Who: Springboard Innovation hosts its monthly Social Innovation Forum on Wednesday, May 12th 2010, from 6-9pm. Due to limited space, RSVP is REQUIRED.

What: Join us after the ReVisioning Value Conference to learn about social entrepreneurship and social enterprise. How is social enterprise/business different from a traditional non-profit? What benefits and challenges does it offer? How does it tie into impact investing and new legal structures? Speakers and experts will facilitate discussion and learning. Join us!

Mark your calendars now and RSVP today! Space is limited. Learn more about the Forum at www.springboardinnovation.org/forum.php

When: May 12, 2010 5:30 Doors Open; appetizers, drinks and networking 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Discussion and Workshops

Where: The Think Tank in the Olympic Mills Commerce Building, 107 SE Washington, Portland, or, 97214

Cost: $10, snacks and drinks included

RSVP and Contact: Please contact Mary Grace at (503) 452- 6898 or [email protected] for more information about this event and to RSVP.

About The Social Innovation Forum: The Springboard Social Innovation Forum offers a monthly event designed to support those interested in creating a better future. Our focus is to help practitioners or potential practitioners of social projects push beyond discussion and debate into action. Each Forum will inspire and teach with ideas, powerful role models, and stories. Speakers, content experts, panels, and workshops will help you improve your strategies for planning and launching effective social ventures. The Forum will create a context to connect, learn, and take action around ideas that lead to tangible change—all in a venue designed for building community. The Forum is intended to attract people with a wide range of experience and backgrounds, but with a common interest—making a difference. If you are getting tired of waiting for someone else to step up to take on issues you care about, come see how this can be a place to make a difference, here or around the world. We invite people from both the business and non-profit community—investors and activists—to join in, work together, and make this a model for other cities to adopt. Learn more about the Forum at www.springboardinnovation.org/forum.php

About Springboard Innovation Springboard Innovation (www.springboardinnovation.org) is a not-for-profit headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Through a process of “innovation incubation” we help community members launch social change organizations and programs. We invite you to be involved in our newest initiative for change.

Who: Springboard Innovation hosts its monthly Social Innovation Forum on Wednesday, May 12th 2010, from 6-9pm. There is limited space for this month’s event, so RSVP is REQUIRED.

What: ReVV 2010 is over, and it's time to discuss how to foster new models for change. What do we need to know? What resources and best practice should we be aware of? Let's talk more about social entrepreneurship and social enterprise. How is social enterprise/business different from creating a traditional nonprofit? What benefits and challenges does it offer? How does it tie into impact investing and new legal structures? Speakers and experts will facilitate discussion and learning.

We are delighted to present two regional experts who have rich backgrounds in both research and academia, as well as practical experience in enterprise development:

Kim Alter, Founder, Virtue Ventures and Venturesource, a brand new resource for social entrepreneurs.

Rob Wiltbank, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University and venture partner with Montlake Capital. Kim has been teaching at the Said Business School in Oxford for the last few years, has consulted with social ventures in over 40 countries, and is an author and leader in the field. Fresh from the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, Kim will share her experience in social ventures.

Rob presented at a breakout session at ReVV AND conducted a post-conference workshop and was counted as having shared one the seven key ideas identified from the conference. We're thrilled he has agreed to join us to share his research, and the very compelling implications is has for impact investing.

Don't miss this forum! Space is limited. Learn more about the Forum at www.springboardinnovation.org/forum.php

When: May 12th, 2010 5:30 Doors Open; appetizers, drinks and networking 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Discussion and Workshops

Where: The "Think Tank" at Olympic Mills Commerce Center

Cost: $10, snacks and drinks included

RSVP and Contact: Please contact Mary Grace at (503) 452- 6898 or [email protected] for more information about this event and to RSVP.

About The Social Innovation Forum: The Springboard Social Innovation Forum offers a monthly event designed to support those interested in creating a better future. Our focus is to help practitioners or potential practitioners of social projects push beyond discussion and debate into action. Each Forum will inspire and teach with ideas, powerful role models, and stories. Speakers, content experts, panels, and workshops will help you improve your strategies for planning and launching effective social ventures. The Forum will create a context to connect, learn, and take action around ideas that lead to tangible change—all in a venue designed for building community. The Forum is intended to attract people with a wide range of experience and backgrounds, but with a common interest—making a difference. If you are getting tired of waiting for someone else to step up to take on issues you care about, come see how this can be a place to make a difference, here or around the world. We invite people from both the business and non-profit community—investors and activists—to join in, work together, and make this a model for other cities to adopt. Learn more about the Forum at www.springboardinnovation.org/forum.php

About Springboard Innovation Springboard Innovation (www.springboardinnovation.org) is a not-for-profit headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Through a process of “innovation incubation” we help community members launch social change organizations and programs. We invite you to be involved in our newest initiative for change.

Re VV2011 is a how-to conference experience for directors and staff from enterprise (nonprofits and for-profits), finance, foundations, and funders who will join educational institutions, community leaders, government, and people looking to make a difference. Six Big Themes (Impact Investing, Strategy, Metrics, Innovation, Start-Up, Ecosystem) drive the conference design. Spend time with international experts, and build community.

Mercy Corps and Startup Weekend have partnered to create a first-of-its kind event focused on solving some of the world’s toughest problems through technology and entrepreneurship, measured by solutions formulated from the boldest of ideas.

Tech4Change will serve as a platform to encourage new ways to think about entrepreneurship in challenging environments around the globe. The 54-hour marathon event will be focused on developing tech tools for the greater good and creating viable social enterprises that can scale to address global needs.

We need sharp business development and marketing experts with ideas for social change! We need Ruby and mobile engineers and developers! We need UI/UX experts with an eye for all things beautiful!

Here's an opportunity for you to gain experience working with social impact entrepreneurs and nonprofit program officers! Put your skills to the test at Tech4Change and develop a minimum viable product with a shot for deployment with Mercy Corps!

Tech4Change will take place at Mercy Corps Portland Headquarters and will start with participants pitching their ideas for social change. You'll also get to hear pitches from Mercy Corps personnel who've been in the field. From there, the crowd will choose the best ideas that will be developed during the weekend. The top prize winning team will have a chance at deploying their application with Mercy Corps in the field!

Mercy Corps is a non-profit disaster relief and development organization with operations in over 40 countries. Its mission is to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps strives to catalyze community-led and market-driven solutions to global poverty issues. Increasingly, Mercy Corps is employing technologies which have the potential to give millions of people new access to financial services and information, enabling them to grow businesses and improve their livelihoods, health and communities. Mercy Corps is also increasingly using startup technologies to streamline operations and meet compliance needs, freeing up human and financial resources to benefit those in need.www.mercycorps.org

Every third Thursday we hold our main Meetup at Hatch. The primary theme of our group is: Social Entrepreneurs - PDX: How we help each other solve business and social problems.

We consist of over 300 members of which 1/3 are business owners, or trying to start a business, 1/3 are freelancers that support small business, and 1/3 are folks with shared interests or who are networking.

We plan to hear five or six five minute pitches from social entrepreneurs.

Some nights we will hold Mastermind events where a specialist fields questions, other times we do Crowdsolving events where the attendees ask their questions or ask for help with a problem and the group provides feedback, ideas, connections, suggestions.

Overall, we are a fascinating group of highly motivated changemakers. Hatch is a great co-working space, so if you have not been there, this is a good time to check it out.

Cold beer and treats are always provided. Suggested Donation is $5 to $10

I look forward to seeing you there. If you would like to speak (not really a pitch, just casual information) about a local social enterprise or know someone who would, please contact me. (contact info is above)

A monthly networking event for social entrepreneurs. We always have a good mix of entrepreneurs, creative, and technical people interested in joining forces to solve a wide-range of social and environmental issues.

We do a fun speed networking event in groups of three so everyone gets to meet at least ten others in relaxed and fun environment.

In all industries including the tech industry, there is a growing business movement in Oregon helping build healthy and equitable communities. Entrepreneurs, Millennials, Boomers, small and midsize companies, even nonprofits and NGOs are discovering how to positively impact the world and make a profit. The movement’s focus: the “Triple Bottom Line,” or People, Planet and Profit. These companies are called Benefit Companies, Benefit Corporations and B Corps and they believe and act differently than other businesses.

In this hands-on workshop, we:

-Give you with the business case for this model

-Share with you why it is gaining traction across the state and across the country

-Explain the differences between a Benefit Company, Benefit Corporation, and a B-Corp -Share insight from Oregon business leaders embracing this model and how it has helped them thrive.

This session is facilitated by Tom Hering and MaryAnne Harmer of Benefit Corporations for Good.