This summer, our second batch of 11 students interned once again at various social enterprise organizations around the world, from New Orleans, to the Netherlands, India and across to China! They will be sharing their wonderful experiences with us via regular fortnightly blog entries at this site, so stay tuned to find out more about their exciting experiences! We hope that their brilliantly written stories will lend you insight into the world of social enterprise and the amazing things that are happening on the ground across the world! 

Shokay Internship, Summer 2010

Yarn-bombing.

A couple of weeks before the 3^rd anniversary of Shokay’s flagship store, Sonia, a fellow intern, emailed everyone with pictures of knit bikes, buses, and benches. It was whatever you wanted to call it: public art. Knit graffiti. Vandalism.

Yarn-bombing.

So Carol, Shokay’s founder, had an idea. Why not celebrate this anniversary with a yarn-bombing of our own? Yarn-bombing…Shanghai style?

We decided we would do it.

We would yarn-bomb ourselves beforehand, and the day of, we would teach customers how to finger-knit and allow them to bomb the place themselves! It was a fun PR scheme wrapped into a Shokay celebration.

Jocelyn, Sonia and I set out to stake out places to bomb in Tianzifang, the location of our flagship store. We saw water pipes, small alleyways, and bamboo poles where the Shanghainese traditionally hung their clothing. Of course, baby yak tagged along.

Then, we did our flyer photoshoot. Sonia’s dad helped model! We decided on a guerrilla squad pose. The result:

Everyone helped out in yarnbombing before the event. We had quite a few great items! They included lanterns, umbrellas, chairs, a spiderweb, an iconic “I <3 Shanghai,” and a bird cage. We had a lot of fun piecing together yarn and swatches to do our yarnbombing, even without the ability to actually knit. The ah-yi’s (our in-office knitters) helped out in what for them was a strange extravaganza, crocheting gorgeous umbrellas and lanterns. Late-night shoppers peered in as we crafted our chairs and waterpipes in the shop.

The day of the event, many stopped by. We had our finger-knitting workshop and a photobooth. Each refrigerator-perfect photo came with a 20% off coupon. Our fingerknitters had a wonderful time staking out a place to “bomb.” Some were serious knitters who had been waiting to yarn-bomb in Shanghai; some were first-timers who just wanted in on the fun. Everyone had a great time.

Our event appeared in City Weekend, Shanghai Daily, and many other local publications. Bloggers and tweeters picked up on it also. It was a PR success.

Shanghai’s first yarn-bombing, hosted by Shokay.

Emily Hsiao, Shokay Intern

30 June 2010

Shokay Internship, Summer 2010

Introducing…Shokay’s New Handspun Yarn Project!

Attention, all avid knitters and crocheters…Shokay has decided to launch a handspun yarn line!  

One of the most interesting things to me, working here in the Shokay office, is learning what goes on in the field. Shokay is always looking for more ways to help their cause. With the intention of employing more villagers in the Qinghai region, we have begun training women to use spinning wheels and spin our yak fiber into a gorgeous handspun yak yarn. These women are from four different villages: Zhengquhu, Wenba, Jiabulong, and Ranquhu. They have been spinning and weaving since they were young girls and love the art; however, they are new to production spinning on the wheel.

In these Tibetan villages, women, with the exception of doing unreliable seasonal work such as digging for caterpillar fungus and construction work, do not have opportunities to earn income for their children. With an average family of 3.9 children, the women can only dream of sending their children to school. Shokay, by employing them to spin yak fiber into a handspun yak yarn, has given them their first sustainable, reliable source of income.

We hope that this handspun yarn line will be beneficial to both the consumer and the employee.  As handspun yarn is thicker in gauge than the common machine-spun yarn, our luxurious yak yarn will become an easy-to-knit project for both the novice and expert knitter.

I hope that as I work on this handspun yarn project, I will be able to learn more about the yarn, the people, and help out as much as I can.

Emily Hsiao, Shokay Intern

12 July 2010

Lifespring Hospitals Internship 2010: The Journey Begins: Hyderabad, India 

After a 26-hour journey (Las Vegas -> Los Angeles -> Tokyo -> Singapore -> New Delhi -> Hyderabad), I have arrived in (glamorous) fashion to Hyderabad for my summer internship at LifeSpring Hospitals! With my mother and grandparents helping me settle into the city, I have had an inside edge on where to find the best sweets, tailors, and food. Strap in for the ride!

The Traffic…

Observation 1: During my last trip to India 12 years ago, scooters ruled the roads. Now, everyone drives motorcycles. Just the other day, I saw a family of 3 AND a large white dog on a motorcyle looking perfectly at peace zipping between the lanes!

Observation 2: If you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere in the world! Coming from the US, it took me a few days to get used to the constant honking and the traffic flow in all directions. I remember standing for 10 minutes trying to cross the road to go to G. Pulla Reddy, one of the famous sweets places here. I have become much more assertive here over the past few days, particularly when negotiating in Hindi with the autorickshaw drivers.

Sightseeing with My family…

The city is a landscape of vibrant colors from the yellow autorickshaws to bright saris against black burqas to the green mangos in street-side stands. We wasted no time in seeing the glitz and the glamour of the Churi Bazaar (Bangles Market). In clothing stores, I tried on the most regal and elegant all hand-made kurtas and sherwanis I have ever seen. I had two tailored for me! After just two days (yes, only two days) , I sought out Thai food and was very happily impressed. I was not impressed however when I sought out sour candy and found out that 1 ‘Icebreakers Sours’ box costs 250 Rs (over $5)! Other highlights included seeing 5 camels walking on the road in procession, going to a temple and having a cow block the only exit, and having the best biryani I could have possibly imagined at one of my co-worker’s homes.

Meeting the Interns…

I am so excited to get to know and work with the other five interns who are also passionate about entrepreneurship and medicine. The interns hail from Northwestern Law School, Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, University of Michigan Medical School, and Case Western Medical School. I was able to meet Amika at Penn before graduation. Go Quakers! Everyone here is so excited about social enterprise work and being in India. I feel so lucky to be here!

Getting Ready for LifeSpring Hospitals…

During my 9-week internship, I will be working in the corporate office of LifeSpring Hospitals in the marketing & strategy department. LifeSpring Hospitals aims to fill the gap in maternal care in India between overcrowded free government hospitals and cost-prohibitive private hospitals. Using standardized processes, outreach marketing, and Salesforce tools, LifeSpring is able to offer women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds high-quality health care at an affordable rate. A standard delivery costs only 4,000 Rs (less than $100), and a Caesarian delivery costs 9,000 Rs (less than $200). LifeSpring has expanded to 9 branches in Andhra Pradesh, 6 of which are in Hyderabad alone. Next week, I will start my training and learn about the various facets of LifeSpring. Stay tuned!

For more photos, please check out http://picasaweb.google.com/RCSaxena/LifeSpringHospitalsSummerInternship02#

Rajeev Saxena, LifeSpring Hospitals Intern

Lifespring Hospitals Internship 2010: Immersion Training at Lifespring Hospitals 

Infant/Maternal Mortality in India

Did you know that on average 52 out of every 1,000 births in India result in infant mortality? Put another way, over 5% of all births results in infant death. The infant mortality ratio (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) are dramatically higher for India than that of other developing countries including China, Mexico, and Russia:

Source: World Bank 2008

With a high MMR, many children are left to fend for themselves without support. Infant mortality is particularly devastating to not only the family but also the development of the country. The most common causes of maternal mortality are infection, hemorrhage, and gestational hypertension – all of which can be prevented with high quality facilities and care. In India, the government hospitals which provide free care are often overburdened and understaffed. While the private hospitals provide greater services, the lower and middle socioeconomic tiers in India often cannot afford this treatment, particularly as many people do not have health insurance. LifeSpring arose to empower lower income women and children by affording them high quality care through a sustainable and scalable model.

In just a few days, I have noticed that LifeSpring is really dedicated to its customers. Notably, LifeSpring never calls its customers “patients.” They have a refrain that “pregnancy is not a disease.” Interested in medicine as a career, I hesitated when I first heard this. After all if I go to get a vaccine, it does not mean I have a disease. But after a few days, I realize that this mentality is a large reason why LifeSpring is so successful. Every part of the company from quality to HR to housekeeping to marketing is all about the customer satisfaction. Bringing in more customers, increasing satisfaction, and driving revenue. To say that you want more patients casts a negative undertone that goes against running an effective company. LifeSpring understands that it offers a service and the only one who matters is the customers.

The enterprise is dynamic with a team of outreach workers, physicians and nurses, and a dedicated team at the corporate office. For this reason, the training was designed to expose me to the various components of the system. Without a doubt, onboarding was by far one of the most enlightening experiences I have had!

Door-to-Door Outreach Visit in the Parkisuta Slum…

In the morning, I met Shehnaz, an outreach worker at the Chilkalguda branch (which has both a hospital and the corporate office on the 4^th and 5^th floors). LifeSpring’s model includes smaller but higher numbers of hospitals of 20-25 beds targeted to low socioeconomic communities. Each day, the outreach workers walk door to door in the slums neighboring the hospital asking if any women in the household are pregnant. If someone is pregnant, during the first visit, the outreach worker explains the services and packaged costs for care at LifeSpring and take­­­­­s down basic contact information. During the second visit a few days later, the outreach worker encourages the “prospect” to come to a free consultation. If the woman starts receiving services at LifeSpring, she is considered an outpatient “OP”; if she chooses to do her delivery at LifeSpring, she becomes classified as an inpatient “IP”. (First time, I heard the term, I said quizzically “IP? Intellectual Property?” [sheepish engineering look]).

During my visit, we traveled to the nearby Parsikuta slum. Three nurses, Sony, Sunitha, and Sujatha were also undergoing onboarding with me. I immediately realized this was going to be an interesting experience! Sujatha spoke Telegu and did NOT understand English or Hindi. Sony and Sunitha spoke Hindi and Telegu and could understand a little English. Shehnaz spoke Urdu and Telegu and also understood basic English. For those keeping score at home, I speak English, Spanish, some Hindi, and NO Telegu. Unfortunately, I had no way of communicating with Sujatha until I learned a few hours later how to say in Telegu “Hello. How are you? LifeSpring is a great Hospital.’ (in case you’re curious, phonetically it is “Namascar. Bah-gu-na-rah? Maa LifeSpring Chala Manchi Hospital”).

Fortunately, however, I was able to communicate with my Hindi with everyone else. As we went door-to-door for 3 hours, I spoke only Hindi – by far the longest I have ever gone! In visiting the Parkisuta slum, I realized how strong of a decision factor “free care” is for expectant women. Most were drawn to the government hospital, Gandhi Hospital, for its convenience and free treatment. However, most customers at government hospitals must give tips for each entry and leave, revealing an aspect of corruption that still plagues India. I also began to understand how the free gifts and free initial consultations were such a strong and effective incentive in LifeSpring marketing. I had never met anyone in a slum before. Seeing the kids in the alleys and mothers face-to-face gives me an understanding of the LifeSpring customer. As I work on operations and marketing initiatives, I will always keep that customer in mind. It really helped drive home the value of LH’s mission.

Overnight Stay…

In the evening, I spent the night from 9 PM to 5 AM in the Chilkalguda LifeSpring branch. As soon as I walked in, the medical director, Dr. Vasantha told me there was an emergency Caesarian delivery and I could go up to the 1^st floor to see it. Excited to see the operation, I was fitted into a gown and led to the OT (operating theater). Having observed surgeries in the United States medical system, I was immediately surprised by two differences: 1) You do not need closed-toed shoes in the operating theater! Rather, they had slippers which were restricted to that area that you could just put on. 2) If you are only observing as I was, you do not need to wear gloves! Needless to say, I was quite shocked. From an empirical standpoint, the incremental risk of infection in the absence of these measures is almost certainly negligible. Nevertheless, coming from a system that stresses – often to the extreme – the need for regulation, it was quite surprising to see.

Seeing the baby born was absolutely beautiful. C-sections only take 30-45 minutes and I was able to see the birth of two babies, both of whom were boys. The doctors and nursing staff were unbelievably friendly and helpful. During the surgery, Dr. Vasantha was explaining every action, even to the type of knot she was tying. I learned about her motivation as she was part of the team that started Moula Ali, LifeSpring’s flagship hospital that helped build the brand that LifeSpring now boasts. I had never seen a birth before. I knew babies were cute but I assumed they looked really messy at first. But actually, the babies just had a thin film on them. Once it was wiped off, the baby had powdery white skin, the purity of never having been exposed to the air. Dr. Diraj, the anesthetist, spoke to me for over an hour about my backgrounds, interests, and home.

After the delivery, I was able to talk to the Customer Relationship Executor (CRE), Srikant, who works the front desk. I spent about 3 hours talking to him and learning about his duties. It was really great as everyone was so welcoming. Those connections will be helpful when I start investigations for my project.

Competitor Hospital Visit…

For the next day of onboarding, my task was to go to a government hospital and private hospital to see the quality of care and have a better grounding on LifeSpring’s niche. I did not know which hospital to go to. Fortunately, I am now really good friends with Sony and Sunitha! J Sunitha has worked as an OT nurse for 10 years so she had an in at the hospital she worked at before. She offered to take me there and give me a tour. Once we were at the hospital, I was able to talk to the manager of the hospital. I asked him a number of questions and ascertained that the private hospital charges 15,000 Rs for a C-section (LH is 9,000 Rs, little less than $200) and 9,000 Rs for a normal delivery (LH is 4,000 Rs). I took a tour of the facility and was able to look at some of the medical records to get a feel of their information management. Overall, for the amount of money, I was not very impressed with the private hospital. I walked away confident that the care of LifeSpring was far superior.

The largest government hospital, Gandhi Hospital, is very restrictive to anyone who is not a patient. Sunitha had a nurse colleague from the hospital and she put me in touch with her. I was able to inquire about the practices and learn about the tips required to enter and leave the hospital. I was most surprised to learn that the government will pay over 1,000 Rs as part of family planning. If the woman undergoes family planning after the second child, she can receive a figure depending on her socioeconomic tier. I learned that it was part of the government’s initiative for population control.

I finished off my training by studying the standardized processes LifeSpring employs – one of the key tenets of their model. I will be starting my project on Friday! So excited!

For more photos, please check out http://picasaweb.google.com/RCSaxena/LifeSpringHospitalsSummerInternship02#

Rajeev Saxena, LifeSpring Hospitals Intern

2 July 2010

Green Coast Enterprises Internship, Summer 2010

I have somehow been working at Green Coast Enterprises in New Orleans for four weeks now – where is my summer going?!  It’s been an incredible experience so far, with my mentor, Mr. Reuben Teague, giving me every opportunity to learn by both experience and by observation.

Coming into this internship, I had a few preconceived notions, which were that Green Coast Enterprises is mainly involved in building affordable, sustainable housing in New Orleans.  Based on their past projects – the Arabella at Fortin Street, which was a GCE designed and developed four unit condominium, and its work with Project Home Again, which is a non-profit dedicated to building high-quality, energy efficient homes for low and moderate income New Orleans homeowners spearheaded by The Leonard and Louise Riggio Foundation – this impression is certainly warranted.  Since I have arrived, though, I’ve learned that key to GCE is not its projects, but its vision.  I have found that the key values and visions that are central to social enterprises, and not just their individual projects, are the reason they are so successful, sustainable, and practical.

Green Coast Enterprises keeps close the “Triple Bottom Line”: People, Planet, and Profit.  The work of GCE must have a positive impact on the people of the communities they work in, whether it is through economic activity, improved quality of life, or a richer cultural or community experience.   The planet must always be considered, and green building technologies and standards must be upheld.  And finally, the work GCE does must produce profit for both GCE and the communities in which it works.  This attachment to its vision rather than specific project goals allows it to be much more adaptable, and have a much larger impact than I could have anticipated.

This applicability, and relevancy, of the “Triple Bottom Line” to sustainable building was revealed to me the very first day of work.  One of my coworkers dropped me off at a large building called the “Icehouse” at 8:30am, which is an existing center for green businesses.  Although I was expecting to meet my fellow coworkers that morning, I did not realize I would be thrown into a day full of interviews of architecture firms.  Interviewing these incredibly unique and creative architects was a cool experience in and of itself, but what fascinated me was the new GCE project I was suddenly involved in.  Unlike the residential projects I had expected, GCE is now working on developing a center of green building in New Orleans called the “Building Block” at an old Ford dealership.  This project is a completely different approach to their mission of a “Triple Bottom Line.”  Its aim is to develop a center of green building center, with the ultimate goal of fostering and developing the region’s sustainable businesses and work force.

This experience has been eye opening and revealing to me; the idea of the “Building Block” is an innovate and frankly neat design that has the potential to impact GCE, the people of New Orleans, and the future of New Orleans itself as a green building center.  Since I have been here, I have seen the project choose its architect, arrange potential occupants, announce itself to the public, and even see the public react.  The other day I heard people discussing it at a café, and my girlfriend who works at the Crescent City Farmers Market said people were excitedly talking about it the day after the article.  And this reaction shows me that social enterprise can work, especially with innovative designs as the “Building Block.”

Before this internship, I understood generally what social enterprise does, and what the potential of it is.  But throughout my first day alone, and hopefully throughout the rest of my summer, I have learned a multitude about the huge potential for positive change that GCE, and social enterprise as a whole, can enact.

John Plaisted, Green Coast Enterprises intern

15 June 2010

Green Coast Enterprises Blog Post 2

For a city so vulnerable – below sea level, in the path of hurricanes, retracting wetlands that protect it from the Gulf – it seems like New Orleans is doomed in the long term.  And yet there are many who refuse to let this unique, lively city perish.  I’ve been able to experience this engaging and vibrant culture first hand, and after only six weeks it seems hard to imagine anyone who has been here would let it crumble.  Since Hurricane Katrina, the city has had a unique, incredible opportunity to start anew, to completely rebuild and redefine a city that had been ailing for decades.  As a result, there has been not only a revitalization of New Orleans, but the development of a revitalization culture alongside it. 

The rebirth of this city is an amazing opportunity, and since I have been here I have seen many approaches to healing the city present in the revitalization culture.  These different approaches that I have seen echo three different approaches that I read about in an interesting book about social enterprise called The Power of Unreasonable People.  I read this book over winter break this year, and at one point it outlines different models for social change.  Each model has different strengths and weaknesses, and since I have been here, it has been eye opening to see the models all at work, and working together. 

The first is a leveraged non-profit, which essentially depends on external financial support to provide public goods, and is both hard to scale and dependent on these handouts.  The second is a hybrid non-profit, which recovers a portion of its costs through the sale of its good or service.   It focuses on revenue generating activities, empowering people at the base, focusing on low costs over the long term, and driving the market or pulling traditional providers into the market.  The third model is the social business, which focuses on both social and financial returns.  It is run as a for profit business, which helps it maintain a competitive edge and stable, but focuses on reinvesting for social returns as well as returns for investors. 

I’ve seen parts of the renewal culture here that reflect all three.  From traditional non-profit modeled programs such as Habitat for Humanity, to hybrid programs that are rebuilding housing for low income families using a property swap model to create more efficient and longer lasting solutions, to social ventures such as Green Coast Enterprises, there are many different players evident in New Orleans.  Each serves its purpose and affects this city: while some were better in the immediate aftermath of the storm, some are better now, but all still seem to be at work here.  The different models and organizations work together to make this fabric of a renewal culture that is working together to renew New Orleans culture.  To see and gain exposure to these many models, how they work, and how they fit together has helped me truly understand the importance of flexibility of social impact today, and is invaluable with my work in development in the future.

John Plaisted, Green Coast Enterprises intern

28 June 2010

Green Coast Enterprises Blog Post 3

One of the unique aspects of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is the opportunity to clearly see how disaster recovery will work, and how neighborhoods and communities revitalize themselves.  With a city so utterly devastated – the population is still down approximately 25% from pre-Katrina levels – the rebuilding efforts have had to cultivate creative solutions for returning, rebuilding, and retaining the population to New Orleans, particularly the low to middle income families that do not necessarily have the means to do so.

An example in particular that I have seen has been with a Green Home Enterprises affiliated project.  Project Home Again is a non-profit organization started by The Leonard and Louise Riggio Foundation, which aspires to build high-quality, energy-efficient homes for low and moderate-income New Orleans homeowners who have been unable to rebuild and return to their communities.  Green Coast Enterprises works for this foundation and aids it in the development of these new sustainable houses in New Orleans. 

While The Riggio Foundation provided an extremely generous donation to rebuild these communities, Project Home Again has an effective and efficient solution to make its dollar and impact go much further.  They do this by implementing a house swapping system for families.

People are eligible for this program if they meet the following criteria: if they own a damaged home or lot in New Orleans that they are willing to swap, if they lived in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, if they suffered the loss of their home as a result of the storm and haven’t been fully compensated, and if they are within 120% of the area median income according to family size.  If they meet these criteria, and a few other conditions about living in the home in the future and maintenance of the home, they are eligible.

By swapping their home, residents are provided a forgivable mortgage on the home if they meet the conditions of using the residence as their primary home for at least five years.  While it provides immense benefit to families in need, Project Home Again also works to rebuild neighborhoods. It encourages the refilling of under-populated communities by concentrating these developments in select areas to reach the tipping point for revitalization. 

Furthermore, it provides a means for continuity within PHA so it can continue to rebuild these select neighborhoods and provide these services at lower costs.   This type of innovative solution seems a simple way to maximize the impact of the foundations donation, and seeing the rebuilding here has revealed many of these little creative secrets.  Especially as time wears on, donations to rebuilding this vibrant city will surely decrease, so solutions like this are necessary to the sustainability and continuity of the region.

Pictures of the French quarter and revitalization efforts at the lower ninth ward

John Plaisted, Green Coast Enterprises intern

6 July 2010

Citizen Schools Internship, Summer 2010

Boston’s such a nice city during the summer time. Once I got here, I knew that I was going to enjoy not my stay in the city but also my internship with Citizen Schools. I’ve only been working with the Massachusetts Civic Engagement team for less than two weeks and they’ve already gotten my feet wet. For example, we have a presentation tomorrow with Boston Alliance for Economic Inclusion to establish new corporate partnerships for apprenticeships. If you’re interested in the education reform movement in America, you probably should know a good deal about Citizen Schools and expanded learning time.

However, if you are like me, you might only think of Teach for America when “education reform” is mentioned because of their strong presence on college campuses. Citizen Schools is not like Teach for America nor is it like charter schools such as KIPP.

80% of waking hours for American middle school students are spend outside of school. In high-income families, these hours are used for extracurricular programs and activities such as playing sports, getting tutored or learning a musical instrument. These outside activities keep kids engaged and interested in developing their skills and talents for the future. However, for low-income families, opportunities such as these are hard to come by.

In 1995, Eric Schwarz and Ned Rimer noticed this gap in opportunities which would later affect school achievement and graduation rates. The founders found out that middle school was a crucial time to help students stay on track for a brighter future. To do this, they saw that if students were given more time, more relevant learning opportunities and more caring adults, they could get back on track.

And that’s what they did. They pulled together a “second-shift of educators” to come in after class for academic support, mentoring and apprenticeships. This second-shift of educators would work hand-in-hand with professional teachers to keep kids engaged. This second shift of educators are called “Citizen Teachers.” Professionals in fields such as bioengineering to architecture and college students from the community teach apprenticeships once a week to provide students with mentors and role models.

After ten weeks of apprenticeships, students present their learning and teach back their skills through presentations called “WOW!”s. In a week’s time, I’ve heard countless stories and seen hundreds of pictures where middle schoolers take part in a mock trial in the federal court, show off an investment plan or propose a city design in front of Boston’s Mayor Menino. I’ve also sat in for calls with Harvard Business School students and Northeastern students who are interested in devoting their time this coming fall semester to teach the kids.

While my job is interesting, for this first update, I’d rather talk about the stories I’ve heard from Citizen Schools. The other day, the development director read a quote from a Citizen Schools student. It went along the lines of “thanks for helping me speak and write better English because I used to speak gangster!” One of the tech staff in Citizen Schools was part of the first batch of students. A former student is now the classmate of one of my fellow students in a well-known Boston high school.

Being part of the Civic Engagement team means I have to learn how to “sell” Citizen Schools to recruit more volunteers and establish fruitful partnerships. In my first day at the office, I was already won over. These folks know what they’re doing with America’s most precious resource and treasure.

I definitely don’t do justice to these stories so check out their website: http://www.citizenschools.org/

Evan Chen, Citizen Schools Intern

23 June 2010

Citizen Schools Internship, Summer 2010, Blog Post 2

I can’t believe I’ve been in Boston for almost a month! The pleasant weather of Boston when I first arrived was pushed away by the soaring summer heat. I’ve never imagined Boston to get as hot as my home in Manila. After coming home from work the other day, my room was practically a sauna. Because of that, I spend most of my afternoons in the Prudential Center until the sun sets, usually a little before 9pm.

Apart from the weather, my work at Citizen Schools has also changed a little since I got here. I’m part of the Civic Engagement team for Massachusetts. The CE team acts as the external affairs arm of the state teams. My team recruits Citizen Teachers for the apprenticeships in the Fall, nurtures relationships with companies which provide a sustainable pipeline of CTs and develops partnership opportunities with other organizations as an earned income strategy. These three things give a good picture of what my supervisor’s typical day is like.

Being part of the team exposes me to volunteer recruitment and relationship building within the nonprofit sector. Constantly, we are thinking of how to put our best foot forward to help Citizen Schools achieve its mission. From emails to individuals interested in volunteering to presentations with well-known corporations, I get to see how the team gets the support it needs from the community.

For this job, communication is key. Working with so many partners and organizations can be confusing at times. Our partners all have different interests and desires which leads to different approaches in luring them in. For example, for a financial services crowd, I researched some statistics on financial literacy which my supervisor used in her presentation. On the other hand, when I was in a meeting with another nonprofit, the discussion centered around the quality of their volunteers and how we could work together to improve. Knowing the right things to say to the right people can significantly change and improve their reaction to your message.

I’ve also realized that impact assessments, especially when they are positive, can bring miracles. After showing a slide about the drastic improvement our program has had on our kids, I noticed a change in the reactions of our audience. From a nice and silent crowd, they became enthusiastic about helping our model grow and expand. One lady was so impressed that she asked: “Why aren’t we doing this everywhere?” At the end of the presentation, she made sure we could meet again to discuss how her bank could get involved.

Right now, I’m working on three major projects. First, I’m helping the team analyze and improve their online recruitment strategy and tactics. Social media is such a buzz word in the nonprofit sector that organizations participate haphazardly. My hope is that through this project, I can help them leverage the internet as a strong pipeline for volunteers. I’m not entirely focusing on “Twitter” though although Twitter’s 30+ demographic seems like the kind of people we need to teach apprenticeships.

Second, I’m helping my supervisor update their strategy-for-growth-slide-deck. She showed me their goals for the past few years and I’ve been tasked with updating and critiquing her ideas. Sadly, I can’t add too much value to it because she’s got all bases covered, from starting new partnerships to improving old ones and making donors sources of volunteers, it seems like they have a pretty good plan. Growing volunteers will forever be a challenge to the nonprofit world.

Third, I’m helping them place their Teaching Fellows with daytime partnerships. Teaching Fellows are CS staff which run the after-school and extended learning time programs at partner public schools. However, during the day, they have the opportunity to work with other partners as part of their professional development. For this project, I’m matching fellows’ skills and interests with the partners’ needs. Transportation and location are some other constraints to think about. Excel is a powerful tool and it’s making my life so much easier. I finally understand why Excel is taught in college classrooms.

But apart from work, spending my first July 4^th in Boston is probably the best part of the summer. I watched the fireworks on the Charles River with a few friends. We were so close that you could feel the air displaced by the explosion, better than any IMAX or 3D film, although Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me are hard to beat.

Evan Chen, Citizen Schools Intern

18 July 2010

Rubicon Programs Internship, Summer 2010

On June 7th, I started my first full 9-5 day of work. I really had no idea what to expect of social enterprise, my fellow interns, or San Francisco. Now, two weeks have gone by in a blink of an eye, and I am absolutely loving the environment and have far more to talk about than I could ever put into words. I've been working with four other interns, including Ashima who will also enlighten us about San Francisco, and three MBA students.

Without further adieu, greetings from San Francisco!

I arrived in the San Francisco Chronicle building to work in Rubicon National Social Innovation's new office, called the Hub. Actually, RNSI is planning to change its name into New Foundry Ventures with a soft launch starting in July. Now Mark, what does New Foundry Venutres even do? The answer: NFV wants to start projects with a social mission and get them on their feet rather than being simply a thinktank. The catch is that NFV only wants to develop projects that are scalable and self-sustainable. Thus, rather than being a pure nonprofit, NFV is a for-profit but for-benefit company. Furthermore, NFV already has several projects with great promise that are entering a pilot phase, most notably Emerge and Energy Efficiency.

As for what I actually do, I work with Emerge on developing and implementing an alternative loan for poor credit underbanked employees. Currently, predatory lending goes relatively unchecked in many regions through payday lenders and other businesses. Now what is a payday loan? A payday loan is a short term loan (normally 2 weeks) that you get when you need some extra funds before your paycheck comes in. What's wrong is that there's a small fee (normally $15 per $100 loan) and payday loans can be rolled over and paid in a future date. These two factors combine and the lendees easily receive interest rates of 400-700% APR. The worst part is that successfully paying back these loans do not affect credit score and lendees who resort to these loans cannot obtain normal bank loans.

Working with NFV has been an amazing experience with far more than just work. Yesterday, the Hub sponsored a very well attended speaker event with several veteran social entrepreneurs telling their tale and a series of new entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to a panel of venture capitalists. Earlier this week, the team took us interns out to a San Francisco Giants game (where we easily won 6-3 against the Baltimore Orioles). Later on, we plan to visit the Rubicon Bakery and a variety of other social enterprises to see the efforts of socially minded individuals in action. I know I've only just touched the surface of the social enterprise landscape and look forward to 8 more weeks of working with amazing people. I hope everyone else is doing well and look forward to hearing from all you other interns!

Mark Ding, Rubicon Intern

19 June 2010

Rubicon Programs Internship, Summer 2010 Blog Post 2

I'm entering week 5 in my internship, which means this is officially the halfway point of my summer experience. It's only been two weeks since my last post, but let's see what's happened thus far.

My program, Emerge, is reaching a new phase in its development. We're about to enter our pilot phase and there's been a hectic last minute scramble to get everything working. Fortunately, all the players in Emerge are gathering together and we have banks, employers, software companies, credit score experts, and payroll service providers nearly all on board. As a result, my work has been changing constantly. One minute I was slowly working on my long term strategic project, and the next thing I know, we need three states' reports in 5 hours. It's these moments that I realize what it really is like working at a start-up company, and it's something very unique and thrilling.

Two weeks ago, our intern team got a chance to visit the Rubicon Bakery. The bakery is one of the very first projects Rubicon started, and it has become a very successful company that employs residents of the worst parts of Richmond, California and trains these locals for future success in related careers. Our team got to meet a few people from REDF, another social enterprise, and toured the bakery, seeing every step of baking, decorating, packing, storing, and delivering carrot cookie sandwiches and marshmallows. Afterward, we got to sit down and chat with the new president (who was a Wharton MBA!) and discussed many of hardships of a for-benefit program and targeting underdeveloped communities. Most importantly, this was an amazing opportunity to see an actual social enterprise in action and explore the options for future scalability.

Scalability is one concept that Rubicon National stresses in its mission. It's a very important idea that exponentially increases social improvement for any for-benefit company or nonprofit organization, but relatively few programs can achieve a significant degree of scale. However, all of Rubicon National's projects must have a basis for scaling before they begin. For my particular project, scale is achieved through a very simple setup system and an automated application system that leaves basically no manual labor for either the borrower, lender, or middlemen. This ease of use combined with hopeful partnerships with national banks opens up an opportunity for rapid expansion to virtually any state. Scalability is one simple but important factor that all social enterprises must address at one point. As a whole, this entire industry still fascinates me with the sheer ingenuity and philanthropy of its participants.

Mark Ding, Rubicon Intern

6 July 2010

Rubicon Programs Internship, Summer 2010 Blog Post 3

I cannot believe it's been two weeks already and time for another update. This was the end of week 6, which means that there's a measly four weeks left here, and I can tell I'm going to miss San Francisco and Rubicon National already.

I've been talking a lot about what my particular project is and what my individual work entails on a week to week basis, so for this blog, I'd like to discuss the social enterprise landscape in general. As an industry, social enterprise is still relatively new with a workforce considerably smaller than traditional businesses. One of the largest barriers to widespread social enterprise is that there is no standard business model. Each individual entrepreneur must forge his or her own strategy based on the particular social mission and methodology. Initial sources of funding are never consistent, and they will likely remain elusive. Many companies compete for a few scant sources of capital and only angel investors take the additional risk and lower returns associated with investing in social enterprises. Furthermore, each individual has his own social trouble to rectify, and whether that problem can legitimately be solved is another question in itself. Essentially, social enterprises share the troubles of both nonprofit organizations and traditional for-profit businesses.

So Mark, if there are so many problems, why are there social enterprises at all? The first and most fundamental reason why people enter this industry at all is that there is a problem that must be solved. These good-willed people want to see an end to a plague in their local communities, countries, or even the world, and this desire is the greatest motivation of all. It allows entrepreneurs to endure the hardships that the weak-willed cannot. In addition, while social enterprises suffer the problems of both non and for profit companies, they also receive the benefits of both. Unlike a for-profit business, social enterprises seek to enact a lasting change and correct a problem that the company genuinely cares about. They also receive the halo effect from doing benevolent acts to society that the people are increasingly attracted to. Unlike the traditional non-profit, social enterprises can seek funding from investors and are not dependent on inconsistent philanthropic donations.

However, the most important benefit of social enterprises over nonprofits is the potential for scalability. This potential is what Rubicon National firmly believes in and hopes to standardize for the next era of social enterprise. Nonprofits, aside from the supremely fortunate cases that become household names, are generally not self-sufficient and only exist on a small scale. A significant portion of their income goes towards finding alternate sources of funding which ultimately detracts from their social mission. On the other hand, social enterprise can support themselves. With self-sufficiency comes the capability of scalability. Scaling produces a chain effect that generates revenue for further expansion that leads to social impact on a far larger stage. Only successful programs on this larger stage can effectively solve omnipresent problems such as world hunger or poverty. Is it going to be easy? Of course not. Nonetheless, this is a new field certainly deserving of the time, talent, and effort that people have invested.

Mark Ding, Rubicon Intern

18 July 2010

Rubicon Programs Internship, Summer 2010 (from our 2nd Rubicon Intern!)

Without overlapping too much with what Mark has already posted, I’ll brief you on what Rubicon National (soon to be New Foundry Ventures – we’re rebranding, so I never know what to refer to it as) actually does.  RNSI identifies itself as a laboratory for scaling social enterprise. It creates a number of triple bottom line business models, that address a number of our world’s challenges, implements the business models on a local scale and then seeks to scale these social enterprises nationally in order to have a true impact. As a co-worker of mine delicately put it: a think tank for social enterprise that not only thinks, but does.

Hopefully that’s a fair enough explanation of the organization. I have to say, it’s a relief to have an audience that’s even vaguely familiar with the field. I usually lose people at “social enterprise”.

So far this summer I’ve been working on the Energy Efficiency Enterprise (EEE) business model.  The EEE is a triple bottom line social venture that provides hard-to-employ workers with training and transitional employment in order to perform energy efficiency retrofits on homes across the US.  At the moment, the enterprise is running a pilot business in the bay area (in partnership with a retrofit training organization). In the long run RNSI hopes to learn from this pilot, tweak its business model and then sell the business plan in a “business-in-a-box” manner to a number of different partners in key target cities across the country.

Green jobs, green collar workers, the new green economy…  while I’ve been aware of all these phrases for a while now, I never thought I’d be at the forefront of this exciting new field!

To conclude, some more insight on the triple bottom line nature of the work I’m doing.

5 ways in which EEE will have a social impact and is generally an awesome, and very logical, idea:

Ashima Sukhdev, Rubicon Intern

6 July 2010

Rubicon Programs Internship, Summer 2010, Blog Post 2  (from our 2nd Rubicon Intern!)

Rubicon National. SOCAP. Reach Global. Adaptive Edge. SustainAbility. Acumen Fund. Kiva. Triple Pundit. Mercy Corps. Feel Good. Change.org . Singularity Institute. Benetech. Numi Tea. Equal Exchange. Good Capital. Architecture for Humanity. Terrapass. Investors Circle. B Lab. Green Chamber. Alter Eco. Better World Telecom.

Sound like a list of some of the nation’s most exciting green ventures, social enterprises and development organizations?

That list is just my average day at work.

One of the many fascinating aspects of my summer here in San Francisco has been the office space Rubicon National is located in. Rubicon National’s office can be found in a small nook in “The Hub: Bay Area” – a collaborative workspace located in the SoMa district of San Francisco. The above mentioned are some of the many organizations that we share the space with.

Aptly labeled “where change goes to work”, the Hub looks to bring together and engage social enterprises, socially minded organizations and individuals who dabble in similar ventures. The Hub’s network extends across 5 countries and 24 cities, with work spaces such as the one I spend my week in located all over the world. Members can either choose to have a private office (such as the one Rubicon National occupies) or general membership to the common area.

When my mentor emailed us with the details of the new workspace that they would be moving into, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The idea seemed riveting, but what did this place look like? What did it feel like to work somewhere like this? Examining the floor map from various angles and scouring the website provided no preparation for Monday, 7^th June.

Firstly, everything is on wheels. Furniture exists to encourage the synergy of the place. You can write on walls in the meeting rooms. The décor is expectedly on the natural, woody side; my favourite is the conference table that is essentially a tree trunk with a piece of glass on top. There’s a “nest” (literally – you have to climb up a ladder to get to it) with bean bags, cushions and blankets for impromptu meetings and brainstorming sessions. Free flowing fair trade (obviously) coffee and tea are available to re-energize the weary entrepreneurial mind. As a visitor very insightfully exclaimed as she walked into the space – “Is this a library for adults!?”.

And it seems like it. Except this library is filled to the brim with global thought leaders, with a common aim to change the world. While the Hub is still experiencing a few growing pains (Hub SoMa can still be considered a toddler in comparison to the rest, at only 12 weeks), this place holds promise. The extent of the collaboration in the first few weeks was basic: who should bring what to “Sexy Salad” Thursday lunches. Now, however, as members are beginning to get familiar with each other, the real synergies coming out of this space are obvious. Members reach out to each other for help both formally and informally: from legal services to logo advice.  They learn about new opportunities through each other, and continue to broaden their networks. At night, the Hub transforms into a host space for events, and members (myself included) are beginning to experience the benefits of being able to attend events such as “Social Enterprise from Scratch”, “The Kiva Social” and the “Unreasonable Institute’s West Coast Pitch Fest” without really stepping away from their desks.

A seasoned “Hubber” now, I do wonder what it’ll be like having to adjust back to cubicles, white walls and an office full of people working for the same organization as me.  In the mean time, the Hub Bay Area makes my 9 to 5 just that bit more exhilarating.

http://bayarea.the-hub.net/public/

http://www.fastcompany.com/1657643/the-hub-in-san-francisco-is-a-sustainable-workspace-for-sharing-ideas

Ashima Sukhdev, Rubicon Intern

20 July 2010

Video Volunteers Internship, Summer 2010

Now that I’ve been in India for nearly two weeks, I’ve definitely gotten the hang of things in India. The country is really unlike any other in the world. It’s a country of great economic growth and staggering beauty, but also one of intense corruption and poverty. The India-based Video Volunteers, where I am working for my PennSEM placement, envisions a global social media network, which provides solutions-based media for marginalized and poor communities around the world. Traditional Indian media avoids the struggle of the poor and destitute, VV steps into that void by offering news about the poor, by the poor. With that in mind, VV has launched two major initiatives: include Channel 19, an independent online network to distribute, promote and support community-produced media in the developing world and,  and India Unheard, a community news service that is the country’s first ever newswire dedicated to produce community news.

VV’s Channel 19 (ch19.org) imitative has afforded a voice to the in rural India—it has trained and funded Community Video Units (CVU’s) comprising of 7-9 people who shoot, edit and produce their own material. Their films are then screened to neighboring villages, and since its inception, Channel 19’s news segments have been screened to more than 200,000 rural villagers. VV’s other great program, and the one which I’ve been spending most of my time on, is India Unheard (indiaunheard.videovolunteers.org). India Unheard is building a nationwide community newswire where video reports on key issues are gathered from across the country. Comprised of a network of more than thirty Community Correspondents (CCs) stationed across 24 states of India, India Unheard reports on a variety of key issues, thus generating news from every corner of India. Issues such as education, conflict, health, the environment and caste, which often go underreported or completely ignored by the mainstream press, are the central focus in India Unheard.

For me, I have a couple jobs here. For one, I’ve been tasked with promoting India Unheard program. At only a little more than a month old, India Unheard has already developed a solid Indian audience—it’ll be interesting trying to develop a marketing strategy for such a product still in its infancy. Secondly, I’m here to do research on both programs, to find ways to improve VV’s impact. While that may sound vague, I’ll be sure to update as I go along!

Huge Ma, Video Volunteers Intern

14 June 2010

Aflatoun Internship, Summer 2010

Greetings from Amsterdam!!!

It’s been a little more than 2 weeks since I started working at Aflatoun in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  From cycling to work and around the city with my fellow interns after to working with colleagues from different parts of the world to learning from one of the most renown female entrepreneurs whom I have come to love and respect, the experience thus far has been nothing less than amazing. (A shout-out to the PennSem team for this wonderful opportunity!)

In a nutshell, Aflatoun is a non-profit that promotes its own of Child Social and Financial Education (SCFE) model, the Aflatoun Program. Formally launched in 2005 by Jeroo Billimoria (more on her later), the Aflatoun Program is being adopted, translated and contextualized in over 40 countries by local partner NGOs of Aflatoun. By telling children what their rights are and teaching them to save their resources, Jeroo hopes that the Aflatoun program will "develop socially and financially empowered children who are able to make positive changes to their lives and those of people around them". This is Aflatoun’s dream that is quickly being realized. However, over the years, experiences and impact assessments show that an ecosystem that enables and encourages children to save (or more accurately, make informed financial decisions - since one shouldn't be putting money in the bank when interest rate is below inflation rate) is needed for the education to achieve maximum impact.

And that has been the motivation behind the ChildFinance movement, which aims to achieve financial inclusion and financial capability of children. Key to this movement is that children (at the age when, as studies have shown, habits are formed) should be involved as part of the solution to the social and financial problems we see today.

So where do I come in? Along side a couple Aflatoun team members and my fellow interns from IE Business School, Spain, I have been preparing for the ChildFinance Experts’ Meeting which will be held from 6-7^th June 2010 in Zandvoort. This meeting will bring together over 100 experts in every area relevant to ChildFinance – from academics to regulators to NGOs to private bank representatives - to share their experiences and collectively refine the vision and chart a strategy for the movement.

As expected, I have been assigned different tasks that vary in nature and difficulties. I have gotten my hands on some research work, administrative jobs, interacting with people etc – which is good because division of labor and specialization can be quite boring at times. My main undertaking, though, is to work with Jeroo to create a schedule for the meeting and brainstorm for key questions that participants will discuss and try to answer in a series of sessions that they would attend during the conference. What are the challenges on the field? Is there a business case for ChildFinance? How do we move from measuring knowledge improvement to measuring behavioral change in children? What does it take to create a tipping point for the movement? The answers to these questions will provide a scaffold for the movement’s strategy. More importantly, I would envision the process of finding these answers to lead to even more interesting questions as participants bring their experiences and opinions to the table.

Looking forward to the meeting and to updating everyone about it when it’s over!

Pachara Lawjindakul, Aflatoun Intern

2 June 2010

First Book Internship, Summer 2010: My First Steps—Cause First, Social Enterprise Second

Cherry popsicles, sunburns, and pool noodles come to mind as I recall the lazy summer days following the last day of school.  But, above all else when thinking about what summertime means, I find myself reminiscing over the hours I spent lost to the wonders of summer reading.  And this summer, besides a different selection of titles in mind, my reading plans were no different.  Fresh from Philadelphia and my sophomore year at Penn, I stepped off the train in Union Station in Washington, DC armed with several sorely missed novels that had sadly dropped down on the priority list in the face of more intimidating Norton anthologies and bulk packs of critical articles.  I charted out my summer reading waters with the following course: I’d begin with some of the guilty pleasure reading we all know and love (and try and cover up, rather unsuccessfully), work my way through a few pulp fiction favorites, throw in a few of the recommendations my mother will not stop belaboring, and at last boldly reach my destination by blowing the dust off of two Gabriel Garcia Marquez novels I had received on my birthday last October (yes, that’s how far behind I am in my reading).

However, in the last three weeks, my flashbacks of elementary school summer vacations have grown ever more vivid.  I’ve traded in Michael Chabon for Roald Dahl and Love in the Time of Cholera for the Ramona Quimby series (which, made for a particularly awkward first impression on my summer roommate, resulting in me having to explain that I can, in fact, comprehend books above the fourth grade reading level).  But, why the sudden and seemingly random regression in my choice of reading materials?  Have the international law statutes and European Union treaties finally taken their toll?

On the one hand, absolutely yes.  On the other hand, as I began my internship with First Book, a national nonprofit which provides free and low-cost books to community programs and schools serving children from low-income families, I realized that in order to fully grasp the impact of what it means to read your first book, let alone become a book owner, I would have to return to the ABCs of children’s literature.  Thus, it was with giddy pleasure that I paid my new neighborhood public library a visit and began working my way through the greats of the children’s classics (I think it’s safe to say now that in a week or two, I will graduate proudly to the Young Adult section).  On my first day at the First Book office, I walked down the halls to find bookshelves, in addition to my soon-to-be colleagues’ and mentors’ desks, lined with beloved children’s titles, including editions uniquely provided by First Book like a bilingual version of Eric Carle’ s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Anyone who didn’t walk home at the end of the first day inspired to tap into her inner child with a bedtime story should move soul-searching to the top of the to-do list.

I expected to become a student of social enterprise work this summer, but what I didn’t count on was a trip down the path to revisit the keystone at the heart of my, and truly everyone’s, infinitely renewable student status.  This keystone I am referring here to is, of course, literacy.  And by student, I allude loosely both to the literal journey we take from pre-K through college as well as to the Curious George alter ego we all have constantly running off with our yellow hat, forcing us to chase after discovery and see the world creatively.

If you’ve gotten this far, you may be thinking, wonderful—children’s literature, we’re all on board.  And, it’s true, my first couple weeks at First Book have not converted me (completely) to the practice of throwing out any book with print smaller than size 14.  I suppose my point here is to drive home one of the first lessons I’ve learned: It’s one thing to run a nonprofit with business strategies or a business with charity oriented goals, but it’s a completely other type of venture to organize an effort committed to seeing through to the end a critical and debilitating universal problem like illiteracy, despite the different makes and models of swords and shields acquired along the way.  The tools only get you so far without the guiding belief and focus of a single cause.  Too often, do-gooder organizations are pinned down by the need to retain a certain status, that shining 501(c)(3) title which allows access into the pockets of corporate partners, the minds of fellow nonprofit players, and the hearts of community stakeholders.  What about the endless possibilities for providing resources and touching lives if the barrier were to be broken down?  In the next several weeks, as I continue to immerse myself in the work of First Book, I hope to investigate the crucial question with which cause-oriented organizations like First Book now find themselves facing: Nonprofit or self-sustaining social enterprise?  Through my explorations, I will lend as much insight to this question as possible, in addition to sharing the everyday tasks and challenges of the thing First Book does best—getting books to kids who don't have them.

Melissa Goodman, First Book Intern

27 May 2010

First Book Internship, Summer 2010: My First Questions—Nonprofit or Self-sustaining Social Enterprise?

As I approach the half-way point of my internship here at First Book, I have begun to encounter several themes which stand out to me as interlinked, forming one of the core questions facing social enterprise today.  When this question is ignored, the effect varies on the spectrum from being inconsequential to substantial, but when answered thoughtfully and strategically, the outcome can improve and build upon the organization’s long-run goals and mission.  For the sake of the development of this idea, I will call the question at hand one of identity.  To be more specific, I think the who-are-we-now, what-have-we-been-in-the-past, and where-are-we-going chronological landscape is implicitly linked to identity.  For an organization like First Book, I think this question is further complicated by the fact that the concept of nonprofit is in the midst of transforming from the traditional perception of what a nonprofit has been in terms of language, the what, and the how.   From my interactions with the First Book staff, I think this is a question at all times in the back of their minds and influences big decisions.  Thus far, however, I have only seen it arise when attached to smaller pieces of the bigger picture.  I will continue to explore this issue from two sides, the academic simply because I am in the habit of addressing conceptual questions from a disciplinary, systematic approach as a student, and the applied because this is the approach more likely to resonate with the actual work of a social enterprise today.

Among some of the big questions related to the identity question at large include the following: First, what is the difference in concept and practice between a nonprofit and a social enterprise, and what, if any, are the pitfalls and/or advantages of being labeled as one or the other?  Second, how is social media changing the sphere in which nonprofits work, and how is an organization’s use of social media becoming an indicator of the organization’s success or failure overall?  Third, are nonprofits facing an existential threat as the touchstone of corporate social responsibility in the private sector becomes more and more embedded in a company’s mission and work?  I’ll begin in these blog posts by looking at some examples, big and small, of where in my work at First Book these questions have come up.

First, I’d like to focus on the ambiguous territory and terming of nonprofit versus social enterprise.  While a larger question of identity looms in the background, one quality that I have observed which contributes greatly to First Book’s success is versatility.  Maintaining a consistent picture of an organization’s mission and work is undoubtedly important for integrity’s sake, but fluency in the different languages of the public, private, media, and constituent circles is equally critical.  However, among all the different modes of communication First Bok employs, one piece of phrasing remains the same throughout, no matter the audience: First Book, a national nonprofit.  Whether it’s an introduction to a potential corporate partner, another nonprofit, a donor, or a recipient of First Book’s funds and resources, First Book aligns itself in the nonprofit space.  Simply put and simply understand, nonprofit conveys that an organization is chartered for “other than profit making activities.”  And unless, it’s a school or a hospital, this also means that the organization most likely has some sort of philanthropic goal and depends on external funding.  People feel secure donating to a nonprofit, believing that their money is going directly to the cause at hand, which implicitly leads one to make the conclusion that donating to a “non” nonprofit, in which category social enterprise falls, is risky or ineffective.

The truth is, neither are necessarily the case.  Thus, nonprofit truly becomes a loaded term.  For First Book, I see the precarious balance between nonprofit and social enterprise exemplified in the evolution of book distribution strategies.  First Book began giving new books to kids through small-scale donations and outside volunteerism.  Then, the Book Bank was developed, which gave publishing companies an alternative to pulping books sitting stagnantly in inventory while simultaneously providing free, brand new books to children who otherwise would have never read them.  The third landmark down the book distribution path was the First Book Marketplace, an online store carrying books at deeply discounted prices at or below retail, with an average cost of $1.85 per book.  The revenue from these sales, generated in a variety of ways including donations from corporate partners, goes to supply costs; however, for each book sold, First Book acquires a 10 cent profit.  But the profits don’t make First Book any richer.  Rather, the goal is that this market-based model could potentially mean self-sustainability.  In other words, First Book would no longer necessarily need to rely on funds from external sources and donors.

It is clear that this step in the social enterprise direction would only increase efficiency, advancing First Book’s goal of global access to books and in a sense, literacy itself (if literacy is in fact something to which people require access, and I would argue it is).  But what would this mean for how First Book defines itself, not only in terms of its own practices but in relation to its niche in the nonprofit world, including competitors and eligibility for certain policies, donations, awards, etc.?  What does this say about nonprofits in general?  Are social enterprise models and structures on their way to replacing nonprofits as we know them?

My answer to the last question, at least for now, is no—or, no, not quite.  The First Book Marketplace has provided opportunities of remarkable growth for First Book, and it will continue to do so.  But the Book Bank is still a vital source of free books for programs that can’t afford even the two dollar book.  With this analogy, one can see that social enterprise methodology is certainly creating innovative solutions to problems, but the need for the intermediary nonprofit and simple charity still exists.  School bakes sales to protect the manatees and large social enterprises like United Way, the Salvation Army, and the American Cancer Society all have the same core interest—providing aid where there previously wasn’t any.  And so, maybe the distinction between nonprofit and social enterprise isn’t so important after all.  Or maybe, an organization can be both.

Melissa Goodman, First Book Intern

7 June 2010

Drishtee Internship, Summer 2010

I’ve been working at Drishtee for about 9 days now, and my experience so far has been nothing short of amazing. I came in expecting to be given limited responsibilities, and to learn mainly through observation, but instead I was given a brand new project to work on with the guidance of my mentor, Ms. Swapna Mishra.

This project is part of Drishtee’s new initiative called “Capacity Building & Livelihoods Generation" for Below Poverty Line Youth, which basically aims to help young adults in villages find employment. Although it is relatively easy for men to find jobs by going to near by cities and towns, the same isn’t the case for women. So one of the ideas Drishtee had to help rural women find employment was to start a mini rural manufacturing unit for low-cost sanitary napkins, which would be owned and run by a group of 7~10 rural women entrepreneurs.

This idea has been used in many villages across India, after an inventor named A. Muruganandam created a low-cost, easy-to-use sanitary napkin making machine. Although it has supposedly been successful in villages in other parts of India, it was my job to see if this machine would be profitable in a nearby village, Bati.

On my second day of the job, I battled the 110­ºF heat to go to Bati with Swapna, my mentor, and see the progress that Drishtee had made this far in this project. The village visit was definitely an interesting experience, as I had never been to an Indian village this small before. This was not an agricultural village, so it was definitely not as well off as the lush, green villages I had seen in Bangladesh or in South India. As we went around to each house to call the women to come to the Drishtee village office, one of things that struck me was the friendly, open nature of all the villagers, especially the children. Since holidays had begun, all the kids followed us around, giggling and smiling whenever I looked back.

There were about seven women who came to the office, and these were the ones who were interested in working for sales in this sanitary napkin project. Swapna had gotten them to start selling an existing low-cost brand of sanitary napkins door-to-door to gauge demand. Unfortunately, they faced many social barriers, especially the resistance to change. Women were accustomed to using unhygienic cloths and rags instead of sanitary napkins and didn’t want to spend the extra dollar on this new luxury.

It was my job to basically figure out how to make this project work, and get it to work in the upcoming weeks.  So for the past week or so, I have been focusing on evaluating the feasibility of this project. One of my main concerns is that the sanitary napkin making machine requires a large investment and constitutes a large fixed cost, so I have been trying to see how that investment can be reduced. Another concern is that there is not enough demand in Bati by itself to validate starting this manufacturing unit, so we need to see if we can supply surplus napkins to nearby hospitals or retail points. Basically, a lot of work remains to be done.

One the things that I really enjoyed about this internship so far was the fact that my opinions were given importance, despite the fact that I’m just a college student. The work atmosphere is really friendly and laidback, and I’ve become good friends with the other interns. I really look forward to learning a lot more as I keep getting more and more involved in this project.

Anjani Vedula, Drishtee Intern

1 June 2010

Summer 2010 with Drishtee: Update number 2

It has been another two exciting weeks at Drishtee, in Noida, India! We have made some progress on assessing the feasibility of the low-cost sanitary napkin manufacturing unit in a nearby village Bati, and it has forced us to step back, and think about what it realistically possible. Our main step forward has been the visit to a similar manufacturing unit near Delhi. Although took the 2 hour journey there after lots of correspondence with its high-profile owner, Ms. Janaki Rajaram, she didn’t turn up due to some misunderstanding. As she always mistook us for some other group during our many phone calls, we ultimately decided that Ms. Rajaram needed a personal assistant to coordinate her life for her. Anyways, we were able to extract some useful information from the women working there, including the fact that Ms. Rajaram  took care of the ordering the raw materials, marketing the product and that the equipment was funded completely by grants.

This was exactly the kind of information we were hoping NOT to hear because it was Drishtee’s aim to start a self-sufficient manufacturing unit that was run by the rural women themselves with little external assistance. They were planning to help the women take out a microfinance loan for the equipment, worth almost $1500, and then pay back the loan over a year and a half. Although my financial analysis had showed that the women would need to sell about 2000 packs of napkins a month (which is a ridiculously high amount), just to break even, I was hoping that by visiting another unit, we would see something that would explain how this could be feasible. However, the unit we visited just showed us the opposite…and ultimately convinced me that without a grant to buy the equipment with, the women would not be able to pay back their loans. So I talked about this to Swapna, my mentor, and she agreed. NEXT JOB: writing a business plan that we can send to organizations to convince them of this idea and procure grants….

Now a little bit more about how I have been culturally immersing myself in my homeland! Some of my family in India came to visit for the weekend, and my mom and sister came to join me from Japan. They all wanted to hang out in malls the whole weekend, but I was able to drag them all the Dillihaat, which is this adorable village market
with handicrafts from all over India. I was able to practice my bargaining and got several great deals on handmade scarves and some decorations for my dorm room next year. A definite must-visit foranyone who comes to Delhi!

Anjani Vedula, Drishtee Intern

8 June 2010

Drishtee Internship, Summer 2010 (from our 2nd Drishtee Intern!)

Once off the airplane, I immediately converted my dollars into rupees, and bought a cell phone, an item that, despite the widespread poverty in India, everyone seems to have—street-side fruit vendors and rickshaw drivers included.

My pleasant nap energized me for the day, and I began my first day at the office a few hours after arriving in India.  Satyan Mishra, the founder of Drishtee, welcomed me to the office.  He founded the organization in 2000 to meet the needs of the nearly 70% of Indians who lives in the rural areas, especially the poor.  Despite the number of people living in the villages, a dearth of infrastructure complicates the lives of its residents, as the government finds it more convenient to focus on urban areas, where people are more educated and can press for their rights.  Drishtee now operates an impressive rural supply-chain of 14000 kiosks through local entrepreneurs, providing basic consumer goods, healthcare, microfinance and banking services, employment at rural BPOs, and education services.

I am currently working within the education division of Drishtee.  Drishtee’s rural education centers currently provide training in English and computers, two of the most lacking skills in rural India and sorely needed for the modernizing Indian economy.

My job is to help expand Drishtee’s education offerings beyond English and technology into business training.  The project I’m working on is to develop the content for two new courses that Drishtee will offer in marketing and in business communication skills.

I am extremely happy to be furthering Drishtee’s work in education.  In my short time in India, the disparity in education has made itself evident.  While at work and in establishments like malls or restaurants I can get by using English, I cannot do the same with people in the lower class such as roadside vendors, servants, or rickshaw drivers, most of whom have emigrated from rural areas to the city looking for employment. 

Christopher Comley, Drishtee Intern

29 June 2010

Drishtee Internship, Summer 2010: Blog Post 2 (from our 2nd Drishtee Intern!)

Hello again from Delhi!

The past two weeks saw me busily developing the content for the two courses I mentioned in my last post, one on salesmanship and the other on business communications skills.

Drishtee helped pioneer business in the rural market, and has demonstrated that there is much untapped potential—markets, labor, entrepreneurship—in the villages.  Not only has Drishtee established rural education centers, but also rural business process outsourcing centers (BPOs), and is in the initial stages of developing a new program to establish rural manufacturing centers as well.  With the example of Drishtee, many other businesses have begun to explore the rural areas for business and recruiting opportunity, and villagers themselves are more actively seeking entrance into the formal economy. 

The courses offer training in a variety of areas that excite because perhaps just a decade or two ago no one could have imagined how relevant they would now be to the rural areas.  Areas include the basics of sales and marketing, product promotion, telemarketing, customer relations, “how-to’s” for preparing CVs, making presentation and business proposals, and skills for success in interviews and other business situations. 

That said, this project did keep me confined in the office during the workday.  However, my new project—to develop the training for franchisees, details still fuzzy—should allow for more travel opportunities, which I look forward to greatly.

Christopher Comley, Drishtee Intern

12 July 2010

Drishtee Internship, Summer 2010: Blog Post 3 (from our 2nd Drishtee Intern!)

Kolkata Red Light Areas

*Names have been westernized to respect privacy

 Hello everyone.  Please pardon the interruption in the narrative of my time at Drishtee, as I have another experience that I would like to share with you this post.  I hope you’ll enjoy it!

This past weekend I flew from Delhi to Kolkata, in the northeastern Bengal region of India, to learn more about anti-trafficking efforts in the area.  Kolkata is home to the largest red light district in India, Sonagachi, where thousands of women and girls are trafficked perennially.  I had read much about trafficking, but wanted to get a first-hand view of the environments where it occurs, and on-the-ground projects that combat it.  And so I met up with two interns from Apne Aap, an organization that lobbies for changes in the law concerning human trafficking, educates police on victim-friendly policies, provides education and vocational training to victims of trafficking and their children, and raises awareness of the issue. 

The weekend began with a visit to the Munshigunj red light area, comparatively small.

Mary, a local employee of Apne Aap, led us on our tour. She is a stout, proud woman, gentle but brimming with anger, and not afraid to show “tough love.”  When we first met, she examined us shrewdly with half-closed eyes, but then continued on to make light, laughter-infused conversation.  She works deeply with the women of Munshigunj, attempting unceasingly to persuade mothers to leave the profession, or at least to allow their children to be educated.    

Children from red light areas are largely uneducated.  The mothers often do not understand the value education, and prefer for their children to work.  The girls often become prostitutes themselves.  Indeed, Apne Aap has fought custody battles over girls who were taken out of their care and prostituted by their families, usually male family members.  Children of prostitutes also face widespread discrimination from educational institutions, preventing them from gaining an education should they even have familial support.  Despite the odds, Mary had succeeded in getting many of the children into schools.

Munshigunj red light area was rundown, the streets littered with garbage.  Many young children played in the streets.  Narrow, multi-story buildings, surrounded us as we entered, most of them brothels. 

After speaking with a woman inside a brothel, Mary returned, letting us know we had permission to enter.  That we were granted entry testifies to the strength of the relationship between Mary and the women of the red light district, who are wary of most people as a result of their exploitation.  We entered past a small wooden gate.  A damp, dimly-lit alley proceeded ahead of us for some thirty feet.  To our left and right, and on the floor above, small dark openings dotted the walls.  Each of these was a room where a woman or girl lived and “worked.” Some twenty women “worked” in each of the compounds.

The room was claustrophobically tiny.  A mere 6 x 4 feet, it barely permitted a narrow walking space alongside the bed, which fit snugly along the wall.  Open shelves lined the upper portions of the wall, baring rag tag clothing, a few cooking utensils, and boxes of condoms, though clients often refuse to wear them, leading to the transmission of HIV and other STDs to the women and girls.  A woman in her twenties sat atop the bed, nervously turning her head, and her young son accompanied her.  At night, he had to stay out in the streets while his mother serviced clients.

After touring Munshigunj, another employee, Sherry, led us into Sonagachi.  Though a petite, middle-aged woman who walked slowly and with a slight stoop in her shoulder, you could sense a steely quality to her spirit.  The paan, an Indian chewing tobacco, she kept wedged between her front teeth and bottom lip furthered this image.  Before entering Sonagachi, she instructed us to avoid any conversation.  At just five in the afternoon, women and girls had already begun to line the streets.  Nearly all the women were extremely light-skinned and bore features more reminiscent of east Asia than south, revealing their Nepali, Bangladeshi, or rural northern origins. We had arrived rather early for activity, and the women did not have to put up pretenses.  They stared vacantly at the ground with resigned faces, their lips painted bright red with a dark lining, faces covered in white powder to lighten the skin even more.  They are mostly uneducated, and come from destitute backgrounds.  Driven to extremes from poverty, those around them will commit unspeakable acts, selling their own sisters, daughters, wives, and neighbors into slavery. 

Often times, the women are tricked into becoming prostitutes, as was the case with Mary.  Following the death of her husband, she lived with her mother-in-law, who abused her and threatened her young child.  So, when a neighbor promised her a job in Kolkata, she accepted the offer.  Upon arriving, she was taken into Sonagachi, and forced to become a prostitute.  After a few years she finally escaped.  Apne Aap helped her to rebuild her life, and she began to work with the women and girls in the red light areas and also became a teacher.

I attempted to visit Sonagachi again later that night, when activity picks up, but wasn’t able to.  Both the people at Apne Aap and my guesthouse were extremely concerned for my safety, as a combination of drunk and high customers, pimps, and extravagantly corrupt police would be too-happy to prey on a foreigner, which my light skinned proclaimed me to be. Ultimately, their scruples disallowed them from assisting me, and unfamiliar with the area and unable to speak Bengali, the language most widely spoken in Kolkata, I had to tell myself it was for the best.

Of course, the best was saved for last.  On our final day in Kolkata, we visited centers run by Apne Aap and All Bengal Women, another respected NGO that and provides education, rehabilitation services, and vocational training, for trafficking victims as well as slum dwellers.

We witnessed an Apne Aap program that teaches women embroidery and sewing, and visited an informal education center that caters to the children of the red light areas.  That morning, the children were practicing the alphabet, days of the week, months, and greetings in Bengali, Hindi, and English.

In the afternoon, we transitioned to our next destination.  Behind a pair of ten foot tall iron gates is the comprehensive All Bengal Women compound.  It encompasses a boarding school with some 200 students, a restaurant, a pre-school as well as primary school, offices, lodging, and centers for vocational training in weaving, knitting, sewing, embroidery, and block printing.

We met many women and girls working in the vocational centers.  Most of them smiled and chatted with each other.  One particularly charismatic and saucy woman insisted on posing for us with her loom and products she had produced.  After checking the photos, she declared them “perfect” gesturing accordingly in the western fashion and sporting a toothy smile.

All Bengal Women’s Union (ABWU) also houses former prostitutes.  In their mid-thirties, demand for women declines and they are usually thrown out by their pimp.  Uneducated, unskilled, sick, and suffering trauma, she is unable to support herself. 

To be able to witness the intensity of transformation that can occur when a victim of trafficking receives the love and support of people from Apne Aap or ABWU is inspiring.  At the same time, there is still much room for improvement in the way trafficking is combated, especially in terms of sustainability.  Whereas Drishtee, the organization at which I intern, is self-sustaining as it runs off a business model and raises profit, both Apne Aap and ABWU rely on a combination of grants and donations, which are subject to volatility and interfere with the expansion of the organizations.  As such, there has been little progress in reducing human trafficking, and in fact it has expanded over the past decades.  Both organizations do have quasi-businesses on the side, such as the restaurant or garment making programs discussed, but the profit margins are small.  To be able to design a social business that simultaneously combats trafficking and rehabilitates victims while earning profit to cover its costs and expand operations would be incredible.

As we walked around, a girl dressed in an oversized, yellow tunic quietly shuffled by, avoiding eye contact.  She stared determinedly at the ground, and seemed to stiffen when we were too close. As we were leaving, groups of exuberant school children began to greet us.  “Hello, what is your name?” “Chris”  “Aaahh.  Very nice!”  Encouraged by the interactions with other children, the girl in the yellow tunic approached us and introduced herself, telling us she enjoyed drawing.  On the way to the airport the other intern turned to me asking, “Ya know that girl was rescued from Sonagachi, right?”

Christopher Comley, Drishtee Intern

26 July 2010

Stay tuned for more updates from our interns in the coming weeks!

To read about our Summer 2009 interns' experiences, check out the archives here!

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