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Shining light on our thinking & doing, our epiphanies & struggles, & our movement.

The Trouble with Transformation Creep

December 3, 2014 No Comments

The mantra for transformative change has become ubiquitous. After all, who would opt for treating symptoms, often derisively labeled as band-aids, over striving for a cure? While the clarion call of transformation also beckons for us, we’re concerned by a dynamic emerging between individuals taking community action because they saw a “simple” need (kids need shoes, women shelters need soup) and the analysis of those actions by those who call for transformative change. Whether these interventions come through the lens of philanthropy, humanitarianism, or economic development and regardless of whether they are individual actions or those taken by organizations, we risk losing much by judging all social initiatives against the standard of transformation.

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“ALL Inn.”: Building Alberta’s Social Innovation Environment

October 1, 2014 No Comments

The harsh reality is new ways of doing things in an old system typically yields old results. It’s akin to planting a flower in the middle of a desert. Embracing the recommended core disciplines (‘action’, ‘learning’ and ‘leveraging’), guided by new mindsets (‘co-creation’, ‘electric judo’ and ‘systems health’) and an ecosystems approach presents the best chance of producing the culture change we need, serving the goals of the government, and maximizing the potential of the SIE for all Albertans.

Perhaps the crux of the matter was addressed in one question within the consultation documents: “How can we leverage ALL types of innovation?”

The acronym for “action”, “leveraging” and “learning” added to “innovation” could be “ALL Inn.”

This could be Alberta’s rallying cry and represent:
• Innovation will be everywhere.
• Innovation includes everyone/everyone has a role.
• Alberta is committed to the innovation agenda.

We applaud the Alberta Government for taking the bold step of creating a Social Innovation Endowment. As a partner in this work, we see ourselves as accountable for doing all we can to ensure the success of the SIE in Alberta and championing its future. We believe that Government should hold the social innovation sector to high account as a partner in this work and empower it to do the work needed so that all Albertans may benefit from the opportunities that social innovation holds.

If the SIE is to achieve its ambitious, arguably audacious, goal of solving ‘wicked problems’, Alberta will have to go “ALL Inn.”.

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Upcoming Social Enterprise Workshops & Grantmaking

September 3, 2014 No Comments

October 7, 2014
Enterprising Non-Profits Alberta: Intro to Social Enterprise Workshop (Calgary)

This workshop is intended for organizations that are interested in social enterprise, but would like to learn more about how starting a social enterprise will affect their organization.

This session will introduce social enterprise and is designed for organizations considering this path in the future. It will explore what social enterprise is, the many forms it can take, and why an organization would consider social enterprise. We will also discuss some of the potential community impacts and review the development path of social enterprise planning. This session will highlight local social enterprises and explore their journey to provide tangible examples of how social enterprise can help your organization further its mission and increase the chances of sustainability in the future.

Workshop details:

When: Tuesday, October 7th, from 8:30 am – 11:30 am MST

Where: Trico Charitable Foundation, 1003 11 Ave SW, Calgary

Cost: $50 for the first team member and $30 for additional attendees

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Focusing on the ‘how to’: emergent philanthropy debate must evolve

August 29, 2014 No Comments

As a small and relatively new private foundation, we were intrigued by Kania, Kramer & Russell’s discussion of an emergent philanthropy framework. While our initial debates focused on the ‘newness’ and the key elements highlighted in their article were theoretically interesting, we were more attracted to the ‘how to’ elements outlined in the ‘How to move to an emergent model’ section.

For us, the authors’ move away from their views on strategic philanthropy does not mean that emergent philanthropy loses its own requirement to be strategic. Rather, it honours the notion that the shift from predictive to emergent models requires different processes, communication and cultures to ensure that we can describe the impact of what we are doing.

To this end, the ultimate potential of the article lies in its attempt to explain how emergent philanthropy can be done. Sadly, this does not seem to be the focus of much of the discussion that has occurred. This strikes us as a squandered opportunity. Imagine the incredible value of all the organizations that participated in this debate talking about ‘co-creating strategy’, ‘working the attractors’ and ‘improving system fitness’ – do they embrace these elements, what has worked, what hasn’t, what have they learned? We are sharing our story in the hopes that it inspires more experienced foundations to join a discussion of the ‘how to’ aspects of the article.

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Workshop Season is Upon Us…

March 17, 2014 No Comments

We are trying something a little different this Spring and we can’t wait for you to join us!

Enp-AB is pleased to partner with enp-Canada and Innoweave to offer three exciting events to assist you on your social enterprise journey. We hope that these three opportunities will offer organizations at different stages in the social enterprise development path an opportunity to learn more and provide them with the resources they need to continue on the social enterprise path.

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Key Elements of a Federal Government Social Enterprise Strategy

December 1, 2013 No Comments

At its core, social enterprise embodies two elements: the passion for addressing social challenges and the generation of market-based revenues in support of that social purpose. Regardless of whether the social enterprise is an individual or an organization, regardless of their choice of incorporation – non-profit or for-profit, these two elements are the driving force.

Those two elements aren’t just identifiers. It is the conjunction of those two elements, bringing together the power markets and social purpose, which is at the heart of the incredible promise of social enterprise. While it has always been assumed that business activity produces an indirect benefit to its community (e.g. through employment and tax revenue), social enterprise brings the power of ‘social’ more deeply into the business world, daring to ask what profits could be made and advances could be achieved if businesses embedded in their value propositions a commitment to directly solve the world’s biggest and most perplexing social challenges. For social organizations, social enterprise brings the power of markets to make them more financially sustainable and take their social impact to the next level.

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Case Study: Calgary Counselling Centre

August 22, 2013 No Comments

Calgary Counselling Centre provides compassionate, professional and affordable counselling services for Calgarians. As a leader in research and counsellor training in Canada since 1962, the Centre is committed to supporting a multiplicity of needs by offering a “barrier free” sliding scale pay system for their counselling services to individuals and families in Calgary and nearby communities.

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Case Study: cSPACE Projects

August 22, 2013 No Comments

cSPACE Projects is a non-profit real estate enterprise and urban development organization that is re-imagining a network of affordable, sustainable and collaborative work spaces across Calgary. Their mission is to foster creativity, fuel innovative thinking and ignite change by connecting and supporting individual artists and small non-profit organizations within the Calgary community.

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