#SoCent

My career has been shaped in the charitable sector. It spans two countries, several sub-sectors and a lot of fundraising time. When I decided to launch my own company it was at the begining of the formal social enterprise discussion in the States. I realized early on that what the charities value as their business and revenue models is not what the traditional markets value.  This seems obvious, when charities talk about their business, they talk about the lives that they have saved and how they do it on so few dollars.  When companies talk about their business, they talk about profit and commodities and consumers.  So it was with great interest that I read this past week's issue of the Globe & Mail on renaming the sector from non-profit to Social Profit.

Taking this article a step further, here are two new terms to add to the Social Enterprise Dictionary that was started a few months ago and has been generating much discussion on LinkedIn and the blog itself. I welcome your comments.

A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with Tammy Maloney, Joni Avram and Brett Wilson at the Uncoference for Social Good. We were discussing the fact that the language used in the social enterprise space is foggy.  Brett put forward two additional terms.  One of which he gave a definition for, the other came out of the dialogue.

Philanthropic entrepreneurship - "investing with a willingness to accept changing the world as part of your returns." - W. Brett Wilson

Entrepreneurial philanthropist - Someone who sees their charitable donation as an investment in the business of the charity, therefore expects a social return that can be measured and quantified.

By changing the name of the sector from non-profit to social profit we are able to show that an entrepreneurial approach to social issues is not only a plausible, but one that is viable and sustainable.  We also now have terms that are easily explained to those who are operating in this hybrid space of social business.

If this is the new mindset, is the term "charity" still relevant?

Last month I started a blog post about creating a social enterprise dictionary. A discussion was started with comments coming from a variety of individuals.  Last night, over a glass of wine and some "old-fashioned" social networking with David Ian Gray, more was added to the #socent lexicon. Read more »

At this past year’s SoCap, I led an Open Space conversation around the language that we are using in the social business/enterprise/venture space. I have observed over the past few years, as this sector evolves and pushes boundaries, there is much inconsistency in how we communicate what we are doing.  These organizations are generating revenue by tackling some of the world’s biggest problems, yet there seems to be much confusion in the marketplace from those who are building the businesses and those who are investing in them.

For the past few days I have been in the Ottawa area attending the Imagine Canada/Volunteer Canada forum on Business & Community.  During this time I have had the opportunity to meet with social change agents in the non-profit sector and their funders (corporate and government).  While the conversations were interesting the needs of these organizations are great, there was a distinct gap in the dialogue.  I feel that missing from the table were Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (who make up approximately 80% of Canada's business market-place) and For-Profit Social Enterprises (there was representation from non-profit social enterprieses).

I recently tweeted some research that we had done by UnCommon Innovation on the state the financial services sector.  The focus on the study was on how advisors are talking with their clients about charitable giving.  What came out loud and clear is that advisors are looking for tools and resources to have deeper, more meaningful conversations with their clients about philanthropy.  These tools and resources can come from a number of places, the most knowledgeable place would be the charitable sector itself.

The past few weeks have seen several different reports on Trends in Philanthropy for 2011.  A few months ago I shared my thoughts on what the next couple of years will hold - here are the two most recent blog posts on this topic:

Opportunity in the Void - Societal Paradigm Shift

5 Global Forces that will Change Charitable Sector