Tools for
Social Entrepreneurs

Collective Impact, explained

https://socialleancanvas.com/

Developed by Rowan Yeoman and Dave Moskovitz, the Social Lean Canvas is a tool that allows social enterprises to develop coherent business models quickly and simply. Utilising just one page, social enterprises can methodically test their models and arrive at a thoroughly validated, scalable and repeatable business model.

By brainstorming their purpose, a solution to problems, unique value proposition and financial sustainability, social enterprises can quickly conclude whether their social goals are viable and long-lasting. You can download this social enterprise tool for free from the Social Lean Canvas website, along with an example canvas of Tom’s Shoes.

https://www.socialventures.com.au/assets/Business_Planning_Guide_for_Social_Enterprise.pdf

This 46-page, visually informative guide is primarily aimed at people and/or organisations who are interested in starting a social enterprise for the first time. Developed by Social Ventures Australia and Parramatta City Council, the guide is to be used in conjunction with standard business planning guidance. This step-by-step PDF prompts you to think about researching, planning for, starting and then growing a social enterprise. It is also designed to be a useful resource for more experienced practitioners, acting as a reference point and refresher

https://uncharted.org/The Unreasonable Institute, founded in 2009, partners with more than 20 impact-investment funds and foundations. The institute picks 25 entrepreneurs through a rigorous screening progress and puts them through a six-week training and mentoring program, designed to take their ideas from the concept phase to operation. Check the Institute’s site for “Unreasonable.TV,” currently in its second season, which follows participants as they develop their social enterprises. There’s also a video interview section, profiling experts in the social business world, including Hewlett-Packard’s Phil McKinney, social venture capital firm Ennovent’s Charly Kleissner and investment firm Good Capital’s Jane Anderson

The Social Edge, founded in 2003, is a global online community for social entrepreneurs and is sponsored by the Skoll Foundation, which invests in social entrepreneurs. The site is an information hub featuring live discussions, blogs, forums, job listings, expert advice and other resources helpful to social entrepreneurs in all stages of development. For those ready to take their social enterprise to the next level visit the site’s “opportunities” section for information on fellowships, competitions and incubation programs.

Belgium Impact is the national, central platform regarding social entrepreneurship. The most inspiring cases, the whole supportive network of different actors and stakeholders, quality literature with useful insights or interesting events…everything can be found, right here!

A tool to help SEs to methodically test their models and arrive at a thoroughly validated, scalable and repeatable business model.

The Idea2Entrepreneur Talent Tool is designed to identify the key leadership competencies where you excel and to help you discover key areas for growth. The Self-Assessment will generate a set of scores on key entrepreneurial competencies and give you relevant guiding feedback.

Launched in February 2018, the European Social Economy Regions (ESER) initiative is a response of the European Commission to the growing need of increasing the visibility of social economy and building networks of stakeholders at regional and local level in Europe.

A program that envisions a world where EVERY student acquires the skills, confidence, and motivation to create change for the good of all.

With Kiva you can lend a small amount of money and make a big change in someone’s life. It’s fast and easy to get started.

The Network Map demonstrates the publicly available transactions between investors and companies within Impact Investing.