California Governor Jerry Brown signed 2 bills that create new legal structures for social entrepreneurs, at the eleventh hour on Sunday, October 9th, 2011.With a few days for the blogosphere and twitterverse to react and inform, here’s a list of blog posts and resources about the new social innovation legislation.(Note: feel free to add on […]
Posts
“Entrepreneurs, investors and consumers are calling for this type of legislation,” said Assemblymember Huffman. “They believe this is the start of something transformational. AB 361 rolls out the welcome mat for businesses and investors ready to create high quality jobs in California and make economic and social contributions that will improve the quality of life in communities across to our state for years to come,” said Assemblymember Jared Huffman (sponsor of AB 361)

JaredHuffman Jared Huffman
Just before midnight @JerryBrownGov signed my benefit corporation bill AB 361! CA now on cutting edge of corporate social responsibility!marc_thibault Marc Thibault
Gov Brown signs into law #BenefitCorp Legislation #AB361. Thx@Jared Huffman, @ASBCouncil, @BCorporation 4ur leadership.
#CA becomes the first State to offer #socent a choice. Brown signs Flexible Purpose and Benefit Corporation legislationbusinessforgood.blogspot.com
California becomes leader in innovation in corporate forms for social entrepreneurs nonprofitlawblog.com/home/2011/10/c… – great move, Governor!
Great news! @JerryBrownGov signed Flexible Purpose Corp & #BenefitCorp #Legislation into law! 1.usa.gov/r3a5C1 #BCorp #socent #impinv
GreenBizConsult Carolina Miranda
California passes #bcorp and green business legislation!http://ht.ly/6SIR1WJF_Competition William James Fnd
Go MoonBeam! Gov. Jerry Brown signs AB 361, for CA Benefit Corps. Moving forward… aroundthecapitol.com/Bills/AB_361/2…
Social Innovation Bills in CA signed by Governor Jerry Brown!http://ow.ly/6SNgv #socent #CA dlvr.it/q6sh2 #vgiveadamnTheHubLA The HUB LA
Social Innovation Bills in CA signed by Governor Jerry Brown!http://ow.ly/6SNgv #socent #CAArthurSmid Arthur Smid
California at forefront of progressive legislation: Bill AB 361 – Benefit corporations. Brown signed B corps into law gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17…
Innov8Social Neetal Parekh
@JerryBrownGov signed Into CA Law: AB 361 (#BCorps) & SB 201 (Flexible Purpose Corps) bit.ly/nQtbC1 @BCorporation #socent #socentlaw
Mixtape_Media MixtapeMedia
Yeah, Cali! RT @TheHubLA Social Innovation Bills in CA signed by Governor Jerry Brown! ow.ly/6SNgv #socent #CA
InVentureFund InVenture Fund
#California recognizes #bcorps! http://ow.ly/6SOSY @bcorporation
echoinggreen Echoing Green
.@JerryBrownGov signs Flexible Purpose Corp & #BCorps into law in #California! Great news for #socialinnovation! http://ht.ly/6SPIq #socent
ABLImpact Antony Bugg-Levine
Huge achievement for @BCorporation: @JerryBrownGov signed #BenefitCorp #Legislation into law! http://j.mp/r6IfPR #BCorp #socent #impinv
ZambranoESQ Daniel S. Zambrano
Good news for #socialentreprenuers in #CA: “@BCorporation:@JerryBrownGov signed #BenefitCorp #Legislation!http://j.mp/r6IfPR #BCorp”
shawnlandres Shawn Landres
Great news: @JerryBrownGov has signed Flexible Purpose Corps & #BCorps into law! http://j.mp/r6IfPR @BCorporation #socent #impinv #socentlaw
CultivatingCap Cultivating Capital
Great news: Governor Brown signed Benefit Corporation and Green Business legislation! fb.me/zC5Rt1PR
CauseWire Mickie Kennedy
California Benefit Corporation and Flexible Purpose Corporation: California Governor Jerry Brown anno… bit.ly/rtG5Wt #nonprofit
greenchamber Green Chamber
California Passes Benefit Corporation and Green Business via@CultivatingCap http://ow.ly/6SO95
EucalyptusMag Eucalyptus Magazine
New legislation in CA. fb.me/1mTL0Ol3Y
lornali Lorna Li Social SEO
RT @TheHubLA – Social Innovation Bills in CA signed by Governor Jerry Brown! http://ow.ly/6SNgv _#socent_ #CA dlvr.it/q6zdC
BCorporation B Corporation
Great news: @JerryBrownGov has signed #BenefitCorp #Legislation into law! http://j.mp/r6IfPR #BCorp #CA #news#socent #impinv #socentlaw
- 3 Announcements: Mashable Social Good Summit Day 1 (Dowser)
- Social Good Summit Recap: Good News & Shocking Stats – Day 1 (Yahoo News)
- 2011 Clinton Global Initiative – Social Good Summit Mashup (Non-profit Law Blog)
- 5 Super Important Things ‘Bout Mashable’s Social Good Summit (MTV act)
- Final Thoughts from the Social Good Summit (socialIMPACT)
- Social Good Summit 2011: A Perspective from Attending Virtually (Innov8Social)
2. On YouTube
Sessions are being posted to Mashable’s YouTube page. Here links to a few interesting sessions and the promo video for the Social Good Summit.
- NEXT GENERATION LEADERSHIP: AN OPENING KEYNOTE CONVERSATION Ted Turner, Chairman of Turner Enterprises, Inc. and the United Nations Foundation and Mashable’s SVP Content & Executive Editor, Adam Ostrow (@AdamOstrow)
- CONNECTIVITY, COLLABORATION, & CRISIS : YOUTH & HUMANITARIAN ACTION Monique Coleman, Actress, Singer, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist (@gimmemotalk), Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General
- SOCIAL VALUE INVESTING: A NEW PARADIGM FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS Howard W. Buffett, Executive Director, Howard G. Buffett Foundation (@HBuffett)
- BUILDING A PRIVATE SECTOR PILLAR OF GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE Simon Mainwaring, Founder / Author, WE FIRST (@SimonMainwaring)
- DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DEVELOPING WORLD: THE BIG CHALLENGES Raj Shah, USAID Administrator, United States Agency for International Development (@USAID)
Here is video preview about the Social Good Summit that sets the scene for the conference.
4. On Twitter
You can find a wealth of information on Twitter using the #SocialGood tag. Here are a few tweets from our coverage of the webcast.
September 19th (Monday) : a few tweets from Day 1 of Social Good Summit by @Innov8Social
Watching
#livestream of keynote#socialgood conf with@tedturnerof@unfoundation by@mashable director
“1 billion people went to bed hungry last night” –
@tedturner at#socialgood@unfoundation talking about food production & population growth
role of media in doing good? ‘when you tell the truth the best you can, you are doing good.’ –
@tedturner at#SocialGood Summit
@tedturner on online v. print media: faster delivery, cheaper, easier#SocialGood
Ted Turner’s success formula: “early to bed early to rise, work like hell, advertise” –
@tedturner at#SocialGood Summit@mashable
RT
@unfoundation: ”There’s no white flag in my boat. We’re going to keep fighting on.’ –@TedTurner at#SocialGood Summit
Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General: ‘UN is getting better at telling the story,but we need the public to share the story.”
#SocialGood
Good question by
@gimmemotalk “How do we take this online platform, and translate into offline tangible action?”#SocialGoodSummit
Great discussion w/ UN Under-Secretary
@ValerieAmos and Monique Coleman@gimmemotalk, worth the watch on@livestreamfrom#SocialGood Summit
…
This past week featured the 2nd Annual Social Good Summit in New York hosted by Mashable, the United Nations Foundation, 92nd Street Y, and sponsored by Ericsson. The tagline for the summit was “new power. new players. new platforms” and was studded with superstars—from the media, government, social innovation, and the non-profit sector.
And thanks to live webcasting through Livestream, the hundreds of attendees in the audience were joined by hundreds more tuning in virtually. I can’t speak to what the live experience was, but I can provide a perspective on what it was like to attend the Social Good Summit virtually.
What is the purpose of the Social Good Summit?
As stated, the Summit “unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.” And from listening in to various sessions, there was definitely an effort to open the stage for speakers to connect with those in the audience and those tuning in virtually. Speakers used valuable time on center stage to mention websites, Twitter handles, online campaigns, actual and virtual ways to support, and even job and internship opportunities.
Emphasis on Space
There seemed to be an emphasis on creating space.
Rather than a few action-packed days of 6-8 hours of material, the Social Good Summit spanned 4 days, started at 1pm EST each day, and featured 4 hours of center-stage discussions. This created space to cover and post about the event live and in real-time.
Likewise, the presentations were of varied length but were all well-suited for the easily-distracted social media participant…with no discussion spanning longer than 45 minutes, and a few running just 7 minutes. And there were scheduled breaks—space to add a few more people on Twitter or look up a few organizations on Wikipedia or become a fan of a few related Facebook pages.
And as I learned through Facebook and Twitter updates from attendees, there was emphasis on physical space at the conference too, with a designated lounge for bloggers, tweeters, and social media cadre to write, talk to others, conduct interviews, and post about the event.
Emphasis on Youth
From tuning in to Livestream, the conference seemed to be especially geared towards the youngest of social entrepreneurs. With sessions such as “Next Generation Leadership”, to “Youth & Humanitarian Action” with Monique Coleman to “YouthQake: How Young People & Technology Are Changing the World” and “HMU (Hit Me UP!): Young People, Mobile, and Social Change” no one was too young to have a seat at the Social Good Summit.
And reasonable ticket prices for physical attendees and free livestream for virtual ones made it easier for bootstrapped social entrepreneurs, non-profits, and perhaps especially–youth to attend.
Emphasis on Big Ideas
There’s something that happens when you hear from pioneers, leaders, and trend-setters in a field. You tend to find yourself inspired to pursue your own big ideas.
Whether it was Barbara Bush speaking about the story of Global Health Corps, Ted Turner sharing his advice for success and also flexing his sense of humor, Serena Williams talking about her commitment to education in Africa, Christy Turlington telling the moving story how her serious maternal health issue inspired her to make a global statement and how her work led her to connect with blogger sensation Heather Armstrong of Dooce, or Randi Zuckerberg talking about the role of Facebook in stopping the spread of malaria, or Dr. Raj Shah of USAID categorically explaining the food sustainability issues the world could be facing—whether it was any of those speakers who caught your eye, what they may left with you is the inspiration and belief that no matter how far-flung or non-conventional ideas for social good are, they are possible.
And as the Social Good Summit illustrated, increasingly, the vehicle from impossible to possible social entrepreneurship is powered by technology and social media.

A Few Interesting Reads on SocialEarth
Innov8Social on SocialEarth
Dreamforce 2011–the conference that brought together upwards of 35,000 developers, professionals, entrepreneurs, non-profit representatives, executives, and industry leaders–enabled each niche to gain something useful from event.
Attending Day 2 of the event with the focus of identifying tools and trends useful to social entrepreneurs and social innovators, a few key themes came to mind.
Listening In to Marc Benioff and Eric Schmidt
One of the most compelling sessions of Day 2 was the afternoon keynote session which featured an interview between Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Google Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt. (see here for the video)
Surprisingly, though the conversation was being viewed by a live audience of thousands and was also being broadcast online, it had a kind of personal and intimate feel to it. Like overhearing a conversation between 2 long-time colleagues–who know each other well enough to make a few jokes at the other’s expense, but who also respected the other enough to ask probing questions leading to insightful response.
Schmidt was articulate and honest. Benioff was a generous host and a thoughtful interviewer.
So, what can social innovators learn from Dreamforce, Benioff, and Schmidt?
Top 5 Things Social Innovators Learn From Dreamforce 2011
1. Mobile. Throughout various sessions, there was emphasis on the astounding growth of mobile usage. More people are adopting mobile devices and tablets as main ways they access the internet. Social entrepreneurs looking to build new products, services, and websites would be wise to build their strategy around mobile device usage and content. This includes building apps on multiple platforms and/or making a mobile version of a site.
2. Social. Understanding and using social networks, social platforms, and social media is becoming less optional and more of a necessity in connecting individuals and social investors to causes, and to each other. With a plethora of apps to help engage your audience, it is important for social innovators and social entrepreneurs to consider their goals when it comes to building engagement and wisely use existing social platforms to extend their reach.
3. Local. In the keynote as well as in sessions such as the Google Apps super session, there was an emphasis on the future of local. News, events, deals are most valid to users when they are in the same locale. In building ways for your social venture to effectively connect with your intended audience, consider how to customize the user experience to make it relevant to their location.
4. Real-time. Mobile, social, local formed a buzzword trifecta at Dreamforce. And Marc Benioff was quick to remind the audience of another in his keynote talk with Eric Schmidt. He mentioned that real-time is also an emerging trend in effectively connecting with audiences. Just as information is more relevant when it applies to your location, it is also more relevant when it applies to you, now. As social entrepreneurs consider how to connect their cause with those who can contribute time, resources, social engagement support, it is important to think about how to connect content in real-time.
5. Work with Good People. When Benioff asked Schmidt about what attracted him to start at Google when it was a young company, Schmidt turned to the audience and said, “life is short and you should spend time working with people you enjoy’. Social business is unique because of its emphasis on building a revenue model as well as serving the community and environment—part of making it work is having an awesome team of bright, committed folks, who like and bring out the best in each other.
To catch up on our tweets from the event, follow @innov8social on Twitter. You can also search #df11 for other tweets related to Dreamforce 2011.
Defining Social
For social innovators and social entrepreneurs “social” in this context relates to a cause or public benefit, as outlined in this definition:
social – “of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society.” <social institutions> (Merriam-Webster definition)
For cloud computing afficianados, “social” refers to dynamic digital, linked online content, as articulated in this definition:
social – “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others.” (Merriam-Webster definition)
So, Which Is It?
It’s both, of course. The two definitions of social share a major similarity—they both involve connecting. In the social innovation context, is connecting with communities, the environment, the downtrodden, animal welfare, civil rights, societal ills, education, underrepresented populations, and other causes or communities.
In the computing context, “social” refers to connecting online, through social networks, social media, and online platforms and networks that enable online exchanges easily and in real-time. It is the ability to voice a concern or praise not on an individual basis or in a vacuum, but in a crowded room, in which you are shoulder-to-shoulder with companies, manufacturers, media, various other constituencies, and other users of the product or service.
While we may try to correct those who confuse the two popular definitions of social—in reality, it may be time to somehow reconcile the connotations and allow enable the definitions to be connected.
Social relates to cause. And in today’s society, championing a cause will effectively call for an effective social content strategy.
So the next time someone asks you, “do you mean social, or social?”
Just say yes.
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