It has been a busy 18 months at the Trico Foundation as we have been working with organizations to test and pilot our A.S.E.S.S. worksheets. While we continue to learn something new every day, our team is at the point that we want to share where we are at with a wider audience, get feedback, and learn with you on your social enterprise journey.
Therefore we are pleased to announce the first iteration of our social enterprise capacity building workshop series designed for organizations either developing or scaling their social enterprise *. These workshops have been developed to address a number of key challenges organizations face as they build and scale their social ventures:
The Workshops**:
There are five different workshops covering the above key issues to be offered in the coming months. Please note that in order to attend the ‘Your Actions’ team sessions, an organization must have at least one individual (although we do encourage team participation) attend the first two ‘You’ and ‘Your Idea’ sessions. Further details and requirements for the individual sessions can be found below***.
You: Key Mindsets and Key Mindset Techniques
What: This session corresponds with our Key Mindsets blog. Drawing on a wide-range resources that focus on the importance of “you”, even on a journey of service and collaboration, it focuses on the attitudes you will need, and tips on what do in difficult times, as you further your social enterprise initiative – in general and in utilizing the other workshops. It will flag for you a number of cognitive biases that can prove to be a road block for social enterprises and provide tools to overcome your blind spots. These techniques were discussed by one of our summer students in “Owning My Journey: Developing Entrepreneurial Mindsets.“
Who: This session has been designed for anyone who is looking to develop their skills as they build or scale their social enterprise. Team participation is encouraged but not required.
Where & When: 8:30- noon March 27, 2019 @ the Trico Charitable Foundation. Please register using the Event page. This event registration is combined with the below ‘Your Idea’ session as attendance is required at both these events in order to take part in the later ‘Your Actions’ team sessions.
Your Idea: Customer/ Beneficiary Distinction and Blending the Social & Entrepreneurial
What: This session introduces you to how the Trico Foundation team understands social entrepreneurship, takes you through the process of differentiating between your customers and beneficiaries, and introduces you to our Blender canvas which explores how the social and entrepreneurial aspects in your social enterprise model interact. Additionally, we will discuss the upcoming ‘Your Actions’ workshops and a number of resources that are available to you as you move forward on your social enterprise journey.
Who: This session has been designed for anyone who is looking to build their social enterprise knowledge, dig into their own model, and explore the resources available. Team participation is encouraged but not required.
Where & When: 8:30- noon March 29, 2019 @ the Trico Charitable Foundation. Please register using the Event page. This event registration is combined with the above ‘You’ session as attendance is required at both these events in order to take part in the ‘Your Actions’ team sessions.
Once you have attended the above sessions, you have the opportunity to register your team for the below offerings (registration details will be sent out after you have attended the workshops above, so be sure to set aside the below dates if you would like to attend a specific workshop). It is important to note that unlike the sessions above, attending all the below workshops is not required and you are able to pick and choose those that are relevant to you.
Please note that space is limited in the sessions listed below
Your Actions: Workshop A) Stakeholders and The Adoption Curve
What: This team session discusses how to effectively use stakeholders as you build/ scale your social enterprise. We will cover the topics of advisory groups and friendly wise skeptics while exploring the capacities you have at hand and those that you need to bring onboard. We will also discuss the concept of the adoption curve and work with you to identify your early adopters (the customer group that you will bring your offering to first as a means to test and de-bug).
Who: This session has been designed for organizations that are looking to identify the stakeholders and skills that need to be at the table at they develop or scale their social enterprise. It is also geared towards organizations who are looking to dig deeper into customer segments and how to effectively learn from their customers as they build their offering. This session has been designed for teams to work on their specific social enterprise throughout the morning. A minimum of two attendees is required to take part.
Where & When: 8:30- noon April 25, 2019 @ the Trico Charitable Foundation. Registration for this event will be made available for organizations that attended the above ‘You’ and ‘Your Idea’ sessions.
Your Actions: Workshop B) Your Steady State Goals, Determining Key Steps, and Estimating Revenue & Expenses
What: This session will be focused identifying your long term social & financial goals (steady state) for your social enterprise and how your social venture will deliver both your product & your impact. With this long term picture in mind, we will work through the many steps that your organization will need to execute in order to serve both your customer and beneficiaries. From here, we will begin assigning costs to the steps you must take to gain a clear picture of your annual revenue and expenses.
Who: Teams that are looking to have deep discussions about their long term goals for their venture, how they will provide their offering, and estimate their revenue and expenses. This session has been designed for teams to work on their specific social enterprise throughout the morning. A minimum of two attendees is required to take part.
Where & When: 8:30- noon May 23, 2019 @ the Trico Charitable Foundation. Registration for this event will be made available for organizations that attended the above ‘You’ and ‘Your Idea’ sessions.
Your Actions: Workshop C) Testing
What: As you develop/ scale your social enterprise and move towards your goals, it can be difficult to know whether you are taking the right steps and moving in the correct direction. This is when the idea of using small tests to de-risk your venture and identifying key stages in your planning process are imperative as it is impossible to tell if you are moving in the right direction when haven’t identified what you need to look for. This workshop will work with teams to identify their long term goals (steady state) and the important milestones (things they cannot afford to be wrong about) as they move through their social enterprise journey. We will then focus in on your team’s next steps and how you will test along the way.
Who: Teams that are looking to dig into the testing process. This session has been designed for teams to work on their specific social enterprise throughout the morning. A minimum of two attendees is required to take part.
Where & When: 8:30- noon June 20, 2019 @ the Trico Charitable Foundation. Registration for this event will be made available for organizations that attended the above ‘You’ and ‘Your Idea’ sessions.
Office Hours
In conjunction with the above workshops, we will be offering weekly coaching office hours where the teams participating in the above sessions will have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one time to work with one of our team members directly on their social enterprise.
These sessions will be driven by the needs your team has identified as they correspond to the materials/ activities shared during the workshops. The details/ the schedule of our Office Hours will be shared during the workshops.
Should the spring schedule not fit your timelines in developing/ scaling your social enterprise, we will be offering these sessions again in Fall 2019 (sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on these offerings).
We look forward to offering these sessions in the coming months!
*The Spring 2019 sessions have been designed for organizations who are involved in operating a social enterprise. However, if your organization offers supports to social entrepreneurs and you want to learn more about Trico Foundation, please get in touch as we plan to have a social enterprise supporters focused event later this year.
** These workshops are not a requirement to apply for A.S.E.S.S. funding which is meant for social enterprise efforts that feel they have their key issues figured out and need funding to help them get to the next level of their venture. Furthermore, participants taking part in these workshops are able to apply for funding whenever they feel the time is right.
*** Contact us at info@tricofoundation.ca if you have any questions regarding our eligibility requirements.