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20th Novemeber 2008 is the offical day for Social Enterprise. As such the Social Enterprise Coalition are holding a national photographic competition. Photos have to demonstrate how social enterprises are transforming lives. The winning photograph will be published in a special edition of the Big Issue and will exhibited at various conferences and london galleries.  The winner will also receive a digital camera. The deadline for entries is the 28th October 2008. To find out more about the competition visit the Social Enterprise Coalition website. 

Social Entreprise London are holding a conference on 22 October 2008 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank London. The conference will open up discussions on the future of social enterprise in London looking specifically at business development, public-private partnerships and new emerging markets.  To learn more about the conference, it’s speakers and seminars sessions click here.   To book your place visit the Social Enterprise London registration page.  

Seth Godin is a marketing expert and writes one of the worlds best marketing blogs. Seth has a history of entrepreneurship and started his first enterprise at the age of 14 (read more about Seth on Wikipedia).   Seth has recently produced a free half hour presentation on how to grow your business for non-profit organisations. Listen to his what he has to say by clicking here.   Why not subscribe to Seth’s blog and get information about his free ebooks, seminars and general thoughts about business and marketing.     

Rightly or wrongly when someone first told me about Volontariat I had some real misgivings about going to visit them. The thought of people in Belgium and France sponsoring children made me doubt that the organisation could actually be empowering it beneficiaries to take control of their lives, I had visions of sad advertising campaigns being run in Europe and people having their heart strings tugged like so many charities do, also how many people could the organisation help through sponsorship alone and how on earth was it a sustainable model.

Well, I have to say that I was totally wrong. I still have questions about the charity model and the organisations sustainability, I feel that there is still more that can be done to generate income and also help their beneficiaries to get the most out of the services on offer.

Ok lets look at what it was that changed my mind….
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I am currently in India visiting and working with a range of social projects. I will be putting some information up about the projects that I am visiting, starting with the Indian Council for Child Welfare.

ICCW is a non-profit non-government organisation that is committed to ensuring that children’s basic human rights are protected within the state of Tamil Nadu.

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Fast Company (an American magazine charting innovation in business) have annouced the winners of their 2008 Social Capitalist Awards. The Awards were given to 45 non-profit and 10 for-profit world leading social enterprises. You can read in depth case studies on the each of the social enterprises.

You can also find a series of interviews and articles about the changing world of social enterprises today. Several of the interviews explore the merging world of the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Bill Drayton, founder and CEO of Ashoka, talks about the importance of social investment which is echoed by Brian Walker, president and CEO of Herman Miller, a Furniture company. Brian states that by getting a good return on capital, a social enterprise will attract further investment and gain more resources with which they can do do more with. By generating profit social enterprises can ensure their sustainability, can earn the respect of the business sector becoming a major influencer of the actions of other businesses, which in turn generates greater social impact.

To read more about it click on the link: http://www.fastcompany.com/social/