It’s been a while since I’ve felt as inspired as I did on Thursday, November 17th. On this day, I had the opportunity and privilege to attend the Trico Enterprising Spirit Conference in my role as the Executive Director of a Calgary-based charitable organization – Highbanks Society (www.highbankssociety.ca). This agency has been providing subsidized housing with wrap-around support services to parenting youth since 2003. The Society was formed in 2001, and in the two years leading up to opening its doors, founder Bette Mitchell and her Board of Directors worked as true social entrepreneurs to secure the perfect real estate to realize the vision of housing, employing and educating young mothers in Calgary.

This conference broadened my knowledge of how to effectively grow a strong organization through social enterprise. It exposed me to a network of leaders in the field, with whom I otherwise may not have connected. And, it ignited a desire to learn more so that I may do my part in building a more sustainable organization and healthier community. Tasked to lead Highbanks through its current stage of growth, I feel invigorated to explore the feasibility of many potential innovations which have organically been derived from the needs of parenting youth in our city. I feel encouraged to take some measured risks, by leveraging our Community Assets (www.vancity.com/MyCommunity/Impact/Stories/Community/) and years of operational experience, for a cause much greater than that of a financial bottom-line. Lastly, I feel rather animated (http://socialinnovation.ca/about/theory-of-change) to explore potential partnerships and synergies with others committed to making the world a better place.

I want to take this opportunity to commend Katherine Harmsworth and her team for their hard work in putting the day together! Thank you also to Wayne Chiu and his fellow Board Members of the Trico Charitable Foundation(www.tricofoundation.ca) for their passion and vision. The experience was truly inspirational and I look forward to the next conference!

 

Cecilia de la Rocha
Executive Director
Highbanks Society

 

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Social enterprise experts and practitioners from across the country gathered in Calgary on November 17th to attend Enterprising Spirit: Creating Value and Social Good. Hosted by the Trico Charitable Foundation, the conference featured a day of interactive workshops and experimental problem solving related to planning, practicing, and fine tuning social enterprise.

The Enterprising Spirit Conference opened with an inspirational keynote address by Tonya Surman, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI). Tonya describes herself as a community animator, which she explained involves creating collisions between people to foster the connections that lead to social innovation. If there was any doubt about Tonya’s assertion that the process of engagement is the point, it was quickly dispelled by the palpable buzz her insights and passion sparked among the conference attendees.

The Enterprising Spirit Conference was divided into a number of workshops that were aimed at providing practical and experiential guidance for aspiring and established social entrepreneurs. The following offers a summary of the breakout sessions:

In The What and Why of Social Entrepreneurship, David LePage (enp) led a hands-on workshop exploring the ways in which non-profit organizations can blend mission and business to achieve their goals. The session was punctuated with examples drawn from David’s 30+ years of experience in the social economy and non-profit sectors. Newbies and experienced practitioners alike gained an in-depth understanding of the what, why, and how of social enterprise.

The True Confessions in Social Entrepreneurship panel included Jane Bisbee (Social Enterprise Fund), Michele Cherot (Greater Trail Community Skills Centre), Linda Huffman (Arts Habitat Association of Edmonton) and Jessie Radies (Live Local). Attendees were exposed to a discussion filled with illustrative examples of what it’s really like in the trenches of social enterprise. While earning revenue is one of the obvious goals of social enterprise, Linda Huffman emphasized that the biggest reward is connecting to the community.

Show Me the Money – Solutions to Challenges of Growing Your Social Enterprise featured some of Canada’s foremost social enterprise experts, namely Derek Gent (Vancity Community Foundation), David LePage (enp), Tonya Surman (Centre for Social Innovation), Bill Young (Social Capital Partners), and Gerrad Oishi (Lodestone Social Ventures). The conversations ranged from navigating legal structures, to mobilizing pools of capital, to the importance of social enterprises finding champions within financial institutions. As Tonya Surman and David LePage explained, money follows good ideas, so it’s crucial to know what social and business objectives your organization is trying to accomplish.

In Profits + Purpose: Demonstrating Value, Jocelyne Daw (JS Daw & Associates), Derek Gent (Vancity Community Foundation), and Stephanie Robertson (SiMPACT Strategy Group) emphasized that demonstrating value is a must for social enterprises. Impact, however, is extremely difficult to determine if you neglect to ask the questions, ‘What do we need to know?’ and ‘What do we want to show?’ The key to maximizing and optimizing a social enterprise’s mission and revenue is to couple storytelling with benchmarks, metrics, and data analysis.

For me, the key takeaway from the Enterprising Spirit Conference was the importance of social enterprises remaining solidly concentrated on the macro-level issue(s) they aim to alleviate. As Tonya Surman argued, social innovation is about addressing root causes, and not just the treatment of symptoms.  Knowing what your social and business goals are is crucial because it ensures the focus of your enterprise is on community impact, rather than on the individual non-profit organization.

At the conclusion of the Enterprising Spirit Conference, an awards reception was hosted by the Trico Charitable Foundation to present the inaugural Social EnterPrize Awards. The goal of the award program is to recognize individuals and organizations who demonstrate excellence and innovation in Canada’s social enterprise sector. Mission Possible and Potluck Cafe and Catering each won an organizational Social EnterPrize, and Caroline Arcand of Groupe Convex was awarded the individual Social EnterPrize. While it can be difficult to conceptualize a social enterprise’s effects, videos featuring the work of the Social EnterPrize winners vividly illustrated the impact of their ventures. Coupled with a thought-provoking keynote address provided by Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, the reception offered an uplifting ending to an already inspirational day.

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The Enterprising Spirit: Creating Value and Social Good Conference is now sold out!

If you missed registering for the full conference day, but would like to join us in celebrating social entrepreneurship, please register to attend the Social EnterPrize Awards.

The Social EnterPrize Awards Reception will be held on the evening of Thursday, November 17th at the Delta Bow Valley Hotel from 5:30 – 7:30. Winners of the inaugural Social EnterPrize Awards will be announced at the event, and Mayor Nenshi will be providing the Reception Address.

This is no charge for the Awards Reception, but you must register via Eventbrite to attend.  Hurry before that sells out too!

Looking forward to seeing you on November 17, 2011.

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In the following guest blog post, Christi Millar of Canadian Youth Business Foundation explains why she is attending the Enterprising Spirit Conference on November 17.

I was in a meeting the other day and the term “social entrepreneurship” came up in discussion.  Mildly embarrassed, a colleague and friend confessed to me, “I’m still not really sure what it all means.”  My response was, “Don’t worry, you are not the first person to say that and I’m not sure that I do either!”

To different people, it means different things.

I went on to share my definition of social entrepreneurship – and the types of individuals that I work with through my role with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.  They are the entrepreneurs with a social mission.  The people like CYBF entrepreneur, Robb Price with DeliverGood who identified a social need in the community and created a business to address that need.  DeliverGood matches charities and non-profits that need “stuff” with people and corporations that have “stuff.”

But, that’s just a very top level explanation – and one that does not even take into consideration the increasing amount of non-profits that are creating social enterprises that address a social need plus allow the non-profit to become more self-sustaining and less reliant on outside funders.

There is so much to learn – and that is why, on November 17th, I will be attending the Enterprising Spirit Conference.  The Trico Charitable Foundation has done a tremendous job of putting together a program that will bring clarity to newbies that are just starting to explore the concept and provide best practices to more established social enterprises that are looking to glean lessons from the conference presenters that have spent years in the trenches of social enterprise.

I expect to leave the day brimming with knowledge and inspiration – and with a new network of contacts that are as committed to growing a community of social entrepreneurs as I am.  I hope to see you there!

Christi Millar

Director, Alberta

Canadian Youth Business Foundation

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Planning, practicing and fine tuning social enterprise are the themes of our upcoming Enterprising Spirit: Creating Value and Social Good conference. Our speakers, session leaders and panel participants are a unique group of thinkers who bring a rich knowledge and professional expertise to the social enterprise movement.

The final three Conference participants we would like to tell you more about are Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Tonya Surman, and Bill Young. We are thrilled that Tonya Surman will be providing the keynote address during the lunch portion of the Conference and Mayor Nenshi will be speaking at the Social EnterPrize Awards Reception. During the Enterprising Spirit Conference, both Tonya and Bill will be participating in the “Show Me the Money: Solutions to Challenges of Growing Your Social Enteprise” panel session.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi is a passionate Calgarian, an accomplished business professional, and a community leader with a solid track record of getting things done.  He’s run a large non-profit, he’s been a trusted advisor to corporate leaders in Canada and the US, and he literally wrote the book on Canadian cities.

Mayor Nenshi spent many years at the international business consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., where he advised large telecommunications, banking, retail and oil and gas companies in corporate strategy.  Mayor Nenshi was Canada’s first tenured professor in the field on non-profit management, at Mount Royal University’s Bissett School of Business.  His real passion, though, is making cities, especially Calgary, work better.  He’s been the Chairman of the EPCOR  CENTRE for the Performing Arts, and has lent his expertise to non-profits across the city, including the Calgary Foundation, the United Way, the Coral Springs Community Association, and Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids.

Mayor Nenshi grew up in Calgary and has lived and worked in cities around the world before coming back to make his home here.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts (with distinction) from the University of Calgary, a Masters in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he studied as a Kennedy Fellow.

Tonya Surman is a social entrepreneur, community animator and network choreographer. With a passion for bringing life to world-changing projects, Tonya is the founding executive director of the Centre for Social Innovation – a dynamic convergence space in Toronto whose mission is to catalyze, connect and support new ideas that are changing the world. CSI provides shared space to 200 social mission groups, acts as a community centre for social innovators and is an incubator for world-changing projects.

In 2009, CSI was awarded the ‘City Innovation’ award from the Canadian Urban Institute and Tonya was recognized as a ‘Leader in Social Change’ from the Canadian New Media Awards. In 2010, Tonya became a Global Ashoka Fellow for her innovative work building models of collaboration. 2010 also saw CSI innovate a citizen-based Community Bond for the purchase of an old building to create another vibrant social change community in Toronto.

Prior to CSI, Tonya was the founding Partnership Director for the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment, whose work, in part, led to a new legislative framework to manage chemicals and the banning of Bisphenol A in baby bottles. Tonya has been creating and leading social ventures since 1987 and has built her body of knowledge around multi-sectoral collaboration and entrepreneurship for social change.

Bill Young is the founder and President of Social Capital Partners (“SCP”) a non-profit, social finance company started in 2001. SCP’s primary goal is to find innovative ways to provide meaningful job opportunities for people who face employment barriers.  Throughout its history it has facilitated thousands of jobs for disadvantaged populations by financing a number of successful social enterprises across Canada and by providing financing and/or  advisory services to for profit businesses that implement a community hiring program as part of their recruitment process.  SCP facilitates the hiring of these individuals and helps ensure they have the appropriate skills to be successful employees.

Before founding SCP, Bill worked for approximately twenty years in the private sector primarily as CEO of Hamilton Computers, and Optel Communications Corp.  He began his career as a Chartered Accountant and holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Harvard.

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In the following guest blog post, social enterprise practitioner Marina Giacomin explains why she is attending the Enterprising Spirit Conference on November 17.

As an experienced social worker and agency leader for over 20 years I’ve never had any difficulty with the “social” cause, or vision of the Social Enterprise business I lead at Servants Anonymous Calgary.

However, where my “social work” brain struggles at times is with the “enterprise business” part!  Like an explorer, I find myself discovering strange, new worlds and learning a new language on a daily basis.

Where before, “hospitality” merely meant being welcoming, kind and inviting to the people who came to us for help, now as I lead a Social Enterprise events and catering service, it has also come to mean stock and inventory, profit and loss statements, and social return on investment.

As a non profit Executive Director, the tenuous nature of funding and how to sustain our social services is something that keeps me (and my Board) awake at night!  Social Enterprise can be an important key to changing this experience.

A successful social enterprise not only provides opportunities for people to develop in their understanding of a community’s issues; but also provides a pathway for the greater sustainability of social programs and services.

Two things I’ve learned so far:

Get the right people into the right positions – yes, social services folks should be staff in your social enterprise business but should they manage it, or manage it alone? The world is full of “corporate refugees” – business minded and experienced people looking for a way to use their skills and gifts in greater service to the community!  Find them!

It is challenging but crucial to adjust your “non profit” mindset in your social enterprise – a coach I once had told me that social service workers sometimes begin to mirror the issues we are serving in.  Example – the scarcity mindset (not enough funding), or struggle for sustainable funding, is not that different from the struggle to make ends meet, pay the rent, and feed the kids that many of our clients experience.  People in successful social enterprises think outside the box, are innovative and willing to experiment or take mindful risks. This is the challenge for our boards, our staff, and ourselves as we venture into the world of Soc Ent!

I’m excited to attend the Enterprising Spirit Conference on November 17 and learn from people who can help me expand the horizons of my agency’s social enterprise business. And I’m excited to meet with other newbie adventurers – to share our ideas and dreams for the sustainability of our work in making the world a better place.  See you there!

Marina Giacomin MA, RSW

Executive Director

Servants Anonymous Society Calgary and Fireworks Cooperative

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