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Training modules provided by the Social Innovation Academy

The Academy is the first fully online management training programme focusing exclusively on social innovation. We are co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

What is social innovation? In short, any innovation that is social in its ends or in its means, or simply any working, innovative solution to help address a pressing societal challenge e.g. climate change, social exclusion, mobility or health issues.

In practice, social innovations take form of social enterprises, corporate innovation projects, non-profits, public sector programs, grass-root movements or community initiatives. Social innovation has been gaining momentum around the globe, from Europe to United States, from Africa to Canada, and from Australia to South America.

By training social innovators of the future, the Academy aims to help the most pressing global challenges.

Our team led by Limitless® brings together partners of the highest calibre including Impact Hub, one of the largest network of impact changemakers in the world, Sinnergiak Social Innovation, one of the top social innovation institutes and the co-founder of Social Innovation Community, and the editor of Harvard Business Review in Poland, to name a few, supported by tens of organisational Friends.

Our goal: reach thousands of aspiring social innovators and help them gain the skills and knowledge required for their dreams to become a reality.

Watch the introductory presentation to find out:

  • what social innovation is, exactly
  • what social innovation is not
  • what you can gain from social innovation
  • a brief history of social innovation
  • the global outlook, trends and challenges
  • social innovation types, features and approaches
  • social innovation process (the social innovation spiral)
  • actors involved
  • forms of user involvement
  • social innovation drivers
  • … and what it all means for you!

The presentation is the place to start if you want to quickly learn the basics and get to speed.

Access it here.

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Social Economy entities from Pomorskie Region will be present at the St. Dominics Fair in Gdańsk, Poland!

Social Economy Support Centre from Gdańsk (dobrarobota.org) invites you to Pomorska Street in Gdańsk during the St. Dominics Fair in Gdańsk, Poland, where you will find stands of social economy entities from all over Pomerania! Our exhibitors will sell their products from July 24 to August 15, 2021, on Szeroka Street and Ołowianka Street. Social economy entities are workplaces employing people who cannot find a job or are excluded from the labour market for some reason, e.g. due to disability or homelessness.

What is the social economy? It’s the kind of economic activity where more than just profit is essential. These activities lead to the achievement of social goals. The social economy also supports the development of the local community and enables the social integration of socially excluded people.

By purchasing products and services of social economy entities, you can support people in need, co-create jobs and contribute to local development.

The exhibitors representing the Pomeranian social economy will include:

The exhibitors’ offer will be vast and varied:

  • food products (casseroles, cookies, lemonade, bio syrups, craft beer),
  • handicraft items (jewellery, ceramics, wooden boxes and chairs, paintings, etc.),
  • zero waste products (bags, backpacks, sachets),
  • soy candles and bath products,
  • clothing and antiques,
  • and many more.

Indeed everyone will find something for themselves! Check their fan page of Pomorskie Social Economy (https://www.facebook.com/pomorska.es/), will keep you updated on new exhibitors presenting their offer. The event is part of the project “Pomeranian social entrepreneurship system: coordination of the development of the social economy in the Pomeranian Voivodeship for 2019-2022”, implemented by the Regional Center for Social Policy of the Marshal’s Office.

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This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

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Conversation: An equitable economy starts with powerful workers

Every week at Welcome Change, Ashoka talks to the world’s social entrepreneurs about what works, and what’s next. Here they present a conversation with Ashoka Fellow Michelle Miller, co-founder of Coworker.org (a platform that helps workers build collective power to transform their jobs and workplaces). She shared her vision for creating a 21st century labor movement, and why worker voice is a pillar of democracy.

Browse upcoming (and past) topics here. If you would like to take part and listen to the conversation live on Zoom platform, sign up for their newsletter.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMQBNdicJoM[/embedyt]

Sell ​​Well, Do Good

Learning to sell is a bigger challenge than most social entrepreneurs expect. In the new book Sell Well, Do Good, sales experts Dr. Roy Whitten and Scott Roy from Whitten & Roy Partnership redefine sales in a way, that is more in line with the values ​​that social enterprises have, and at the same time makes sales a meaningful and satisfying job for the salespeople who work in social enterprises.

Dr. Roy Whitten and Scott Roy are the founders of the Whitten & Roy Partnership, which operates a global consulting network and has served organizations in over 40 countries.
Sell ​​Well, Do Good focuses on a fundamental problem around sales: namely that many both sellers and customers are of the belief – that sales is about pitching, persuasion and forcing people to buy.
According to the authors, this belief leads to both individuals and organizations concentrating on being self-defensive, becoming dysfunctional and unproductive for everyone involved, and in fact helping to create conditions that can help to undermine the mission of the social enterprises and limit their impact.

Based on cases and experiences from the authors’ fieldwork in recent decades, the book gives advice on how to master your own attitude to sales, lead convincing conversations, that can result in a committed action, train your customers to help them make the best and right purchasing decision and build a sales system that changes the behavior of sellers and their customers.

The authors believe that sales are the heartbeat of the company, and the way a social enterprises sells helps determine the companies’ ultimate value to the customers it serves.

If one is to do something good for the world, one must also sell well or in a good way (as the title of the book says). This means, that as a social enterprises you do not just need a sales system that works, you need one that fits with the company’s mission and purpose. In the same way, according to the authors, one needs to develop a sales team that performs their work ethically, proudly and skillfully – to the smallest detail e.g. in terms of giving customers the opportunity to think clearly, buy wisely and commit to new behaviors. It requires more than just improving – it requires a transformation.

The book has 178 pages and can be bought here

 

This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

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YOUTH SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES

Numerous studies show that today’s young people are highly motivated to generate positive social change (Lewis, 2016; Punadi and Rizal, 2017). Social entrepreneurship may have great potential to mobilize youth to engage in efforts to achieve major social objectives, including employment creation, poverty reduction, inclusion and integration. Dedicated to serving the common good, social enterprises established by young people can directly contribute to the achievement of a number of Sustainable Development Goals (Holt and Littlewood, 2014).

What is it that enables youth to succeed or impedes their success as social entrepreneurs? This chapter explores the many factors and circumstances than can impact young people’s involvement in social entrepreneurship and their efforts to effect social change through social enterprises. Two key questions are addressed: What activities, settings and conditions (including support structures or the lack thereof) promote or impede the success of youth social entrepreneurship? What do practitioners, researchers and policy experts suggest is most needed in this field?

It is argued in this chapter that young people have significant social assets, including first-hand knowledge of their communities, and that they are naturally disposed and uniquely positioned to provide innovative solutions to social problems. However, ageism and institutional bottlenecks limit opportunities for young people to launch and develop their own social enterprises, which means that young people’s chances of success are often linked to external factors over which they have little or no control. With evidence indicating that tailored support can increase the quantity and quality of successful social enterprises, it is suggested that policies and programmes be strengthened or put in place to support young people throughout the life cycle of a social enterprise. The chapter also examines how intergenerational approaches to social entrepreneurship (such as mentoring) and formal and informal education can help young people fill business-related knowledge gaps they may have due to their age.

Please download the full text HERE.

 

 

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This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

Collective call to grant limited profitability enterprises a legal meaning and ensure a fair competition with private undertakings.

The VYV Group has initiated a collective call for action, and are looking for like-minded organizations willing to join them in their efforts towards the recognition of the notion of “limited profitability”. Here is an excerpt from their letter.

…the specific legal models of companies with limited profitability are not yet recognized by European legislation. This concept is defined in an own-initiative opinion adopted by EESC in 2019 and recognized at international level by the United Nations.

Therefore, our structures are facing an unfair competition with for-profit enterprises caused by the legal oversights on our inner differences: we have a different approach to the distribution of surplus earnings and we have higher constraints on access to capital, which is necessary to grow. The Paint Graphos case law by the CJEU granted a specific regulatory framework to cooperatives regarding those inequalities in EU law and specifically State Aid. It recognized that in view of the constraints to finance their activities, cooperatives are not evolving in a factual and legal situation that is comparable to that for-profit companies

EU and national regulations must more effectively foster the development of limited profitability enterprises by setting a legal and political framework guaranteeing a fair while safeguarding our fundamental values of solidarity, economic resilience, and the absence of the pursuit of profit.

Read the full text HERE, and more about the background of this call in the letter from Thierry Beaudet, president of the VYV Group.

More information about the initiative in their website www.advocatingeurope.eu or directly with:
Dialiha FOFANA for VYV GROUP UMG
Email: dialiha.fofana@groupe-vyv.fr

 

This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

 

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Social Enterprises and the Future of Public Services – An Interview with Scott Darraugh, CEO of Social adVentures

The Social Enterprise UK invites us to a great webinar to be carried out next week, on July 15th 12:00 (London), where Scott Darraugh, CEO of Social adVentures, will be talking about transforming the delivery of care services.

In Salford, Greater Manchester, one social enterprise is radically changing how a community can address health inequalities through redefining what is possible when it comes to the delivery of care. How? Through genuinely placing communities at the heart of their work, thinking outside the box, setting up businesses to create a sustainable source of income and genuine employee ownership.

Social adVentures is set up with the mission of enabling people to live healthy lives, running a range of health and care services complemented by a variety of different social enterprises. It’s innovative, dynamic and owned by both staff and the communities it serves, offering a blueprint as to what the future of public services could look like.

In this webinar with Chief Executive Scott Darraugh, we will hear more about their story, their incredible work over the pandemic (including transforming a café into a social supermarket tackling food poverty) and what the future has in store for social enterprises working in health and social care.

Social enterprises like Social adVentures are changing how we view public services and will be vital if we’re to reduce the inequalities of health, wealth and opportunity which characterise COVID Britain.

Do join us on the 15th for what promises to be an insightful and inspiring interview!

Registration site: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fe5xgUIhQGCjR2-u26DFLA

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This publication has been prepared within INDIGISE project. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

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An Overview of Baltic Youth Impact

A consortium of partners has released a paper on impact management needs and challenges of youth associations in the Baltics, and the best practice examples. It provides an overview of whether and how youth organizations and social enterprises in the three Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — measure their impact and presents different examples to give other organizations tips for measuring their organization’s impact.

Definition of impact : The impact of a youth organization or social enterprise is any effect of the organization’s activities on individuals or groups or the surrounding environment. The easiest way to think about impact is by asking such questions as “What changes do we cause?” and “What changes would not have happened had we not organized our activities?”

Different impacts can be positive or negative, intended or unintended. Typically, youth organizations may influence young people’s attitudes, knowledge, skills, and experience as well as their living conditions.

The aim is to establish the experience for today and determine the aspects motivating organizations to assess their impact. In light of the current situation, the authors of the project seek to determine the impact measurement tools or instruments which would help organizations to measure their impact more effectively. Furthermore, this paper gives an overview of the reasons due to which some organizations do not measure their impact, the aspects that would motivate them to do so, and the skills and tools needed to begin measuring impact. Finally, the best practice examples from Baltic youth organisations are introduced.

The main conclusion is nevertheless that the literature overview demonstrates a decline in active participation of youth, therefore, it is substantially important to provide quality service in youth organizations.

If you too are interested in finding out the benefits of measuring the impact, the most common tools and some of the most prominent examples among youth organizations in the Baltic states, download the full paper in one of four languages here:

SUA_ENG   SUA_EE   SUA_LV    SUA_LT

The paper was created by Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia in collaboration with the National Youth Council of Latvia (LV), Eesti Noorteühenduste Liit (EST), Stories For Impact (EST), Geri norai (LT).

 

This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.