Holiday Gift Guide for Social Entrepreneurs 2009

This holiday, give knowledge. 

Social entrepreneurs know all about giving knowledge. Whether they are teaching people how to live with HIV, or sharing strategies that indigenous entrepreneurs can use to grow their business, or grooming their own staff to take on more senior roles in the organization, social entrepreneurs recognize the empowering value of sharing information.

So when you think about what could make a difference this holiday, consider what information you can share, what data can you aggregate,  and how you can collaborate. To give you inspiration, let’s look at just a few of the gifts friends have given us this year.

• Collaboration Resources for Social Entrepreneurs from Christina Jordan at #i4c
• Start-up Guide and Crowd-sourced Top 400 #SocEnt on Twitter from Martin Montero
• Global Social Investment Exchange from Tamzin Ractliffe at GreaterGood
• Social Entrepreneur API from Peter Deitz, Christine Egger, and David Peery
• Open Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurship from Charles Tsai of Global Youth Fund
• Human Centric Design Kit from Tatyana Mamut at IDEO
• Child Protection Policy from Ann Cotton at Camfed
• Creative Commons CC0 (CC zero) from Commons CEO Joi Ito
• Measurement tools and systems PULSE and IRIS from GIIN, Acumen, and others
• Real World Meet-ups - Net Tuesdays from NetSquared and TechSoup

We could go on with gratitude to all those who foster convenings, collaboration, and conversation but then the list would become very long very quickly.  And we are indeed grateful for aggregators and all those who provide data, remove barriers, filter information for the rest of us, and share knowledge to fostering innovation.

Shared data is much more than interesting, though, and much more than timesaving – it is impactful. As the Stanford Social Innovation Review article on “catalytic philanthropy” champions, there is a tremendous value in creating “actionable knowledge." Lucy Bernholz in her technology paper Disrupting Philanthropy declares "data are the new platform for change. They will continue to fundamentally alter how philanthropic capital flows.”

Hans Rosling explains “Data debunks myths” and goes on to point out that “database hugging hampers innovation.” Instead, statistics and data should be “intellectual sidewalks” because, he explains, “Sidewalks are free in most of the world.  They enable communication to take place, culture is helped by it, corporate sector is helped by it, families are helped by it, it is a beautiful idea.”

Just look at how data sharing is making it easier and more efficient for people to make better decisions and contribute to a better world. 

There are organizations that vet and help you search for causes and organizations you care about so that you can more strategically donate your money and time.

“Social Looping” or “meaningfully connecting people to the impact their participation has created for a cause” is a trend showing up in both the donor, lending, and shopping experiences. SOLVEcoop and other marketplaces, are striving to show how conscious commerce can have an impact.

For example, you could buy a dazzling vase from Ayu Komang Agustini in Bali,  or perhaps get a little “Patience” from artisans in Zimbabwe or other “global gifts that matter.”  Oliberté introduces shoes that are made in Africa for people who care about alleviating poverty. The UK’s Kick4Change “home and away” program invests in truly “grass roots sports” both locally and abroad in South Africa. But how can you make sure that your child's soccer ball is not made by children but rather by adults in safe working conditions in Pakistan?

Without organizations like TransFair and B-Corporation creating standards and certifications, it is hard to know who to trust and even harder to create market incentives for everyone to play by the same rules. Data makes conscious shopping easier--the GoodGuide even launched a phone app for “Barcode Scanning for Good.” 
 

So whether you are giving advice or sharing data, this holiday, the best gift you can give is knowledge. It is the cornerstone of innovation and collaboration.  Together we are on verge of revolutionizing the social entrepreneurship sector and beyond.  It won't be instant and it will be challenging, but in the words of Hildy Gottlieb, “Transparent community engagement - trusting others - is the path of quiet bravery.

Please join Jill Finlayson in the conversation:

• What are you doing to be brave?
• Are you mentoring or sharing expertise? Who are you helping and how did you find each other?
• What gifts of data and knowledge have you already received this year?
• How can you help contribute to open data sources?
• What gifts of data and collaboration would you like to receive or create in the new year?