In their new play, ‘H2Whoa,’ they are giving kids a catalogue of simple things they can do to save water. The kids’ laughter is the clearest indicator that they’re hearing “such an important message, and that it’s sinking in,” explains Sara Holt, Dreamrider’s co-founder. And they’re effective: In a recent study, Dreamrider was able to measure over 80% behaviour change in four test classes after their enrolment in an in-class game.

Learn more about Dreamrider in this short television piece:

Junxion is proud to be developing Dreamrider’s new brand, and to volunteer Principal Mike Rowlands as a Director of the Company.

Presented in association with Hollyhock, this immersive, interactive one-day session will help you create a break-through, authentic, values-driven brand strategy for your mission-based organization.

A new generation of entrepreneurs and social change leaders rejects short-term, unsustainable practices, and aims instead to build organizations around enduring values. At the same time, many cause-driven organizations—whether not-for-profit, social venture or social enterprise—struggle to find their voice. In this intensive program, gain insights into new research and learn the secrets of top branding experts, not typically shared outside of paying client relationships, including how to:

• Engage donors, customers, staff and others in your mission
• Focus your story, pitch and appeals to generate the greatest return
• Stand apart in today’s cluttered, competitive markets

This celebrated workshop has been called “transformative,” “outstanding,” and “an incredible turning point for our business.” It’s a golden opportunity to learn from a social venture entrepreneur who has been called the “CEO Whisperer,” a “Creative Agitator,” and “the best guy to have in your corner when you’re building your social enterprise.”

Mike helps mission-driven organizations around the world to develop authentic, values-driven and inspiring brands. He’ll share examples, insights and experiences, while helping you to identify ways to distinguish your organization in a marketplace that’s increasingly conscious and ever more crowded.

As Faculty of both Social Venture Institute and Social Change Institute, Mike is a valued instructor and friend at Hollyhock. His workshops consistently earn top ratings.

Register on Hollyhock’s website.

ENP’s Social Enterprise Dragons & Day of Learning

Thursday, March 8 is the Social Enterprise Day of Learning, which brings together some 200 delegates, and a diverse range of practitioners, consultants and funders to celebrate successes in the burgeoning social enterprise sector, and to learn new skills and insights. Presented by Enterprising Non-Profits, in partnership with Junxion Strategy, JDQ Systems, and KPMG, the event is a dynamic, fast-paced learning opportunity for new social entrepreneurs and established leaders alike. Learn more at ENP’s website.

Following the Day of Learning is the fourth annual Social Enterprise Dragons event, which this year has expanded to the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts theatre at SFU. This is an entertaining and informative evening that celebrates the role of social enterprise in our communities. Come witness the finalists make their “pitches” to the Social Enterprise Dragons and watch the judges’ decisions to allocate the financial and consulting support! Learn more at the Social Enterprise Dragons website.

Values-Based Banking: Financing the Future of a Changing World

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) is hosting a dialogue and debate with Canadian journalist and author Naomi Klein, UK-based New Economics Foundation Executive Director Stewart Wallis and Vancity CEO Tamara Vrooman on Thursday March 8. The session will be moderated by CBC TV journalist Ian Hanomansing as they explore how communities, business and banks can best respond to the need for change and what kind of future we can expect by putting the needs of people first. Peter Blom, CEO of Netherlands-based Triodos Bank and Chair of the GABV will open the event, which is presented by Vancity, and sponsored by KPMG. Learn more at the dialogue’s Eventbrite page.

Vancouver for Acumen Case Competition: Investing for Impact

Acumen Fund is a pioneering not-for-profit venture fund that is changing the way the world addresses poverty. Vancouver for Acumen, a volunteer-run chapter, supports this mission by actively championing Acumen Fund’s innovative model of investing patient capital in enterprises that solve the problems of poverty. On Saturday, March 10, they’re hosting a 24-hour Case Competition—a take home, ‘open’ case with final presentation to be made to a panel of judges made up of industry leaders in finance and social enterprise. Learn more at Vancouver for Acumen’s website.

Young Social Innovators – Speak Up!

The BC Advisory Council on Social Entrepreneurship wants to hear your opinion: How can the BC government create a community that enables and empowers young social entrepreneurs and innovators by the year 2020?

Targeted at young professionals, entrepreneurs and innovators; university students; students graduating highschool; youth serving organizations and all individuals interested in social innovation amongst young people. The event will be co-hosted by Young Women in Business and Global Agents for Change. Learn more at the dialogue’s Eventbrite page.

Launch of the Community Contribution Company

And today the Government of British Columbia announced changes to the Business Corporations Act that would allow for a new hybrid type of company—the community contribution company—that combines socially beneficial purposes with a restricted ability to distribute profits to shareholders. Learn more by reading the press release.

Sound It Out, an existing client from our UK office, has hired Junxion to re-design and support the launch of their new website (which is underway). This engagement follows our brand refresh work that was well received by the Senior Management Team and Board of Trustees.

Ovarian Cancer Action has hired Junxion UK to help share the success of the Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre during March – Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. This series of online and newspaper and magazine ads will highlight the necessity of brave research to change the prognosis for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Natural Step Canada, a leading NGO working to advance sustainability, has partnered with Junxion in Canada to refresh their brand and communication strategy for the next phase in their growth and development.

BC Housing, a provincial crown agency that develops, manages, and administers a wide range of subsidised housing options, will be working with Junxion Canada to prepare a strategy for sharing the successes and lessons learned from their leading-edge employee sustainability engagement program.

Our Junxion office in Toronto is working with AIMIA (formerly Groupe Aeroplan) to develop a global social purpose strategy. The strategy will leverage both brand and business assets, focuses on inspiring loyalty through social purpose across all the jurisdictions where AIMIA operates – more than 30 countries worldwide. Working with Senior Management and employees around the world, we are developing a core purpose and activation approaches that will drive genuine social impact, and demonstrate how AIMIA truly does inspire global loyalty.

Breakwater Accounting Advisors is a specialist accounting advisory focused on international financial reporting standards, and corporate governance. They aim to reinforce the ethics and capacity of CFOs, CEOs and Boards of Directors, in service of shareholder rights and access to information. Junxion Canada is working with Breakwater on a comprehensive brand, positioning and marketing strategy to support the firm’s growth.

Future of Fish is a dynamic consultancy and business accelerator focused on disrupting the middle of fisheries supply chains, where staid operational approaches challenge the transparency and honesty of the supply system. Supported by significant American Foundations and in partnership with groups like National Geographic’s Oceans Institute, Future of Fish has convened a remarkable cohort of fish entrepreneurs who together are delivering appreciable, positive impact in what is surely the market’s most complex supply chain. Junxion is working with Future of Fish and some of their cohort members on brand and communication strategy, marketing strategy and outreach & engagement.

Inner Activist aims to help social change agents, activists and social entrepreneurs identify and build the skills and personal resilience it takes to persevere in the face of some of society’s most vexing problems. Junxion is actively working to promote Inner Activist’s workshop series, and will soon be helping bring to market their unique ‘Inner Essentials’ program, a series of affordable, weekly ‘homework assignments,’ designed to help individuals and teams to enhance their resilience and accelerate their impact.

Leadership is no longer about charisma, ‘command and control’ structures, or clearly articulated, long-term plans for organizations. Effective leadership in social change is far more complicated—due in no small part to trends toward transparency, the emerging understanding of how interconnected ‘wicked problems’ are, and the need to engage multiple generations, perspectives, cultures and ideals to define and implement viable solutions.

Open, collaborative approaches are increasingly common. But they’re not easy. They require individual leaders to abandon their egos, to share both responsibility and credit, and to recognize that in any group, the dynamics of power must be considered with care.

Building Conscious Use of Power

The power to build. The power to break down barriers. The power to reach people. Power shows up in myriad ways—sometimes good; sometimes not so good. Conscious use of power as a vehicle to facilitate connection, collaboration and positive social change is very valuable, indeed. Yet, we each react to expressions of power in different ways.

This is precisely the context for Inner Activist’s upcoming experiential learning retreat on Building Conscious Use of Power. Hosted at Gabriola Island’s The Haven, this five-day residential program will ask and help attendees answer four profound questions:

• Are you clear about the mix of influences that form your reactions to power?
• Do you take opportunities to compassionately engage and understand others who hold power and influence on the issues you care about?
• Have you engaged in frustrating debates about whose pain is larger or who is most to blame for the inequities of our society?
• Are you locked into predictable reactions to power and would you like to develop more fluidity in how you respond to power and its use?

If you’re involved in social change work, activism, or social enterprise, this module of the Inner Activist program is an invaluable opportunity to learn from a phenomenal cohort of instructors. Learn more and register at Inner Activist’s website.

Inner Essentials

If you can’t afford the time to get to The Haven in April, Inner Activist also presents a powerful and affordable program called Inner Essentials. The remarkably affordable program delivers a weekly ‘assignment’—typically a reflection and journaling exercise. Each assignment is designed to teach an aspect of personal leadership, and feedback from subscribers has been incredibly positive—including very established consultants, psychologists, practitioners and coaches. The Inner Essentials program is a treasure trove of learning and insights. Learn more and subscribe here.

In this edition, we peek into some little known facts about Erin Barrett, Chantal Schauch and Nikita Aggarwal.

Erin Barrett, Principal, Junxion in London

Q. What is the weirdest thing you ever ate? Will you eat it again?
Does drinking count? If so, hands down it’s bee wine in northern Vietnam. Milky liquid with huge bumblebees in it. More bees than liquid. It is apparently good for “man’s health” but I tired it anyways and I’m pretty sure it was gasoline, milk and bees. Would I try it again? Not a chance. I’m lucky to have lived through it once.

Q. Your favourite teacher and why?
Mr Williams – my grade 12 math teacher. I was late to class one day because I saw a racoon get run over by a car. The thing was screaming and people kept running it over. I ran down to the street and pulled it to the side of the road and sat with it while it died. After it did, I started walking to school only to find a dead cat in some family’s yard. I couldn’t bear the idea of a kid walking out the door to see their family pet dead, so I knocked on the door and told the mom. By the time I got to class I was late and in fits of tears. I told Mr Williams why I was late and why I was crying. From that day on every time he saw me in the hallway he would whistle the Davy Crocket theme song. Now that’s a funny man and a teacher worth remembering!

Q. A social project that you want to be a part of?
I love this charity so much. I’d love to work with them: http://www.fistulafoundation.org.

Chantal Schauch, Brand Strategist, Junxion in Vancouver

Q. What is the weirdest thing you ever ate? Will you eat it again?
Intentionally or because it flew into my mouth? Not sure what exactly it was – but it was definitely protein.

Q. What is your most memorable travel experience?
I have to say January 9, 2010, when I reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro at over 19,000 feet, seeing the “Snows of Kilimanjaro” (the glaciers) light up behind me at sunrise, falling into the arms of my husband, completely exhausted and elated, overwhelmed with the sheer beauty of the moment.

Q. A social project that you want to be a part of?
I have been putting into action the social project I want to be part of. It is www.climbforchange.com – the story and resource hub for charity climbs and climbs for causes worldwide.

Nikita Aggarwal, Project Manager, Junxion in Delhi

Q. What are you reading right now?
Holy Cow! Welcome to Sarah Macdonald’s India- this book is a narrative on the country from the eyes of a traveller, a whole new perspective on life. It makes me laugh and cry, all at the same time. And I have discovered things that only a non-native can pick, especially the quintessential Indian head-wobble!

Q. If you had a paid-for one-way ticket, where will you want to go?
Woah! Let’s also talk free food and free stay! I would love to visit Africa and volunteer with organisations, which rescue and raise wild animals, and later rehabilitate them back in to their natural habitat.

Q. What is the craziest thing you have ever done?
I rescued a puppy off the streets and hid her in the house for two-months, without my mother ever discovering her.

Give as you Live is an Everyclick product, and a brand Junxion has helped to form, launch and nurture over the past two years. Integration with fantastic online media outlets, including VOGUE.CO.UK, Mumsnet, and Handbag.com is just one of the ways we are sharing this exciting new product with UK shoppers and charity supporters.

Give as you Live has the potential to raise millions of pounds in additional, unrestricted income for UK charities.  Thousands of retailers, including John Lewis, Selfridges and Expedia, have signed up to donate a percentage of every purchase made to any cause the shopper selects – at no cost to the shopper and at no cost to the cause. With over 15 million products to choose from, it’s easy to see how the average person could easily raise £2.10 per month in additional, unrestricted charitable donations.

Try it for yourself today at www.giveasyoulive.com.

In 2010 UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, launched his concept for The Big Society.

The objective was “to create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a big society that will take power away from politicians and give it to people.” As would be expected, some read this to equal one thing: cuts, whilst others saw as an opportunity to explore new models for business.

Social ventures have been growing and developing in the UK for many years, but the launch of The Big Society highlighted the need for charities to look away from models of funding that were heavily reliant upon Government support and move towards alternative models.

The bridge between dramatic funding cuts and self-sufficiency is inevitably a long one to cross, fraught with many difficulties. However, many organisations have taken advantage of the Transition Funding available, designed to help charities in need navigate this new age of funding.

Transition Funding was designed to “help civil society organisations which deliver high quality public services adapt to a different funding environment during a period when they are at risk from reductions in taxpayer funded income.”

One Junxion client, Sound It Out, has used Transition Funding to develop a social venture to help fund their charitable operations. A community music charity, Sound It Out will soon be offering corporate packages to develop team building through music and offering a booking system for local musicians.

Another client, Bede House, have used their Transition Funding to update their messaging and positioning to appeal to new audiences. This and a fresh marketing strategy can allow a charity to appeal to donors who had not considered them, and broaden their funding sources.

Yet discovering new avenues to fill potentially large gaps in income is a hugely intimidating reality for many charities. To help navigate this new playing field, at the end of 2010 the government launched a Giving Green Paper highlighting ways individuals can donate time and money more easily and in a more cost effective manner.

Everyclick, a Junxion client, was highlighted both as an example of a successful UK social venture and as a way for individuals and corporations to give to charity easily and, most compellingly, for free.

Everyclick, an online fundraising technology company, creates fundraising products that can be used by both charities and supporters at no cost.

Everyclick Search generates money for charity with every search made through their Yahoo powered search engine. And, the more recently launched, Give as you Live takes advantage of affiliate marketing programmes and redirects a percentage of the commissions generated with every sale made online at thousands of retailers to charity.

Whilst it was highlighted in the more recent Giving White Paper that these models do require an investment of time from charity, the development cost, both ongoing and to date, has been entirely supported by Everyclick.

The funding landscape for UK charities has changed forever. Smart charities are open to exploring new funding models and are willing to invest time and energy in uncovering the potential of social ventures. It is only then that the first step on the bridge between government dependency and self-sufficiency will ever be taken.

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Here are some linked to help you understand The Big Society better.

Overview

From a charity’s point-of-view

In favour:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/15/big-society-editorial

Against:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12378974

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Junxion’s Erin Barrett leads the London office and specialises in fundraising and development, and engagement strategy for NGOs. Erin’s clients are dealing with the pressures and opportunities of the UK’s new shift in social policy.

After eight years of planning, development, hoping and dreaming, the W2 Community Media Arts Centre finally opened its doors late last year.

This ambitious project aims to serve the working class community of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Canada’s poorest postal code and a neighbourhood made notorious by drug abuse, slumlords and heartbreak.

The challenges faced by this strong, tight-knit community aren’t simple or easy to resolve. More than 200 NGOs operate here and countless social workers, law enforcement professionals, health professionals, and city planners have so far failed to make it a truly safe neighbourhood.

W2 Media Cafe

The W2 Centre aims to contribute to the solution. Unlike most NGOs, though, it doesn’t plan to foist its programmes on the neighbourhood. Executive Director Irwin Oostinde and his team don’t claim to have the answers. Instead, the community will programme the centre. Interested in learning photography? Great. Bring some friends together, W2 will help find a local teacher and you can host a course. Chinese poetry? Brilliant! Let’s find an elder in nearby Chinatown who can share her knowledge. It’s up to the neighbourhood, not some imported “expert.”

W2 will also operate an incubator for micro social enterprises, a printing facility for public use, a significant convening space for meetings, conferences and other events, and more. And it’s all fronted by the W2 Media Café, which acts as a symbolic welcome mat for the community.

The great inspiration behind W2 is the simple recognition that the answers to the challenges of the Downtown Eastside won’t be simple. But then, neither are most answers sought by social entrepreneurs. That’s because the problems we face aren’t simple either.

Defining the challenges we aim to meet

Simple problems are like baking a cake; you just have to read the instructions! Cause and effect are obvious. “Best practices” exist, and we can train others to repeat the solution. (It’s written on the side of the box!)

Other problems are complicated, like flying to the moon. Cause and effect can be discerned, but it takes deeper analysis and more expertise. We can see a problem, analyse it, and respond accordingly. Only good practices can be defined, because the subtleties are significant. In social enterprise, we face complicated problems every day. We learn on the job. We develop systems and processes to smooth the way forward, on strategy, on budget and on mission.

Then there are the complex problems. Cause and effect are clear only in retrospect. We must analyse the problem first, then seek solutions that emerge from our analysis. Complex problems are like raising a child: Do everything right, do your best every day and your child may grow up to be a Nobel Laureate. Or they might equally end up a convicted criminal.

The fourth and final category is chaotic problems, where a relationship between cause and effect simply doesn’t exist at a systems level. The hours after a major disaster—such as the Banda Aceh tsunami of 2004—are chaotic. Expert agencies like Red Cross must simply react as best they can and adapt quickly. (There’s no time to strategise a social enterprise response here!)

This typography of problems is known as the Cynefin Framework. It’s a useful way of identifying the types of problems we face and defining the right ways to respond.

Equipping ourselves to face complex problems

As social entrepreneurs, we face complex problems head on: urban degradation and decay, and the social issues these trends bring with them; the accelerating march of climate change, and the diverse consequences on ecosystems, animal populations and human cultures; international conflict, and the unimaginably harsh capacity of “security forces” to mete out pain on their fellow citizens.

While social enterprise cannot be the solution to every problem, it can and does provide opportunities and answers for some aspects of these significant challenges.

Leading a social enterprise that aims to resolve these “complex” problems is no small feat. The strategic thinking, diverse skills and capacity, and enduring resilience of successful social entrepreneurs are characteristics that should be the envy of most leaders of traditional business. These inspiring leaders engage their colleagues, develop enduring coalitions and effect the systemic change necessary to redress societies’ hardships and failings.

So how can we, as dedicated social entrepreneurs, learn to lead with this capacity? How can we imitate the great leaders of history—Gandhi, Kennedy, Dr. King, just to name a few from the last century?

Leadership: Self-awareness, self-management and self-development

Leadership begins with self-awareness. When we contemplate great leaders (whether huge names, or those closer at home) patterns of behaviour and capacity are clear. Effective leadership always begins with deep self-reflection. Self-aware leaders understand where they are strong and where they need the support of those around them to mitigate their weaknesses. They recognise and articulate their own assumptions, and the impact they might have on their decision-making. And they’re clear on the values and limitations that influence their intent and their actions.

There are three easy and sure routes to self-awareness:

• First, take regular breaks from your work. We all know the invaluable perspective that comes from time away. It enables us to see the trees and the forest. We simply don’t do it often enough. Breaks might be midday meditations, quarterly week-long retreats or a longer sabbatical. Or all of the above. Time away from our missions refreshes our resolve, renews our capacity and ultimately deepens our impact.

• Second, form a personal advisory board of trusted friends, colleagues and allies who will lovingly tell you the honest truth, helping you identify, articulate and learn from your mistakes. Meet with them regularly (it doesn’t have to be formal) and especially during challenging times or crises.

• Third, do the inner work it takes to understand how you react when the going gets tough and to learn your strengths and weaknesses. Knowing yourself is half the battle, but too often we move through life on autopilot. Take a look at InnerActivist.com for ideas and practices you can use.

Successful leaders also manage themselves, taking personal responsibility for their energy, their performance and their health. They recognise that the height of their ambition will take inimitable energy. They manage themselves, so they have the energy to lead their cause. Complex problems, after all, are resolved through marathons of effort, not sprints.

Self-management begins with self-awareness, but day-to-day, effective time management is profound in its contribution to achievement of results. Countless “systems” exist and even more products are available. Many people are advocates of GTD—Getting Things Done. Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People remains invaluable decades after its publication. Whatever system you choose, make best use of it and tailor it to your particular role, responsibilities and life.

Impactful leaders also develop themselves with intention and dedication throughout their whole lives. They never stop inquiring, learning, improving and seeking opportunities and challenges to build their own character and grow as human beings and as leaders. They indulge their curiosity; they read voraciously. Like martial arts masters, they train every day, because it is the very act of practice that preserves our ability to learn, to adapt and to remain innovative. After all, “change is the only constant.”

By focusing on self-awareness, self-management and self-development, the leaders we respect by definition demonstrate that for which we respect them—their incredible depth of character, their honesty, their integrity. And their resilience.

The Five Dimensions of Leadership

Of course, character and resilience aren’t sufficient to change the world. Social entrepreneurs’ capacity to lead themselves is but the first of five vital dimensions of social enterprise leadership. Future articles in this five-part series will discuss the capacity to engage the people around us, the achievement of measurable results, the increasingly essential ability to develop inter-organisational collaborations and the breadth of view to contemplate the entire system, while also working within it.

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Junxion’s Mike Rowlands leads the Vancouver office and is well-known as the “CEO Whisperer.” Specializing in social enterprise development and success, Mike’s series aims to build on both in the community.

Climate change invokes extremes of emotions.

In a world which is bracing itself to face the effects of this phenomenon, many are doing all they can to mitigate its effects. They are choosing to live in green homes.

Green buildings follow environment friendly architecture to minimise the impact on nature by using energy efficiently, preserving natural resources and using natural building materials. This is accomplished by blending science, design, energy-efficient materials, construction techniques and renewable energy sources. It is a process, implemented from design stage to actual construction. Artificial lighting is replaced by natural light during the day by the means of huge windows, split ACs with central cooling maintain comfortable living while managing energy efficiency.

Green buildings are better insulated and thus need far less energy to maintain comfortable levels of temperature indoors. Water and solid waste are recycled on-site whereas eco-friendly building materials ensure cleaner air quality and safer spaces to live in. And all this while saving enormous amounts of energy.

Natural Balance Premium Home Builders, as the name suggests, is doing just this in Vancouver.

Founded by business partners Nick Kerchum and Galen Evans in 2009, Natural Balance specialises in modern, green and architectural homebuilding. They focus on premium homes that celebrate the best of Canada’s west coast, while showcasing innovative design approaches that integrate environmental systems and functional design.

Working closely with “enlightened homeowners and innovative architects,” Natural Balance is challenging the construction industry’s status quo, building sustainable, sophisticated living spaces.

Junxion Strategy worked with the Natural Balance team to define and reposition their young firm. ‘The next generation lives here’ has become the tagline and rallying cry for a company focused on shaking up a significant and established industry. We delivered…

• Brand Strategy
• Key Messaging
• Brand Identity
• Website Design & Development
• Collateral Design

“I consider the entire project to be a great success and look forward to further developing our working relationship over the years to come.”

Nick Kerchum, Partner, Natural Balance Premium Home Builders.

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Junxion’s Sherry Pomerleau is our lead creative person in Vancouver and worked with Natural Balance on this project. Sherry is a keen environmentalist and loves good design, especially in houses.