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Chatting About Social Entrepreneurship

By Nell Edgington



As I announced in an earlier post, yesterday I participated in a Live Chat organized by the Foundation Center about social entrepreneurship. Abby Chroman from Ashoka joined me as a fellow panelist, along with The Foundation Center’s Katie Artzner who moderated.

We took questions from the audience about social entrepreneurship, social change, where nonprofits fit in the social innovation movement, social return on investment, measuring outcomes, fundraising and much more. It was a fast and furious hour with great discussion and great questions. This was a fun format because there was no audio, only text chatting.

If you missed it, you can still view the chat on the Foundation Center’s website here. And below is an excerpt from the discussion just to give you a taste.

_______________________________

Foundation Center’s Grant Space Live Chat

Comment From Dan:

How do you deal with accountability in the social entrepreneurship sector? Should social entrepreneurs be democratically accountable to those whose lives they seek to impact?
2:38
Katie:

How about we start with Nell.
2:38
Nell Edgington:

Dan, I’m not sure what you mean by “democratically accountable,” but they should absolutely should be accountable to their theory of change. Any social change org should have a theory of change (argument for how they are using community resources to create positive change). Once they have a theory of change they must measure whether that change is actually occurring.
2:38
Abby:

Accountability is a huge part of social entrepreneurship. It’s why we take a person’s “ethical fiber” as a very very serious part of our selection criteria for leading social entrepreneurs.
2:39
Katie:

“ethical fiber”? Can you explain?
2:39
Abby:

Yes, this is the level of trust we invest in our Ashoka Fellows that they will not only solve the social problem but that they will be accountable for their impact.
2:40
Abby:

It sounds odd, but imagine if you would stand on the edge of a cliff with someone…
2:40
Abby:

Do you trust them 100%?
2:40
Katie:

Depends!
2:40
Nell Edgington:

Can I jump in here for a second?
2:40
Katie:

Absolutely, Nell
2:40
Abby:

If no, why not? That’s the kind of rhetorical question we’d ask.
2:41
Nell Edgington:

That’s a really interesting concept to me. To me, social change is a very complex combination of people, money, ideas, structures, etc.
2:41
Nell Edgington:

It can never be dependent on just one person. So how can you know whether a single actor is actually going to make change happen?
2:42
Abby:

The person is will catalyze the change, but you’re right – it involves whole systems. So we’re back to systems!

You can see the whole live chat here.

Photo Credit: AlexDixon


Related posts:

  1. Are You a Social Entrepreneur?
  2. The Rapid Evolution of the Nonprofit Sector: A Podcast
  3. Real Innovation in Social Change Lies in Reinvention
  4. What Social Entrepreneurs Can Teach The Nonprofit Sector
  5. 10 Great Social Innovation Reads: July 2012

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About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity (www.socialvelocity.net), a management consulting firm leading nonprofits to greater social impact and financial sustainability. Social Velocity helps nonprofits grow their programs, bring more money in the door, and use resources more effectively. For more information, check out Social Velocity consulting services and clients.

Friday, July 27th, 2012 Capacity Building, capacity capital, Convergence, Economy, evaluation, Financing, Fundraising, government, growth capital, Innovators, Inspiration, Leadership, Nonprofits, outcomes, Philanthropy, Social change, Social Enterprise, Social Entrepreneurship, social return on investment, Venture Philanthropy

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2 Comments to Chatting About Social Entrepreneurship

Cynthia Bailie
July 27, 2012

Nell:

Thank you for publishing this post and for joining the live chat discussion. We hope to continue the conversation and invite you to stay in touch. I’ve been an admirer of your blog for some time now. Keep up the good work!

Best,
Cynthia Bailie
Director, GrantSpace

Nell Edgington
July 27, 2012

Thanks Cynthia! I appreciate the kind words and look forward to further collaborations with you all!

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