Tom Tolchard; SiiWA Project Director discussing his recent trip back to the UK and some observations about some of the changes taking place there. 

I recently headed back to the UK for a few weeks. I tend to have mixed emotions every time I go back. I’ve only headed home three times in the past ten years, I have to say that I wasn’t exactly in love with England when I left for Australia, it seemed too expensive, too aggressive, too little opportunity but each time I go back I notice all the great aspects life in the UK and inevitably find myself daydreaming about what life would be like if I returned. I imagine living in the leafy suburbs, playing village cricket at the weekends, drinking warm beer and complaining endlessly about, well anything really. This thought never lasts long but it was enough to start me thinking about the state of the UK and how it’s people and government are addressing the considerable social issues, which have arisen over recent years.

During my first week back in England the government released a frightening new statistic that made me consider just how important the need is for effective social innovation thinking. Having conducted a 6 month long, national survey the UK government we’re embarrassed to report that the number of children now living below the poverty line had increased from 1:5 to a staggering 1:4. That’s one in four school children in England going to school with no breakfast in their tummies, living in houses without adequate heating, wearing school clothes that don’t fit etc…. That was the same week the government rather quietly announced the need to down grade the UK economic forecast by an additional 7% (on top of the 5 % down grade three months prior). This wasn’t quite what I’d expected to find in my old country.

In a nut shell things were bad, as someone looking from the outside in, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of understanding from the people as to how the UK citizens are collectively going to address these social ills. Some may suggest that the recent rioting and the social unrest that we have witnessed to be a byproduct of this rather gloomy reality. I have very little insight these days into the social fabric of life in England but one thing that resonates for me is that many people believe that it is “the absence of hope for many young people in England” that is manifesting itself into dysfunctional and destructive behavior (or as my good friend put it to me recently “who’s country is full of convicts now Tom?”). How does a country build hope for hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised residents and do it in a way, which does not displace the happy folk, buggered if I know but I’d love to have a go at working out some solutions?

It was with these lofty questions and concerns in mind that I decided to go and find out what the Big Society mob were up to and how if at all they were planning on stopping the rot. For those who are new to Big Society I’ll provide a quick introduction. Big Society was launched by the UK government in 2010 to act as a think tank and ideas center for bringing about positive social change. “Our aim is to champion people and organisations that are part of social change. We are a catalyst creating partnerships for the wider society and are open to everyone” (www.thebigsociety.co.uk). The thing I like about Big Society is that it is thinking on a large scale, its see’s this social unrest as an opportunity to drive best practice in social enterprise, develop scalable, exportable models and their aim is to be regarded as global “best in show” at delivering innovative social capital but by their own admission they have one hell of a long journey ahead of them.

I caught up with a representative of Big Society in Manchester and asked her to explain some of the projects she was working on. One of the Big Society projects she showed me around focused on re-energising the high street and CBD retail strips.

The City of Manchester has initiated a project where it is subsidizing 50% of the rental costs of un-occupied, prime high street locations (mainly vacant due to the huge number of independent retails who have gone out of business over the past two years as well as the consolidation of many retail chains) for new start up social enterprises which encourage skills acquisition, training and employment opportunities for long term unemployed. This means that socially driven organisations, which seek to trade in order to sustain themselves, stand along side the likes of Tesco, Top Shop and Marks and Spencer but also ensure that property which has high trading potential is utilized rather that sitting vacant.

The high street has been seen as a social focal point for centuries and there is evidence linking the deterioration of high street communities to a direct correlation in dysfunctional behavior. By taking an empty retail space (which is a symbol of failure in the community) and turning it into a supported and subsidized social venture it becomes an asset to the community. This is just one example of how Big Society are throwing out the rule book and using social innovation create hope for people in England.

So what can we the residents of Western Australia learn from the Big Society initiative, a few suggestions I’ve been mulling over include the following. It would be benificial for all to create social welfare systems designed with and not for the disadvantaged people of Perth, empowering and including them as our primary stakeholder. Perth could also seek to use some of the hundreds of thousands of square meters of vacant prime CBD real estate to facilitate the rise of new social enterprise and hybrid models (a project that City of Perth has started to map vacant spaces in the CBD). I’d also like to champion the emergence of commercial social investment, in the USA the socially responsible investment market is now valued at $3.07 trillion. Its important for us to shift our thinking away from subsidiary or loss making social investment to a belief that social investment can produce positive returns both in economic and social measures.

Big Society thinking was reinforces the view that its often the guy on the street that is close to the real issues and who has huge value to add when designing social solutions. It’s also a great example of hand up not hand out where risk is shared but equally so are the rewards. For more info and a nosey through their work check out www.thebigsociety.co.uk

I’d recently become frustrated in Perth, you know how it is, things not moving fast enough, people saying yes but really meaning “yes if you’re lucky and then maybe slowly over the next 5 years” so I headed back to Melbourne to recharge and develop a few new SiiWA partnerships.

On my first day in Melbourne I purchased great coffees from two (different) social enterprises, attended a fashion show hosted by the amazing people at the Social Studio (a fashion and design business set up to support recently arrived refugees), dined at a restaurant collecting $2.00 on every bill to help Melbourne’s homeless, been taken on a tour of the social enterprise hubs being created in the street level of community housing towers in the uber trendy suburb of Fitzroy, witnessed the Commuters for Change, a cycle rally through Bourke Street to encourage public transport usage, immersed myself in two incredible street theater performances and…. wait for it … had the government call me to show case their latest thinking on maximizing social enterprise investment and support. That’s just within my first 7 hours. (continued below picture)

There is no doubt about it Melbourne is on fire right now, full of ideas, new ventures and a sense of optimism from young social minds. The thing that stands out as the biggest observation back east is that the social enterprise infrastructure is in part being driven by a genuine fusion of government, corporate and social enterprise partnerships. These partnerships are clearly on the front foot, not researching or compiling papers, nor are they conducting endless research, they are in the “doing process” of delivering social change.

I’m inspired by these actions and its great to see social enterprise as a living breathing animal. Its also amazing to see how the general public is reacting to this approach. They are using the power of ethical consumerism to create real social change. With willing and waiting consumers adopting an ethos of profit for purpose in their purchasing power there is a massive and scalable opportunity for creating positive social change.

I was also recently heartened to read that the city of Melbourne is now offering preferential rates to social enterprises who wish to use their existing street infrastructure for the establishment of businesses and “pop-up’ social enterprises. In fact, reading between the lines it would be almost impossible for a business which does not place its environmental or social outcomes at the heart of its venture to even get through the tendering process. “Good on you Melbourne” use your existing infrastructure to support social change, risk free, high return, partnership driven.

I hesitate as I write this but when I compare this sense of optimism and “doing” in the social sector and the level of deep understanding that many of the key stakeholders of the sector have to what I have witnessed here in Perth it makes me anxious.

There is so much to gain for all sectors by embracing the power of partnerships, delivering on well thought out social ventures. The make up of so many WA’s social entrepreneurs that I’ve met over the last year in Perth is that they are nimble, responsive and need to see their ideas realized. Without appropriate support infrastructure and a genuine sense of community their ideas often wither away.

I’d like for SiiWA to continue in its mission to deliver a genuine community and support networks for these individuals but also to campaign vigorously to bridge the gap between the sectors. When it comes to delivering social good, there is no “them and us” there is only “us” (I stole that from Obama!).

I still remain grounded in a sense of deep optimism for the future of social innovation in WA but come on Perth lets stop the chit-chat and get down to business. Lets start to develop partnerships, which see well thought out, robust, financially sustainable business models getting up and being supported. I think we’d all be better off for it, if you don’t believe me then ask Melbourne.

Tom Tolchard

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has released a Social Investment Manual; A guide for Social Entrepreneurs. This manual has a international focus and many of the capital markets do not yet exist in Australia however there is a strong case for these kinds of capital markets to develop.  Read the full story

Joanne McNeill and Cheryl Kernot have produced a great report / paper on Social Enterprise Stories in Australia. Read the full story

I was invited to sit in a staff meeting of a large non-profit organisation heavily funded by the federal government working on building communities and bridging gaps in the community. I spent about an hour talking to them about what I do and my beliefs as well as answering all their questions.

One of the leaders of the organisations mentioned something along the lines of, “Young people like you can get things done rather easily and quickly, but for old people like us, we need structures so all this talk about innovation isn’t going to work for us”. What she said later was what infuriated me. In her words, “We can talk about being creative and innovative in solving social issues, but we have obligations to the government. For example, this morning, while I was driving here, I was thinking about all these really creative stuff I could do for but then I had to stop because I have to think about all these reporting I gotta do”.

Of course, at this point, I had a go at her quite diplomatically. I think many people forget that community organisation exists because of community needs, and at the end of the day, that is what we’re for – not the money. I do know that we need to be talking about practicality and all that but at the end of the day, we need to understand the real role of a community organisation.

Creative and innovation solutions and funding obligations are mutually exclusive. As community organisations fight for funding, more and more organisations change their structure, their programs, their work – the way they think and the way they work in order to fulfill the funding requirements and get the money. It’s a shame because we think that its OK but if these funders know what they’re talking about or what you do – the community sector wouldn’t have existed.

It frustrates me because when I told this to a few of my friends, there are conflicting views and although I see both side of the story, I really do not believe that community sector should be focusing on capital and money, because we were born out of altruism, love and care. I know that its hard to get things done without money, but if money determines how we response to social issues, we’re quite doomed because we will always have boundaries to the way we do things.

I really encourage people and executives to bring back the core of community organisations – voice your disagreements when something isn’t right. Don’t fall for the money because if it doesn’t align with your values and the real purpose of your existence, they are dirty money and you should be impolite and be daring to voice your opinions and encourage them to change their guidelines.

Although funding guidelines are needed, we as community sector need to keep these guidelines informed, relevant and actually beneficial – not just adapt ourselves. There’s just so much we could adapt, and the more we adapt to what others want us to be good at, the less we are going to progress because the people who caused these issues will be the one guiding us in the end.

About the Author

Ehon Chan is a researcher, thinker, teacher, change agent. He is Director of Research for YES Brisbane, a Youth Ambassador for the Inspire Foundation, Advisory Board member for PlanBig, co-author for Digital For Good and last but not least a research Officer for Project Australia.

You can follow Ehon’s progress on his Blog and contact him via email or Twitter.

Social Traders have just completed research into supporting Social Enterprise in Australia which they will be presenting at Unlocking and Empowering Social Innovation in Western Australia. They will be running through previous research they have conducted as well as participating in the discussions and collaboration on the day.

Social Traders has many resources such as case studies, opinion pieces and their news section on their website dedicated to Social Enterprise in Australia and around the world.

More about Social Trader -

Social Traders is an independent social enterprise development company. Funding research and raising awareness of the potential of social enterprise to deliver innovative and important social outcomes for the community. Social Traders support the development of viable social enterprises by improving access to finance and markets.

The Economist has a good overview of what the UK and US Governments are doing to support Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurs.

Exerts from the article below -

POLICYMAKERS on both sides of the Atlantic are keen on a new approach to alleviating society’s troubles. On July 22nd Barack Obama’s administration listed the first 11 investments by its new Social Innovation Fund (SIF). About $50m of public money, more than matched by $74m from philanthropic foundations, will be given to some of America’s most successful non-profit organisations, in order to expand their work in health care, in creating jobs and in supporting young people (see table).

“Social innovation” is the increasingly common shorthand for this approach to public-private partnerships. It differs from the fashion in the past couple of decades for contracting out the delivery of public services to businesses and non-profit groups in order to cut costs, in that it aims to do more than save a few dollars or pounds—although that is part of its attraction. The idea is to transform the way public services are provided, by tapping the ingenuity of people in the private sector, especially social entrepreneurs.

You can read the full article here.