Supporting Social Entrepreneurs Online... Really??

[Brooke]

There are so many of us that feel like we really do want to make a difference, get involved in a cause we believe in, develop new skills, offer our already developed skills to others and so on. Unfortunately, there seem to be a limited number of outlets for us to do that. It seems like there are mainly ways for us to do three things:

1) DONATE

There is no shortage of great organizations that you can give your money to. These organizations mostly use their own resources to try to fulfill their mission. They can send out full-time volunteers to the field or hire more people, but there is often very little transparency as to where your money ACTUALLY goes.

2) SHOW SUPPORT

If you are anything like me, you have probably signed dozens of petitions, joined many causes on Facebook and MySpace, signed up for mailing lists and received free trials of many cause oriented subscriptions.

3) EDUCATE YOURSELF

Throughout my internet surfing I have joined loads of mailing lists so my inbox is constantly full of information. I have attended conferences about topics that interested me, watched documentaries, read articles and newspapers and listened to dozens of different knowledge sharing podcasts through iTunes.


But where are the places where we can actually do more than that?


Where can we lend our creativity, connections, and potentially capital to effect change that wont soak up all of our time? Where are the meaningful ways online to support social entrepreneurs?

Experts address this issue by saying, "The reason you can’t find them is that the technological infrastructure is devastatingly nonexistent. This is because the creators of websites that facilitate collective action have, for the most part, created online tools that serve the needs of traditional nonprofits, the kinds of nonprofits that seek donations, create petitions, setup mailing lists, and run awareness-raising events. With the exception of Kiva, MyC4, Wokai, Ideablob and a hand full of campaigns on ThePoint, there are very few opportunities online to support social entrepreneurs."

Now, I'm curious about what the Futureshifters community has to say about this problem! I have developed a few questions that will hopefully get this discussion started.

1) How can we create, evolve and support efforts that directly help social entrepreneurs?

2) How can we ensure transparency of our efforts?

3) What if people like you and me could be the arbiters of which social entrepreneurs find the right combination of creativity, connections, and capital to fulfill their world-changing missions?

4) How would we develop this through the internet? What would we need to enable this sort of mass participation in social entrepreneurship?

5) What does "supporting social entrepreneurship" mean to you?


I’m hoping this list and the questions above will spark a conversation that shifts the way we think about how social entrepreneurs could and should receive the support they need.

[Nic Dominguez]

I agree with your train of thought, and I can see the disconnect between social entrepreneurs on the ground and those who desire to support them. I am currently attempting to build a social enterprise focused on rural economic development from a small village in eastern Kenya. I have had an extremely difficult time finding assistance in marketing, web development, and fund raising. I would love to be able to connect with more people like myself but the like of communication infrastructure really limits how productive I am online. If I was building a support network for enterprises like the one I am building in Kenya it would have these functions.

1. It would provide a place to submit quantitative and qualitative results and have them easily accessible to the public.
2. It would have a peer-to-entrepreneur loan system in place with a dedicated account that could be accessed at any major bank or possibly even by mobile phone based systems.
3. It would be able to collect and distribute loan repayments to donors on behalf of the social enterprise.
4. It would take responsibility for the promotion and marketing of the enterprise by classifying it and having targeted advertising based on potential donor profiling.
5. It would have a forum for each enterprise allowing for peer review of the strategy of the enterprise.
6. It would have other social networks integrated to allow for more personal communication between the entrepreneur and interested parties.
7. It would automatically recommend potential business partners based on criteria submitted by the entrepreneur.

That is all can think up for now. I hope the conversation continues.

If anyone would like to get a taste of the work I do in Kenya go to www.kvdcblog.blogspot.com

[Brooke]

Hi Nic,

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this post. Your thoughts are very insightful and I couldn't agree more with the points you've mentioned above.

In addition to working with ChangeFusion (where I manage Futureshifters), I also work with Kiva. I have worked with Kiva since the beginning and so I've been part of the evolution of the organization from idea stage to seeding to start-up to the full blown superstar we are today! Kiva was the first of their kind in terms of using user-friendly technology to connect people who have a little bit of money with those people who need a little bit of money to make a massive change in their lives.

Now, in my work with ChangeFusion we are taking the next logical step in terms of developing a similar user-friendly technology platform that can connect people that need to be connected: social enterprises and social investors. I have been working with a team of MBA students from Yale university in order to develop our platform. While it's not exactly what you were referring to above, I think it is on the right track. There are a few organizations that are doing the basics, such as ClearlySo or The Unreasonable Institute (planning for 2010) that you may want to get in touch with. They are both members of Futureshifters too! Check out this post.

I think what you are proposing is a very much needed system, but the required technological and human resources required to make it possible are massive. Here are my thoughts:

1. In the platform we are developing through ChangeFusion, the plan is have "Venture Profiles" in which we will be able to describe both the qualitative and quantitative benefits of that venture's work with the hopes of a) sourcing funding b) spreading the word about social entrepreneurship c) getting publicity for that venture and d) allowing the community to feel a sense of "wow"!

2. This sounds similar to the Kiva model, but removes the Field Partner aspect. The main issue I see with this would be the due diligence issue. Who will be the in between making sure that a) the businesses are legit, b) the correct amount of money was transferred, received or paid back and c) any other issues associated with errors and/or risk to either the loaner or to the borrower.

3. You are taking about "loans" but you refer to "donors" as well. Is that on purpose? If so, can you please explain what you mean? My interpretation was that loaners expect a repayment while donors do not.

4. That's what ChangeFusion hopes to do!

5. This is a fantastic idea that I hadn't even considered. What do you think the structure of this would look like? Blog style comments? How about confidentiality? Or what other structure do you think would be best for this? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

6. Like Facebook or Change.org or Futureshifters something? Or do you think creating a new network within the platform would be more appropriate?

7. This is like the Amazon recommendations idea, right? Brilliant! I hadn't thought of this as well!

Thank you again so much for your thoughts and input. I hope to continue to communicate more with you in the future!

[Nic Dominguez]

It is quite the honor to meet you Brooke. I am continually impressed by what Kiva has done and the movement that it has spearheaded. I am excited to know that such talented people are working with ChangeFusion to create a platform that sounds like it will once again raise the bar for technology projects in this field.

ClearlySo looks to be a great tool for me to look into. Thanks for the heads up. I don't think my organization is ready to start looking for investors but it is definitely something to strive for.

A few responses to your statements:

Due diligence is always a problem to monitor, I see it everyday in the local community groups that receive grants with never an intention to use it for the public good. Right now, I think the only true way to do this would be to actually have a trusted member of the organization on the ground and visiting each project that is sponsored by the online platform. This would raises costs dramatically but it is the only way I know of to truly monitor the intentions of the borrowers. What would be an interesting train of thought would be to implement the ideas of micro-finance groups into this problem. Would there be a way to group the borrowers so there is peer pressure to repay the loans and therefore reducing risk?

In bullet number 3 I should have said investors instead of donors. However, I have found that in my work I will need both. In extreme business environments such as rural Kenya, where the stability of basic business necessities is not absolute (I have to ride a bus for a half hour to purchase a notebook to write in) the requirement to pay back a loan pay be too much. either the loan needs to have an extremely long payback period or donations would be more appropriate. Possible a donation that in the terms of the donation states that it will be repaid if the business reaches a certain profitability by a certain time.

As far as the structure goes for a peer review platform....It would be interesting to have a mark-up and editing system right on the site itself. Recently I have seen sites that use google docs to post editable documents embedded within a site. I would gladly post our business plan and have people submit commits and propose edits to it. It could be accompanied by a blog or any such platform for on-going conversation. Confidentiality is a precaution that the entrepreneur would have to monitor themselves. However, in the terms of joining the site and having access to review business plans you may want to include a clause protecting the intellectual property of the entrepreneurs. One platform that trys to social entrepreneurs and community advice is Nabuur.com. I have found that the platform is confusing and problematic for my Internet connection but its something to start with.

The social networking aspect of it must integrate with pre-existing social media. Don't limit peoples ability to communicate between networks. you can create your own network within the site. I think this platform would be geared more toward the creation of a more dedicated community. One could possible use the idea of gaining recognizable standing with the community by their continued involvement. Essentially make it a game to contribute more to the community. Possibly by counting the number of suggestions given or suggestions used and using that to grade the standing in the community.

Like a combination of Amazon and LinkedIn.

[Brooke]

What Kiva did to help with the issue of due diligence is create out Kiva Fellows Program. Have you heard of that yet? Kiva Fellows are not paid and they go for a minimum of I believe 2-3 months. They act as a coordinator/liaison as well as a Kiva presence on the ground. This helps us keep things more transparent and keeps us "in-the-know". So, yeah, that would be an option to explore. People are lining up to do the Kiva Fellows Program because they see it as very much a win-win opportunity. It's super competitive now so we really do have some of the best of the best helping us for free out there on the ground.

In the platform that we will be building at ChangeFusion, we're exploring a number of different models to work with. One of the financing structures that we're exploring is more of a "quasi-loan" or "equity-based loan". Basically, the idea is to "sink or swim together". The fund would be set up as a type of loan/equity combination with the idea that if the business is successful, then the person who loaned them the money will get to not only be paid back in full, but also will be rewarded by the success too. On the other hand, if the business fails, then the entrepreneur isn't in debt to anyone and both parties would "sink" together. Since the investor/loaner would be taking on the risk, they also are able to benefit from the success. It's a really interesting idea that I'm exploring more into to try and find appropriate ways to structure the site. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I'd love to also hear more about the site that uses google docs to post editable documents embedded within a site. Can you send me the link to that site? I don't really have a clear picture of what that would look like or how it would work. I use google docs quite a lot to work with colleagues, so this is something I'm particularly interested in.

I hear you with Nabuur.com. I discovered it last year, but the site was too confusing for me to use so I pretty much abandoned it after trying to use it 3 or 4 times.

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on this platform to see if you can help me a bit more to think holistically of the structure as that is the project I am working on quite intensively at the moment. Also, what is the project or programs that you're working on? How can I help you? :)

Cheers,

[Ryan Fix]

wow, thanks for such a stimulating discussion. this is such a masively important area and there are a handful of people looking at this same area. i would love to send you guys along a few documents we have written on building platforms to connect great projects w/ the resources they need to move them forward. please ping me at [e-mail] if your interested in the ideas put forth. if there was a tool here to share files w/ the community, i would do so. another idea for the platform. brooke, jessica knows all about the platform. please give her a big hug. it would be incredible if we could all find a way to work together on setting up an open platform to tackle these questions/ideas. we have a fee people that would be interested on the investment side if we can get something up in beta that shows the functionalities. many thanks!

in service,

ryan fix

[Brooke]

Hi Ryan,

Wow! I am so glad you found this discussion! I would absolutely love to discuss more about this with you. I've already been in talks with the Unreasonable Institute, ClearlySo, Enviu and more and would LOVE to brainstorm ways to collaborate. Can we set up a time to chat on Skype? I'll shoot you an email with my info.

Talk to you soon!

[Matt Kepple]

Big questions Brooke!
My interest is particularly in the last one: I think 3 easy ways for everyone to support social entrepreneurship are:
1. buying/commissioning the products/services of social enterprises
2. promoting the work of social enterprises - e.g. organising a fairtrade fashion show where you live
3. working, volunteering or interning for a social enterprise

[Dwight Turner]

Social entrepreneurship has a home on these big sites, but the entrepreneurs themselves are still homeless.

I love the idea of a Kiva for socent.

Here's the recipe:

-Geared toward both donors/investors, potential socents, and the onlooking world (it needs to tell a story)
-Must be integrated. There's so much going on all over the web it needs to be inclusive not exclusive (this means socent no longer run themselves ragged begging for handouts btw twitter, facebook, flickr, causecast, etc)
-It needs local socent groups for oversight (ie a local group like changefusion for Bangkok)
-Must support project management, allowing for crowd sourcing and tracking of projects by anyone

[Brooke]

Thanks for the insight Dwight! I look forward to helping develop this in Bangkok together.