One of the profound thoughts from the SVN conference for me was spoken by Nina Simmons,

“In nature, the places of greatest fertility are places where two ecosystems meet.”

It resonated with me because I love crossing boundaries and bringing seemingly disparate ecosystems together. I think our differences are a source of strength not of stress and they ought to be celebrated because when we come together they make us stronger and richer in the truest sense.

There is a natural human tendency to restrict ourselves to our own habitats where people think, act or look like us but we may be doing ourselves a disservice if we do not allow ourselves to mix with those who are seemingly different. I think SVN is taking significantsteps to bring various ecosystems

together and I don’t think it needs to be done merely to be more progressive but to benefit from the richness that emerges when seemingly disparate social, economic, political and cultural segments intersect.

It is much more comfortable to stay around people who think and act like we do but as Joan Halifax illustrated, our comfort zone is a tiny dot, outside of which all the magic happens. An ecotone, the place where ecosystems meet has the characteristics of both ecosystems as well as its own, making the whole richer than the sum of the parts. We are individually enriched as is our world, when ecosystems meet.

SVN’s Bridge Project is an excellent example of bringing ecosystems together, crossing social, political, cultural and economic boundaries. I think it will contribute to driving the next phase in SVN’s growth, because of the resultant richness and improved “biodiversity”. We impoverish ourselves and close the door of possibility when we keep away from those who are unlike us.  I was impressed to hear from Danny Kennedy that Sungevity received positive responses from Tea party members and I think that is only a tip of the iceberg of what is possible. ‘Weeds” are sometimes undiscovered vegetables and “enemies” are unknown friends, if not often mental constructs.

For full post visit the Zenith Cleaners Blog.

A paneled discussion transformed into a plan for rightful action Saturday April 21 at the SVN 2012 Annual Member Gathering. The focal point of the discussion was Mike Lapham‘s new book The Self-Made Myth, co-authored by Brian Miller, which deconstructs the valued Conservative ideal that success is self-made.

Mal Warwick, a panelist for the discussion, describes The Self-Made Myth as a narrative for people who appreciate the services of government. This downward spiral of low taxes and little growth shows that the marketplace may be essential, but it is not perfect.

During the discussion Mike literally deconstructed the myth, using his display to illustrate the fallacy of the self-made man.

Each box revealed a factor that contributes to success. The first three expose the power of the individual. Hard Work, is at the core of every success story, and is usually the one people are comfortable boasting about. Privilege and Head Starts are equally important, but the power relationship between the corporate community, political leaders and the social upper-class is rarely mentioned with honor. And Luck and Timing is, well, luck and timing. Yet the relevance and importance of the rest Contributions of Others, Public Education (public libraries, schools, grants and loans), Investments and Opportunity (Pell Grants, GI Bill, state universities, Peace Corps), Publically Funded Research (DARPA, Internet, Teflon, Human Genome Project), Infrastructure & Transportation (roads, bridges, planes), Regulations (such as in the food industry) and Courts, Laws, Patents are often forgotten. Mike successfully makes his point that the importance of the government is overlooked.

An honest presentation, it was quickly received. With the collective intelligence and competency that commonly fills the room at SVN gatherings, it was easy for the discussion to shift from an insightful lecture to a rally for action.  As the man with the microphone, Mike asked attendees to take a pledge for tax fairness. Other guides for action were brought to the table by those in attendance. Such as the Smart Strategy Initiative, provoking new discourse for the 21st century, and the National Priorities Project, offering a new perspective on our national budget and the tax structure.

For more insight on Mike’s work, and ideas on how to take action on tax reform visit his webpage Responsible Wealth.

SVN 2012 Annual Member Gathering Discussion: Deconstructing the “Self-Made” Myth: How Wealth is Really Created, and Why it Matters

Wednesday April 25, 2012 — Camille Jensen

STEVENSON, Wash. – A recent panel conversation celebrating Social Venture Network’s (SVN) 25-year anniversary asked its emerging and founding leaders what their ideal future looks like. Leading the Way: An Intergenerational Conversation about SVN’s Past, Present and Future was part of the network’s spring conference April 19-22 that convened 250 social entrepreneurs, investors, and change-makers in Stevenson, Wash. to connect, learn and collaborate on how to build a just and sustainable economy for the next 25 years.

Moderated by award-winning journalist Laura Flanders, the wide-ranging conversation carried participants on a journey from the founding of SVN to present-day challenges facing the socially responsible business movement and its ideal future.

(L-R) Laura Flanders, Shilpa Jain, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Josh mailman and Wayne Silby

“If we woke up tomorrow and we won, what would that look like,” Flanders asked the two male and female speakers on stage. Wayne Silby, who helped found SVN 25 years ago, says a new reality needs to start with articulating a bold vision.

According to Silby, the public good has been robbed not only by Wall Street but ideologues who control the conversation. He remembers recently sitting down to dinner with Bill Gates Sr., father of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who said his son wouldn’t be the richest man in the world if he was born in Ethiopia.

Part of a forward-looking vision could be reinterpreting the role of people who have wealth beyond their means as stewards and trustees of a public good. “We need to be more bold in putting out concepts that help create the new stories, the new tales and the new mythologies,” said Silby.

Green For All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins agreed with Silby, adding she’s ready to be bold. She says boldness comes from a conviction that change is possible in our lifetime. To give an example of how fast things can change, Ellis-Lamkins points to the stark contrast in political debates now and during the last United States presidential election.

“Four years ago we were in a debate between presidential candidates who said ‘Who could create the most green jobs?’ and four years later they’re having a debate about whether global warming is actually real,” says Ellis-Lamkins. “That just shows you that shift is fundamentally possible if you believe it.”

Fellow SVN founder Josh Mailman called on progressive movements to leave their silos in order to create massive change. “We need a global movement and I think we need to feel ourselves as part of a global movement,” said Mailman, adding that’s the reason many people join SVN. “It’s up to everyone to do their part, and invite more people into their circles” said Mailman.

Executive director of YES! Shilpa Jain was able to share what she’s seeing from her work engaging dozens of communities around the world in visualizing their future. “The most amazing thing is that despite the diversity, despite the differences between all these different people, people say more or less the same thing,” she says. “We see green, we see abundance, we see people living more slowly, more leisurely. We see more play, we see more joy, we see more connections. “We see being to learn and contribute in ways that are meaningful to us. We see an economy that is feeding us on all levels, spiritually, emotionally as well as economically and financially.”

I was introduced to SVN through one of my closest and oldest friends, I will just give his first name here, John, another person who is of inherited wealth, who has used his inherited wealth as a trust for humanity, and about who I once wrote, is “the only person I know who suffers from an excess of likeability and competence”.  He is now not the only person I know of for whom that is true, but I met all the others through him.  John, who was/is friends with Josh and Wayne, was amongst a small group of people who were drawn together out of the isolation that they each felt from being a person of inherited wealth, and therefore, suffering the consequence of never knowing if someone was befriending you for your money or for yourself.

The decided to form a group called “Doughnuts,” where they could comfortably hang out with one another and feel safe.  As these were all people of social consciousness, their spending time together led them to develop the Threshold Foundation, which they created to have a vehicle to use their philanthropy as consciously as possible.  After a while they wanted to create an organization through which they could work together more through their collective “doing” rather than “giving”.  They also thought it would be interesting and important to include people who had become successful as socially conscious entrepreneurs, as their interest was to work together effectively.

When I joined, the  membership criteria was that one had to be an entrepreneur who had founded an organization that was socially conscious in some way, and had an annual gross income of at least $3 million, there were other related criteria for senior officers of much larger businesses, for non-profits, and for community elders like Ram Dass.  I had joined through my founding of Rainforest Products and my role, at that time, as Vice President of Marketing for Golden Temple cereals.  A nice thing about membership in SVN, is that once one has joined one can continue to be a member even if one’s circumstances had considerably changed.  There was, and is, a vetting process through which one had to prove the social consciousness of one’s enterprise – income alone is not enough.

It was a great pleasure to be back in a community in which everyone has their shoulder to the wheel in some way, each person working to serve the greater good, frequently in ways that are quite brilliant.  I have sometimes found that in the world of yogic practitioners that folks can be quite wrapped up in their inner process, in their own personal progress, with the state of the world feeling and seeming quite remote – something out there – almost as if it has nothing to do with us – like a TV program more or less.  At SVN, the world is with us, humanity’s collective pain (which there is plenty of) and the state of the global environment, is real and palpable.  But, this is not a place where people complain about how terrible things are, not at all, but, rather, where the conversation is more about what to do and how to do it better.

For full article visit Sat Santokh’s blog Healing the Wounds of Life.

The Young Mavericks session opened up the Members Gathering with an emotional bang as Jared Levy of Guru Media Solutions and Jocelyn Kay Levy (Wee Yogis Play)  spoke to “the young and the young at heart” members of SVN. Inspiring stories of the role that SVN has played in these young leaders lives let newcomers know the kind of impacting weekend they were in for.

Ram Dass, an original pioneer of SVN with Wayne Silby and Josh Mailman 25 years ago, was originally included to maintain a level of spirituality throughout this community of successful business leaders. Twenty five years later he inspires a new generation of SVN through this interview conducted by Jared Levy in which he speaks about the importance of SVN in our world today. Watch the video here:

However, it wouldn’t be SVN without some fun mixed in and so they broke out a top ten (ala David Letterman).

TOP TEN THINGS YOU WILL HEAR AT THE SVN CONFERENCE:

10. “Nice to meet you. Are you okay with a hug?”…”I’m a hugger”

9. You have 2 minutes with a total stranger to share your life long goals and dreams.

8. How late do they serve breakfast?

7. I actually have hope for the world now.

6. If you examine the capital investments in the emerging economies of South America and pair this with a collaborative horizontalsupply chain model learned from our friends to the East then you start to tap into a new paradigm where…..

5. “I really need to take a nap, but I can’t miss this session”

4. “You know ‘so and so?..I worked with their sister solving the water problem in Mauritania last spring”

3. I’m right down the hall from the hospitality suite (with enthusiasm)

2. I’m right down the hall from the hospitality suite (dragging with nothing left)

1. I’ve NEVER seen people dance like that before

“SVN has changed my life and sent me down a new path where I can use our powers for good.”-Jared Levy, CEO, Guru Media Solutions

Sitting on the back deck of the home of pioneering serial socialpreneur (aka social entrepreneur) Julie Lewis, I noticed a sole tree in full bloom in the middle of the woods. Though only partially visible in a sea of evergreens, the white blossoms really stood out in the Fraser.

We all want our enterprises to blossom and stand out like that tree. In the social enterprise space, the better our businesses do the greater good we can do for our people, communities and planet. Brand building is all about building relationships, no matter what industry. Social enterprises in particular can expand the reach of their brands through storytelling. This was demonstrated by the Saturday afternoon panel Creating Value Through Storytelling at SVN’s annual Member Gathering last week. The Session was moderated by Dr. Melanie Moore of See Change, whose co-panelists were Amy Hartzler from Free Range Studios and Fraser Wilson from Axiom News.

Without any prompting from me, Melanie began her introduction by explaining that her company’s name — See Change — is “totally untrademarkable” because she didn’t do her homework before adopting it and it’s used too commonly for her company to claim exclusive rights in it. I just love it when a workshop begins with a lesson in trademark law! While brands are important, Melanie said she finds stories to be even more so.

She began with a story about her discovery of her inner entrepreneur while a graduate student at the Stanford School of Education. Melanie had the good fortune of needing to land a job or a fellowship at the same time a leader in her field, Ira Sachnoff, needed help evaluating a school program via a social impact assessment. Ira hired Melanie and assured her that she would figure out what to do. She knew she had to study the stories of the kids in the program, but it wasn’t until a chance encounter with a video camera that she knew she found her calling. In Melanie’s experience, even the most metrics minded person is moved by stories. Metrics are only one part of the portfolio of evaluation, stories are the other. Melanie and her colleagues at See Change hang out and get to know people in order to provide qualitative data analysis along with a translation of the data from left brain to right brain. Before turning over the floor to Fraser, Melanie left us with this thought: Good stories are sticky like a seed; it may take a long time for the seeds to grow, but eventually they form a Forest.

Fraser ran OMNI Health Care, a long-term care business with 1500 employees in 16 homes caring for 1300 patients. He asked us to recall Chip Conley’s inspirational story about Joie de Vivre’s (JDV) bell hop who worked double shifts for three days straight when the hotel elevator (used to be a trademark but fell prey to genericide!) broke down. This gentleman was thanked for his dedication by someone in an entirely different department, which became a custom of caring and sharing at JDV. Under Fraser, OMNI elevated (ha!) that practice to a whole new level by celebrating two employees company-wide on a daily basis. This resulted in 500 stories a year, or 10,000 stories over 10 years. After Fraser sold his business, the new owner maintained the story telling policy & now has a huge bank of stories on its website, which gets 4500 unique website visits daily because it demonstrates what is possible. OMNI also sends newsletters to all of the care providers in its region to inspire them to innovate. Fraser and OMNI aren’t the only ones inspiring people to action; Amy and Free Range Studios have inspired millions to act more responsibly through The Meatrix, Story of Stuff and its progeny: Story of Broke; Story of Citizens United; Story of Electronics; Story of Cosmetics; Story of Bottled Water and the Story of Cap & Trade, among other work of theirs.

Amy said that she drank from the SVN fire hose of intention, inspiration and action at her very first meeting (I think most of us do!) Along those lines, a founding vision of Free Range studios was to boldly and ambitiously use new tools to create broader access to the stories that will help people build the future they want. Amy and her Free Range colleagues (to whom she refers as Free Rangers) fully believe that great stories make great change, and “the next great story is yours.”^SM To Amy, brands are an epic made up million different stories. The stories include the company’s engagement with its employees, whom the company should strive to make their best selves. Free Range values optimism, courage and empowerment, which is evident time and again in the way it shows up in the stories it helps its clients tell.

Unsurprisingly, many of the people who attended Meaningful Media: Access, Engage & Mobilize (about which I wrote here) also attended this session. Rich Cohen from sustainable packaging company, Distant Village, launched the interactive part of the discussion by asking whether there is a formula for unfolding your story, in terms of where to start as how to build it. Melanie responded that although she usually is hired to tell stories to funders and investors, she starts with the stories from inside the organization first. Amy emphasized the importance of recognizing that half your brand story is told by your audience with which you must engage. Fraser said that telling stories daily helped OMNI create stakeholders in the stories & influenced fresh and open dialogue.

The panelists then were asked to explain how they work with social media. Everyone agreed that content is important. Amy described how none of us create relationships with organizations; rather we create relationships with people. Having a personality that’ is presented in a way that’s consistent is really vital, Amy said. Free Range tells its clients that they cannot control the story. If you’re not living the truth of the story you tell people won’t want to engage with your brand.

Maggie Kaplan, Founder & Executive Director of Invoking the Pause, shared 3 terms she coined to measure metrics she calls Right Brain Measures of Success: ROR – Return on Relationships; Collateral Delights (instead of collateral damage) and ROC — Return on Collaboration. Maggie asked us to be critical consumers and really consider the stories we’re being told. Maggie and Melanie agreed that at the end of the day it’s about what we choose to value and measure. Melanie added that if you can measure it quantitatively and do not, that is irresponsible but first you must be able to measure it qualitatively.

Lance Laytner from Public Good Relations asked how to invite people to join the conversation. Fraser said he helps his clients identity themes by interviewing employees and finding those who are doing good work. Amy said it is important to speak to your audience’s core values and to do something to help people embody them, whatever that means for them (sure sounds simple, or not!)Melanie said metrics tell you whether you are making a difference, but not how. You need stories to understand how so metrics and stories are a stronger way of evaluating impact.

Melanie gave an example of stories effecting stakeholder engagement when after the Seafood Summit — during which business and activists come together to discuss sustainable seafood – the stories shared at the event inspired Wal-mart to commit to selling only sustainable seafood. Fraser said it is hard to put a value on culture but we all know that when the culture is better the outcome will be better. Malachi Leopold from Left Brain/Right Brain Creations shared a story he heard about Dunkin Donuts (DD) sources an enormous amount of fair trade coffee and has since 2004, though this was not something it advertised. Enter the sustainability movement and DD decided to promote its fair trade practices. This, however, led to a consumer backlash who found fair trade it to be inauthentic to the DD brand. DD has continued its responsible sourcing practices but doesn’t stopped advertise them since that is not what its consumers want to hear. One suggestion made was to create a blog theme and then source the content from experts outside your organization, which extends both parties’ audiences creating low time commitment and free of cost win-win for both parties.

Eric Friedenwald-Fishman of Metropolitan Group who co-wrote Marketing that Matters with Chip Conley said he and Chip found that people who bought into authenticity and transparency tended to put out too much data and forget that emotion trumps data. We all need to remember what we are trying to accomplish, and if it’s brand development then stories are more valuable than data. Amy said stories are a meaningful mechanism to allow our stakeholders to be more who they want to be. We are bombarded by messages by put if a story resonates with someone they will not only react to it, but they also will want to share it with everyone, which is magic. Fraser said that during normal days we are busy running our operations and can forget the purpose we serve. OMNI’s daily stories reminded him what he was doing to serve, even when he was consumed by working on/in the organization.

One attendee who earned a degree in social media admitted that social media feels inauthentic when it comes to promoting her services. Amy responded that it’s important to speak not only with an authentic voice but also in an authentic way, via whatever means works for you.

Terry Gips of Sustainability Associates asked about things didn’t work. Amy said a video her team created for the Alliance for Education flopped despite having done their homework (ha!) and involving kids in the creative process. Fraser said because they work directly with organizations there has to be a spirit of trust and authenticity between his client and his team and in one case where there wasn’t he withdrew. Melanie shared a story about a video she created for a community that treated a dynamic issue as static ultimately mis-portraying the situation as time passed. One pervasive theme of the discussion that emerged during this session was the need to understand the relevance and context of your story to your audience.

We all want to blossom and stand out in the crowd. The main lesson from this panel was the ability of genuine stakeholder engagement and storytelling to help our brands extend their reach, which in turn helps our organizations increase their positive impact.

Not that many plenary sessions include speakers who include their own DJ to illustrate their points through sound. But this one did, leading to spontaneous dance sessions of the 200 or so entrepreneurs and investors in the room.

The spirit of joy and dancing ran through the whole not, framed as speakers Bryan Welch and Leen Zevenbergen recalled Emma Goldman’s quotation, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”

In the same way, Bryan and Leen illuminated simple truths about starting a business by challenging fundamental assumptions about it. Bryan Welch, who runs a media company dedicated to sustainable lifestyles called Ogden Publications, began by talking about what it meant to build a business. He explained, “The process of building a business is inspiring others to see a piece of the world the way you see it.” He explained that rallying the participation of others then was the chief job of an entrepreneur. “The one thing that inspires others to that participation,” he expanded, “is beauty. Yet we don’t talk about it when we build businesses. The other part of inspiring that vision is abundance.” In other words, people are drawn to a world they can marvel at and a world of plenty. “What we call abundance is referred to as capital in business. With insufficient capital, you can’t innovate, you can’t take risks.”

Bryan explained that the lack of money is one of the chief concerns of all entrepreneurs or even those who think about becoming entrepreneurs. “But we invented money!” he bellowed. “So, there’s always enough money! There may not be enough belief, enough beauty, but there’s always enough money.” The pursuit of money through work, in essence the “service of money” is not how the world ought to be. Instead, money, our creation, should serve us. “Entrepreneurship is the process that makes this possible,” explained Bryan.

Leen took his turn to explain that in entrepreneurship, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Most people with jobs and bosses explain that if they lived according to this maxim, they’d get fired, to which Leen retorts, “Good! If you’re fired, you finally get rid of your boss!”

The courage and inspiration it takes to leave beyond a job where you’re not producing the value that you can and to strike out to create something on your own is not easy. And Leen attributes that heavily to the how little our education teaches us about creativity and about inspiration. He explained there’s no “sparkling” in an MBA program, no sense of inspiration. This was painfully clear when he once gave a speech at a hospital where 20 of the attendants had Down Syndrome. He asked the audience, “What inspires you?” and every single attendant with Down Syndrome stood up immediately and said exactly what came to mind. The rest of the attendants, consisting of hospital administrators and leaders, had to think deeply about the question.

Fundamentally, without understanding what inspires you, you cannot effectively create a vision of beauty and abundance for other people. Without such a vision, you cannot engage the participation of others to build a business. Through simple stories, Leen and Bryan drove home a crucial point: building a business isn’t all business. Business is offering others an opportunity to step into their humanity and in so doing feel compelled to participate in the creation of something greater than themselves, and that is most assuredly the ticket to a sustainable future.

Written by Evan Coller, Social Venture Network

“We are here together. We are standing in association together. And, in the midst of an exquisite failure…of the limited ideas, and beliefs that will not serve us as we turn together and pivot to the future, and ask, what do you need of me…what do you need of us?  – Mirran Raphaely, CEO Dr.Hauschka Skin Care

A truly elegant opening set the tone Saturday afternoon at the SVN 2012 Annual Member Gathering. Mirran Raphaely, CEO of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care, spoke with such honesty, and integrity, as she reflected on the possibility of death that her company faced in 2008, when the phones went silent.

“The market was bleeding. Global economic collapse, the world is bleeding. Our organization, is bleeding… and now we have to talk about mission-driven profit.”

It was through this time of unquestionable persistence that she connected with Bruce Irvine, Executive Director of The Grubb Institute, who, after two years of “nonverbal” resistance (as Mirran described with eloquent humor) held the context in which the healing process could begin for Dr. Hauschka Skin Care.

Bruce Irvine, Executive Director, The Grubb Institute

A card sits on everyone’s seat with empty brackets marking one side. Everyone closes their eyes. We are asked to get in touch with what is being called forth in us right now, writing it down between the brackets. The room sits silent. Slowly, the sound of a piano fills the room. Then the snapping of fingers, the brush of a snare, and finally, Nina Simone’s smooth vocals from the tune  ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free’. The ambiance in the room gently rises. The room is full of energy.

Participating in Bruce’s discussion was one of those day-changing experiences that you wish could fill up the pages of your calendar. He guided a wonderful discussion on the essentialism in now, and interpersonal understanding.

Working with the hypothesis that, “We have collectively contributed to where we are right now, and as a result, we have the opportunity of transforming where we are right now, into something different. “ He poses a very important question, one that gave him both hope and despair as a SVN conference attendee last year: How are we going to, in an independent co-creation, start to tell the new story of what this world, that we have unconsciously, and unintentionally co-created, can be?

Stating that we need to accept that we are accountable for the BP oil spill, Halliburton, Goldman Sachs, and the like, the idea is that what we do and what we are feeling, right now, holds the power to lead our world in a new direction. That our projections of hope, passion, creativity, joy, expectation, ambition, hate or envy paralyze us, to make incomplete beings, if we do not refresh the dialogue with new action, new thought, new feeling, created in the now.

We must better understand two key messages as individuals moving forward: The messages coming from inside, and the messages pulling from the world around us.

My top 7 quotes from the session:

“The way that the world is, is my responsibility.” – Bruce

“Projections are the way the spirit and the psyche breath – the value exchange of the psyche.” – Bruce

“The present is offering a perfect solution… if you have the vision to see it.” - Bruce

“Nice, stands for: Nothing Interesting Can Emerge.” – Bruce

“Everything we do, everything organizations do are testing one idea. Are we lovable and can we love.” – Bruce

“Gifts that transform are gifts worth sharing.” – Mirran

“Leadership – action that serves the purpose of an organization” – Bruce

SVN 2012 Annual Member Gathering Plenary: NOW: Challenge Everything, Release Potential. Unleash Performance.

Written by Jessica Young, Marketing Manager, Social Venture Network

In the words of Beth Sirull, ED of Pacific Community Ventures, “the basis of freedom is economic self-sufficiency.” As an impact investor leading capital and business advising programs, she’s inspired to build the impact investing movement knowing that it creates freedom for people.

On Friday, April 20^th, at the SVN Annual Member Gathering, Beth led a panel on “Investing That’s Changing the World” with domestic impact investor Rob Davenport (Founder and Managing Partner, Brightpath Capital) and international impact investor Harold Rosen (Founder and ED of Grassroots Business Fund). With a growing number of investors interested in social and environmental impact, and a plethora of social entrepreneurs developing solid business plans, the three believe the impact investing movement is coming into its own.

For entrepreneurs looking to find social capital and investors aligned with their missions, panelists shared valuable insights including criteria they seek in their investments and how entrepreneurs can best position themselves as desirable investees.

Impact Investors Seek

Rob, who focuses on new stage ventures in the Western US, requires that social benefits be part of a business’s output. Impact he looks for includes increases in job creation, levels of education, health and wellness, and clean tech and environmental impact (see portfolio client Sungevity).

Harold, who invests in entrepreneurs at the base of the pyramid (from Delhi to Jakarta and Nairobi to Lima), couples financing with capacity building. Grassroots Business Fund selects high impact businesses that provide low-cost goods and services for the poor, agricultural systems, and sustainable offerings with proven delivery models.

Making the Pitch

Entrepreneurs can best position themselves and their businesses for capital by following these tips:

1. Don’t over-invest in your PowerPoint.

PowerPoints and models are nice to have, but invest more time proving you can run an enterprise soundly. Showing you’re aware of your competition (both current and future) is key.

2. Build the investor’s confidence in you and your management team

Impact investors are in the people business; they want to understand who the entrepreneur is and see emotional intelligence, passion and integrity.

3. Don’t overestimate your growth

Be prepared to hit 40% growth instead of 80%, and sensitize your projections accordingly. Panelists resoundingly agree projections never come close to reality.  Hearing “Everything’s great- look at how fast I’m going to grow,” is an automatic put-off says Harold.

4. Demonstrate you can deal with problem cases

Inevitable pitfalls will arise; show you have the flexibility to adjust and will react wisely to stress and business threats. (Consider how you’ll react if your original concept doesn’t play out or if it’s uncertain you’ll make payroll.)

5. Show you are coachable

Loans are risky and investors seek people who are coachable and listen to counsel. Successful entrepreneurs admit when they don’t know what to do and seek expertise and advice.

6. If you only produce one return, make it social

“Even if your venture isn’t as profitable as expected, make sure you can break even with a strong social impact,” advises Rob.

7. Have a sustainable exit strategy

As this is rare, having one will distinguish you from your peers.

April 21, 2012

Written by SVN Member Lara Pearson, Rimon, PC Chief Sustainability Officer & Partner

Social Venture Network (SVN) is a membership organization comprised of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs – or, as I call us, socialpreneurs — who are working to create positive impact through their enterprises.  This weekend is SVN’s Annual Spring Gathering where SVNer’s join together to inspire and challenge one another.  Along with TED, SVN is my favorite conference.

I attended a morning session named Meaningful Media: Access, Engage & Mobilize. The Session was hosted by SVN’s Erin Roach and included three panelists:

Lance Laytner, Public Good Relations

Malachi Leopold, Left Brain/Right Brain Creations (LBRB)

James Slezak, Purpose.com

Lance began the conversation by explaining the journalism in his DNA. His father was a journalist for 60 years, and several other immediate family members also were journalists. Lance has been published in six languages in 38 countries and always had a passion for journalism.  That was until September 11, 2011, after which most news outlets focused on stories of dread and fear, operating under the principle, “If it bleeds it leads.”  This caused Lance to create a new paradigm: “If it feeds it leads.”  To successfully create press for one’s enterprise, Lance suggests that socialpreneurs use this equation: Work PRESS Angles.  In this context, PRESS is an acronym for People, Regional, Event (turn what you’re communicating into an event), Stories*, Sensational, and so long as you include these element in your press pitch, you should capture the attention of your intended audience. Lance also encouraged everyone to communicate their cause in the most exciting way possible.

Next to speak was Malachi, whose company produces commercial content for social enterprises. LBRB helps its clients to compellingly communicate their message by collaborating to create action campaigns. They are about to launch an original reality series called Trep Life on Inc.com, which examines what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Recognizing that we will never see the change we are striving for if people don’t engage in meaningful action (no, forwarding that e-mail doesn’t count), LBRB serves to mobilize people around an idea.

James was the last panelist to introduce himself.  James’ organization, Purpose gets press for important causes and helps stakeholders answer the oft-asked question, “What can I do?”  Purpose’s purpose, if you will, is to organize people to take action to solve the world’s biggest problems. Purpose was born out of two highly successful social experiments: GetUp! Action for Australia, which was loosely modeled on MoveOn here in the U.S. and AVAAZ.org, which is the largest social action political organization in the world. Purpose is a crowd funded model that works through two primary models: partnerships & incubation. Recognizing that movements have mobilized millions to act, Purpose helps people find movements and take action.

The panelists then proposed that we collectively discuss a case study from a real live SVNer in hopes of helping them change meaning into action. Josh Knauer from Rhiza Labs suggested that we study a for profit organization instead of a non-profit and, after thanking Josh, Manish Gupta jumped at the opportunity. Manish introduced people to his company, Handmade Expressions, which creates beautiful sustainably made products, while paying fair wages to its producers in India. Manish’s challenge is convincing consumers that purchasing responsibly manufactured products from another country promotes sustainability at home as well as abroad. He asked the group for feedback on how to shift consumerism to make people care how the products they purchase are made & delivered.

Bryan Welch from Ogden Publications (and author of the recently published book, Beautiful and Abundant) stated that since we connect with stories sharing the real story about the real person making the product is important.  Bryan also suggested that we all need to expand the focus of our marketing, and cease marketing solely to our community (to which he referred as “the ghetto”), which he sees as really dangerous. Next, Matt Reynolds from Indigenous Designs, which sells high end fashion to mainstream consumers, shared how his company aims to bring its simple yet powerful message to the masses via apparel hang tags. Indigenous developed a traceable technology QR code to use on hang tags so that consumers who scan the code will see how the garment was made. Indigenous wants to share this technology with other social enterprises, including Handmade Expressions.

Josh said that only 6% of the population knows how to use QR codes & that use of these codes has flat-lined. Matt responded that Indigenous believes it will hit 10% QR code usage due to its target market, even though the generally accepted average is indeed 6%.  Josh then suggested that we all need to mimic the marketing tactics of big corporations, so long as it doesn’t compromise our values.  Matt recommended that Manish try to get consumers to think about how their purchases affect others, but cautioned that to do so successfully you can’t solely promote your own product. Matt also emphasized that to have a successful sustainable company your product (or service) has to be exceptional.  In the apparel industry, most successful brands have one successful sku and that carries the entire company.

Rich Cohen from Distant Village, a sustainable packaging company, also wants to help elevate brands in this space by showing how and by whom their products were made so he’s having some of the artisans he uses write diaries which they share with consumers. Malachi suggested that Manish aim to craft value for folks to engage with his brand beyond the sales transaction. He suggested that Starbucks presents a good model for creating opportunities for dialogue that work beyond the sales transaction to engage consumers. Going beyond the transaction is key, according to Malachi.

Lance suggested that Manish could become friends with consumers on social media and potentially bring some of his artisan producers to fashion week in NY in order to get people to care. Malachi chimed in that to get people engaged it’s important to look for low barriers to entry by doing simple, fun things like getting consumers involved in selecting product design. He emphasized that if you begin by asking people do something small to support the company and product, then you can return to them with a bigger request to which they actually are more likely to agree once they’ve already taken some action on behalf of your cause (who woulda thunk?!). Erin asked us also to consider how we as business owners address consumer’s limited time.

Jared Levy of Guru Media Solutions who worked with Indigenous through its QR code creation process said it’s important to recognize that lots of people don’t care about supply chain; they simply want to look good and be recognized for doing something good — be acknowledged for their good deed. Jared said there are 2 kinds of press – story press and marketing press. Given this, every one of our brands is a media organization in its own right. While Jared didn’t say it (or if he did I missed it cause I was typing), by conducting ourselves as if we run a media organization dedicated to promoting our cause (be it for profit or non-profit), we can use that role to craft compelling communications that create community around our brands.

Caryl Levine from Lotus Foods said that her business experiences taught her that consumers are selfish, wanting to know first, “What’s in it for me?”  Lotus Foods’ messaging addresses that self-interest first by focusing on the fact that it’s more nutritious (consumer benefit), before sharing that it’s also better for farmers and the planet through sustainable farming.

Denise Taschereau from Fairware shared that her company’s packaging uses custom packing tape that tells its story. They also sell reusable cups with facts about the issues with disposable cups but since they’ve added “-1” to show their consumers the impact they’re making, the campaign has had more success. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that reward is a better incentive than punishment, but that’s not always obvious.

Malachi suggested four things Manish can do to achieve his goal: 1. focus on rewarding & recognizing his consumers; 2. engage in partnerships – e.g., partner with Kiva; 3. Tell stories, perhaps by creating a series of 2 min documentaries to show way his products improve lives and 4. Work with folks to engage people to make this as big as possible.  Lance said recently he read the book Willpower Instinct, which he recommends. One thing he learned from it is if you ask people to do good, the number of those who will do so will plummet, but if you appeal to people’s sense of identity you will fuel growth.  Rich Perl from Teracycle said that any company trying to tackle this by itself has an uphill battle and recommended that Handmade Expressions align itself with allies.

Malachi suggested everyone watch the Kony 2012 campaign video created by the organization Invisible Children makes the invisible visible. The group’s goal was to expose Joseph Kony leader of LRA by making him famous and making the issue known. It worked because they understood their viewers and was able to empower him to change someone’s life, making the viewer a hero. People have short attention spans if you’re boring or irrelevant to them. If your message is relevant, interesting & entertaining, they will watch. Malachi suggested beginning with the end in mind – ask yourself what do you need to accomplish and who do you need to accomplish it?

James suggested focusing on quantity and strategic quality. He also believes that iconography is really important to success. Raising awareness is good, but at the end of the day you need people to act. The goal has to be to create new norms. He drew our attention to the TED community as an example of a group that has recognized & capitalized on the value of early adopters.

Amy Hartzler at Free Range Studios encouraged us to consider that there is a difference between people being selfish and wanting to self-actualize. Most people want to do something good. We must recognize that every touch of our brand must tell a single story; if there’s incongruence people will see it and distrust the brand. If you live the truth and you’re interesting, Amy believes you will succeed.

Duane Peterson of SunCommon felt compelled to stand up for “our ghetto;” he said we can’t ignore our base as we develop a relationship with mainstream consumers. Duane believes that only with the help of our early adopters can we grow into the mainstream. At Ben & Jerry’s, marketing money was spent on hardcore evangelists to build brand but would encourage us to focus on our hyper consumers and giving them engagement opportunities was invaluable.

Mary Anne Howland from Ibis Communications recommended aiming our marketing communications at folks with 9th grade educations, taking the complex and making it simple. She used John Hardy jewelry as an example of a beautiful product that also has a social mission. John Hardy also creates touch points by doing trunk shows at high end jewelers and getting people to contribute photos of themselves wearing his products on Facebook, though which he created a community around his brand. His social mission to most is just a plus; first and foremost, have a really good product.

To conclude, James encouraged Manish and the rest of us not to have a ghetto mentality because our stories are really exciting and we shouldn’t be afraid to take the spotlight, cause that’s where we belong! Malachi said creating strong consumer engagement takes a ton of hustle that begins with figuring out how to say what you want to say to get people to do what you want them to do.