March 2010
2 posts
5 tags
Executive Summary: The School for Social...
And for those of you who would like the overview, here is the executive summary:
The School for Social Entrepreneurs in Ontario, Feasibility Study: Executive Summary
5 tags
Final report: The School for Social Entrepreneurs...
The feasibility study was presented this week at the SiG Information Session at the MaRS Discovery District to quite a crowd including some of the people who participated in the study.
It was good to see them again and hear their latest news. One of the panelists had just launched her own social venture, delivering healthy sustainable lunches across the city. (www.tiffinday.com)
We also...
February 2010
1 post
An update for 2010
The SSE report is in its second draft and under review. More news will be announced in the coming weeks, including recommendations and next steps. Stay posted!
October 2009
9 posts
Study participants
We spoke to 72 people to get their thoughts on social entrepreneurship education, the SSE model, the demand in Ontario for SEE, and some big, creative ideas on their vision for the future of social entrepreneurship. Here is the list of organizations and individuals that participated. Interviews with Opinion Leaders We conducted interviews with 32 opinion leaders in the fields of academics,...
SSE Community Consultations, Presentation &...
Each community consultation begins with coffee (always important) and introductions - the panelists say a bit about who they are and what they are currently working on or in. Once the group has met they are given a presentation of the SSE UK. This provides the panelists with context and a framework for the conversations that follow. After the presentation, the floor is opened for questions and...
SSE Community Consultation - Toronto continued.
Another key point of discussion was the aim or the wider goal of an Ontario-made SSE. Are we trying to change things in a big way and reinvent the way we function as a society? If so, what are the mechanisms to do so?
If what we need is a solid, accessible infrastructure, then we already have a number of groups that are doing that separately at the moment. Is launching a new organization the...
SSE Community Consultation - Toronto II
We ended the community consultations with a bang on Friday. With the long weekend tantalizingly close and another grey fall day outside, the energy could have been low or sleepy. But it wasn’t. Our ten panelists were lively and creative and were happy to be together in the same room talking about social entrepreneurship.
After the presentation, people leapt in immediately with their...
1 tag
SSE Community Consultation - Thunder Bay
I must confess that it was my first trip to Thunder Bay, but it certainly won’t be my last. The landscape was stunning, the fall colours were in full force, AND we had smaller but talkative group who provided clear insights about the ways an SSE might work or the challenges it might face in the northern part of the province.
To begin, there is an added challenge in Thunder Bay in terms of...
SSE Community Consultation - Waterloo
Our half-day workshop in Waterloo took place on a blustery fall day at Social Innovation Generation (SiG@Waterloo), in a lovely old bank building in the heart of the city. Representatives from a range of different sectors — the business development community, academia, social entrepreneurs and planners — gathered to discuss the merits or potential improvements for a school of social...
1 tag
SSE Community Consultation - Ottawa
It may have been a cold, grey fall day outside but the atmosphere in the conference room at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University was anything but. Sitting around the table were folks who had been deeply involved in community building, social enterprise research, funding, and business.
The group provided some excellent insights on the SSE model and how we might be able to adapt it...
2 tags
SSE Community Consultation - Toronto, October 9th
A quick note: we have changed the date of the second Toronto community consultation from October 8th to Friday, October 9th from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.
It’s still taking place at the MaRS Discovery District. If you are interested in taking part in this discussion, just email morwenna@masslbp.com
YSEC - Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada
The second part of my day on September 23, involved going to a panel discussion organized by an emerging and highly motivated new group - Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada.
This group is a ‘for youth by youth’ non-profit organization dedicated to helping extraordinary young people change the world with bold, systemic ideas. One of the ways they are helping to support and encourage...
September 2009
11 posts
3 tags
SSE Community Consultation - Toronto
September 23rd was a successful and inspirational day, book-ended by two events that captured the drive and passion of social entrepreneurs.
In the morning, we held the first community consultation at MaRS in Toronto with a fantastic group of people with first-hand experience working as social entrepreneurs. Some had decades of experience and others were just starting out. We talked about the...
The Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise
Living our Values: Social Enterprise in Action — November 18 to 20, 2009
Join hundreds of existing and prospective social enterprise operators from every region in Canada at the Third Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise taking place in Toronto, November 18-20, 2009. The conference will consist of three days of training and work sessions toward a national policy agenda and action...
2 tags
News: Extreme do-gooders – what makes them tick?
Five extraordinary social entrepreneurs talk about their defining moments - when the urge to change the world gathered such force they couldn’t ignore it.
NEW YORK - From protecting our natural environment to improving our children’s education to combating global poverty and disease, we’ve come to rely on extreme do-gooders to tackle the world’s toughest problems. And...
Event: MeetUp - Young Social Entrepreneurs of...
Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada (YSEC) is dedicated to helping extraordinary young people with bold ideas to change the world. On Wednesday, September 23, YSEC is holding their second MeetUp event where panelists will help budding social entrepreneurs, ages 17-29, to learn more about social enterprise and how to put their ideas into practice.
We’re attending and hope to connect with...
2 tags
News: University of Guelph receives funding for...
GUELPH, ON, Sept. 16 /CNW/ - The University of Guelph and The Co-operators today launched a new centre dedicated to preparing a new generation of business leaders committed to community engagement and sustainability. The Co-operators Centre for Business and Social Entrepreneurship will be supported over the next five years by a $400,000 gift from the Guelph-based insurance and financial services...
2 tags
SSE Workshop: September 23 @ MaRS in Toronto
The first of five community consultations is rapidly approaching! We’ve had RSVPs from people working in a range of fields - from new technologies and online networks to scholarship foundations to food services.
The Toronto workshop will take place on Wednesday, September 23rd from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at the MaRS Discovery District (located at 101 College St.)
If you or anyone you...
Update: Chatting with the Advisory
I’ve spoken with three members of the SSE Advisory who had fantastic insights about social entrepreneurship education and the SSE model and shared some similar thoughts, namely that the SSE model would be good for Ontario.
The main reasons? It fills a particular niche by reaching out to social entrepreneurs who are looking for specific skills and is more flexible than programs that operate...
1 tag
SSE Community Consultations
As part of the study, we are holding 5 community consultations across the province. It’s an exciting part of the project as we’re bringing people together from a wide range of backgrounds – community groups, volunteers, educators, students, and social entrepreneurs – to discuss the value an Ontario School of Social Entrepreneurs could bring, what it might look like and how it might...
1 tag
Update: Touching base with INSEAD
INSEAD’s Social Entrepreneurship Program has a different audience and student body than the SSE and some of the other SE programs run through business schools.
ISEP attracts people who are usually already successful social entrepreneurs, many of them (up to about 50%) come to the program via organizations such as Unltd, Ashoka, Schwab and so forth. The students at INSEAD are operating at a...
2 tags
Update: First conversations
Yesterday, I had two wonderful and very informative phone calls with some leaders in the field of social entrepreneurship education.
The first call was with the Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Alberta School of Business. The second call was with the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School.
A common theme in both conversations was the need for more...
2 tags
News: Skoll Foundation Invests in Leading Social...
The Skoll Foundation announced today second round investments in fifteen social entrepreneurs in its portfolio driving large-scale impact worldwide. In addition, the Foundation announced the first Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in its 2010 round, a $765,000 grant to Civic Ventures, plus investments in two key partners who promote social entrepreneurship and social innovation, Ashoka and...
August 2009
11 posts
2 tags
Document: SSE Prospective Student Brochure
To learn about the School of Social Entrepreneurs in a nutshell, download the brochure.
4 tags
Document: MaRS White Paper - Social Ventures
Real World Systems, engaged by the MaRS Discovery District and generously supported by the Government of Ontario, completed a review of social impact measurement systems as they apply to social ventures. The review aims to help social ventures as well as their investors and funders determine how to design measurement systems that will help them meet their goals. This whitepaper explores the...
2 tags
Article: Chicken before egg: How do new fields of...
For any emerging field it would seem that investment opportunities and vehicles of investment must develop along side. In this way, both social entrepreneurship and social finance are gaining momentum at virtually the same time. However, still in question is what’s commonly (or colloquially) referred to as “the stick factor.” Social entrepreneurship as it pertains to business model innovation and...
2 tags
Document: Evaluation of the SSE 1997-2007
In 2006, the School for Social Entrepreneurs commissioned the New Economics Foundation to do an independent longitudinal evaluation of its work since 1998. This involved storyboard and impact mapping workshops with stakeholders (staff, trustees, students, fellows, etc.), and then an in-depth questionnaire sent to all SSE Fellows.
The executive summary provides an excellent overview of the SSE -...
2 tags
Presenting our Advisory Council
Our advisory council is made up of leading experts who have kindly agreed to provide feedback and guidance over the course of the study. Here are the members of the advisory, in no particular order…
Sonia Pouyat, KidsLINK - Chief Executive Officer
Albert Plant, MaRS - Volunteer Advisor
Earl Miller, MaRS -Director, Strategic Partnerships
Marco Campana, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving...
1 tag
What is action learning?
Social entrepreneurs are proactive, hands-on, inquisitive, “people” people. They aren’t interested in learning programmes that don’t seem relevant to them, and they often move straight into action without any educational preparation. They learn as they go.
The School of Social Entrepreneurs was the first organisation in its field to recognise that social entrepreneurs...
3 tags
News: Indian Institute of Management launches SE...
There has been a certain degree of change in the students of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) who want to work for the downtrodden as well. At least, Samriddhi, a social initiative of the entrepreneur cell (e-cell) of the institute, which came into existence on Saturday, promises to do so. More…
3 tags
News: College, community connect
College students are pouring onto campuses across the country. This annual ritual arrives with an important set of questions for these emerging leaders: What do you want to get out of your college experience? What kind of leader do you want to be when you graduate? What contributions do you want to make to the world around you?
The most forward-thinking of universities are not just asking the...
2 tags
Document: SiG@MaRS Request for Proposals
This is where it all began.
Download the Request for Proposals.
1 tag
A brief history of the SSE
To get the blog rolling, here is a little background information on the original School of Social Entrepreneurs based in the UK.
The School for Social Entrepreneurs was founded in 1997 by Michael Young (Lord Young of Dartington), a social innovator who had previously launched the Consumers’ Association, the Open University and around 40 other organisations.
The SSE provides training and...
5 tags
Welcome to our Project Blog!
Recently, MASS LBP was contracted by SiG @ MaRS — Canada’s leading centre for social innovation within one of the country’s most dynamic research institutions — to evaluate the feasibility of setting up a new school based on or affiliated with the UK’s School for Social Entrepreneurs. The promise and ability of social entrepreneurs to address important and outstanding...