What is Social Entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship, like smurf before it, runs the risk of meaning too much, of being thrown willy-nilly into sentences where more common words would do. So it’s understandable that those who care about these things would want to define it. Roger Martin and Sally Osberg do in their SSI Review article, and have rescued the term by distinguishing it from both social activism (the indirect things we do to improve or change the system) and social service (the ways we improve things through the system). What we end up with is a grandiose definition that would apply mostly to the titans of the nonprofit world. Simply put, social entrepreneurs are those who are successful at using direct action to create systemic, lasting change that results in the betterment of a lot of lives (think Muhammad Yunus, the guy who made microcredit a household word).

That’s a pretty high bar for Joe Nonprofit to jump over. So assuming our goals are a little more modest, what can we take from this? I think the concept might be helpful simply for orienting us towards entrepreneurship. By adopting the spirit and processes of entrepreneurship, we will be looking for opportunities to implement status quo-defying innovation, which, even if it fails to change the game, can help us find new ways to serve our constituents. And before we defy the status quo, we have to recognize it. So perhaps we can adopt a bit of that (social) entrepreneurial spirit just by stepping back, getting outside our bubbles, and seeing with fresh eyes the ways in which business as usual just isn’t cutting it. Once we’ve recognized those opportunities, we can smurf in ways that will genuinely impact our community.

Jonathan Wadley is the founder of America for Animals, an organization dedicated to making our communities more humane. He thinks that he is a social entrepreneur but isn’t entirely sure.

Building Capacity One Page at a Time

Since June, the YNPNsd Book Club has gone from a small idea into a monthly occurrence. It has become a space where members of the community, many new to YNPN, come to discuss the most pressing issues in the non-profit sector here in San Diego.

It’s funny really. I remember when I went to my first meeting to pitch the idea that we could READ about a topic (in what free time?) and get together and have substantive discussion around it. The thought was, “Well, let’s give it a try and see where it goes.”

I had not been reading as much as I would like, especially about issues facing non-profits and non-profit professionals. I wanted an excuse to make myself read more and then have a group with whom I could discuss the topic. A book club seemed natural, but this book club couldn’t be your grandma’s Sunday book club. I wanted to replace the gossip and crumpets with informed conversation in an edgy and attractive way.

I also wanted it to be something bigger and more impactful, which brings me to the real motivation to start a book club with YNPN. I wanted to help develop a professional development opportunity that would give people skills and knowledge to help fulfill their organizations’ missions while also building the capacity of the San Diego non-profit sector as a whole.

Getting people together to read and discuss these issues seemed like the logical choice. I saw that the YNPN chapter in the Bay Area had a book club, and it made sense to start one here. The book club would provide a different type of programming where we could build upon our collective knowledge and share experiences with each other as peers. Since many of us do not have formal training or education in the field, this type of peer exchange is a necessary way to build our individual and collective capacities to affect positive outcomes in the community.

The chapter is excited the book club has become one of YNPN’s most successful events, not in terms in pages read, but rather the connections made and the knowledge gained, which collectively help create positive community impact. Scott Bechter-Levin, a member of the YNPN San Diego Community Council and the founder of IdeaEncore and the Pacific Ridge School said, "Because the format encouraged deep conversations among dedicated and passionate nonprofit professionals, it was the best YNPN event in my three years involved with the chapter.” And we do it over happy hour, so it’s a win-win.

Moving forward, the book club’s success is evidence there is a need for robust professional development opportunities. The challenge now is to develop a series of programs, of which the book club is only a small piece, that benefit the YNPN community, and in turn the whole San Diego community. Through creating opportunities for San Diegans to build professional and personal relationships, develop new skills, and expand collective knowledge, YNPN can make a powerful impact in the region and even in the nation.

That means we need YOU! Please feel free to contact me with any ideas for professional development programs at efrem@ynpnsandiego.org.

YNPNSD and IdeaEncore: Working Together

Lately you might have noticed that our blog is featuring a new guest contributor representing the IdeaEncore Network.  We have been partnering with the San Diego-based IdeaEncore Network for a while now (you might remember their contributions featured in our now-quarterly newsletter), and as they have grown, we've welcomed the opportunity to share educational resources with this community stakeholder.

Establishing a connection with IdeaEncore is important to us not only because they have a collection of great resources to share, but also because their vested interest in both growing and grooming the next generation of nonprofit leaders means that their mission aligns with our own.

IdeaEncoreNetwork is an online learning marketplace for nonprofits to share, buy, and sell information resources such as policies, presentations, plans, and templates that improve their effectiveness and efficiency. It is a community of people like you who have been through situations like yours.  It is a place where nonprofit professionals share, buy, and sell tools and resources that improve effectiveness and efficiency.  By aligning individual and organizational incentives, including earned income, we reduce “reinvention of the wheel” and increase both the social and financial return on philanthropic investment.

Sharing your experience and documents helps emerging and experienced nonprofit professionals the world over by saving them and their organizations time and money.  When you share with IdeaEncore, you have the opportunity to generate earned income for your organization by selling resources that you’ve created.   

Scott Bechtler-Levin, President of IdeaEncore, stated “All of us can benefit from sharing what we have learned with each other.  And the credibility and recognition can really help emerging nonprofit leaders establish themselves.”

It’s free to create an account, and 90% of resources are free to download.  Unlike Idealware, another resource-driven site, IdeaEncore is a crowdsourced platform that facilitates its users own personal and professional growth in the resource-sharing process.  Learn more here, and let us know what other resources you use for knowledge management.  

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook, where we share information about local San Diego nonprofit events, job announcements, and share resources.  Thanks to Jamie and Scott for their amazing contributions!

IdeaEncore Resources of the Month

Looking to find and share resources with colleagues?
IdeaEncore provides an easy way for you to share what it know, learn from others in the nonprofit sector and earn unrestricted income for your organization. Check out these resources to help you network and build important nonprofit skills. And don't forget to select Young Nonprofit Professionals-San Diego (YNPN-SD) as your Primary Professional Association when you sign up for a free IdeaEncore account.

Networking for Job Seekers - Useful Step by Step Guide
Shared by Acumen Fund (Free)

Using Social Media for Fundraising

Shared by CJW Consulting & Services, Inc. ($20)

Power Skills: How Volunteerism Shapes Professional Success

Created by Women’s Way and Shared by Issue Lab (Free)

Basic Grantwriting – Online Course

Shared by Grant Central US ($99)

Nonprofit Job SitesDirectory

Shared by Blue Avocado, a project of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services (Free)

Propelling Your Future

Professional development is one of those aspects of a career that can be easily overlooked. If you're caught up in the day-to-day grind of work or bogged down by too many commitments, isn't time to ponder why you haven't progressed to a place where these frustrations aren't a problem?

Consider professional development as one of those outlets where you're enriching yourself as an employee and as an individual--thereby furthering your own life goals to work in concert with the nonprofit organization of which you are a part.

Tonight, June 7, YNPN San Diego is hosting one of those life-changing career workshops. We're presenting "Three Things Holding Back Your Nonprofit Career" from 6-8pm at the United Way San Diego, guided by Paul Redfern, an Encinitas-based CPA specializing in non-profit and entrepreneurial accounting. During the workshop, Paul will guide us through the pitfalls of common financial practices and highlight guidelines for making sound financial decisions.

Before the workshop starts, we're also hosting a casual networking session with light appetizers and wine. It's not too late to sign up, so we hope you can make it!

YNPNSD Leader Retreat 2011, or, A Lesson in Being Both Productive and Fun

The first weekend of May marked a turning point for YNPN San Diego. It was our first weekend planning board retreat, an idea the board had a while back, and with the help and sizeable donation from The Leichtag Family Foundation, this vision became a reality.

We wanted to ‘up the ante’ if you will, this year by blocking out an entire weekend to nail down our strategic priorities for the coming year, outline our workplans, and solidify our budget –an extensive agenda for the weekend, but we figured that by locking ourselves in for 2 straight days (albeit in the luxury La Costa resort), that we would be able to knock it all out in one sitting.

This was a great idea for a couple of reasons:

1. We’re an all-volunteer organization that meets once a month as a board. So, oftentimes the lag time on decision-making can get drawn out, particularly when it comes to the overall organizational big picture since our daily ‘to do’ list often takes over when we let it; and
2. We recently completed our spring recruitment and added five amazing new board members. Since they make up half our board, we couldn’t have asked for a better board immersion experience.

So the weekend goal was twofold: plan out what we’re trying to accomplish over the next year (based on last year’s progress and our current context), and get to know each other so we begin operating as a cohesive team from Day 1.


How did we do? Mission achieved, if I do say so myself. We started off the weekend with a board in-service on leadership training with Alexis Dixon. This an essential aspect of our role as board members, and the essence of what we try to instill in not just our board, but our committee and membership base as a whole. This session helped to set the stage in our minds to always be thinking about fostering leadership in every aspect of our work.


After a quick break, we dove into planning. By first reviewing our vision, mission, theory of change, and program model (outlined with the help of NP Strategies in last year’s planning retreat), we reviewed our successes and challenges over the past year to achieve last year’s goals. Then, we walked through the finding of our recently closed 2011 Membership Survey, providing valuable information to the board about what our members liked and want for the future. All of this helped to outline what we need to focus on during our next fiscal year. After boiling up findings from detailed SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses, the board clarified 5 strategic initiatives for the next fiscal year. Since, at this point our brains were leaking logic and our stomachs were crying for help, we broke for lunch.


When we re-grouped half an hour later (did I mention that this was a packed agenda?), we were met by a handful of committed and eager committee members who gave up their gorgeous afternoons to assist in our planning efforts. Their fresh faces re-energized the group and we dove in, breaking into 5 teams based on the aforementioned initiatives to outline our SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) goals and action items. These were eventually shared by the full group, picked apart, added to, and agreed upon as a team until board and committee members alike were satisfied.


Exhausted but content, we looked around the conference room lined with butcher paper outlining our ideas and plans and shared, one-by-one, our excitement. The consensus was that it was an honor and a privilege to have spent the day with a smart group of people thinking about how to make the nonprofit sector stronger in San Diego, and specifically, what our organization – led, run, and supported by a group of emerging leaders volunteering their time – can really do to make a difference.


After having led the research, planning, and facilitation for the day, the group unnecessarily broke out into applause. I took a quick bow and said a silent prayer of thanks to have met such incredible minds and committed people all working towards making this region a better place to live and work. It was then that I was able to reflect on the momentum this organization has created after having been founded just three years ago. What started as a vision and strong foundational leadership has smoothly transitioned into an organization owned and operated by the community it serves.


So, a quick thank you is in order for all of you who have participated with your time, dollars, or membership to make this organization what it is today. I’d also like to extend an offer to the rest of you to get involved and be a part of what YNPNSD will become tomorrow.


And then it was off to the hot tub…


So, without further ado, here’s what we’ll be working on over the next year.


YNPNSD’s 5 Strategic Initiatives:
1. Create a culture that fosters leadership growth for organizational sustainability
2. Define, engage, and retain members
3. Develop an outreach strategy to increase membership of the next generation of leaders
4. Create and implement a brand identity and communications strategy
5. Grow and diversify funding



Thanks to Cynthia Davila, our Retreat Team Leader, for this contribution as well as her time fostering many productive discussions during the retreat. Her skills proved truly invaluable, and we're thankful to have her!

Announcing YNPN's National Voice Survey

Make Your Voice Heard. Improve Our Sector. Take YNPN’s National Voice Survey Today!

Over the past several years, a great deal of literature has been released noting significant leadership challenges for the nonprofit sector. With each issue revealed has come a compelling set of recommendations for how the sector can meet these challenges head on. As a movement of now over 20,000 nonprofit professionals nationwide, YNPN is uniquely positioned to put these recommendations to the test.

Make sure our voice includes your perspective. Find 20 minutes to take YNPN’s 2011 National Voice Survey today! Click here to start it now!

Is offering more competitive compensation a priority for retaining talent? Is your nonprofit engaging in succession planning? Is prioritizing diversity having a positive impact on your organization? The valuable feedback and experiences you and your peers will share by completing YNPN’s survey can help influence how our the nonprofit sector addresses its leadership challenges over the next decade.

We look forward to sharing our results with you later this year!

Using Social Media for More

I've been thinking lately about how we use social media in our professional lives. Certainly, it's pervasive, and now an online persona is just as important as an in-person personality. Not too long ago, before Twitter became a way to spread event news and find the latest deal, before Facebook was used for nonprofit Causes, and even before LinkedIn provided a way to digitally connect with our peers, social media outlets were a free-for-all. In the context of understanding how each different outlet serves its own unique purpose(s), both individuals and organizations faced the challenge of how to use these media sources to reach their core audiences, and in turn, spread their message.

Although the current state of social media hasn't been completely defined--in that its a constantly evolving, dynamic medium--it is now much easier for those savvy individuals looking to use social media and get a valuable return on their time. Dependent upon what's being measured, be it the number of subscribers to your organization's eNewsletter, an increase in Facebook Cause donations, or event signups, we can use any of a number of tools to find out what our constituencies really desire out of our community-based organizations.

So as nonprofit organization leaders, community supporters, and even philanthropists, the question then becomes, "How can I effectively listen?" Wayne Turmel, a BNET writer, published an article a few weeks back on how "Real Leaders Use Social Media to Shut Up and Listen." His candid approach hit the crux of how we use social media in such a way that is so relevant to nonprofit organizations--because by learning what our communities need, it then becomes that much easier to serve.

Written by Danielle Reyes-Acosta