Best of Social Edge 12/08

For those of you unfamiliar, SocialEdge is one of the godfather's of the online social entrepreneurship space and one of the best forums for debate, discussion, and the development of new ideas. At any given time, they have 3-5 "Discussions" - specifici conversations moderated by an expert, 10-15 blogs ranging from conversations about return on impact to field reports from social entrepreneurs on the ground, not to mention a bevy of job listings and archived content.

Sometimes there's so much going on that great content gets buried. I'm starting this weekly roundup to pull out some of the most interesting discussions, comments and opportunities. That said, this brief round-up should really just serve as a gateway - there's more good stuff over there than I can capture, so head on over!

The Case for Online Support for Social Entrepreneurs - In this great discussion, Social Actions founder Peter Deitz asks how new or existing tools could be better leveraged to aggregate support for innovative social startups. There have been some great comments, including a discussion about how Marc Dangeard's "Entrepreneur Commons" model might provide a path forward, as well as Peter's suggested that "transition" points - graduations, weddings, etc - are great "contexts" to engage new audiences in supporting social endeavors.

For my money, Social Edger Jill Finlayson's Holiday Gift Guide is the best on the web. The accompanying discussion is a great way for other resources to get listed. My addition to the list is my friends at One Mango Tree. Check out their Ugandan Yoga mat.

The FORGE story has been playing out in public as Kjerstin Erickson, a social entrepreneur whose organization is fighting for its financial life decided to choose radical transparency and blog about her mistakes in an effort to build a community of support. One of the products has been the pro-bono consulting support from Curtis Chang. His post "Kiva is a Menace," should, quite literally be required reading for every single development person/fundraiser/social entrepreneur/whoever thinking about using the internet as fundraising. Its essential. Key:

"The soul of Kiva, in my view, lies in the fusing of four elements:

1. the fact that it is asking for loans that get repaid (and potentially re-loaned), not for donations
2. its model of regularly humanizing the need to the tale of a sympathetic (i.e. hardworking, enterprising) individual
3. facilitating a one to one giver to recipient relationship
4. a website that enables the giver to choose the recipient

...FORGE can’t replicate any of these aspects. A donation is different than a loan. A relationship to a project is different than to a person.  And the dynamism of a project is different than the dynamism of an individual. FORGE was aware of these differences - it's not like they went into this endeavor as a mindless copycat - but as it plans for its future, it must appreciate just how fundamental these differences are."