The European Social Franchising Network (ESFN) has found some 65 social franchises in Europe. The largest of these, the Kringwinkel secondhand shops in Flanders, employs nearly 5,000 people, of whom 80% are disabled. Social franchising comprises three phases: 1. Pilot: identification of a business model which works well in at least one instance, and is transferable to other contexts 2. Development: codification of business processes to create tools such as a franchise agreement, … Read more
Project Management Making things happen on time, on budget and with ease
Planning and managing projects are core to your work as a social entrepreneur. Within any project, you will have to manage your resources people, time, money, materials, tools and combine them to get things done. And you need to do all this in a way that ensure you do not run out of money, lose your team, or become despondent. Ultimately, you are doing what you are doing because you love it! So, if you are not loving it, it is a good sign that something is wrong. Setting up a project … Read more
The Laws of Manifestation How to attract the resources necessary to do what you need to do.
Working with spiritual principles can be very helpful here. David Spangler, one of the pioneers of the Findhorn Foundation community, set out some key principles in publications on “The Laws of Manifestation”. It is not simply a case of invoking and inviting money and resources to achieve whatever you want. It is more a case of ‘tuning in’ to what the universe, or Spirit, is asking for. If your project is really in the service of something greater, and if you are really fully aligned in … Read more
Finances Money & Resources The Blood of your Business
Money and how we use it is currently an essential element within the social fabric of our world.. So, the first step to accessing it is to think about money and research some theories about what it is. The second step is to know how much money you need to set up your business and then to make it flow. The third step is to know where to get money from...where are the various sources? The fourth step is to know how to attract it and keep it flowing. Core idea : One core idea that is at the … Read more
Crowdfunding The practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people.
The crowdfunding model is fueled by three types of actors: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded; individuals or groups who support the idea; and a moderating organization (the "platform") that brings the parties together to launch the idea. These sites allow businesses to pool small investments from a number of investors instead of forcing companies to look for a single investment. It's a good way to involve your network in your project. It goes beyond … Read more
Coworking Space Creating fertile Working space together
To “start doing” what you want it is much easier when it is done together. Get a room, some chairs and a diverse group of people and you can create a coworking space. This means creating settings where there is no “new input” or “stuff to be done”, but a creative space where people can do what they need or want to do for their own project. This is what we call “Coworking Space. It can be a fixed space with table, chairs, meeting rooms and all that is required in an office structure. You … Read more
Collective Wisdom How the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts
We need to reinstate meaningful conversations at every level of society. We need to learn how to creatively express our individual diversity and potential, without attachment to being right, contributing our piece to the jigsaw puzzle of life. We start listening for new connections and winwinwin outcomes instead of holding onto knowledge we already have. References: ● Briskin, Alan, Sheryl Erickson, John Ott, and Tom Callanan. The Power of Collective Wisdom: And the Trap of Collective … Read more
The Practice of Journaling Gaining selfawareness through a regular writing practice
Regular automatic writing can become a key to discovering deeper layers of our own being. It can help us work through difficult feelings, become aware of our patterns and habits and open up a flow of creativity. References: ● The Artists Way (http://juliacameronlive.com/) ○ Julia Cameron. The Artist’s Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self. Pan, 1995; Julia Cameron. The Artist’s Way: Workbook. Souvenir Press, 2007. ● … Read more
Systems Blindness Overcoming blind spots in planning for sustainability : spatial and temporal systems blindness
The first problem is exacerbated because problems like atmospheric pollution are increasingly cause by millions of small, incremental damaging contributions to the biosphere (eg aerosols, car exhausts) rather than large scale, more obvious ones (like oil spills, factories). It is a death from a million tiny cuts. We see the parts but not the hole: out of sight is out of mind. This is spatial blindness The second issue, temporal systems blindness, is caused because problems are often … Read more
Shadow Work Dark and light are part of us.
Human shadow is often seen as ‘negative’, because we tend to reject or deny or suppress or disown the less desirable aspects of our personality. But on the other hand: in these shadows are fundamental energies of ourselves that are supporting us to become ‘whole’. Shadow work is the conscious work to look on what we “are not” or “dont want to be”: on those parts of ourselfes that we cut off from ourselves. But: if we cut off a part, it still stays part of us and is lived unawarely. … Read more
