BC'S First ever Social Enterprise MeetUp!
2010 Social Enterprise MeetUP a Great Success! - Event Report
The Event:
The Social Enterprise MeetUP held in Vancouver on Nov. 4 & 5, 2011, created a day of learning and interaction for Social Enterprises. The event was a great success and attended by about 150 stakeholders from the Social Enterprise sector.
MeetUP Activities
There was a full agenda with speakers, panel discussions, and opportunities for networking.
THURSDAY EVENING | November 4th
On the Thursday evening Gerry Higgins of CEiS in Scotland talked about Social Enterprise from an international perspective, Dr. Peter Hall from SFU discussed his research on BC's Social Enterprise Sector, and Joanna Buczkowska from UBC shared her findings on research on training and employment in BC Social Enterprises.
The full report of Peter Hall's "Survey of Social Enterprises in Alberta and British Columbia" will be released in December 2010. Initial research was conducted by Peter Hall in 2009 and a copy of that earlier report is available on the enp website.
Click here to see Peter Hall's 2009 research paper.
Click here to see Headline Results from the 2010 research project.
Click here to see Joanna Buczkowska's 2010 research paper.
Click here to see Joanna's PowerPoint presentation slides from the MeetUP. (Note: this document may take a minute to download).
Following the three presentations there was a panel discussion with opportunities for questions and answers.
Each panelist was thanked and given a special Social Enterprise gift - a handmade bag from Common Thread Co-operative made from Olympic banners.
FRIDAY FULL DAY OF LEARNING | November 5th
Friday morning began with an informative presentation on Marketing for Social Enterprises by Mike Rowlands and Stephen Abbott from Octopus Strategies. Announced during the talk was the launch of the great new Social Enterprise Marketing Toolkit.
To view the SE Marketing Toolkit click here.
Another informative presentation in the afternoon was by Steve Williams, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, SAP. Steve gave an entertaining talk about technology, such as social media like Twitter and Facebook, and how it can help Social Enterprises.
Click here to see the PowerPoint slides from Steve's presentation.
Enp initiated the Social Enterprise Human Resources Project!
Funded by the BC Province's Labour Market Partnership, and involving various research partners and a multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee, this 15 month project will build greatly needed HR tools that target social enterprise managers, operators, and board members across financing, governance, leadership, etc.
Wayne Hanna and Scott Hughes are part of a team researching the human resources needs of social enterprises. At the MeetUP Wayne did some focus group work with the participants and had people do group activities where they had to identify personnel and human resources skills needed by their organizations.
Throughout the MeetUP there were numerous speakers and opportunities for questions, discussion and networking.
Pre-MeetUP Video on Social Enterprise
Watch a short MeetUP Video featuring two local social enterprises:
Potluck Cafe Society & Common Thread.
Event Thank You's
Thank you to everyone that participated in the MeetUP. As we're sure you'll agree, it was a great event. It would not have been possible though without all the support and contributions of many people.
Enterprising Non-Profits (enp) would like to thank the event's sponsors: Social Capital Partners, SEE Change Magazine, Intersections Media, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA). Without their support and contributions the event would not have happened.
There were many informative and stimulating speakers at the MeetUP. Enp would like to thank the following presenters and panelists:
• Gerry Higgins (CEiS in Scotland) for his "International View of Social Enterprise"
• Dr. Peter Hall (SFU) for the presentation on his research, "A Profile of BC's Social Enterprise Sector"
• Joanna Buczkowska (UBC, ISIS) for the presentation on "Training & Employment in BC's Social Enterprise Sector"
• Mike Rowlands and Stephen Abbott (Octopus Strategies) and Liz Lougheed Green (Vancity Community Foundation) for their presentation and work on the Social Enterprise Marketing Toolkit
• Wayne Hanna and Scott Hughes for their discussion on HR Policies and Needs for Social Enterprises
• Steve Williams (SAP) for the presentation on "Wiring Social Enterprise"
Other speakers we would like to thank include:
• Sonya Pouyat (Social Enterprise Council of Canada) for her opening welcome
• Andy Broderick (Vancity) for his introduction of the panel on the Thursday evening
• Melanie Conn (Common Thread) for her update and story about the Common Thread sewing co-op.
• Rebecca Pearson (Vancity Community Capital) for her talk on access to finance
• Jill Sinkwich and Tona Hetherington (Ministry of Finance) for their introduction of the Government Consultation on Community Interest Companies
• Shaughn Schwartz (The Cleaning Solution) and Gerry Higgins (CEiS) for their thoughts on "Creating a Supportive Social Enterprise Environment in BC"
A number of students and other volunteers from the social enterprise sector helped out during the event. Thank you so much to all of you for your help. It was greatly appreciated. Also to be thanked are Charlene San Jenko and Janice Rafael for all their contributions behind the scenes in helping put the event together.
Gifts for speakers were provided by Common Thread and Café Etico, and flowers were from Just Beginnings Flowers. Thank you to those organizations.
And finally, to thank, there was everyone who attended the MeetUP, participated in the discussions, helped spread the word, represented their organizations in the Marketplace, and helped in every way to make the event a great success. If we've forgotten to mention anyone, our apologies, and double thanks to them.
MeetUP Event Sponsors
Enp thanks the following organizations for their generous sponsorship of the MeetUP event
enp Funding Partners
