Socially Enterprising (recent application and blueprint documents)
In the spirit of openness here is a recent grant application which didn’t make the grade and a blueprint document which I produced as part of my Somerset School of Social Entrepreneurs Programme.
They should give a bit more background to how the idea for Socially Enterprising fits in and where the drive to work on a project of this scale came from.
It’s much too big for me and I need help!
Blueprint Document
This document was produced as part of my involvement in a School of Social Entrepreneurs Programme where I was able to dedicate time towards bringing my thinking and progress together.
This work led to an updating of the website/s and a few related Medium articles.
You can access the Blueprint + Appendix here.
Grant Application (2019)
3. What is the problem and how are you responding to it?
At Socially Enterprising we believe that the social, economic and environmental problems we face today can only be resolved through the efforts of people, movements and organisations working together towards common goals.
We believe that it is the natural state of humanity to be both social and resourceful — ‘Socially Enterprising’.
This capacity for cooperation, collaboration and creativity can be seen all around us;
· the co-operative movement, transition towns, and the Preston Model.
· social prescribing, arts and health, and peer support groups within the NHS.
· public service redesign, co-production and co-delivery.
· communities that step forward to commission, design, or deliver their own services.
· people that decide to improve what they see around them — through street art, environmental campaigns, and local activism.
· businesses supporting local volunteering, sustainability and CSR
· forward looking organisations are transforming themselves so that everyone has a voice and that their choices have real meaning.
These movements, organisations and actions demonstrate that our human and social needs can be moved to the very centre of how and why we do things.
By defining all of these types of action and behaviour as ‘Socially Enterprising’ we create a frame with which we can unify a diverse array of individuals and organisations and by doing so foster connections between them.
Socially Enterprising is a social network with a social purpose; to bring together this diversity of individuals and organisations with the hope that their pro-social actions and behaviours become the cultural norm for the 21st century.
4. What are other existing solutions?
There are many working parts of such a networked strategy already out there but they’re not necessarily connected together in a way which; extends their potential, shares their resources, or links into a localised strategy for inner growth and social justice.
Instead we have organisations and networks that concentrate on their own area of specialism, geographic area, responsibility and membership.
This is as true of civil society as it is of business and the state — we do what we do.
There are commonwealth, cooperative, transition, environmental, social justice, human rights, creativity and design, social innovation, culture, design and systems thinking networks and organisations everywhere.
Our blog and Facebook page are full of examples from around the world.
Socially Enterprising suggests that there is an area of absent potential which exists between these entities which is social in nature and that this potentiality becomes realisable when we work together with people and communities to understand and meet social needs.
Our platform when seen in this way acts as a bridge which connects citizens (with local needs or a will to act), to local organisations who have specialisms and resources, and outwards to networks which can further energise and benefit local efforts.
In this way we seek to expand and strengthen all existing networks and organisations. We want people and place put on the map, for people to be treated equitably and fairly, and for the assets we all share put to work for social good.
That is our common interest.
5. Why is your idea better?
It isn’t better; it is different.
There are tens of thousands of organisations out there doing amazing work, and there are endless solutions, and products and services which can all be utilised for social ends.
All of them are better than Socially Enterprising. They exist and are getting things done.
But to bring their potential together is something else.
Socially Enterprising suggests that finding common ground between diverse actors, agencies, organisations, localities and networks allows for a greater use of resources, knowledge and skills for social benefit.
This seems more like common sense than anything else.
Perhaps another way to look at the question is to look at the history of social networks as Socially Enterprising builds upon a social network model of agency, interconnection, and interaction.
The name of social networks can say a lot about their roots and how they came into being.
· Friends Reunited connected together old school friends and colleagues.
· MySpace allowed people to create and customise an online space.
· Facebook was based on the American High School Year Book — ‘your face in a book’.
It’s not exactly world changing stuff is it?
My question is: What could a platform and organisation like Facebook or Google achieve if they were entirely designed for social purpose and benefit?
6. What do you understand about your space that other organisation’s just don’t get?
I don’t have any extra insight.
I hope to connect citizens and organisations in a way in which brings benefits to society.
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert in what any of them do, and that’s the same if they’re an organisation, a community or an individual. They’re all experts in their own right with their own agency to decide what they wish to do or engage with.
I do see the world differently though.
There are certainly many benefits which arise from being an outsider and observing a system from many different perspectives.
I have a lot of diverse life and work experience which helps inform my thinking.
I’m socially aware and a savvy technologist.
I believe the world can be a very different place and I know that if I can envision something and have enough knowledge to assess its feasibility then it is possible to make it a reality.
One of the benefits of structuring the organisation itself as a network is so that it can observe itself and identify its own needs, capacities, gaps and potentials. The structural fabric as well as the organisation hopefully becomes smarter over time.
7. What does success look like?
It’s the real world test.
If I can step outside my front door and see a different world coming into being, one that is fair, just and empowering. Then I will know that ‘through their own agency’ people, communities and organisations can work together to make the world a better place.
This is already happening. The hyper-connected nature of the 21st century is bringing people together in unexpected ways. It is only to be expected that social needs are readily identifiable and thus ideally suitable for local forms of action and organising.
I hope to be able to assist in growing this social capacity. It’s a capacity which I consider to be latent and forgotten; it’s simply what humanity used to build society and civilisation.
It is my belief that similar ‘Socially Enterprising’ models of thought and structure can be applied to many sectors and industries including; production, manufacturing, organising, ownership, cooperativism, social justice, education, science, common wealth and the commons, and public goods.
I would like to contribute in helping this social shift to take place.
8. How will you fund this idea?
The propositions at this stage are as follows:
Initial Income
Membership Fees
% of Crowdfunding / Fund Matching
Grant Funding
Medium Term
Course Fees (Organisations & Companies)
Social Investment Funds
Long Term
Professional Services
Data Services
Investments (Ideas, Identified Needs, Entrepreneurs, Community)
Potential Membership Income (Monthly)
Socially Enterprising will be a member owned organisation. Those members are expected to be Individuals, Civil Society Organisations, the State and Businesses.
You do not need to be a member to use the platform but becoming a member gives voting rights and access to additional knowledge, resources and education.
Here are some outline calculations based on a membership fee of £10 per month.
The platform is free for the public.
Let’s say;
· 1% of CSO’s and Businesses decide to become a member
35,700
· All public bodies, agencies, local authorities join
810
· 10% of town/parish/community councils join
1,193
This would provide an income of £377,030
If we decide to be more optimistic:
· 10% of CSO’s and Businesses
350,700
· All public bodies, agencies, local authorities
810
· 10% of town/parish/community councils
1,193
This would provide an income of £3,527,030
The top end using this calculation would be:
· 100% of CSO’s and Businesses
3,570,000
· All public bodies, agencies, local authorities
810
· 100% of town/parish/community councils
11,930
This would provide an income of £35,827,400
9. How big is the opportunity?
In the 21st century the traditional models of power, capitalism, and finance are giving way to more human centred and social approaches.
Examples of this would include:
· community development and place-based practices
· a shift to publically owned and run public services
· the transition to a sustainable economy
· public forms of distributed production and manufacturing
· the role of public goods and institutions
· independent and community owned media
A platform and strategy that can bring together people, communities, civil society, businesses and the state for the purpose of social benefit is a big idea.
Our strategy does this by providing a mix of incentives for each sector of society so that every person or organisation who participates receives a reciprocal benefit whilst also generating a measurable social value and local effect.
In this way the platform can be seen partly as a value exchange system which intermixes and swaps alternate forms of value (social, physical, intellectual, monetary) relative to local context, needs and participants.
It is easy to see how this can work to reward participating local companies with access to staff development education and opportunities, or communities by connecting them to the support and resources they need.
The less obvious shift is in looking at how the creation of value locally through local labour could receive adequate financial reward in return.
An organisation which could enable this exchange would have the potential to improve lives, reshape society and transform the economy.
10. Which of the following best describes your progress?
I have incorporated as Socially Enterprising CIC.
11. Please provide a link to its online presence if you have one:
Link to website — https://sociallyenterprising.org
12. How far along in your journey are you?
The idea was conceived in 2014 after completing an Active Citizens Programme.
Initially the platform was focussed on Social Action Projects (including arts, culture and wellbeing) and intended to connect people to advice, funding and local employment.
It was when looking for funding to take the idea further that I realised that there was a much larger and far more interesting opportunity.
There was money out there for innovation, for social enterprises, and for community projects. There were grants to start your own business. There were businesses implementing CSR. There were communities doing their own thing.
Through my involvement with a global learning and development education charity I had some knowledge of community development within developing countries and the trend away from charity and towards sustainability and social justice.
That’s when I realised that it was possible to bring all of these things together into one platform.
In May 2015 I became a District Councillor which has allowed me to work within local government and with communities giving me real world experience of how things work and where Socially Enterprising fits into place.
As an organisation I’m only just beginning to emerge.
I have participated in a School of Social Entrepreneurs programme and more recently the RSA Future of Work team put me forward to become a fellow after being made aware of my work.
With the income provided by your grant I would begin the task of following up contacts and arranging meetings with potential partners and funders.
13. What do you need support with?
The technology platform is at Minimum Viable Product stage and is fully based upon open source software.
A very similar configuration runs the Edublogs and CampusPress systems which should give some confidence in its capabilities. The technology also appears to power KnowledgeHub the UK’s largest digital platform for public service collaboration.
The hosting is professional and scalable and provided by WPEngine.
* So this isn’t primarily a technical project (please see note)
What it is an idea which needs piloting/trialling and an entrepreneur who needs funds to keep everything running, provide a sufficient income and pay for travel to meetings.
I’ve spent time on the FUNDER NAME website and I feel that we have a lot in common. It’s not the first time I’ve become aware of your organisation but this funding is new and very relevant to what I’m hoping to achieve.
My present circumstances mean that I’m entirely dependent on sourcing funding and that through restrictions that may come with those funds I may be required to plot an indirect course in order to move my ideas forward while also meeting those obligations.
A salary would be an ideal way of ensuring a more consistent and direct path forward.
Socially Enterprising is a combination of ideas and there are quite different pots which I can attempt to access.
The core idea itself may be applicable to an Innovate UK stream. The federated/subsidiarity approach could match with Cooperatives UK goals. The role for community media organisations may meet The Media Fund eligibility, and I’m sure there’s plenty more.
This would allow me to develop the pilots, partnerships and capacities as the organisation moves forward whilst also tapping into additional funding sources at key points of organisational development.
I believe that it’s possible, with the right partners in place, to relatively easily put together a low scale pilot that would act to demonstrate the central ideas and potential.
Beyond a local demonstration/pilot project then I would need an experienced board in place and I would need to bring people into key organisational roles.
Returning to FUNDER NAME.
I’m aware of how public service is changing and the complexities involved in achieving the cultural and behavioural changes that are required to enable transformation.
I was fortunate to be asked to be involved with a DWP funded project in 2014 that supported long-term unemployed with low-level mental health difficulties develop their confidence and social skills with a view to returning to work.
It was an opportunity to learn more about these areas of knowledge and practice (mental health and employment) and research what was happening in other areas and projects.
It was through this research that I became familiar with the work of Hilary Cottom, Participle, and the Life Programme all of which aligned strongly with my own beliefs and helped to form a connection between Socially Enterprising and the shift beginning to take place within public services.
Running through Socially Enterprising is a spirit of human-centred design and a desire to act as a catalyst and enabler for this spirit to become common place in the world.
I believe that this attitudinal and cultural shift when combined with creativity, imagination and new ways of working and organising are not just the key to unlocking the immense potential that exists all around us, but are the very foundations for a 21st century economy and society.
Nesta are obviously on my list of organisations to get in touch with as Socially Enterprising overlaps with a lot of their work. Their close relationship with government would greatly simplify any efforts to get things done.
FUNDER NAME are incredibly well placed to support and/or partner with Socially Enterprising.
Your experience and understanding of social needs, the resourcefulness of people, entrepreneurship and empowerment, and direct experience of delivering public services would all be highly beneficial at every stage of development.
It’s difficult for me to imagine a better match and I would hope that we have the opportunity to meet at the next stage.
Putting Together an Initial Pilot
From my work with local government and my own research I am aware of the network of organisations which act to fulfil social and economic needs within the South West region and I have identified that Socially Enterprising can deliver benefits at every level.
Socially Enterprising intersects with the economic, productivity, and wellbeing aims and goals of; national, regional and local government; and The Heart of the South West Local Economic Partnership.
We can greatly assist with the community development roles of; County, District and Town Councils; the Somerset Community Foundation; and the Community Council for Somerset.
Local Potential
Research (on behalf of the DWP) has been conducted by RIO (The Real Ideas Organisation) into how social enterprise, cooperatives and self-employment could help to create a new local economic blueprint for Bridgwater and nearby towns.
A pilot could connect this report (The Blueprint Project) to local people and support from Somerset Cooperative Services, TDA Business Support, and ReConomy in Totnes in order to foster entrepreneurialism, create new businesses, and generate local employment.
Since 2016 The Richmond Group of Charities have been working in the Somerset/Sedgemoor area to understand how more meaningful collaboration can take place between public services and the voluntary sector.
Their report ‘Tapping the Potential’ contains learnings that can be implemented in other areas around the UK.
The initiative has received support across the Richmond Group of charities, and with Public Health England — matched by the Somerset Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), South West Academic Health Science Network and wider Somerset Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector.
A Socially Enterprising pilot could connect with their local work on place-based social support, health and wellbeing to demonstrate its usefulness and extend their reach and practice out into the very communities they serve.
Getting local people into employment would be a key component in any pilot and Bridgwater already has Under Construction, a local employment hub which brings together a wide array of employers and employment related organisations.
Partnering with Under Construction would greatly simplify communications with the partners and help to connect local people getting involved in improving their communities with local employment opportunities.
At the community level we have an active volunteer base and employer supported volunteering schemes running with some larger employers.
Our churches, community groups, and local charities are all deeply connected to the needs of local people and working hard to make a difference. They are being supported in their work by many outside organisations including Sustrans and the People’s Health Trust.
Nearby Woolavington and Puriton are a Big Local area working together as a single community to understand their needs and allocate spending of £1 million pounds.
There is great potential in the Sedgemoor/Bridgwater to put together a pilot that measures and evaluates the effectiveness and usefulness of the Socially Enterprising platform.
Getting Support
In my time as a District Councillor I have become known as being diligent, hard-working, and community minded.
I have made a number of contacts including most of the organisations mentioned above.
Locally I believe that I would receive a high level of support for a Socially Enterprising pilot and it would be a great honour to bring the potential benefits to the people, communities and organisations which I have served and represented over the past 4 years.
* The technical bit…
Approaching a pilot with an absolutely minimum set of requirements would minimise any technical necessities.
Of course, it may be that requirements for; additional security, guaranteed support, key escrow, interoperability, or reporting would become necessary for certain partners.
If so I would immediately be in a position to require additional technical resource.
I’ve already identified that this much can be done through the current hosting company for an additional charge and there are a number of ethically aligned cooperatives who may be up to the task.
A combination would likely work best.
14. Why did you pick this idea to work on?
Back in 2014 I saw great potential in social action projects and active citizenship for benefiting society whilst empowering participants and improving lives.
I really enjoyed my involvement in the Active Citizens Programme (British Council) and I wanted for anyone to be able to achieve more for themselves and their communities.
It really connected my thinking to projects I was aware were happening in developing countries and I would like to refer you to a documentary called The Revolutionary Optimists which reframes the lives of children living in the slums of Kolkata, India as innovators and agents of change.
The first version of Socially Enterprising was really built around this idea of community led social action projects but within the context of UK needs and legislation.
This social action orientation is still there today of course!
But along the way there has been a continual asking of why and how and I feel this has led to the creation of something quite unique that brings together the resources and skills of business, civil society and the state, and places these within reach of communities and individuals.
There was also an element of feeling a sense of inner transformation through my involvement with the Active Citizens Programme.
This feeling of empowerment and determination was something that I felt came about through a combination of how the programme was facilitated and designed, but also through my own input and desire to improve things.
I had also begun thinking very differently about the world through my time volunteering with a development education charity.
Building on my own life experiences and an awareness of the social and economic factors which affect all of our lives I came to an understanding that all nations and societies exist in a state of development and so too do individuals, organisations and institutions.
These transformational and developmental aspects have formed a central core around which the other ideas are situated.
The platform has been designed to encourage involvement and participation by a wide range of actors and at the same time provides an environment which can help cultivate transformational change or developmental improvements within individuals and organisations.
I came to believe that society can look, feel, and act very differently than it does today and I’d like for other’s to come to the same conclusion and feel empowered to connect, collaborate and act.
It’s not my world to change. It’s ours.
15. Do you have a sponsor?
No.
16. What is your sponsor’s name?
N/A
17. What is your sponsor’s email?
N/A
18. Please enter the url of a video introducing yourself and telling us about your idea
Link to pre-existing video — https://vimeo.com/275278728
