© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Strategies for Selecting Social Enterprise Ideas

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Idea Creation & Development

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Finding Enterprise Ideas Brainstorming Asset Leverage Serendipity SWOT Analysis Market Failure Mission

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. The Inception of the Social Enterprise Idea is Driven by Social Concern, Rather than Financial or Market Opportunities The social problem IS the business opportunity

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. What is the social problem you are trying to solve? What are the social impact you are trying to create?

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Role of Client Social Enterprise Client Worker Market Client Producer Client Beneficiary Client Consumer Client Community Environment Public

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Mission Cohesion

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Strengthen Mission Women’s economic development organization supports self-employed single mothers through small business consulting services. Social Enterprise opens a sliding-scale fee-based childcare social enterprise to enable clients more time to focus on their business.

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Leverage Mission Organization: Global Exchange International human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. SE: Reality Tours Raise public awareness of root causes of injustice through themed “reality trips”—i.e. fair trade, civil rights, peace and conflict, sustainability and the environment, climate change, etc.

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Expand or Enhance Mission (1) Commercialize social services in new paying markets / clients Organization: Senior services Full adult daycare services for indigent frail seniors. SE: Premium Eldercare Premium eldercare and family support service for pay market.

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Expand or Enhance Mission (2) Sells new social services to existing markets / clients Organization: Grameen Bank Microfinance organization that makes micro-loans to poor entrepreneurs in Bangladesh SE: Grameen Phone Sells cell phone time to Grameen Bank clients; micro-entrepreneurs (clients) work as sales agents

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Supply Chain Integration Procuring Supplies Employing Workers Designing Product or Service Producing Product or Service Marketing to Target Fair Trade Dis- enfranchised Groups Delivering Education Green Techniques Micro- finance Adapted from Dees (2002)

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Via Services & Markets Existing Services New Market New Services Existing Market Existing Services Existing Market New Services New Market (Quantity / Breadth) Service Market (Diversify community expand geography) (Diversify service and geography) (Diversify service)

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. SWOT Opportunities Threats Strengths Competition Weaknesses Collaboration

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Identifying Assets Tangible and Intangible Assets

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Assets TANGIBLE ASSETS Staff and Volunteers Membership Equipment or machinery Building/physical space Money INTANGIBLE ASSETS Skills or experience Good community relations Recognized logo Political connections Strong public image Influential board of directors Unique methodology or content © Community Wealth Ventures 2001

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Examples of Leveraged Assets (1) PRODUCT  Zookeepers in Thailand turned their Elephant dung into lucrative handmade paper products  The National Zoo (Washington DC) sells “Zoo Doo” exotic fertilizer AN ASSEMBLED MARKET A national youth organization discovered that its target group was valuable to large advertisers and assembled focus groups and market research studies for major companies. SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE Following 911 a grief and loss organization experienced high demand for its specialized grief counseling services and won contracts with NY and DC local gov’t and the US military.

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Examples of Leveraged Assets (2) LOGO AND REPUTATION Save the Children licenses it logo for a fee to clothing companies to sell ties and scarves. PHYSICAL ASSETS Churches in New England discovered that their steeples made ideal antennas for mobile communication companies, and converted historic beauty into money.

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Identifying Your Assets People What people do you have that are particularly valuable to your organization? (name recognition, skill sets, etc) Audience/special relationships What are the key strengths of your audience (e.g.., size, demographics, psychographics, loyalty, etc). What other key relationships do you have? Programs/proprietary content/events What are the key programs or content that you have at your disposal? Skills/expertise What kinds of skills and expertise do your staff have? What about the Advisory Board? Volunteers? Tangible assets/facilities What do you own or have the right to use? Real estate? Program related equipment? Collections, stock, materials? Reputation What does your name mean in the community? To whom? Other © Community Wealth Ventures 2001

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Prioritizing Opportunities

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Mission Social criteria Financial criteria Assets and resources Market information Operating environment Organizational factors Stakeholders Preferences Narrowing the List

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. The Mission is the Anchor To Vision Unrelated Opportunity

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Mission Cohesion The Organization - “dedicated to enabling older people to live with dignity and independence. Through its professional staff, corps of volunteers, and close collaboration with other organizations, IONA Senior Services provides services and access to programs designed to meet the needs of seniors and their families.” The Enterprise - “to provide families premium quality eldercare services with compassion and integrity. By meeting the needs of an affluent target market, Essential Eldercare will generate excess revenue and capacity to serve more economically and socially disadvantaged frail seniors.”

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Social Criteria Special considerations or attributes required to achieve social impact objectives Social Criteria often hinges on special needs or limitations of clients and/or beneficiaries Social Criteria impacts ideas, choice and type of enterprise

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Social Criteria

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Profile Demographics Economically active Weak social ties Vulnerable Few assets Inability to repay Psychographics Transient Risk adverse Extra burdens Geographic Refugee camps Poor or degraded market & infrastructure Financial Services Grants and training before loans Monitoring Mentoring Certificates – credit rating Support to start up micro- businesses Transparent processes Continue service Branding Social Criteria: Refugee Example

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Financial Criteria (1) Start up costs Amount organization can invest Operational funding Maximum $$ org can subsidize venture Duration can subsidize Breakeven requirement

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Financial Criteria (2) Income/Revenue Amount of revenue contributed to parent organization % of shared fixed costs covered Amount of social/program costs covered Financial opportunities New sources of funding Unrestricted funding Leverage

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Resources (Assets) Tangible People Land Money Intangible Reputation / brand Methodologies IP Relationships Skills and expertise

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Market Potential Market size, growth and trends Demand Industry dynamics Opportunities & Barriers Ease of entry (regulatory, legal, etc.) Income potential Competitive environment External environmental factors

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Social Market Potential “Beneficiaries” of impact Client Community Environment PR Competitors Role of subsidies in the market Collaborators Strategic alliances and partners

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Organizational Factors Core competencies Capacity Human Resources Financial Stakeholder buy-in Risk Profile Preferences Competitive advantages Culture

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Preferences…

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Don’t underestimate the power of preferences

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Intuition Gut Check Is this how we want to spend our time? Are there better things we could invest our time and money in?

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Idea Evaluation

© 2007 Virtue Ventures LLC. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Scoring Opportunities