Vision Document

[j...@adiki.com]

Hi group,

I had uploaded the document but when you click on it for some reason
it comes out in some weird code so I have copied and pasted it here so
everyone can have it.

Thanks and here it is. Please refer to the visual representation on
the group page for a quick understanding.

After much thought after today’s meetings, I strongly believe that the
Austin Social Innovators Network and the Social Innovation Incubator,
which I have named “EnNoBator” (play off of combining Entrepreneur
mentality with innovation within an incubator to solve societies
obstacles through innovative social entrepreneurship) need to be
developed hand and hand with a common focus, ……..whatever we decide is
our common purpose for both the network and EnNoBator.

I find this extremely crucial to the success of this synergistic
relationship because yes there are many groups that are socially
conscious and talking about this and that and sometimes acting but a
lot of the times without much direction or result for that matter.
Well that is nice and all but what really makes a difference is
action, the main purpose of the EnNoBator. (By the way, who ever is
interested more in the EnNoBator piece of this impact puzzle, please
join that particular group, that is where I plan to focus much of my
energy.)

I have attached how I see this all being laid out visually as best as
I can (paint isn’t a very good tool, lol), but please feel free to add
as many ideas as you can so that we can take this ship in the right
direction. I see this being developed from the bottom up. I am going
to write out the vision and then provide an action item list at the
end. Feel free to skip this short vision document and check out the
image I have uploaded, it sums it up if you do not have time to read
this.

The thick black lines mean that the EnNoBator has direct contact with
either that network or groups and the thin black lines mean that those
groups have direct contact with each other and the broken connecting
lines signify that they know what other funding entities are doing
through the EnNoBator. The EnNoBator will assist in connecting
available funds to ventures with the biggest impact, more details
later.

Bottom Network is more related to the ASIN. The dotted circle
signifies the network we are wishing to build, an online portal for
all the groups in the Austin or surrounding areas to know what is
going on with other socially innovative groups. This network has to be
built up from the get go to be easily scalable and customizable to
where when new needs amongst those groups arise we can plug them in.
Whoever is leading the technical structure of the site in regards to
site development and usability will head that up. I don’t have the
list of who signed up for what so just run with me. That team needs to
figure out how to get this built and utilized to where socially
innovative organizations, groups or whatever entity or person can know
what is going on locally and eventually in full fruition globally. I
know that one of the goals of the group was to have this entity be the
first on google for Austin social innovation, which I think is easily
attainable in less than a year but I want to shoot for being number
one in the world with a few years. I think that once we prove the
model we can gradually scale this out.

This network will need to have someone at the EnNoBator that is in
touch with social entrepreneurial ventures forming amongst these
groups who are trying to solve societies obstacles through
entrepreneurial innovation. That’s all on the network aspect, I see it
being something simple, a way for all socially innovative groups to
know what everyone is needing and doing and utilizing a means to
effectively share resources (money, contacts, human capital, etc). The
EnNoBator’s role in this piece is to be a social innovation hub of
action to;
A) provide resources, guidance, contacts, office space, support etc.
to socially conscious for profit businesses that arise from the
network
B) assist Change agents who show up to discuss areas of social
interest, I.e. housing, environment, education, health, etc (whatever
social cause you may be more inclined to allocating your time towards)
C) evolve from initially being a vehicle to aide in assisting change
agents to have a committed space and resources to pursue their way of
change they wish to see to a full out Incubator focused on taking big
ideas to market. (more detail on this once the Incubator group figures
it out but I am working on some thoughts about that)

The middle spotted line circle signifies an idea that I had that stems
from something that was mentioned a few times today, doing something
about education. I believe Martha Ward mentioned that some
astronomical number of Texans are not going to have a high school
diploma by 2015 or 2020. If you are a true Texan like her, 10
generations I believe, this is absolutely unacceptable and I will not
stand for it if I can do something about it and I feel that this is
just as vital to the success of this movement because we have to make
this sustainable and the only way we can do that is if we influence
the youth to be aware of their environment and have the access and
guidance to know and act on their dreams of making a difference. I
want to base the measure of success on this by getting us into the top
20 high school graduation rated states in the country or something
like that. This “youth” network (James Mentioned interest in youth)
would work directly with the EnNoBator in all stages of its
developments. Initially College students who may be studying social
entrepreneuriship (I am thinking Martin may be the best bet for the
college involvement) can intern with the EnNoBator and work there in
assisting in its day to day workings keeping in touch with all the
groups in Austin, hosting office hours and sitting in and contributing
on brainstorming sessions while at the same time mentoring high school
kids who as a school project can work on a socially innovative
business plan for some competition like the Dell Competition that was
mentioned. A third facet that I see college students interning with
the EnNoBator is for they themselves to learn from mentors and
actually go through the EnNoBator guidance on putting together their
own business plan for some other competition, lets say the Dell
Competition again. College and high school kids can mentor middle
school kids in the similar way or something. Who ever wants to head
this up, go for it. I will have action items for this at the end of
the vision document so keep reading. I have more details on the
EnNoBator but this about the overall vision so I will stay on track.
Of course I see this working on a very small scale, maybe one school
from each level to prove the model.

This leads up to the top piece, the EnNoBator, the piece that I feel
that is really going to bring this all to together. In a nutshell the
EnNoBator is keeping an ear and eye on all the socially innovative
groups in the network, providing space and resources for collaboration
and development and eventually resources and connections to funding, a
place that fosters the social entrepreneurial development of the youth
of tomorrow through social innovation with a strong support group. The
EnNoBator will take on an active role with connecting with Socially
conscious investors of all sorts and sources of funding to connect
with change agents associated through the Austin Social Innovators
Network.

PLEASE DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME - I see the network, the bottom, and
middle networks as one with the EnNoBator. I see the network being
structured for that communication and openess and the EnNoBator as the
catalyst and source to go from just talking about ideas and solutions
to action and REAL POSITIVE IMPACT. The EnNoBator is the glue that
will make this all work while the network will be just as equally
important and that is why I believe that is why we need to take both
of their developments into account from the ground up. I eventually
seeing this model being scaled out globally and just adding more
circles and dotted lines to my picture.

ACTION ITEM LIST (somewhat of in order by priority)

We need to formalize our purpose. Which hopefully will come about in a
few days.

We need a team to get together to work on ideas on how to build the
virtual network to connect all these pieces once we figure out what we
want to do, hopefully my thoughts serve as a launch pad so that we can
have a common vision to work towards establishing and using resources
available to get this started and going the most bootstrap way
possible. Two people who I can think of who can be crucial in the
development of this section can be Gordon Montgomery and Matthew
McGabe. I am basing my assumptions on the brief bits of info I heard
of peoples area of expertise or interest.

We need to compile a master list of all the groups in the Austin area
that would benefit from being in this network, you should be able to
determine should be reached out too. We also need someone who is going
to be the liaison for this entity we are creating and all the groups.
I know that a few of you may already be involved in various groups, it
may be worth considering whatever group heads this important piece up
to maybe have one contact at each group to communicate with. This can
be handled via some type of wiki page where everyone can add to.

Simultaneously we need to have an EnNoBator group to get that cranked
out. I am going to join that group and we can figure this out. Some
people that come to mind on how we can get this figured out is Kevin
Koym, Scott Collier, Gary Hoover, and Rob Hanna.

We need to have a group, if we decide to incorporate the educational
circle which I think is vital, work on getting this established. Some
people that come to mind who seem interested and experienced in are
Martin Montero for the college connect, Carl Settles with the high
school connect, and I have a connect with middle schools that I
recently invited to the group and if no one else can be this connect,
I can head this up but I would prefer someone else to head this up so
if anyone is interested please take this up. I am also thinking, that
maybe Martha can over see this group just because I got the vibe that
she is interested in education just because of her piece of info on
the future of high school. Just my thoughts on the education dotted
circle piece.

An additional piece of this puzzle is to build an add ional list of
various types of funding sources I.e. (for now) socially conscious
angels, social innovation and business competitions for 2009 so that
we can get a calendar and get that out to the network once we get this
figured out, social conscious VC’s, list of resources of government
resources for funding in these types of businesses, and
philanthropists. This list will be used to foster a network of sources
of funding that can be and should be facilitated through hub
EnNoBator.

I think this is a great start and I hope this gets us started in the
right direction. I look forward to working on this with you all.

God Speed.

JC Otero