Imagine a place where people from all walks of life live together in perfect harmony, where they push scientific and social boundaries and they all contribute to build a perfect society.

Can a place like this really exist?
Well if you look to Viluppuram a village near Pondicherry in Southern India, you will find a community that is trying to do just this, it is called Auroville.

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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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A few weeks ago the 2008 World Entrepreneurship Summit took place in London. At the summit one of the founders Dr Rebecca Harding, launched a report looking at the important role of entrepreneurship in stimulating economic development.

The report recognises that entrepreneurs are crucial in creating economic growth, but raises questions as to how this economic growth will “create a sustainable future for the world”.

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When you are producing marketing literature for the first time, there are a few pitfalls you can fall into. It can cost you more than it needs to, or the results might not be quite right. Here are a few tips to help you get what you want.

The first thing that you should think about when producing marketing literature is why you want to produce it, what is it’s main function and what do you want to achieve through it? It is also important to think about who will be reading it, as this will have a bearing on the layout and the information that is displayed.

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The government set up the office of the Third Sector in May 2006 to recognise the important role that the third sector plays in our society and economy. The amalgamation of the Home Office’s Active Communities Directorate and the Department of The Trade and Industry’s Social Enterprise Unit, the Office of the Third Sector now has the responsibility for driving social enterprise in the UK.

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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/