Octopus Strategies is proud to release the first ever Social Enterprise Marketing Toolkit to support the enterprising work of leading social sector organizations in Canada.

To make this meaningful contribution to the emerging social enterprise sector, Octopus Strategies partnered with Enterprising Non-Profits to produce the Social Enterprise Marketing Toolkit, which we unveiled on November 5 at the first ever Social Enterprise Meetup in Vancouver.

Throughout Canada’s western-most Province of British Columbia, there are some 240 established social enterprises, each dedicated to addressing or supporting vital social and community projects and priorities. ‘Social Enterprise’ is defined as a traditional business, operated by a not-for-profit either to directly fulfill its mission, or to channel funds back into the purse of the not-for-profit itself.

In other countries, social enterprise is well established—especially in the UK, where it’s now seen as a vital priority for the national government. By contrast, it is a slowly emerging sub-sector in Canada. Yet in a context of economic constraint, and amid budget cuts to government funding for arts, cultural and social organizations, social enterprise presents significant opportunities.

Made up of five videos and a series of accompanying worksheets, the Toolkit introduces foundational marketing theory, and presents specific examples from BC’s social enterprises and some of Octopus Strategies’ proprietary tools. Some of these tools, such as the Value Spectrum™ and the Message Matrix™ involve approaches that have previously been available only to paying clients.

The Toolkit has been designed to make marketing and communications expertise accessible and applicable for social sector leaders who often have no training or background in marketing. They get pragmatic and actionable techniques they can apply immediately in their social enterprises.

The Toolkit has been launched as a ‘beta’ product and is available online at Octopus Strategies or at Enterprising Non-Profits. Feedback and suggestions for improvement or clarification can be sent to info@enterprisingnonprofits.ca or setoolkit@octopusstrategies.com.

On a misty fall morning this October, I arrived at Hollyhock Retreat Centre for the second time in as many months. The sun shone magnificently through the autumn fog, welcoming us to what would be four days of breakthrough thinking and engagement.

I had traveled to the Cortes Island retreat centre this time with four incredible women: Avril Orloff, independent artist and Graphic Recroder; Lynda Gerty, Program Director at Vantage Point; Lorien Henson, Principal of Limelight Event Marketing; and Reena Lazar, Founder & Executive Director of Peace It Together—social sector leaders whose focus, and passion are driving exceptional work. So inspiration had filled our journey, and we all were excited to feel it build as we arrived at Hollyhock, and connected with dozens more like-minded people.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Get the right people on the bus,” said Jim Collins in his masterwork, Good to Great. It’s a powerful metaphor about company building: If you can’t get the right people around you, you’ll never grow the company of your dreams. After all, it takes a team to change the world!

I just returned from the 2010 Social Venture Institute, an annual gathering of socially- and environmentally-minded entrepreneurs, and the coaches, consultants, advisors and financiers who support them. The diversity of their missions and organizations is as remarkable as the place where they come together: Hollyhock, Canada’s leading educational retreat centre, located on the south edge of Cortes Island—a venue where I’ve said, “hearts settle, souls run free, and minds are loosed to consider the great possibilities of what might be.”

There are moments in life where time, space, circumstance, and perhaps a little bit of magic conspire to create events that last forever as life’s bookmarks. SVI 2009 was one of those events for me: Profoundly inspiring, utterly uplifting, astoundingly gratifying. I had been cautious not to let my expectations aspire to those lofty heights for 2010. My caution was unwarranted.

At SVI 2010, I was knocked out cold by the open hearts, brilliant minds, and focused visionaries that showed up in a place that can only be described as a modern day Eden.

It’s taken two weeks to synthesize the learning, gratitude, impact and inspiration of SVI 2010. (In truth, synthesis will take longer, yet!) I certainly won’t attempt to recount all those myriad experiences in this post. Instead, I’ll recount some moments and lessons that felt Earth-movingly important….

Read the rest of this entry »

I learned today that a long-time acquaintance is hiking, kayaking, biking and otherwise traversing the proposed route of Enbridge’s 1,150km oil pipeline from Fort McMurray to the Pacific Ocean. Along with Ian and Karen McAllister of Pacific Wild and film maker Frank Wolf, Todd McGowan aims to provide insights into local points of view, and raise awareness of the very real dangers of this project:

The Enbridge project has the potential to radically alter the social and ecological landscape of Western Canada. The construction of this massive pipeline and the roads used to access it will result in extensive loss of wildlife habitat. Waterways and communities will be contaminated as statistically inevitable oil spills occur along the pipeline route. It will lead to expansion of the tar sands- adding to already critical global atmospheric carbon levels.

The 1,150km journey is a very long walk. But here’s a very short lesson: The length of this pipeline makes oil spills a statistical inevitability.

Of course, if we just ban the tankers, the pipeline idea will just go away….

“Who’s responsible for your company’s reputation?”

This is the question posed in the title of a Harvard Business Review article published April 28 and written by Ron Ashkenas, author of The Boundaryless Organization. His answer, which draws on the current case against Goldman Sachs, and the ongoing trials and tribulations of Toyota’s quality control progams, among others, posits that reputation management “may need to be part of everyone’s responsibility.”

When any stakeholder—customer, employee, investor, etc.—chooses to buy from, work with or invest in any organization, their decision is based at least in part on the organization’s reputation. Based on the historical performance and customer care of an organization like Disney (another of Ashkenas’s examples), we expect a certain experience: For customers, that’s fabulous, family-friendly entertainment; for employees, its an amazing, innovative work environment; for investors, it’s a healthy, reliable return on their investment in the form of regular dividends.

Organizations that don’t hold to their own standards of responsibility inevitably erode their own reputations: Toyota’s current experience, for example, implies a betrayal of their legendary quality control practices. They’re fortunate to have such a strong reputation, forged through decades of strict adherence to their core values; they’ll likely weather the current storm. However, their customers won’t be fooled again. Repeated errors and quality gaffes will erode Toyota’s reputation, sales, and market share.

Reputation management—and brand management—require the care and attention of leaders, managers, and everyone else in an organization. A strong brand requires a remarkable degree of personal responsibility. How successful and consistent is your brand at enhancing its reputation?

This expectation of an experience is precisely our definition of the word brand.

Organizations can choose to embed responsibility for this expectation in their operations and standards, or they can choose to let it follow the whim of circumstance. In Disney’s case, leadership and management “make every employee feel responsible for the entertainment products and services they provide.” Johnson & Johnson, legendary for their adherence to their ‘credo,’ emphasizes every employee’s “responsibility to put the well-being of the people they serve first.” These are two of the most reputable firms in the world. And they’re also two of the most valuable brands in the world.

On Thursday evening, Vancity Community Foundation, Enterprising Non-Profits, JDQ Systems and BC Social Venture Partners hosted the 2010 edition of their ‘Social Enterprise Dragons‘ event. Three social enterprises pitched their organizations to a crowd of 200, and in particular to four ‘Dragons,’ who judged their business plans and awarded prizes based on their businesses’ needs: Tamara Vrooman, CEO, Vancity; Alanna Hendren, Executive Director, Developmental Disabilities Association; Jon Morris, President, JDQ Systems; and Jim Fletcher, Managing Director, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital.

Octopus Strategies’ involvement was through my invitation to sit on the application review and selection committee, which shortlisted the numerous applicants to the three presenting companies. Along with Adam Wilkins of REV and BC Social Venture Partners, I also coached Katrina Pacey of Pivot Legal LLP on her presentation.

Pivot was first to present. Katrina, their Managing Partner, outlined a unique social enterprise law firm, whose purpose is to turn the profits from their general law practice to the advantage of social change initiatives such as their recent Red Tent campaign.

Mission Possible‘s MP Enterprises went second. Their Executive Director, Brian Postlewait, presented an ambitious but promising plan to develop their graffiti cleanup company into a diverse general maintenance company.

And third was Public Dreams‘ Samantha Jo Simmonds, who explained their organization’s 25-year legacy, their recent success with 2010 Winter Olympic Games contracts, and their goals to develop their social enterprise—a full service event management firm.

All three presentations were inspiring. Each organization is uniting the value of business with the values of mission-driven mandates. And in the end, the Dragons couldn’t decide between them, and awarded one prize to each organization. Public Dreams was awarded a $2,500 grant from ENP, MP Enterprises was awarded a pro bono engagement from JDQ Systems, and Pivot Legal was awarded $15,000 from Vancity Community Foundation to develop their marketing and outreach.

The event itself also featured a good deal of networking among the sold-out crowd, catering by Vancouver’s Pot Luck Cafe & Catering, a social enterprise itself, and a showcase of the wares of various local social enterprises. It was a great opportunity for the social enterprising community to come together, and share ideas, contacts and plans. I look forward to being even more involved in the 2011 edition!