Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Announcing Canada’s first magazine dedicated to social enterprise

We’re excited to announce the launch of SEE Change Magazine in early 2010. With a mission to inform, inspire and educate, SEE Change will be the first publication in the country devoted to social enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Each issue will contain a mix of important news and information about social enterprise and social innovation in Canada, opinions and commentary, expert advice, and engaging features that will get people thinking, talking, moving…and changing.

The magazine will inform our audience about innovative approaches to improving our communities and new ways of doing business. It will inspire people to make changes in their own organizations – whether big or small – and educate readers about what’s happening in this exciting, emergent field.

SEE Change will put current research and practice models in the hands of organizational leaders, and provide an engaging forum for further education and discussion, becoming “the place” for discourse on social enterprise, social innovation and social entrepreneurship in Canada, and beyond.

Sound exciting? Well YOU can be a part of it. Are you committed to social entrepreneurship and its potential to achieve sustainability and social change? Do you believe in the need to establish a common, collaborative voice in the field of social enterprise? Then join us. We’re searching for partners and forward-thinkers willing to work together to help this exciting magazine reach its fullest potential.

For more information, contact us at: seechangemagazine@gmail.com

And, of course, you can follow all the latest developments at seechangemagazine.blogspot.com.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Social Finance and nonprofits

Check out my latest post for the Causeway/Ashoka Social Finance Blog Series at socialfinance.ca:


By Elisa Birnbaum

Thursday, December 3, 2009

What is social enterprise?

If you're reading this, you're probably hoping for a definition of social enterprise. A logical expectation, given the title of this posting. But alas, as I've discovered in the past few months, trying to find an agreed upon description of social enterprise is nearly impossible. And the waters get muddier with each passing Google search.

Apparently, I'm not the only one trying to figure it all out. At a recent forum on social enterprise, a very well-known Canadian was heard saying, "I know little about social enterprise, but I'm very involved in it." Okaaayyy...I'll give him points for enthusiasm, but I have to ask the question: Can you be involved in something you can't define? (I can sense fingers reaching for keyboards, but please, stay with me for a moment.)

As it turns out, when it comes to social enterprise, you most certainly can get involved even if you aren't quite clear on what to call your activities. In fact, the social enterprise movement might progress a lot faster if people weren't so hung up on trying to define it. But try they will:

  • Social enterprises are social mission driven organizations which apply market-based strategies to achieve a social purpose. The movement includes both nonprofits that use business models to pursue their mission and for-profits whose primary purposes are social. (Wikipedia)
  • Social enterprises are businesses driven by a social or environmental purpose. (Social Enterprise Coalition)
  • A social enterprise is an organization or venture that achieves its primary social or environmental mission using business methods. (Social Enterprise Alliance)
  • Social enterprises are revenue-generating businesses with a twist. Whether operated by a nonprofit organization or by a for-profit company, a social enterprise has two goals: to achieve social, cultural, community economic or environmental outcomes; and, to earn revenue. (BC Centre for Social Enterprise)

After reading this handful of selections from the web, you might start feeling a bit smug ("I don't know why she doesn't get it; it's all perfectly obvious!) But add terms like social entrepreneurship, social investor, and social finance into the mix and prepare to be confused!

While I do consider myself a bit of stickler when it comes to words, there is such a thing as getting lost in the details. With so much potential within the social enterprise movement, I hate to see well-intentioned people quibbling over semantics. In the end, they are all working toward the same basic goal - to make our communities and our society stronger.

Luckily, there are some brave souls willing to wade into the mire even if they don't quite have it all figured out. Examples are popping up all over the place: restaurants, cafes, printing shops, wineries, cleaning services, florists, you name it. People who have, for years, been running their business with a social purpose are now being told they are operating a social enterprise. Nice to know, but the point is that they were accomplishing their goals even when there wasn't an official term for what they were doing.

That's good news for the rest of us, including that well-known individual who recently proclaimed his lack of knowledge but high involvement in social enterprise: former Prime Minister, Paul Martin. (If you're curious about what else he has to say on the subject, read his speech, Unleashing the power of social enterprise.

By Nicole Zummach

Monday, October 26, 2009

Social purchasing: An alternative to mindless consumerism

Last week, I attended the launch of a new social enterprise purchasing toolkit, created by Vancouver-based enp (enterprising non-profits). The goal of the toolkit is to help organizations - nonprofits, corporations, and the public sector - leverage their purchasing choices.

Okay, sounds good, but what does that actually mean? To demonstrate their point, enp hosted the event at the YWCA Hotel, a social enterprise in downtown Vancouver. The food was catered by Potluck Café, another social enterprise, and the wine - a tasty Pinot Noir - was produced by Nk'Mip Cellars, North America's first Aboriginal owned and operated winery, located in Osoyoos, BC.

But this wasn't just a feel-good exercise; it was an example of social enterprise purchasing in action. enp chose to use suppliers who also work toward a social mission, not just a profit margin. So why aren't more people doing this? Awareness is a big part of the equation, and something this new toolkit is hoping to address. It teaches people how to create buy-in for social purchasing, and provides a long (and growing) list of social enterprises ready to do business.

Right now, when the office manager at Corporation X needs copy paper, she'll probably go with her usual supplier, or barring that, the lowest price she can find. Once she reads this toolkit, she'll be able to explain to her manager why social enterprise purchasing is a viable alternative and how it can fit into their current CSR or purchasing strategy.

The good news is that this is already happening at some forward-thinking institutions. Like the University of British Columbia, where procurement professional Victoria Wakefield makes a point of finding social enterprises to do business with. As she points out, those in charge of multi-million dollar budgets need to be corporately responsible, and outsourcing globally when oil sits at $80 a barrel just doesn't make sense. In her words, "Outsourcing should be illegal if a comparable local option is available."

I tend to agree, especially when I see how many local businesses are actually social enterprises. I may not be managing multi-million dollar accounts, but I know that the next time I want to make a purchase, my first stop will be the social enterprise marketplace.

Also worth checking out:
The Social Purchasing Portal (SPP)

By Nicole Zummach

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A mug of liquid sustainability

So I was thinking about coffee the other day. Okay, in the aim of full disclosure for my inaugural post, here’s the thing: I think about coffee every day. The way I see it, of all the vices to adopt as my own, a freshly brewed cup of Joe has got to be the best option. And much to the chagrin of green-tea-converts (many of them former friends), I embrace my vice fully and passionately. Which turns out to be a good thing because, while searching for a cup, I stumbled upon a new coffee shop. It was a most serendipitous stumble because it got me thinking about something else - social entrepreneurship.

The Green Beanery is one of the recent caffeinated additions to the oversaturated coffee haven at the intersection of Bloor and Bathurst in downtown Toronto. Situated directly across from the city’s most notorious eyesore, the bargain supercentre known as Honest Ed’s, Green Beanery, a nonprofit, sits in what was once a TD Bank, which helps explain its size. Sitting at 2650 square feet, the space is put to good use. Aside from selling coffee and beans— offering 90 varieties of roasted coffees, more than any other roastery or coffee shop in the world, and a bigger selection of green coffee beans than any other retailer in the world - the Beanery also runs the largest coffee equipment retail store.

A coffee-lover’s dream aside (for a moment, anyway), here’s the clincher: it’s a social enterprise. Though nowhere on the site do they make such proclamations, I will do it for them. It’s a pretty easy deduction. Green Beanery’s net revenues go to support Probe International (a division of Energy Probe Research Foundation), dedicated to helping citizen groups around the world protect their lands and their livelihoods. In particular, GB earnings help Probe International advocate for policies benefiting small coffee farmers. And by buying select niche beans and making them available to the public - an otherwise improbable feat - the organization allows farmers to maintain a diverse agriculture, promoting sustainability. As for the equipment, the hope is that by buying quality roasting machines, the demand for quality beans will rise as people learn to roast them in the comfort of their homes.

It’s an impressive enterprise and a stark reminder of the incredible efforts needed to help coffee farmers stay afloat. It reminds me of another social entrepreneurial quest, one initiated by Ron Layton, an Ashoka Fellow who I had the pleasure of speaking with last year. Founder of Light Years IP, his enterprise is revolutionizing the way poor producers in developing countries compete in the markets, helping them attain a more leveled playing field and develop sustainable businesses. The key? Intellectual property (IP). Using formidable IP tools, producers are banding together and leveraging their intangible assets in new and innovative ways. The resulting redistribution of wealth and power is creating immense change, with other positive consequences sure to follow.

Most recently Layton used the IP model to successfully help Ethiopian coffee producers of three particular fine coffees (the country is known to produce some of the finest beans in the world) take control of distribution in foreign markets, garnering higher and more secure export income in the process. Starbucks, one of the most popular retailers who purchases Ethiopia's premium coffee, was initially reticent to contract with the newly formed coffee stakeholder group, now charging a premium price for their offerings. In time, however, the coffee giant realized it had little choice and came on board - albeit begrudgingly. Considering the cost differential, I wouldn’t be surprised if Starbucks increases the price of their Ethiopian beans; perhaps they already have. Regardless, the farmers hope to match their recent success with other fine coffee bean producers as well.

Two social enterprises committed to effecting change. Promoting sustainability and empowerment, coffee farmers in the developing world now have a better chance of survival. And I, in turn, get to enjoy a most delectable cup of coffee. Win-win.


By Elisa Birnbaum