Social Enterprise Capacity Building Cross Regional Learning

ONTARIO CCEDNET CONFERENCEJUNE 8 T H , 2011

JESSICA LAXMARY FERGUSON

CATHY LANG

Social Enterprise Capacity Building

Cross Regional Learning

Agenda

VisioningSharing Experiences

Foundation for Rural Living Causeway Work Centre Pillar Non-Profit Network

Common Threads & CommentsSmall group discussionClosing – Harvesting Insights

Visioning

If money were no object what

would be the ideal way to

build capacity for social

enterprises in your community?

Rural Social Enterprise Project (RSEP)

RSEP Vision of Success

Long Term Vision

A more resilient non profit sector in ruralAccommodated employment and/or training

for hard to employ through rural non profit social enterprise

Purpose of RSEP Project

To build capacity in social enterprise development in rural constituencies through: Workshops Coaching consulting Peer networking Linkage to resources, SE sector and SE

“intermediaries”

Three Target Groups

Rural non-profit staff, volunteers, directors and social entrepreneurs

Project partners – regional CED organizations

Social enterprise development “intermediaries” SE funders, academics, capacity builders

Approach Summary

Developing Collaborative and Regional Partnerships

Developed a collaborative with FRL, C. Lang Consulting and Eko Nomos Co-applicants on Trillium grant with community partners

Develop working relationships with regional CED partner organizations: Huron Business Centre, Perth Community Futures,

Waterloo Wellington CFDC, PARO in Ontario’s North) and one community of interest cluster

Aim to enhance local and regional capacity of all partners and collaborators and build case for rural SE supports

Getting Organized

Theory of ChangeLogic ModelEvaluation FrameworkProject Planning and Collaborative Team

DevelopmentCommunications Planning

Project Delivery

Workshops: SE Primer and Feasibility workshops Tailored consultations and referrals Peer networking and linkages to SE Sector

Consultations: Customized consultations with up to 50 organizations

Working with Intermediaries

Intermediary Strategy Targets

Started with focus on funders or prospective funders of social enterprise

Identified additional audiences including: Policy makers in a position to affect the funding

environment for SE in rural Ontario Academic researchers interested in SE and CED (e.g.

Carleton University CCCI) Social enterprise capacity builders in Ontario (e.g.

Pillar Non Profit, CISED) Rural Municipalities and Municipal Economic

Developers – Warden’s Caucus, ROMA, EDCO

Building Support for Rural SE

Activities include: Calls and ongoing collaboration with CISED and Pillar Non

Profit Involvement in June 7 meeting of SE researchers across

Canada Presentation at June 8 Regional CCEDNet Conference Outreach to specific academics researching SE in Ontario Share project learning with funders and prospective

funders Convene intermediary meeting with funders and

prospective funders Potential for follow on funding application to take project

work and partnership further

Partnership Development

Key project strategy: Regular Teleconference with Partners – 1 x month Regular Collaborative Team meetings – 1 x month Other calls as needed

Accomplishments to Date

Workshops

6 Primers Delivered (1 via web conference 5 on-site)

5 Feasibility Workshops (1 via web conference 4 on-site)

105 people registered; 92 people participated in workshops

Still to do – 3 part webinar series for up to 40 people

Profile of Participants

Even split between NFPs and Charities; few unincorporated groups and social entrepreneurs

Good diversity in terms of organizational focusMajority of registrants were Directors, followed

by program managers; directors and volunteers wore “many hats”

Majority of organizations were small to mid size ($100,000 - $500,000 budget – 27%), though large and very small organizations were present

50% had some knowledge of SE, but 22% had no knowledge at all

Consultations

30 of 50 projects have been approved for the consultations

Several other projects are still being considered

Consultation applications still be accepted

Working Well

Relationship with community partnersTesting of different technologies for distance

and cross regional capacity building – video conferencing, conference calls, webinars

Project planning and evaluation/documentation – on course

Connections of partners to local NFP community – different in each region

Challenges

Language of social enterprise not resonating with groups that could use support

Early stage work with vulnerable organizations

Identified need for employment alternatives for underemployed rural folks

Lack of seed funding for SE exploration and development

Going Forward

Complete webinar series in JuneComplete consultation over the summerComplete intermediary strategy before

OctoberHave 2 – 3 learning sessions to assess results

and document learning for publicationCommunicate learning with key audiencesExplore potential for follow on work to

address gaps and needs – possible joint application to Trillium

EXPERIENCES FROM OTTAWA

CISED

Collaborative for Innovative Social Enterprise Development

24

Vanier Community Services

Vision

Thriving SE sector

Continuum of supports for SE’s

Technical assistance, $$$, strong networks

Technical Assistance

SE 101 workshop series

Subsidized legal, financial, and

marketing expertsFree business

coachingStudent Projects

Starting SROI analysis with Carleton U

Financial Assistance

Starting to offer business plan development

grantsWorking on low interest loans to

scale up

Strong Network

Monthly events: i.e. Tour of Groupe

Convex Crowdfunding for SE’s, Legal Issues

for SE’s, Social Finance 101

Cross Sector relationship

building

Accomplishments 2009-2011

31 organizations have taken the SE 101 workshop

7 well attended events held for SE’s16 SE’s have accessed one on one business

coaching11 student projects requested, 2 completed

(market research & video development)3 social enterprises have worked with

Carleton to analyze their SROI$20,000 secured for pilot business

development grants

Lessons LearnedNetwork building

events and workshops

successfully filled a knowledge gap and

created sector connections

Lack of money made take-up of SE very

slow Student connections,

and Social Purchasing Portal imbalanced effort

compared to benefit

Going Forward

Minimizing student projects

Continuing other

supports

Increasing SROI

analysis - creating

prospectus’

ENP Ottawa? funding business

development

Increase Visibility -

Social Enterprise Dragons

Den?

EXPERIENCES FROM LONDON ONTARIO

Social Enterprises for Creative and Sustainable

Communities

Social Enterprise for Creative & Sustainable Communities

Also Trillium fundedStarted in March

20113 community

partners CISED and Sarnia

Community Roundtable as learning partners

Approach

Preparing to offer workshop series in the fallStarting monthly Social Enterprise Exchange

gatheringsPreparing to offer one on one coachingLaunching Pillar Consulting Group for SE and

nonprofit needsCommunity case studies by Ivey on creating

SE support systems

Learning Outcomes:

IN THE THREE COMMUNITIES

CISED in Ottawa

London – Pillar Project

Sarnia Community Roundtable

Common Threads and Connections

Origin of program materials from same root – TEF, Eko Nomos and C. Lang Consulting

Role of United Way importantPlace based approachRegional partnership developmentCommitment to learning, inter-regional

sharing and joint strategiesMix of workshops to large groups and one on

one coachingImportance of available seed funding

Small Group Discussions

1. What from these models is applicable in your community?

2. What differences, if any, should there be between rural and urban support of social enterprise?

3. What other SE capacity building models are out there (in Ontario and around the world)? How are they different from those presented and what can we learn from them?

4. How useful, if at all, would collaboration be between all of the different SE capacity building projects? What shape could this take?

Harvesting Insights

What is one insight from this session that you will take

away?

More info

clang@web.netC. Lang Consulting

www.ekonomos.com info@ekonomos.comwww.cised.ca

jlax@causewayworkcentre.org

www.pillarnonprofit.ca socialenterprise@pillarnonprofit.ca