I thought that it would be interesting to see who the ‘top’ individuals and organisations tweeting about social enterprise and social entrepreneurship were, so I put together a list of all people using the hashtag #socent over the last few weeks and used PeerIndex to rank them by their ‘social influence’.

PeerIndex isn’t perfect but it uses information on peoples’ ‘Authority’, ‘Activity’ and ‘Audience’ on social networks to give them an influence score (more info here).

Have a look at the list below. You can also follow the list on Twitter, or follow me on twitter at @lucywood.

If you’d like to be added to the list, let me know and I’ll add you on.

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The Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) started back in 2007 when a group of world ICT experts came together to discuss how ICT could enable competitiveness. Since 2007 the forum has grown, running an annual meeting to bring together global business and political leaders, journalists and experts in their fields. The aim of the forum is to stimulate discussions and find solutions for how organisations  and national competitiveness can have a positive impact on local, regional and global economic and social development.

The last forum was held in January 2011 in Saudi Arabia and focussed on “Innovation as a Means to Competitiveness” looking at how to develop competitivess to “build sustainability, promote responsible development, and drive economic growth.” The forum looked at the current challenges to competitiveness and how innovation can provide solutions to them.

Sally Osberg, President and CEO of The Skoll Foundation was one of the key note speakers talking about how social entrepreneurs are can be one of these innovative solutions particularly about Conscious Capitalism and Conscious leadership.

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I work with many individuals who have identified a social issue and have an idea for how to solve it. They often come to me with just an idea and need help to articulate the business model that sits behind it and what actions they need to take to make it happen. UnLtd (The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs) have developed a useful toolkit that helps individuals to navigate this process, giving practical tools and working models for planning and implementation that will help social entreprenuers to start up, pilot and achieve long term sustainability, growth and replication. Read the rest of this entry »

The language that many funders and support organisations use can be confusing and used in varring contexts.  This can make it difficult for social enterprises and social entrepreneurs when securing contracts and funding to deliver their work.  I came across a report put together by the The Jargonbuster Group to “Simplify the languate of planning, project management and performance improvement to increase understanding”- it basically picks out top key terms used and explains what they mean.

The Jargonbuster Group was established in the 2003 by the Community Fund who set up an advisory group to look at the language used by the sector. The group was managed by the Association of Charitable Foundations and involved   representatives from a range of organisations including:

• Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF)
• Big Lottery Fund
• Bridge House Trust Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Voice 11. Here’s the last post in the series giving you a brief overview of the Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship sector conferences in March, I’ll cover how you can get involved and get some of the useful information if you’re not able to attend them all (which is highly likely as they all seem to be at the same time!).

3. Voice 11

Voice 11 is an annual conference run by The Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC), the UK’s national body for Social Enterprise. SEC is the voice for the social enterprise sector and works to showcase the benefits of social enterprise and represent the work of it’s members to influence national policy and share good practice. SEC has run Voice since 2005 when it was set up to bring the sector together and support social enterprises in their work, Voice is the UK’s largest Social Enterprise conference.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the second post in the series giving you a brief overview of the Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship sector conferences.

2. Oxford Jam

Oxford Jam was set up in 2010 to run alongside the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. The aim is to bring together social entrepreneurs to develop the social economy. Oxford Jam works on the basis of an open access policy meaning it’s really inclusive and anyone at any stage of social entrepreneurship/ enterprise can attend to share knowledge, experience, develop networks and create innovation solutions to social problems- also a key element is to enjoy yourself by the looks of things! Read the rest of this entry »

Over the next few weeks the Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship sector will be hosting three conferences. in a series of three posts I’ll give you a brief overview of what will be covered at The Skoll World Forum, Oxford Jam and Voice 11, how you can get involved and get some of the useful information if you’re not able to attend them all (which is highly likely as they all seem to be at the same time!).

1. The Skoll World Forum On Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll World Forum is a programme run by the Skoll Foundation in partnership with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University. It has been running since 2004 when it was set up to bring together a diverse group of people from across the world to stimulate new approaches to solving some of the worlds most important social issues. Read the rest of this entry »

Are we using incentives in the right way? Dan Pink suggests that often bonuses and rewards create poorer performance. He explains that incentivising staff to carry out certain tasks often creates a negative effect.

In this video, Dan Pink (once Al Gore’s speech writer) talks about how to use incentives in a way that helps people to perform to their potential, and helps companies to get the most from employees.

Watch the video below:

Or click on this Ted Talks link to watch Dan Pink on Motivation & Incentives

This week’s moral maze covered a debate about the role of Charities in modern society and how they fit into the big society vision, particulary looking at procurement of LA services to thirds sector organisations. Read the rest of this entry »

What is the Localism Bill all about? I’ve picked up the main points from the plain English guide (Jan 11). The Localism Bill was published in December 2010 to shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils. The bill give Local Authorities (LA) more freedoms and powers the key point are:

New Freedoms and Flexibility to Local Government

Local authorities can only do what the law says the can do, this creates problems. The bill allows LA’s to do what they think is right and not be bound by legislation helping them to try new things (general power of competence). The bill will: Read the rest of this entry »