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Engaging boomers in change. There’s been so much talk over the last decade about how we will handle the boomer generation as its workforce retires and ages. Why is it an assumption that retirement is a necessary byproduct of aging? Perhaps many wish to retire. But there are plenty of individuals who cannot imagine relinquishing their creative and productive energy just because they have reached a certain age. Let’s bust this myth of a golden retirement! At ReVV 2010 we will hear from those tapping the wealth of skill and wisdom of this generation for good. New partnerships are bringing human capital to the social innovation ecosystem by leveraging the talent of boomers who want to continue growing and learning by transferring their skills to social ventures. Learn more about the work of these encore innovators and the organizations that support their journey from success to significance! Investment strategies are slowly beginning to change. Investors are looking at environmental and social ventures as strategic opportunities to promote change and make a profit. There is inherent risk in any investment. But dropping one’s money into an organization whose explicit motivation is not the maximization of financial profit but rather the maximization social profit takes boldness. Who is stepping up to invest for impact rather than the bottom line? And can they make money doing this? At ReVV 2010, observe RSF Social Finance CEO, Don Shafer, discuss with Mark Ahn, Associate Professor of Global Management, at Willamette University, and Lewis Hower of Huntsman Gay. Hear how social investment firms and foundations are shifting to the use of program-related investing and other financial tools to accelerate social and environmental impact worldwide. And listen to Malaika Maphalala of Natural Investments and Justin Conway of Calvert Foundation discuss impact investing. There’s a lot of talk about impact investing, but how do investees and investors come together? Hear from all sides of the investment deal, from the investors who want to reach social change organizations and businesses, an organization that works to create investment vehicles to bridge investor and investee, and a social enterprise that has benefited by them. Learn how the new partners in change work together to create new roles for everyone—for good. Learn More- Watch Read Alex Counts, President of Grameen Foundation, will shed light on and engage attendees in a conversation on social business. What is a social business? How does it differ from a non-profit? What advantages does this model offer for systemic change? And what is the relationship between Danone and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh?
After Grameen Bank redefined the concepts of finance and banking, it continues to redefine business, offering up new ideas and strategies for how to create a better world. Understand the potential of business to change the world in new ways.
Grameen Foundation is a non-profit founded in 1997 by friends of Grameen Bank to help microfinance practitioners and spread the Grameen philosophy worldwide.
Register for ReVV 2010 to join the conversation!
Read, listen, watch more about Alex Counts, Social Business, Microfinance and Grameen Foundation http://www.grameenfoundation.org/ Follow the ReVV on Twitter (@Revisionvalu) and visit www.revisioningvalue.org ReVisioning Value Conference (ReVV 2010) Come join Springboard Innovation for a conference that will be a whole lot more. ReVV 2010: The Conference brings together leaders from the varied fields of impact investing and social innovation to share how new models for both are increasing the flow of capital to the creation of a more just and sustainable world. At Springboard our intention and mission is to: Teach—Local Agenda, educating and inspiring the changemaker inside Convene—Social Innovation Forum, convening community innovators for action Fund—ChangeXchange, propelling social innovation through microphilanthropy Build—Innovative Cities, building a municipal ecosystem for change ReVV 2010 will work in all these areas. It will educate by challenging common assumptions about what non-profits can and cannot do, the role of the for profit sector in change, and what is the potential of creative collaboration between the two. It will convene leaders and learners not just for listening and networking but also for action. Join day two, a day of in-depth workshops and action roundtables—putting the ideas into motion. It will bring funders and changemakers together, addressing new models of financing innovation and examining new metrics and understanding value. Follow our weekly updates that will highlight speakers and conference content! Follow the ReVV on Twitter (@Revisionvalu) and visit www.revisioningvalue.org In anticipation of the April 26th conference ReVisioning Value 2010, Springboard Innovation Founder and Executive Director Amy Pearl shares her thoughts on social profit in an interview with Portland-based Social Enterprises. Social Enterprises: Tell us about the concept of an intersection of purpose and profit—and how it plays out in the world. Amy Pearl: This is a very very interesting time. I had a conversation with a young man from Unitus’ non-profit and investment arm. He is building funds—so he goes around asks corporations and big businesses for money to invest in organizations that are driving social change through vehicles like micro-finance, which was popularized by Muhammad Yunus, who is a modern-day poster child for social innovation. I said to him, “So you’ve been following this trend of micro-finance, right?” And he told me that they had, but that recently the market had become quite saturated. There are currently 120 channels out there for funding micro-finance operations—which is enormous. It’s astonishing. Micro-finance, a tool used to pull people up out of poverty, is getting, on average, a 30-40 percent return on the investor’s dollar—which is also incredible. It’s a really good case study for the idea of purpose and profit coming together. It’s a pervasive example of how you can serve the needs of the very poorest and still make a fantastic financial return on that investment. SE: How does the idea of creating social profit fit in with sustainability? AP: Sustainability was defined, in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights back in 1948, as solving problems today in ways that don’t prohibit future generations from solving their problems. The notion of sustainability is to do things that are lasting and can be kept up in ways that provide options going forward. In terms of looking at social or environmental organizations, whether it’s building a wind turbine or designing a social program, if it’s designed well it will promote that on-going livability for both people and planet. It should also have a financial sustainability factor built into it as well, so that new strategy or service can be maintained. And all of this replaces that which is unjust. The goal is to go upstream from the problem and get ahead of it. What is wrong with the system that it is actually allowing and maintaining issues like homelessness and hunger? What is the real root issue here? There is something that’s not at equilibrium in the status quo—something creating injustice. What we try to do is create organizations that, in order for them to be sustainable—and to sustain what we want to sustain in this world—have to get in front of the problem with a new kind of solution which is both effective and just. These are very deep problems. When we talk about social innovation, that discussion has to include environmental, financial and educational solutions. SE: Can you give us a few examples of fresh, innovative solutions that you’ll be discussing at the ReVV Conference in April? AP: There are some very interesting things going on around organizations developing finance tools. These tools are bringing in a lot of capital for those change organizations. Something I find very intriguing is that there are a bunch of organizations that are becoming for-profit organizations rather than non-profit organizations, and attracting substantial amounts of money to move the solutions ahead faster and farther. That creates a new dynamic and opportunities for partnerships between money and what matters. And it hasn’t existed before to this degree. There’s a new interest on the investor’s side, even philanthropic investors, that says, “we want to make a difference AND make money.” There’s been a flip of circumstance. Now, change organizations have what the investors want—opportunities to make profit—whereas it used to be the other way around. Investors used to have the money and the change organizations were hoping for some sort of fixed charitable giving. It’s completely transformed the relationship between the two sides and it’s providing more capital to bring in expertise, funding for marketing and operations—which grants often don’t cover.
You can read the full interview with Amy Pearl here. Catch early-bird rates on the ReVV 2010 Conference before 2/1/10. Follow ReVV on Twitter @ReVisioningValu |
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