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2012: Five Trends That’ll Matter Most

Written by Raphael Bemporad

Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, BBMG


SVN members know the incredible power of socially responsible enterprise to pioneer more innovative, sustainable business models and empower healthier, happier and more engaged customers who can change the world through the marketplace.

As we mark 25 years of progress at SVN and re-dedicate ourselves to tackling the persistent challenges of the global economy, it’s a tremendous opportunity to lead the way in reshaping the traditional way of doing business—and create a better, smarter, more collaborative economy with shared value for more people across the globe.

Building on 100,000 consumer-generated ideas and insights in our collaboration platform, The Collective, BBMG has done some thinking about the trends that’ll be key in helping socially responsible companies achieve scale while driving positive impact in society. And, as originally noted in our guest blog for Sustainable Brands, we see major opportunities for companies that can effectively address these trends in 2012.

1. A C2C Marketplace

We are experiencing a fundamental paradigm shift from a business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace to a consumer-to-business (C2B) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace—where creating, buying, selling and sharing products and services will increasingly be driven by consumers themselves.

This is happening in the context of radical personalization, collaborative consumption and co-creativity, where brand purchases and experiences are dis-intermediated by traditional brands and retailers and unleashed via new technologies and platforms (from Good Guide to Etsy to Getaround) that firmly place more power in the hands of consumers.

Success now means rethinking sales channels toward more direct interaction and inviting consumers in to imagine, create and extend how our brands live in the world.

2. The Rise of Generation “Why?”

The rise of the C2C marketplace is driven in part by the influence of values-aspirational, practically minded New Consumers looking for brands that deliver total value: products that work well, cost less, last longer and do some good.

Youthful, educated, wired and mostly female, this New Consumer is asking “why” they should care about brands; and, if they can’t find what they’re looking for, “why not” just create the solutions themselves? New Consumers are more practical and more purposeful, and they’re not willing to wait.

And, with billions of these New Consumers entering the marketplace in developing economies, the key question will be whether brands can reach and delight them—beyond just more consumption—to inspire responsible purchases and deeper participation with health, happiness and sustainability in mind.

3. The Race to Relationship

Thanks to Groupon and its countless competitors, 2011’s year of the deal saw virtually every brand category join an unfortunate race to the lowest-price bottom that is destroying brand value, reducing consumers to commodities and undermining our shared, long-term success.

Sure, we dig deals and we always will. Yet by focusing so relentlessly on unsustainable price discounts, we undermine the very potential for our brands to do more and mean more for our customers.

Instead, we believe 2012 will see a race to relationship, where the most successful brands will break free of the lowest-price trap and deliver more value by empowering consumers with better products and experiences and championing their success. ­Patagonia’s disruptive Don’t Buy This Jacket campaign highlights this commitment to creating enduring products and relationships by promising to make “useful gear that lasts a long time” and inviting us to reduce, repair, reuse, recycle and reimagine how and what we consume together.

As one of our favorite clients says, “We don’t want a one-night-stand with our customers. We want long-term love affairs.”

4. The Imperative of Sustainable Brand Innovation

Whether it’s reducing resource risks in supply chains, driving efficiencies into workflows or reaping the rewards of increased transparency and corporate reputation, we believe sustainable brand innovation offers unmatched opportunity for exponential value creation for business, consumers, society and our planet.

In 2012, sustainable brands large and small will increasingly connect consumers, brand teams, suppliers and subject-matter experts in the innovation process to embed sustainability and social purpose into every business strategy, product design and stakeholder relationship.

Creating better brands, products, packaging and platforms, the highest performing companies will integrate practical, environmental and tribal benefits in every new offering—therefore becoming agents of change at a faster speed and larger scale than ever before.

5: The Evolution from Occupy to Engage

If the most emblematic word of 2011 was “occupy,” we believe the word of 2012 will be “engage.”

With an existential howl against the status quo, the global Occupy movement represents a deep yearning for a new way of doing business that replaces short-term, transactional, profit-only thinking with a more responsible, transparent and equitable economy that creates more value for more people in more ways.

In 2012, there is good reason to believe that the SVN community can lead the way.

In states from California to Maryland to New York, B Corporations are engaging policymakers to pass legislation that recognizes (and incentivizes) corporate accountability to all stakeholders: investors, consumers, employees, community members and the environment.

The Harvard Business Review hails the benefits of “The Good Company” that combines financial and social logic into its operations by engaging employees, partners and community institutions in building enduring value and success.

Meanwhile, pioneering brands from Stonyfield to Indigenous Designs to Guayaki are engaging consumers so they can live better and take action on issues that improve our shared future—from promoting sustainable agriculture to protecting endangered habitats to creating more opportunities for the producers of their products around the world.

As we celebrate SVN’s 25th anniversary and imagine the possibilities of the next 25 years, we believe the most successful brands will meet the needs, hopes and aspirations of New Consumers; build more respectful, collaborative and enduring relationships with all stakeholders; and unleash our collective co-creativity to bring better, smarter and more impactful ideas to life in ways that create shared value for all.

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The Common Good Enterprise – A New Term for an Emerging Sector

Written by Jim Epstein and Alicia Epstein Korten

As an investment advisor, I (Jim) am often asked to sit on nonprofit boards. I have grown uncomfortable with the term not-for-profit to describe these organizations, which often embrace business principles in their operations. For example, DC Greenworks generates income from government contracts and fees for green roof installations.

In 2002, I (Alicia) had difficulty finding graduate courses that blended business and social values. At a 2009 Net Impact conference, I was overwhelmed by the presence of over 2,000 MBA students interested in the common good.

A new sector is being born that blurs the lines between for-profit and not-for-profit worlds. Business used to be about jobs and profit. Civil society organizations were the avenues to give back beyond job creation and products.

Today, an increasing number of businesses are building healthy communities, living wages and sustainable products into their corporate DNA. And more civil society organizations are embracing business values.

The Private Sector Has a Broader Mission

Four hundred and seventy-six companies with $2.27 billion in annual revenue are certified now as B corporations, a designation given to businesses that meet environmental, governance and social criteria by the not-for-profit B Lab.

Certification has been followed by a tidal wave of state legislation giving such businesses legal jurisdiction. Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, California, Hawaii, New York and Virginia are front runners. In 2012, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and DC will likely follow.

This legislation is significant. It supersedes a body of law legally interpreted to mean that corporations must consider shareholder value before taking into account other stakeholders—including communities, employees and the planet.

Jim, who played a major role in passing two of these laws, co-founded a company that will become a B corporation called Blue Ridge Produce. The company aggregates locally grown food for sale to grocery stores and institutional buyers in the Washington DC area. With the common good built into its corporate DNA, Blue Ridge Produce aims to maintain a healthy farming community in the region and will:

  • provide secure markets for local farmers;
  • reduce the carbon footprint by keeping food closer to home; and
  • convert conventional growers to organic producers

Business networking organizations like the Social Venture Network (SVN)B LabSocial Enterprise AllianceInvestors’ Circle and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) are further helping the trend become a global movement.

While the Nonprofit Sector is Adopting Business Principles

Change is also happening within civil society organizations, motivated in part by technology entrepreneurs grounding their philanthropy in business values. The Skoll Foundation funded by eBay mogul Jeffrey Skoll provides grantees funding to develop engines of growth. Called resource engines, some grantees are using funds to build business principles into their non-profit structures.

Created in 2009, the civil society organization Practice Greenhealth receives over half of its annual budget from membership dues paid by health providers like Kaiser Permanent in exchange for services aimed at greening their hospitals. Founder Gary Cohen built this resource engine after talking to entrepreneurs at the Skoll World Forum.

Language Is Powerful

Nothing captures an emerging trend like a name. A name can, in fact, determine whether an idea or product popularizes or stays relegated to a small group of believers. Just look at the dolphin fish. Only when restaurants began using its Hawaiian name Mahi-Mahi did this fish, which has no relation to the dolphin, begin to gain popularity in the United States. After all, who wants to eat Flipper with an apricot glaze?

Social enterprise, mission-driven business and for-benefit corporations are a few of the descriptors for organizations blending business principles with common good aims. We believe the movement can better communicate the power and purpose of this emerging field.

A New Operating System: The Common Good Enterprise

In our search for better lexicon, Jim came across a neglected phrase we would like to bring center stage: “the common good enterprise.” Why that term? Its power is its clarity.

Here’s our definition:

A for-profit or not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to promote the well-being of people and/or the planet.  The organization generates at least a percentage of its revenue through the sale of goods and services [adapted from Kevin Lynch (pictured left); Advertising on Higher Ground].

Common comes from the word “commons,” which describes a relationship to the community as a whole. Common good intuitively includes a regard for the planet, respect for individuals’ human rights, and support of communities.

The word “enterprise” is also self-explanatory—and speaks to revenue generated from the sale of goods and services. Common good enterprise is clearer than other terms such as its more popular sibling, “social enterprise.”  Does “social enterprise” exclusively describe businesses? Or non-profits? Does “social” include the planet? Only leaps of the imagination can make the connection.

Conclusion

The labels we use for this new field matter.  Easy-to-grasp language provides a framework to help the public co-create this emerging sector. Clear terms can translate into financial benefit. Why not pass legislation providing government procurement advantages to common good enterprises—whether companies or civil society organizations?  Could such language catalyze new capital pools?

It’s time to embrace “common good enterprise”—a term for organizations using business principles in support of the common good that will help mainstream the movement and make opportunities this field opens up a reality.

Is it time for a rejuvenated nomenclature?

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Gather With SVN to Celebrate Fancy Foods & Emerging Entrepreneurs

Written by Jessica Young

In 2011, SVN launched a new partnership with the Hitachi Foundation, to bring new emerging and innovative entrepreneurs into the fold of the SVN community.  The Hitachi Foundation has generously sponsored its Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs with SVN membership, and we were thrilled to have many of the awardees join us at our Fall Conference, including 2011 SVN Innovation Award winner Jason Aramburu.

The Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs Program identifies and supports inspiring young entrepreneurs who are operating businesses that create greater economic opportunity and help to improve the lives of low-wealth individuals in America.  Awardees who have recently joined SVN include: Jason Aramburu, re:char; Caleb Zigas and Leticia Landa, La Cocina, Inc.; Rohan Mathew and Joseph Shure, The Intersect Fund; Jessamyn Rodriguez, Hot Bread Kitchen; Andrew Butcher, GTECH; Alex Velez and Nikhil Arora, BTTR Ventures; Blaine Mickens, Young Picasso Painting; Garrett Neiman, SEE College Prep; Tyler Gage and Dan MacCombie, Runa; Lacy Asbill and Elana Metz, Moving Forward Education; and Andy Posner, Capital Good Fund.

To partner with one of our newest members and promote their incredible work, we’ll be serving delicious food from La Cocina at our next San Francisco Local Gathering.  La Cocina is a non-profit incubator kitchen providing affordable commercial kitchen space and technical assistance to low-income and immigrant female entrepreneurs who are launching, growing and formalizing food businesses.  Its services help entrepreneurs break down barriers to entry in the highly regulated and competitive food industry, turning informal restaurants into sustainable and thriving legal businesses.  The incubator is home to over 30 rising business, and many more graduates, that serve diverse flavors from around the world.

My introduction to La Cocina came at the San Francisco Street Food Festival, an annual event thrown by the non-profit.  Inventive (and delectable) fare sampled included moth larvae tacos from Mónica Martínez’s Don Bugito snackeria.  While our Local Gathering menu will be less adventurous, their tamales have received rave reviews as well.

It’s only fitting that the local gathering of culinary treats follow the Winter Fancy Food Show where SVN members will showcase their local, fair trade and organic food products, and SVN’s Deb Nelson will lead the keynote address with Greg Steltenpohl, founder of Odwalla Juices.  Our Local Gathering, sponsored by B-Lab, will follow on January 17th at the Hub San Francisco.  To complement La Cocina’s food, we’ll be serving drinks and dessert from two B Corps, Mendocino Wine and Fearless Chocolate.  SVN members, B Corps and prospective SVN members are invited to join and connect with like-minded peers.  To review membership guidelines for prospective members, visit www.svn.org/guidelines, or contact Erin Roach at erinr@svn.org.

Find out more and register here.

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Being Socially Responsible Prepared Rhiza for Fast Growth

Written by Jennifer Neutel, Axiom News

Web-based software company Rhiza Labs is experiencing tremendous growth, and being socially responsible has helped the company be prepared for the heightened demand, says CEO Josh Knauer.

He says being socially responsible is “just in our DNA.”

Rhiza Labs has seen double-digit percentage growth from 2010-2011, says Josh.

Josh Knauer

“(Our) experience in trying to do other things intentionally as a company in terms of the social and environmental and sustainability aspects of what we do has prepared us for this moment,” Josh tells Axiom News.

“If people have to work, which right now how our society is structured that is the case, then business I think is the driving force behind trying to make that work experience more productive and more pleasant and more palatable.”

He says businesses that understand the value of content employees and feel good about what they are doing are building better companies.

Companies that realize being socially responsible and sustainable is good business are helping to further that agenda in the world, he adds.

“(I hope) all businesses realize that by being more sustainable, by treating workers well, that is the right way to do business — it’s not a sustainable way to do business, it’s just the only way to do business,” says Josh.

One of the company’s practices is to get to know each of its customers really well, says Josh. While it might seem like this would be hard to scale, he says being intentional about customer relations is part of the challenge.

Rhiza’s customers include government agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations and corporations.

Rhiza builds user interfaces to help businesses collect data and bring meaning to the data through visualization and analysis. The data is used to help make better decisions, bring understanding to complex issues and collaborate with others.

For example, Rhiza is working on a project with the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, a group of 25 foundations that fund most of the non-profit watershed production activities in the Chesapeake watershed.

Josh says the project is dealing with massive volumes of data that are being collected and aggregated by watershed groups collecting water quality sample data.

Data coming in from governments around industry, pollution and soil quality is for the first time going into a common information ecosystem that is available through the web so constituents can access it and make better decisions around quality, says Josh.

Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Rhiza announced Dec. 5 it will be opening a west coast office in Seattle in January.

Josh is a member and board member of the Social Venture Network.

Read more about Rhiza’s impact through its recent collaboration with the Tides Foundation.  SVN member Irene Kao shares how Rhiza’s digital mapping technology helped Tides analyze its grant-making activities to improve US school systems.

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SVN Young Entrepreneurs Receive Investment to Grow Ecuador’s Green Economy

Written by Tyler Gage

Tyler Gage and Dan MacCombie have recently become SVN members after winning the Hitachi Foundation’s Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneur Award. As two of SVN’s youngest members, they’re thankful to be surrounded by inspiring leaders creating scalable social businesses, and are well on their way to creating a bustling social enterprise themselves.

Their organization, Runa, is a social enterprise that creates livelihoods for indigenous farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon.  Runa sources a native Amazonian tree leaf called guayusa (pronounced “gwhy-you-sa”) from indigenous farmers, who have brewed it like tea for thousands of years. Guayusa naturally has more caffeine than any tea product and more antioxidants on the ORAC scale than leading green tea products, in addition to a  distinctly smooth and clean taste. Runa’s guayusa is 100% USDA Organic and soon, Fair Trade certified.

Runa recently received a $500,000 equity investment from the Build Ecuador Fund (CreEcuador) a socially responsible investment fund created by Ecuador’s Ministry of Production.

Runa was selected to receive this prestigious investment out of hundreds of possible candidates – primarily companies that support local Ecuadorian producers and have shown rapid growth. The start-up was initially chosen as one of 10 finalists out of a pool of 600, and went through a rigorous diligence process in 2010.  In the end, Runa was the first company to receive an investment. The Build Ecuador Fund will assume a minority shareholder position in Runatarpuna, with Runa LLC retaining the majority.

“We’re honored that the government has recognized the positive impact we’re having on hundred of indigenous farmers’ lives, and the strength of our business and products. With the Ministry of Production we now have a partner who shares our commitment to growing Ecuador’s green economy, and positioning guayusa as a new, flagship Ecuadorian export,” says Tyler.

The Build Ecuador Fund plans to cash out of its investment in Runa in roughly 6 years, in order to use its earnings to make additional investments in sustainable businesses. However, rather than selling shares to a private investor, the Fund’s vision is to sell shares to Runa’s employees and the farmers Runa supports. Runa will work to design programs for farmers and employees to buy shares back from the government, and thereby give farmers more direct investment in Runa’s success.

Runa already supports over 1,000 indigenous farming families, has planted more than 100,000 trees, and employs over 30 people in one of Ecuador’s poorest regions.

These new funds will allow Runa to plant over 500,000 more trees in the coming years and build a new sustainable factory to process guayusa in Ecuador.

Dan & Tyler receiving the Hitachi Foundation’s Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneur Award

Tyler & Dan at Expo West 2011.

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Shop Sustainably with SVN Products & Services Directory

SVN Sustainable Products & Services DirectoryWritten by Jessica Young

Social Venture Network has released its 2011 Sustainable Products & Services Directory, a sustainable shopping guide for both businesses and consumers. The directory lists over 450 enterprises, all SVN members or affiliates, that have been vetted as socially and environmentally responsible organizations that are committed to sustainability. Their sustainable offerings span over 30 categories from Office Products & Printing to Food & Restaurants. (See below for more highlights.) We encourage you to keep sustainability in mind as you select your business vendors, and as you shop with your values this holiday season.

Resources for consumers include:

  • Apparel and Clothing
  • Centers, Retreats and Spas
  • Fair Trade Goods
  • Food and Restaurants
  • Travel and Tourism

Business offerings include:

  • Advertising, Marketing and PR
  • Certifications and Reporting
  • Legal Services
  • Green Office Products and Printing
  • Technology Products and Support

Companies in several categories provide products for both businesses and consumers in areas such as energy, financial services and green building.

To learn more about the directory or to download it, please click here.

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Diversity at SVN Conference a ‘Turning Point’

Written by Jennifer Neutel, Axiom News

The recent Social Venture Network (SVN) conference that convened 400 innovative impact entrepreneurs was a “turning point” because of the “excellent representation” of people from a variety of backgrounds, says event chair Josh Knauer.

One of the conference goals is to expand the definition of what it means to be a responsible business, which has been talked about in terms of diversity, says Josh.

Diversity means different things to different people, and Josh says SVN is “trailblazing” when it comes to racial and ethnic diversity, involving men and women, and ensuring there are representative balances of people from a variety of communities that may be under-represented at business conferences.

Rinku Sen

Rinku Sen leads workshop on "Moving From Color Blindness to Color-Consciousness"

The conference had a variety of attendees from for- and non-profit businesses of different sizes. Attendee backgrounds included military, federal government, and several different political party members

“We really are getting to a really good blend but the real challenge is to stretch this definition of what is a responsible business beyond the traditional lefty-liberal definitions,” Josh tells Axiom News.

He adds finding common ground around responsible business practices with people from different philosophical perspectives is part of the challenge.

“I think we started to break really good ground on starting this dialogue and reaching across the philosophical barriers that sometimes separate people on the political side of things,” he says.

Called Movers, Shakers and Changemakers, the Oct. 27-30 conference featured a variety of workshops and keynote speakers exploring responsible business.

Col. Mark "Puck" Mykleby

Responsible business dialogue reached across philosophical barriers during Col. Mark "Puck" Mykleby's session, "Sustainability as a National Strategic Imperative."

Josh points to the opening plenary which discussed redefining the concept of national security in the context of responsible business, and that helping those less fortunate raises everyone’s economic situation.

Workshops and speakers explored the mechanics of responsible business from different perspectives, including deal structure, human resources and marketing.
Connections between people who have been in the field for 25 years and those who are new are formed on a deep and personal level because of shared values and goals around conducting business in a better way, says Josh.

“The depth of discussion that happens and the depth of really amazing learning opportunities and sharing opportunities that exist at SVN are unlike any other conference that exists,” he says.

Josh has been a social entrepreneur for more than 20 years and is CEO of Rhiza Labs, a business intelligence mapping analytic software company in Pittsburgh, PA. He is a SVN board member and has been a SVN member since 1999.

“SVN is incredibly valuable to me as an entrepreneur and to the community as a whole in that it is a network of people who are actually doing the work of finding new ways of conducting business that help create a better world,” says Josh.

He says SVN members are his mentors and have helped his business in different ways.

“SVN is the community that I go to for that level of support and the conferences are a physical manifestation of that in that we get together twice a year to do that but the network works 365 days a year for us which is fantastic,” he says.

To learn more about SVN, visit http://svn.org.


Related Stories:
SVN Conference Connects Change Makers

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Plugging into #OccupyWallStreet

Written by Jessica Young

Since its inception, Social Venture Network has been committed to transforming the way the world does business.  When founding member and pioneer of sustainability Ben Cohen declared Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is “the best chance at changing the way the world does business since SVN started,” members took note.   Four OWS representatives were invited to lead a discussion at SVN’s Fall Conference, providing a behind the scenes look at the movement and sharing seven ways people can plug in without camping out.

The Movement

At its core, OWS is a movement of occupiers, the 99%, who are struggling for social justice.  While critics point to the movement’s lack of leadership and clear demands, occupiers have intentionally kept the model open-sourced and consensus-based to allow as many people to plug in as possible.  (To see where consensus has been reached, view OWS living documents and GA proposals.)

Reporting back on the movement’s momentum, OWS reps looked at key achievements across its timeline:

  • Unifying 10,000 occupiers in Times Square with just one week’s planning
  • Inspiring people who never saw themselves as activists to create social change and combine diverse voices
  • Building active groups in over 150 cities across the country.

Representatives now see leadership from the progressive business community, represented by SVN, as the next phase in the movement.  Such enterprises have an opportunity to showcase the model ways business can and should be done.

Ways to Plug In

OWS reps shared a multitude of ways to join SVN leaders who have pledged their support for the movement.  Below are seven suggestions to occupy your thoughts.

1.  Spread the Word

Capitalize upon the movement’s momentum by publically declaring your shared values.

-Mal Warwick has led BCorporations in issuing a public statement of support.

-The Media Consortium will spread the word to 35M homes through independent media outlets including Free Speech TV, Mother Jones, The Nation, Care2 and The Laura Flanders Show.

2.Cross an Item off the Wish List

With winter approaching, occupiers have prepared a wish list of items to help them weather the snow: http://www.occupywishlist.org.

3.  Share Your Office

Occupiers are looking for office spaces around NY to serve as off-site meeting spaces, in particular for General Assemblies in the Bronx.

4.  Offer Your Expertise

With over $500,000 accumulated in the OWS fund, occupiers need assistance to make their financial model sound.  They also seek marketing expertise to drive their future communications strategy.

-Do It Yourself PR for Start-ups offered marketing consulting.

-Multiple members pledged to provide training on effective corporate campaigning.

-“Occupy Your Money” teachings will help communities become more conscious of where their money is and what socially beneficial financial institutions exist as alternatives.

5.  Move Your Money

Bank Transfer Day was November 5th, and Americans are continuing to move their money, both personal and institutional, from irresponsible corporate banks to small, local banks and credit unions. (Since Sept. 29, more than $4.5 billion has shifted from big banks to nearly 7,000 credit unions nationwide, according to the Credit Union National Association.)  OWS isn’t just about what’s not working. The Move Your Money Campaign highlights institutions that are a part of the solution.

-SVN-led institutions include Calvert Group, Domini Social Investments, e3 Bank, New Resource Bank, Ocean Endowment Partners, RSF Social Finance, SocialK, Sunrise Community Banks, Trillium Asset Management and Vancity.

6.  Show up in Person

On November 17th, OWS will mobilize for a day of non-violent direct action.  For more events and a list of Occupies across the country, see this Meetup page.

7.  Support a Partner Initiative

Inspired to change the economy and politics?

-Join SVN’s Van Jones to Rebuild the Dream, support the Financial Transaction Tax, or work with the ASBC to repeal Citizens’ United

2011 Social Venture Network Fall Conference Occupy Wall Street Discussion Co-Facilitated by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc.

Written by Jessica Young Social Media & Marketing Associate at Social Venture Network

Photos courtesy of Nancy Jo

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Good Media = Good Business

Written by Erin Roach

Laura Flanders best-selling author and host of NPR’s “The Laura Flanders Show”, led a discussion with 40 socially responsible business leaders, media outlets and media buyers at Social Venture Network’s Fall conference last week in Philadelphia. The session was co-facilitated by Andy Shallal, entrepreneur and Founder of Busboys and Poets, who’s created a unique, multi-media platform through his restaurants, and Carol Atwood, Principal at Spartacus Capital.

Challenges posed to the group were how media, business and investors can work more closely together, and how media can better report on the sustainable business world to help invigorate positive change in business and society. Big take-aways:

1) The right advertisers with the right media can be a big win for all: Media purchasers make their decisions by the numbers: which outlets can provide the most impressions per ad dollar. Independent media, by definition not owned by a big media outlet and by nature generally smaller and more focused, is disadvantaged. How can independent media deliver? One answer is the Media Consortium, a membership organization of several independent media outlets. Together, they can provide the heft necessary for independent outlets to compete with the metrics of mainstream media.

2) The whole IS greater than the sum of its parts: With organizations reliant on media to tell their story, and media reliant on big advertisers to fund that effort, will the stories of the socially responsible business ever get told? Such businesses that have “made it” big enough to afford advertising on mainstream outlets generally don’t advertise, they have such a loyal following. And let’s face it: advertising is too expensive for most socially responsible businesses. One answer: Social Venture Network! In the same way that the Media Consortium can deliver a big-outlet’s worth of eyeballs to advertisers, SVN can potentially be the vehicle that delivers advertisers – on behalf of all member companies – to the big outlets.

3) People don’t give up culture unless there’s someplace else to go: Culture plays an important role, and we need to provide a viable alternative. Conservative media makes statements as if they are fact, thereby capturing culture. Fox News figured out early that they could not change the government, but they could change the culture. The socially responsible business community uses terms like ‘common good’, for example, but this vague statement means different things to different people. We need to create a cultural shift through consistent messaging and media if we’re going to have an impact.

4) Get the message across via professional media training: Many socially responsible business leaders find themselves in a position to be interviewed for media, but don’t know how to craft their message. SVN and Laura Flanders are considering offering media training to member companies so that messages get out to the public in the way intended.

The conversation about the new economy that we all are trying to build needs to convey the urgency, both ecological and social, that goes beyond politics and indeed permeates our culture and forces a shift.

2011 Social Venture Network Fall Conference Call-to-Action Roundtable: Change the World, Change the Media: Find out how independent media can help you reach your goals

Co-Hosted by Laura Flanders, The Laura Flanders Show, Andy Shallal, Busboys and Poets, and Carol Atwood, Spartacus Capital.
Written by Erin Roach Director of Marketing and Recruitment Social Venture Network

Photos courtesy of Nancy Jo

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Investing in Women by Joy Anderson

Written by Joy Anderson

At the SVN conference, we made use of the lunch session to host a Call to Action Roundtable with Suzanne Siemens around investing with a gender lens. Sitting around the table were pioneers – visionaries like Lynne Twist, leaders like Amy Hall of Eileen Fisher, and entrepreneurs like Trish Carter of Dancing Deer Bakery. Ted Rouse boldly took a seat to ask questions about bringing a gender lens to his sustainable farms. SVN has been home to these kinds of fearless changemakers for a long time and it was powerful to have them all at the table.

The diversity of the group also demonstrates how many avenues there are into the field of investing with a gender lens. Criterion Ventures has organized and leads the Women Effect Investments Initiative as a field-building initiative that seeks to mobilize not only philanthropic, but also investment dollars toward generating the Women Effect – the multiplying social and financial returns that result from investments in women and girls. This has implications for women on boards, the challenges women face in accessing and raising capital, the question of sufficient support for women entrepreneurs, and much more.  How do we talk about a gender lens on social ventures or on doing business?  The frame for our work is actually a reframe that moves from seeing gender as a constraint, to seeing a gender lens as an opportunity for both better business and high impact. As I heard from entrepreneurs who understood this potential, and have leveraged it, I thought to the multitude of conversations I have had with other entrepreneurs who have done the same globally, taking a methodical approach that further scales impact and returns.

Here is our call to action as Women Effect Investments: no matter your entry point, be it entrepreneur, investor, intermediary, there are ways for you to plug into this movement:

  • Join our Gender Lens Investing Forum on LinkedIn.  While we work towards a more robust online platform for this community (reach out to us if this idea intrigues you…), we are using LinkedIn to stay connected.
  • Follow Criterion Ventures on Facebook and Twitter @CriterionVent and tweet #genderlensinv.
  • Join our Speakers’ Collective: Get in touch with us about how you can better spread the word by sharing powerful stories and statistics on gender lens investing.
  • Join us for a call on November 16 @12pm EST to hear deeper updates from Convergence and the broader ecosystem. RSVP to cash@criterionventures.com if you are interested in joining.
  • Join the Women Effect Investments initiative Founding Community and help us help all of us seize the moment.
  • Join our investor cohort of individuals committed to investing with a  gender lens – and build on our work of helping create and strengthen new and existing vehicles with a gender lens.
  • Reach out to us about what you are doing, seeing and needing in this ecosystem.

We are not building this field alone, but rather in partnership with fantastic organizations like WEI Founding Community Member, Tides, and others like Calvert Foundation, Root Capital, and the Pax World Global Women’s Equality Fund. As we continue to build this, we look forward to counting SVN among our partners – it’s clear to us that this is something that is near and dear to members’ hearts. Our work on building a gender lens into investment vehicles resonated beyond the table at the conference with people like Mark Finser of RSF and Daryn Dobson of Calvert Group who are actively incorporating a gender lens in their vehicles.

We are so pleased to be able to respond to the call of action in Suzanne’s comments – that we keep having these conversations, that we be a resource for this emerging field and that we bring all its moving pieces together to propel it forward. Our call to action to SVN is that we need more space than a lunch conversation. We know that SVN is a place to hone your gender lens, as entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders. We look forward to seeing you all next time from a more central platform where this call can be heard louder and travel farther.

2011 Social Venture Network Fall Conference Call-to-Action Roundtable October 29, 2011 “Investing in Women” led by Joy Anderson and Jackie Vanderbrug, Criterion Ventures, and Suzanne Siemens, Lunapads International

Written by Joy Anderson of Criterion Ventures

Photos by Nancy Jo

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