Betsy Densmore of Academies for Social Entrepreneurship introduced  the seminar, presenting an overview of social enterprise,  impact investing, and introducing the seminars panelists - you can take a look at her presentation by clicking HERE. The seminar  revolved around presentations by three Angelinos who are leaders in the field, shaping the development of impact investing in Los Angeles and around the world.

Fran Seegull followed Betsy with a thirty minute comprehensive overview of the impact investment continuum, detailing characteristics and sharing examples of each. Fran is the Managing Director of Investments at ImpactAssets—a non-profit investment company that provides an impact investment asset management platform for investors and donor advisors seeking a blend of positive social and environmental outcomes, financial return, and risk management.  She is also a Senior Fellow at USC’s Society & Business Lab at the Marshall School of Business.

A key take away from Fran’s presentation is that right now experts in the field are trying to define Impact Investing by creating a distinct asset class while others use the term as a lens to describe a continuum of investments. The continuum ranges from philanthropic grants on one end to market rate equity investments on the other. There is still a lot of room for growth in this field and scaling investments across the spectrum is needed.

Lisa Richter followed Fran, presenting the specifics of what a deal looks like. We learned about how and why foundations use Program Related Investments (PRIs) and other impact investing tools. Lisa’s presentation also included great examples of foundations making impact investments, which for many in the room helped to add a level of detail helping to make this complicated subject far more understandable.  To review Lisa’s presentation click HERE. Lisa Richter is an independent consultant with GPS Capital Partners. She previously led fund management of the National Community Investment Fund, a national Community Development Financial Institution initially capitalized by Bank of America that placed over $20 million of equity and debt investments in development banking institutions.

Tina Castro wrapped up the presentations speaking on behalf of The California Endowment, where she serves as the Director of Impact Investments. Tina focused her presentation on her experience leading the Endowment’s effort to develop the CA FreshWorks Fund – “A $264 million public-private partnership loan fund to finance grocery stores and other forms of fresh food retail and distribution in under-served communities throughout CA.”  To view a trimmed version of Tina’s presentation CLICK HERE.

There are a couple of big ideas to note from Tina’s presentation: first, the capital structure of the FreshWorks program. Tina and her team found a way for major banks to invest their obligated “Community Redevelopment” dollars as senior debt in a fund with a cushion of enhancements.  In years to come, it is possible to project that this will be the safest and most efficient way for major financial institutions to move large sums of money into community-based projects. Also noteworthy in the structure is how New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) are integrated into the fund. No other fund is acting as a one-stop shop to bring the three key NMTC players together under one roof – no doubt this too is the wave of the future.  The second big idea is related to the program structure. How is the Endowment going to spend $264 million dollars on low-margin grocery stores in under resourced communities? As you will see in the linked version of Tina’s presentation, the Food Access Organization plays a critical role in finding and vetting the local grocery owners who are ready for investment. It is exciting to see Emerging Markets Inc, stepping into that role for the state-wide FreshWorks program.  We have no doubt that in the future we will be seeing more programmatic structures that  include a savvy integrator role used to bridge grass-top and grass-root activities.

The seminar concluded with a robust discussion over lunch where partipants had the opportunity to share with the presenters what they are already doing and what stops them from doing more. As the seminar concluded, it became clear that there is a great deal of interest in impact investing, evidenced by one participant’s comment, “I run a 100 million dollar foundation and I have never heard about impact investing.  I learned a lot today and am looking forward to learning more.” Stay tuned. There is more to come on this subject in the new year.

For Social Entrepreneurs:

Discussion: Where Does One Start? (Social Edge)
Starting a Social Enterprise: Discussion on @socialedge hosted by @saulgarlick founder of @thinkimpact. #socent

How to Find a Social Innovation Job (Innov8social)
44 tips for finding a job in social innovation. via @Innov8Social #jobs #socent (Check out tip #17!)

Start-Up Accelerator and Incubator Programs for Social Entrepreneurs (Innov8social)
16 #Startup Accelerator and Incubator Programs for Social Entrepreneurs. via @innov8social #socent

50+ Fellowship Programs for Social Innovators (Innov8social)
50+ Fellowship Programs for Social Innovators. via @innov8social #socent #fellowships

5 Foundations Supporting Social Good Entrepreneurship (Mashable)
5 Foundations Supporting Social Entrepreneurship: @schwabfound @SkollFoundation  @ashokatweets @OmidyarNetwork @echoinggreen. via @ericaswallow on @mashable #socent #foundations

Build Something People Need: On Raising Venture Capital and Creating Startups that Matter (Fast Co.Exist)
“If you think about your company’s success only in terms of investment or venture capital dollars, you are fundamentally in the wrong business.” via @fastcoexist

5 factors of sustainability: This Isn’t Your Grandma’s Sustainability Framework (Common Wealth Ventures)
5 factors of #sustainability: This Isn’t Your Grandma’s Sustainability Framework. via @CWVInc #socent #business

Business:

How to Scale Community Impact with a Market-Based Approach (Ashoka)
“Desired community impact enables communities to identify their needs, develop solutions, and mobilize resources”. via @ashoka

Justice Begins within the Social Entrepreneur Organization (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
The importance of organizational culture for social entrepreneurs. via @richtafel @SSIReview #opinion #socent

Why Social Enterprises Must Influence Other Businesses (The Guardian)
Social enterprises must influence other business to be more responsible. via @guardian #socent

Companies are Using Sustainability to Pursue Broader Goals (Sustainable Life Media)
“More companies are using #sustainability to improve processes, pursue growth, and add value” via @SustainBrands

Corporations Must Become Socially Conscious Citizens (Harvard Business Review Blog)
Corporations Must Become Socially Conscious Citizens. via @HarvardBiz #socent #csr

Money:

Is There More Money Than We Think? (SocialFinance.ca)
Factoring #values into purchasing behavior to support Social Enterprises. via @socialfinance #socialpurchasing

How a Broader Definition of Value Opens the Door to Sustainability (GreenBiz)
How a Broader Definition of ‘#Value’ Opens the Door to #Sustainability. via @greenbiz #finance

US Cleantech Funding Climbs 73% to $1.1 Billion (Bloomberg)
US #venturecapital investment in #cleantech rose 73% to $1.1 billion via @bloombergnews #vc #finance

Philanthropy’s Shift Toward Entrepreneurism (Fast Company)
Philanthropy is shifting away from non-profits to #entrepreneurism. via @FastCompany #impactinvesting #socent

International Business:

Should We Be Focused on Rural Areas in the Developing World? (The Atlantic)
Should #microfinance focus on rural areas in developing worlds?. via @TheAtlantic

Population…overload? (Echoing Green)
If the 7 billion people in the world shrunk to a 100 person village, what would it look like?. via @echoinggreen

Welcome to the Next Generation of Philanthropy (The Globe and Mail)
What does Philanthropy 3.0 look like? Younger people starting many smaller organizations. via @globeandmail #socent

Most charities’ business models ‘will not last the long term’ (Civil Society)
What do you think? “Most charities’ business models ‘will not last the long term’” via @CivilSocietyUK

Housing Series: Building a Strong Foundation When Earthquakes Hurricanes Hit Affordable Housing (Next Billion)
Building affordable #housing resistant to #earthquakes and #hurricanes. via @nextbillion

Cool Ideas:

Where are Britain’s 32,000 Social Enterprises? (The Guardian)
A business directory for social enterprises in the UK: @buyseonline. via @guardian Where’s one for LA? #socent

Bike-Powered Generators: A New Source of Electricity for Occupy Wall Street (Huffington Post)
Cool! @occupywallst using #bicycle powered generators to power lap-tops and charge phones. via @huffingtonpost #eco

This Insane Kitchen of the Future Powers Itself with Leftovers (Fast Co.Exist)
Wow! The Microbial Home is a kitchen that powers itself with leftovers. via @fastcoexist #eco #green

Other News & Links:

Detroit: rejuvenation through urban farms, sustainable living and innovation (The Guardian)
Detroit, the former Motor City, is going #green. via @guardian #urbanfarms #innovation #cleantech

Launching Effective Government Startups (Harvard Business Review Blog)
How to start new agencies, offices, or initiatives in the #government. via @HarvardBiz

Youth and Social Enterprise (Social Edge)
The role of frustrated #youths in social enterprise. via @socialedge #socent

• Herman Miller - sustainable office chairs and furniture
• Disregard{en} - beautiful restored furniture and decor
• Be Embodied - decor, conversation, embodied presence and flow
• Cisco Homes & Lumi.Co - sustainably screen-printed and designed furniture based in Los Angeles
  
• Jamie Grace Davis - modern artist and producer of Hub LA Lounge chalk drawings
  
• Divine Chocolates - sustainable chocolate vendor
  
• Green Festival - produced by Seven Star Events an initiative of Green America and Global Exchange

Artist Jamie Grace who blew us away with her art skills as she created the chalk drawings on the signature blackboards that we used to create an entrance to our space. She also contributed two of her works of art, Nest and Perspective, and helped to host the Lounge with the Hub LA team.  Jamie is an artist, yoga teacher, and integral thinker.  You can view her collection on her website here.

Jessica Nicole Taylor from Disregard{en} provided us with re-purposed furniture such as beautiful restored chests and other decor items. Disregard{en} brings new life to unwanted furniture found at yard sales, thrift stores, and flea markets. Learn more about Jessica’s work on the Disregard{en} website.

Evonne Heyning (amoration) and Tirza Hollenhorst joined us for the entire event representing BeEmbodied, hosting conversations on open source ecology, agile transformation to change the way you work, and embodied presence and flow. We know they have a lot more to share at an upcoming winter solstice event. Follow them on Twitter (@amoration, @beembodied) to learn about interesting subjects such as blending movements in the body with mantra to bring in grace, breath, joy, and gratitude.

BeEmbodied space in the Hub LA Lounge including Disregard{en} dresser and Cisco Homes chair with Lumi Co. print

The furniture provided by green Los Angeles-based enterprises – Lumi Co. and Cisco Homes – provided an unexpected, artistic flare to round out the look and feel of the space.  Cisco Homes is a local, family-owned, high-end sustainable furniture company that we are thrilled to partner with!  Lumi Co.’s proprietary screen printing technology allows them to print on natural materials, using eco-friendly chemicals.

The furniture from Herman Miller was used to create both an office and a lounge space, both of which were used extensively by our guests as spaces to work, meet, learn, conduct interviews, and even plan weddings.

The Hub LA Lounge was hosted by Nick Kislinger and Elizabeth Stewart, co-founders of Hub LA, and Yohei Nakajima, social media guru. During the entire event, the team had big smiles from encounters with great people discovering Hub LA.

Elizabeth and Nick, Co-founders Hub LA

While it was Green Festival’s first year holding the conference in Los Angeles, the caliber of speakers and guests they were able to attract speaks to the desire for a more sustainable Los Angeles. We’re very excited to be part of the conversation.

The future of LA is bright indeed.

Young attendees share their vision on the Hub LA boards

To learn more about Hub LA, you can check out our brochure (pdf) or our website.  If you want to stay up-to-date on our most recent activities, “like” us on Facebook.  For great articles on social entrepreneurship and upcoming events throughout Los Angeles, follow us on Twitter.  Cheers!

The Green Festival is the largest sustainability event in the world, hosted at the LA Convention Center in Downtown on October 29th and 30th. At the Green Festival you have the opportunity to shop for a variety of eco-friendly products and services including chocolates, teas, body care products, solar installations, furniture, and more. The event’s schedule is packed with great how-to workshops, speakers, book-signings, and networking events.

The Hub Lounge concepts was introduced at SOCAP in San Francisco by the Hub Bay Area team. The lounge provides festival goers with a place to sit, work, stand, mingle, meet, and learn. In addition to providing tables and chairs, the Hub Lounge at Green Festival LA will provide visitors with the opportunity to learn about Hub LA – what we’ve been up to, about our diverse group of Founding Members, and find out how to participate in the community.

Purchase your tickets here and come visit us at Green Festival! To stay up to date on Green Festival LA and the Hub Lounge, make sure to follow @greenfestival, @thehubla, and #GreenFest on Twitter.

Below is a photo of Hub Lounge at SOCAP in San Francisco.

Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, and it’s not surprising that the most exciting innovations are the least expected. If I asked you to coordinate a town hall meeting with 10,000 people AND to make sure each person’s voice was heard, could you do it?

Led by Hub Tel Aviv and local leaders, the citizens of Israel succeeded in doing just this by coordinating 1000 simultaneous round table discussions around the country – and documenting it online! You can read in more detail about the process and results on Hub Amsterdam’s blog post covering this story.

This story starts with Daphne, a 24 year old student who took residency on the streets and invited others to join her in a peaceful protest, and over time, one turned in to half a million. Hub Tel Aviv took advantage of this opportunity by doing what they do best – setting up 4 round tables and hosting conversations.

They did this every day for three weeks, asking three main questions:

- Who are you and what is touching you in this protest movement?
- What changes would you like to see as a result of this movement?
- What are the actions that you would be willing to take responsibility for in order to change the situation?

However, there was one question that shed light on exactly what they needed to do next.

- How should we design the process from now on to move from a protest to a sustainable change?

The answer? More tables!

The main event was hosted at Athen’s Square in Tel Aviv where over 50 tables were set up surrounded by lights, audio, projectors, and screens. During this time, all around Israel, 10,000 people were discussing the future of their country.

Thoughts and ideas are posted in an open-source manner on the official website of the social protest of Israel. (Unfortunately, the website is not in English.)

It’s additionally exciting to hear that Hub Brussels is taking on a similar initiative. What will it take for 10,000 Angelinos to attend 1000 round table discussions?  We think the timing could not be better to build off this model and the momentum of OccupyLA and turn a protest into meaningful change!

References

-       Read the Hub Amsterdam’s blog post here: http://amsterdam.the-hub.net/public/blog/2011/09/29/hub-tel-aviv-%E2%80%9Cthe-athens-square-brought-back-to-life-again%E2%80%9D/

-       The whole interview by Maria Bakari with Danny Gal, offering a lot of practical information on how the event developed, how it was set up, main success factors, hints and tips: http://soundcloud.com/bakari-1-1/rec-dannygal-14-sep-2011-09-03

-       Direct impressions, pictures and highlights from the table discussions on the Daily Kos blog: http://goo.gl/ohkcf

-       Facebook group We Dare to Care engaging coaches and facilitators to develop constructive responses to the UK riots:http://www.facebook.com/groups/200914716605833/

-       Link to the Belgian initiative: http://www.g1000.org

This time the magic happened at Caña Rum Bar, in Downtown Los Angeles.  To quote a Hub LA Founding Member in attendance, “…walked into a room with a few dozens strangers, left a few hours later feeling I was leaving friends I’m honored to know.”

This was the second Hub LA Founding Member Mixer hosted at the end of September in Downtown Los Angeles. The format was a casual cocktail mixer resulting in a low-key, yet high-energy atmosphere. With about 40 people in attendance, there was a good mix of Hub LA Founding Members and their guests. In advance, we asked four Founding Members to share with us some of the exciting things they’ve been working on.

Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal, is one of a handful of lawyers in Los Angeles who specializes in working with social enterprises. She spoke a little about the legal nuances important for for-profit social enterprises that aim to find a double bottom line – both profit and positive social impact. We’re very excited that Shaheen is a part of the Founding Member community and look forward to learning more about the various legal structures available for social entrepreneurs.

Founding Member, Sean Arian, Founder and President of Eos Consulting, spoke about his experience building Los Angeles’ clean tech strategy while serving as Director of Economic Development for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Clean Tech Corridor is the cornerstone of the Mayor’s vision to put Los Angeles at the forefront of the clean tech revolution and to transform the old, downtown industrial core into an incubator for green jobs, technology, and the growth of LA’s economy. Starting with resources such as the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, The Clean Tech Corridor will bring together researchers, designers and manufacturers dedicated to the development of clean technology products and solutions to climate change challenges.

Athena Demos is the LA Regional Coordinator for Burning Man, an annual event where tens of thousands of people travel from the world to Black Rock Desert to create a temporary city dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, having left no trace whatsoever. She shared with us the story of Burner’s Without Borders, a global community of people who share the values of Burning Man by working together to help others.

Last but not least, was another Hub LA Founding Member, Alex Lightman, who gave us a sneak preview of the National Innovation Strategy he’s drafting at the request of President Obama’s Deputy Director for Science and Technology Policy. Alex Lightman was recently named a Klout Star and is the author of Brave New Unwired World: The Digital Big Bang and the Infinite Internet , the first book on 4G wireless, and Reconciliation: 78 Reasons to End the US embargo of Cuba. Recently, The Economist honored him with the first Reader’s Award on behalf of 4G wireless as “the innovation that will most radically impact the world over the next decade.”  We’re thrilled to have him join the Hub LA community.

It was a truly inspiring evening and the ambiance was just right (thank you Cana!).  As Hub LA gets ready to open, we are thrilled to envision what it will be like to run into people like this daily and have a space to connect and collaborate.

Pictured above (from left to right): Alex Lightman, Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal, Brady Hahn

I was working independently as a social media consultant for bars and events throughout Los Angeles during Social Media Week last year, so my participation in this event was limited to online. This year I had the opportunity to not only coordinate a workshop, but also the opportunity to share my expertise.

My involvement started when the Hub LA team started contemplating hosting our own event for Social Media Week Los Angeles. After reaching our to a few of our contacts, we were soon connected to Heather Mason, President of Caspian Productions, an events company that produces major conferences, including ones you may have heard of, like the annual Skoll World Forum in the UK. Caspian was responsible for coordinating the Social Good Day at Bergamot Station, with four different and interesting events around Social Media and Social Good.

I had a chance to work closely with Brady Hahn, President of Nonprofit Effect, to put together our workshop, including Dylan Conroy, Head of West Coast Sales at Keith Ferrazzi’s Relationship Masters Academy. Maybe because we were the only workshop during the Social Media Week Los Angeles, our event filled up very fast, which was exciting to say the least.

We decided on hosting a workshop so that people could receive direct and actionable advice, something often missing from panels and speaker events.

During the first thirty to forty minutes of our workshop, Brady, Dylan, and I had the opportunity to each speak on our topics: Brady discussed the importance of clearly communicating your business and needs; I talked about leveraging various social media tools to do research; and Dylan spoke of leveraging LinkedIn to identify and reach out to important connections.

It was the next hour of the workshop, however, that I thought was most beneficial to the audience. We provided the opportunity for about six to seven audience members to get workshopped: each stood up, explained their business within 45 seconds, described a specific problem they were facing, had a few questions asked by the group, and finally received specific advice from each of the speakers and many participatory audience members. What was most exciting was when two audience members started enthusiastically chatting to the point where we had to cut them off and tell them to trade information after the event.

From the experience, I’ve confirmed that I enjoy workshops where people have the opportunity to not only receive general tips but specific actionable advice and interact with audience members sharing their knowledge and insight. It sets the stage for people to naturally connect afterwards – hopefully to start working together.  These are the kind of collaborative practices around workshop topics like social media tools we will look to employ regularly with members at Hub LA.

Amazing Oaxacan food and Mezcal cocktail was provided by one of our very own Founding Members, Bricia Lopez, of the Guelaguetza Restaurants. Mezcal is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from a similar plant as Tequila, which is deeply engrained in the culture of Oaxaca where most of it is produced today. Unlike tequila, whose market has been dominated by larger corporations, Mezcal is still very much hand-crafted by locals in Oaxaca. It’s interesting to note that the popularity of Mezcal has recently been increasing in the United States.

While we had some group activities prepared to spark conversation, we soon found out that it wasn’t necessary; people were immediately immersed in conversation. As the sun went down, each table went around and introduced themselves using peculiar objects. We’d asked them in advance to bring an object to share with the group that had a special meaning to them and social entrepreneurship. Mara Abrams (above) shared with us a sand painting she received as a gift from a woman on a Navajo Reservation – a reminder that as she gives to the communities in which she works she always receives an abundance of gifts in return, both literally and figuratively. Mara currently works with The Tiziano Project, an organization that teaches new media journalism to community members in conflict, post-conflict and underreported regions.

About half way through the night, we had the opportunity to hear from our co-founders Nick and Elizabeth about the current state of Hub LA. Additionally, they both spoke of their inspiration that brought them to where they are now. Elizabeth spoke of her visit to the original Hub in London, where she was inspired by the power of the Hub community and dedicated herself to bringing this to Los Angeles.

Having a great group of Founding Members join us in creating the first Hub in Los Angeles, we’re excited about the increasingly growing momentum and can’t wait to open.

Want to see more photos of Hub LA’s summer activities? Check out the Hub LA Summer 2011 Photos on Facebook.

Iconathon is an initiative to collaboratively design new civic symbols for the public domain, created by a partnership between Code for America and The Noun Project. The purpose is to create universal symbols that are easy to understand, to help spread these ideas across the globe. The Noun Project reminds me of a TED talk that asks the question, “Is it our destiny to become one world with one language?”

They’re currently traveling through the US hosting day-long collaborative workshops to design symbols around a specific theme. Saturday’s event was Food & Nutrition. They’ll be traveling through Boston, Chicago and New York to design symbols for the topics Democracy, Education and Transportation, after which they’ll be releasing all the icons at once, so keep an eye out.

The event started with a presentation on the state of nutrition in california by Amanda Shaffer from the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. She went over some interesting, concerning, and hopeful facts about food and nutrition in our state, then explained the ways in which these symbols we create might be used.

Following was a presentation on Designing Effective Symbols by Edward Boatman, co-founder & Creative Director of The Noun Project (top photo of blog post). It was a very helpful presentation that included specific dos and don’ts of symbol design. I highly suggest you attend an Iconathon event if you’re interested in symbol design.

We had a quick lunch on location, at Atwater Crossing Wood Fire Kitchen, where all of us had wood fire baked flatbread pizza with fresh ingredients. I ordered a Ratatouille Flatbread, which had tomato, eggplant, bell pepper, zucchini, goat cheese, onion, and pistou. Yum.

After lunch, we split up into smaller groups and tackled some civic symbol design for a few hours. As I mentioned earlier, our group worked on the symbol for Farmer’s Markets. Each group had a good mix of designers, food & nutrition experts, and other civic minded people. Because the purpose of designing symbols is to make it easy to understand to all, it’s very important that people who have no knowledge of design or the topic attend Iconathon; I thought that made the event very interesting.

At the end, we all got together and presented a total of about twenty symbols to each other, many of which will turn into high quality symbols available on the Noun Project Website. They’ll be releasing these symbols after their tour, we’ll make sure to let you know when they’re available.