SEA Mid-Atlantic Regional Summit

SEA-LI is partnering with Social Enterprise Alliance for the SEA Mid-Atlantic Regional Summit.  Convene with 300 other social enterprise practitioners and advocates in Baltimore, Maryland for one full day of programming.  At our Summit: develop an effective implementation plan for performance-based management systems, avoid potential issues in implementing impact measurement, and hash out the importance of social entrepreneurship, education, and more with Rafael Alvarez (Genesys Works) and Rafael Alvarez (author, former reporter).  You will come away with strategies for immediate application, new connections, and the energy to conquer.
Details and registration here: se-alliance.org/mid-atlantic-regional-summit
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Mid-Atlantic Summit

 

This accessible, regionally-focused conference will present national caliber speakers at a fraction the cost of a national conference. Convene with 300 other social enterprise practitioners and advocates in Baltimore, Maryland for one full day loaded with programming.  Here’s why:

Do Good, Better:
  • Identify social media metrics for determining their impact on your ROI.
  • Develop an effective implementation plan for performance-based management systems.
  • Avoid potential issues in implementing impact measurement.
The Field and Players (and what they’re thinking):
  • Take another look at the why – and what is at the crux – of social enterprise.
  • Invest in social impact leaders in the new economy – Mario Morino (Venture Philanthropy Partners) explains why.
  • Hash out the importance of social entrepreneurship, education, and more with Rafael Alvarez (Genesys Works) and Rafael Alvarez (author, former reporter).

Meet the Neighbors:
Strike up meaningful and valuable partnerships.  Make connections with social entrepreneurs in your region –there’s plenty of time for networking! Bonus!
This is SEA’s most affordable conference ever – $50 gets you the entire day of programming, and SEA Members receive discounts!

In Conclusion:
You will come away with strategies for immediate application, new connections, and the energy to conquer.

 

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Forbes Article About Kickstarting Social Enterprise on Long Island

In an interview with SEA-LI Board Member, Chuck Schwartz, Forbes discusses starting a social enterprise on Long Island.

How do you kickstart social enterprise in your neck of the woods? What’s happening on Long Island offers an instructive answer.

Recently, a few locals from for profits and nonprofits surveyed the social enterprise world and came to the conclusion that the area was sorely lacking in oomph, especially when compared to the activity in nearby New York City. While there was a lot of startup interest centered around the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory, it didn’t include social enterprise.

Click here to read the rest of the article on the Forbes website.

Filed Under: SEA-LI News

LIBN Article about SEA-LI

NY B Corps look past profit on the bottom line

New York has joined a growing number of states allowing companies to file as benefit corporations, pledging in their incorporation papers to serve the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits.

And firms slowly are forming or shifting to this status, which they hope will let them stand out from competitors and give them greater freedom in making decisions.

The benefit corporation status is meant to give firms legal protection from shareholders who might claim executives operating under motives other than profit are shirking their fiduciary responsibility.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the Long Island Business News Website.

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News from National: Get Preferred Placement on the First Crowdfunding Platform for Social Enterprises

We all know that securing funding for social enterprise projects is probably the single most difficult part of running or starting an impact venture. Especially in the current economic climate, even excellent projects can sit on the shelf for years before securing the necessary capital.

At the same time, we see projects like the Pebble Watch raise nearly $10,000,000 in one month on Kickstarter through the all-out craze of crowdfunding.

What if a platform existed that combined the analytical approach of impact investing with the social-media-frenzy and excitement of crowdfunding?

SEA member Impact Trader is about to find out when they launch the first crowdfunding platform for social enterprises on June 1st, and thanks to an exclusive partnership, SEA member projects will receive preferred placement on the Impact Trader site.

Do you want to be one of the first enterprises to take advantage this powerful new platform? Read on to learn how.

Impact Trader is an alternative capital market that makes impact investing accessible to everyone by allowing them to make $25 zero interest investments in social enterprise projects.

What does this mean for you as a social entrepreneur?

It means that there is finally a place where you can promote your impact-producing project to a targeted audience of investors who are looking to fund the change they want to see in the world.

And, since they are only being asked for a minimum investment of $25, they are more likely to take a risk on your innovative solution to a problem that plagues our planet.

Currently, Impact Trader is seeking project proposals to post prior to their launch on June 1st. That’s coming up fast, so act now if you want to have your project up for the first round of funding.

Additionally, they have made an exceptional offer to you as an SEA member:

As a member, your project will be featured in a rotating box at the top of the Impact Trader home page. This space is the most visible and highly-trafficked part of the site, which greatly increases exposure for SEA member projects (and hopefully boosts their funding!)

For more information on this exclusive offer, click here.

We’re also excited about the fact that Impact Trader is planning to register with the SEC under the new JOBS Act Crowdfunding legislation, which goes into effect in early 2013. This will allow you to offer for-profit investment opportunities, not just zero interest loans. We see this as a major step forward in the development of impact investing, and we hope that our members will benefit greatly from the influx of fresh capital.

But again, you don’t have to wait until next year to get going with Impact Trader. The zero-interest loan portion of the website launches in a couple of weeks, so if you want to be in on that, start the application process now.

Good luck in your crowdfunding endeavors!

 

— The Social Enterprise Alliance

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