product that is congruent with their mission, (digital, no need to buy it first), a fundraiser mechanism that they don't have to operate, and even a beautiful inspirational slide show and landing page (embedded with their affiliate ID). The non-profit can offer the experience to its clients. The clients who do not purchase are still inspired and educated on the importance of trees in their lives. Of those who purchase, 50% goes to the non-profit organization. With a few clicks, an organization can raise thousands of dollars while spreading awareness.

Because online affiliate services allow the affiliated non-profit to track every sale, the process is completely transparent. The non-profit is in control, their list's confidentiality protected and everyone wins.

This is a no-cost, easy and quick, and perfectly ethical online fundraising model.

What considerations would you advice both, for the non-profits partners and for us? Any ideas?

Blessings, Maria Mar The Dream Alchemist

I have recently experienced the life and problems in some of Indian slums. The conditions are absolutely horrible and yet you find paradoxes of modern age - almost all children go to schools, girl child education is absolutely free, nearly every one has mobile phones, all residents are registered voters, there is a TV in each "home" and people are generally very aware. Many are resigned to living their lives in slums but want better conditions. The problems of basic utilities like clean water, sewage, trash collection, healthcare, protection against domestic violence, defense against corruption in education & utilities, crime prevention do have allotted resources from administration as well as numerous NGOs. But the slum dwellers cannot take their issues to the administration and administration is far removed from the reality of the slums. Even though slum dwellers work in more affluent areas and do household chores in affluent homes, there is almost zero interaction between the urban rich/powerful and poor. They are across the street from each other and yet there is complete communication divide.
So I came to a conclusion that most problems have solutions provided and funded by governments if they can reach the proper address through correct channels.There are other resources available from NGOs and good citizens. This takes the issue of connectivity to a new level. The solution I came up with has to do with cheap internet access available all across India now, mobile networks and the franchises/ retail of mobile phones which has a deep penetration all across India.
Now this is what I have put in action and we will know the results in a year or so..
I decided to fund some young people so they could open mobile sale, payment, upgrade and repair shops in slums. The rental for a shop is usually Rs 15,000 per year ( US$ 300 per year). I then installed a PC in the shop and provided a digital camera. Each shop was given a network of 3-5 "aangabari's" i.e. small shacks with room full of books, magazines and reading, education materials for small children. We placed a register in each of these rooms where people can come and list their problems, complaints - that can have anything to do with anything. These registers are brought to the mobile shop each week. The educated mobile shop entrepreneur has agreed to give 6-8 hours each week to social work and he gets the problems sorted, organized, in some cases photographed, established the identity of the person and then arranges for it to be uploaded on to a database ( this db is under construction )
I will have a total of 5 mother shops and 25 field offices with registers in this way. This database will then be managed by a central office of another social entrepreneur who runs a software and marketing business. He will make sure the individual problems reach respective Govt departments or are available to registered NGOs if they have resources to help. We will also engage media to publicize the good work where we see it and lack of care where it becomes evident that problems are not being attended to.
So far, we have taken some problems without the db to administration and we are very pleasantly surprised to see an overwhelming willingness to serve. They only complain" we do not find out."' So what we are doing is giving a whole 911 resource to people in slums so that the problems for which funds and resources are available are solved by bridging the communication gap.
It is a rather simplistic model. But given the mobile penetration, we expect that the whole community of needy will know of our initiative. The social angle will give a competitive edge to the entrepreneur ( which is rare ) as he will have more clients. We will give a photo printer so he can also provide other services like making ID cards or printing pictures. Our total investment on each mobile shop made in the form of a loan and equity is likely to be US$ 2,000 including all hardware. We might give another $500 for stock. The operators ( who in this case are true social entrepreneurs ) expect that they will not need any more money from us and can return the loan within 2 years.
The possibilities of what what we can do by opening this channel and network are enormous. But we are aiming for the basic issues and needs for now. And we are hoping that for each needy person, there is someone out there able to help. This also makes the government more accountable.
If the model works and we can help just a few hundred people, I plan to raise a fund that will finance these social entrepreneurs.
What do we need? Well, web technologies, database specialists, consultants, mobile co. executives and CSR programs of mobile cos.
Most of these slums are illegal and thus the shops are slated for demolition ( since forever). As a result the lease contracts are not legal or valid. Hundreds of shops operate and have been for decades without any paperwork. So banks and conventional financiers cannot fund them. We have taken the route to fund the slum based entrepreneur and give him /her our backing so they can help the community they know so well.