Facilitated by Dave McDonough

Tool for Mapping assets and identifying opportunities

A social enterprise may or may not be a business, but social entrepreneurs are adapting important elements of business planning to the requirements of social accounting and audits. Social Enterprise planning is a process of setting out what the organization intends to accomplish and how and providing for 'social accounts' that can be used to report back on progress. Organizational assets include knowledge, skills, experience and relationships that are valuable but are often taken for granted as part of everyday operations. Determining which assets can be leveraged requires a combination of analytic ability and intuitive sense of what might produce success.

The Community Wealth Seekers Guide on "Mapping Your Assets and Identifying Opportunities", published by Community Wealth Ventures, lays out eight exercises that can help Social Enterprises to identify their assets and opportunities for excelling in the marketplace, or can help non-profit organizations to identify profit making opportunities using existing assets.

In this session Dave McDonough used the case of Chrysalis, a not-for-profit organization whose mission was to provide employment to more than 2000 homeless persons in downtown Los Angeles. Dave described the impossible situation faced by Chrysalis in its task primarily due to the negative image and stigma of homelessness. Enumerating the frustrations that he experienced in trying to market the case of the homeless to small industries in the area, he set the four work groups (of 8 members each) the task of finding a solution to Chrysalis' situation using just the first exercise in the Guide.

All the groups came up with similar solutions while one group came up with the exact solution that Chrysalis' team of expert consultants had actually proposed to transform the organization. The exercise, therefore, tested and validated the value for Social Enterprises and Not for-profit organizations, of Community Wealth Ventures' tool for mapping assets and identifying opportunities

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Facilitated by Sasan Nikoomanesh

Tool for modifying staff perceptions in favor of sustainable financial management

Nonprofit organizations and commercial businesses are converging in terms of the value they create, the stakeholders they manage, the organizations they form, and the financial instruments they use. Sustainability is a holistic approach to living and problem solving that addresses social equity, environmental health and economic prosperity. To be sustainable, the economy must support a high quality of life for all people in a way that protects our health, our limited natural resources, and our environment. Social enterprises must consider both business costs and social costs in evaluating their operations. Today, more social entrepreneurs are working to achieve sustainability through earned income. Some aim to reduce the need for donated funds or to provide a more reliable and diversified funding base. Others are finding that program quality and measurable results are increased with the application of proven business practices and attention to market discipline.

In this session, Sasan Nikoomanesh outlined the challenges faced by both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations during economic cycles. Building upon Dave McDonough's session on identifying assets, Sasan described how new revenue sources can be created from existing assets, thereby helping them to deal with the challenges posed by the economic cycles. Sasan noted that the biggest barrier to creating new revenue sources appeared to be the nonprofit mindset that beset most stake holders of not-for-profit organizations and social enterprises. Sasan tasked the working groups with a simple tool to change the mind set.

The tool is a simple set of six statements each of which is to be applied from the perspective of a for-profit business or a nor-for-profit organization. All work groups but one came up with similar output that not-for-profits should have similar perception of cash, price, customer, growth, expense, and profit as for profit businesses. The group that differed pointed out that in reality stakeholders of not-for-profits typically viewed cash as restricted; price as set below cost or even free; the customer as being the funder and not the beneficiary; growth as being static or just more funded programs; infrastructure, marketing and overheads as unnecessary costs; and profit as a six letter expletive. The other groups agreed with this, commenting that their output was based on how the statements should be viewed rather than how they are currently viewed.

The session, therefore, validated the usefulness of this simple tool in altering the mindset to think in terms of systems, inter dependence, partners, and strategic allies. The new mind set will facilitate integration of existing financial instruments into not-for-profit and social enterprise management.

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Facilitated by Linda Heidtke

Tool for developing a Social Enterprise Marketing Mix

As social enterprises run campaigns to educate, to raise consciousness, or to change attitudes and behaviors, effective marketing and communications are crucial. Entrepreneurs must analyze their situation, set measurable objectives in connection with targeted audiences, stakeholders and partner publics. They must plan and implement creative strategies and tactics - all while taking care to control marketing programs and track accomplishments.

In this session Linda Heidtke pointed out that the mainstream discipline of marketing emphasizes strategies and tactics for a marketing mix composed of four ingredients known as the "4 Ps", viz. Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. Social marketing experts advocate an updated marketing mix based on the observation that the traditional model contributes to the misfit of product to marketplace need, resulting in product failure. A social marketing mix, may therefore, be said to comprise the 4 Cs, viz. Consumer need, Cost to satisfy, Convenience to buy, and Communication.

Stressing that social entrepreneurs must develop a strategic marketing plan and brand identity that incorporates and supports the mix, Linda outlined a tool for developing a social marketing mix. The tool comprised of seven key elements that have to be outlined and elaborated before a social enterprise enters the market. The first of the elements is research to determine customer need, define target market segments and value propositions, look at alternate delivery channels, and establish two way communications. The other elements are measurable and sustainable objectives, brand identity development, tactics for two way communication, marketing budget, implementation timeline, and evaluation metrics tied to objectives.

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Facilitated by Hamid Ait-Ouyahia

Tool: A Social Enterprise Balanced Scorecard

Understanding and measuring performance helps social enterprises articulate their multiple 'bottom lines' — social, environmental, financial and organizational. There is a need for more tangible accountability for the social impact created for each dollar, rupee or ruble that is invested or granted.

Hamid Ait-Ouyahia outlined Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a management tool that supports the successful implementation of corporate strategies. It consists of four perspectives — financial, customer, internal process, and learning. The BSC makes it possible to take into account non-monetary factors that significantly impact the economic success of a business and is a promising starting point for developing a scorecard for Social Enterprise, incorporating social and environmental aspects into the main management system.

Extending the classical BSC, Hamid suggested a scorecard for Social Enterprise (SEBSC), that outlines seven objectives that have to be set for performance management using an interdependent cause-effect relationship. The objectives are: Overall social objective, objectives by key stakeholders; explicit financial sustainability objectives; key process objectives, resources needed to reach the objectives. Performance can then be managed by tracking the achievement of the objectives so set. The working groups were then tasked with applying the SEBSC to the Chrysalis case described in session 1 and commenting on the applicability of the tool.

The working groups all reported that the SEBSC can be meaningfully applied to the Chrysalis, validating it as a useful tool for performance management of Social Enterprise.

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Facilitated by Gauthamdas Udipi

This session on the role of social enterprise in disaster management was designed as a capstone exercise, drawing together the insights and tools emerging from the four previous sessions.

Disaster management has predominantly been seen as a charitable humanitarian intervention. The Asian Tsunami of December, 2004 highlighted the problems of aid dependency promoted by well intentioned charitable aid. Successful disaster mitigation has to go beyond charitable aid to building a capacity for the community to transform itself.

Gautham gave an overview of the work of the Academy for Disaster Management Education Planning & Training (ADEPT). ADEPT was set up in the aftermath of the Super Tsunami 2004, and had been active for the last 3 years in 51 Tsunami affected villages with a population of around 100,000 in Cuddalore District of South India, more than 100 villages with a population of 100,000 affected by the South Asian Quake of 2005 in the Himalayan mountains of Kashmir, and villages affected by floods in South India in 2005 and 2006. ADEPT organized five international workshops to manage knowledge of issues faced during the various phases of disaster management in Tsunami affected areas in various countries. The Academy also developed an elaborate framework for psychosocial intervention in the aftermath of large scale humanitarian emergencies.

The important work of the Academy has been acclaimed as a valuable resource by the United National Development Program (UNDP). However, having been forced to adopt a "funding approach" due to the circumstances in which it was set up, and facing various sustainability challenges, ADEPT is on the brink of extinction.

Gautham tasked the work groups to apply the knowledge garnered during the previous sessions to develop an integrated approach for reviving the organization. The groups all came up with similar solutions that included a blended funding approach for short term sustainability combined with a strategic long term entrepreneurial approach that draws on existing assets and develops on them for self sufficient organizational yield.