Dear members and friends,
A billion is a very large number – for instance: a million seconds is about twelve days – a billion seconds is about thirty two years! It took from the beginning of time until 1865 for the human population of our planet to reach a billion. For one billion to become three billion only took one hundred years – that was 1965. And for the three billion to become six billion only needed thirty five years – that was the year 2000. Faster than the growth of people is the growth in the natural resources we use and the pollution we create. It’s happening so fast that even our best science can’t monitor it. By 2050 there could be ten billion humans -stimulated by instant global technology to consume – to expect a lifestyle enjoyed today by maybe 1.2 billion of us. To satisfy such a market. would require the resources of five earth planets.
Over the years, did I really believe that the ‘dolce vita’ was only for us in the west? No longer. China, India and the rest of the world will want their share of wealth. It’s possible that we’ve already lost our chance to get this exploding process under control. Humankind desperately needs to reinvent slowness – to calm the unsustainable speed of innovation – to get ourselves back in balance with nature. Its ok for me – I’m slowing down anyway – it’s one of the pleasures of getting older. But I feel sorry for the young ones – billions of them – squabbling over what’s left. I hear the rumble of distant thunder.
——————————————————-
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has published a second report on social entrepreneurship in the UK. Like last time the report uses data from 27,000 18-64 year olds randomly, selected by region. It measures levels of early stage socially motivated entrepreneurial activity and shows that 3.2% of the working age population (1.2 million adults) is engaged in such activity. This suggests around 100,000 active in Scotland and I’m wondering what definitions they use. The authors admit that it’s hard to weed out the small-scale voluntary work from social entrepreneurs who may go on to establish high turnover businesses – so they decided to adopt a definition which only includes activities which will generate revenue. I don’t agree with this definition. People like Gandhi, Florence Nightingale et al had nothing to do with ‘revenue streams’. This distortion is imported from the USA. See executive summary: http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4938.
———————————–
‘Orphan assets’ is a new term coined to describe the funds held by banks, insurance companies etc which have remained unclaimed for fifteen years. The estimated amounts are still vague and vary from half a billion to several billion pounds. The Commission on Unclaimed Assets chaired by Ronald Cohen is recommending that the money should create a new ‘Social Investment Bank’ to deliver financial advice and funds to the third sector to help expend its activities. Good piece by Matthew Pike in Society Guardian. http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4932.
————————————-
Liz Gardiner of Fablevision in Glasgow, informs us of the first ever training course in cultural planning (about which she is passionate). The course is 120 hours long, starting in September, and is a collaboration between 3 universities. If you’re third sector, it’s free; public and private sector £1,500: http://www.senscot.net/view_event.php?viewid=4939.
————————————–
There’s a DVD doing the rounds which showcases the social enterprise sector in Scotland – well worth a look. But Ruari Wilson of Forth Sector thinks it features too many folk who are too far from the coalface. Ruari’s review is here: http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4928. You can decide for yourself, by contacting rebecca@indigops.com for a free copy.
—————————————-
NOTICES: We can’t flag all notices here, but submit jobs (http://www.senscot.net/forms/submitjob.php) or events (http://www.senscot.net/forms/submitevent.php) and we’ll post them on our site. This week:
JOBS: 28 vacancies, incl. posts with: BabyGROE, Bridges Programmes, Edinburgh Cyrenians, NISUS Scotland, Greenspace Scotland, Electoral Reform Society, Community Central Hall.
EVENTS: Cyrenians Farm Apple Grafting Workshop, Ednbugh, 12 Aug; Kilsyth International Carnival, August 13; Creating Connections – Strategic Campaigning Training, 11-12 Sept, Edinburgh.
——————————————————–
FEEDBACK FILE: A community is looking for advice in forming an investment company. Can you help? http://www.senscot.net/feedbackfile/index.php. If you have a question for the Feedback File, you can fill in a form here: http://www.senscot.net/forms/exchangeenquiry.php.
————————————
SPECIAL OFFERS: check out the new feature on our home page for offers, from office space to office starter equipment, craft design and industrial machinery: www.senscot.net.
———————————–
The Scottish management consultancy Rocket Science has been commissioned by the Cabinet Office to investigate the quality of business advice being provided to social enterprises across the UK: http://www.rocketsciencelab.co.uk/news/#1. Senscot commissioned a similar survey in Scotland last year: https://senscot.net/?viewid=4458. Rocket Science is also conducting a survey in Scotland on the marketing needs of the social enterprise sector; your views could contribute to the design of a better service. http://www.senscot.net/view_res.php?viewid=4909.
———————————————-
Provocative piece in the Guardian by David Walker asks if charities, social enterprises etc are a ‘Trojan horse’ Is the real Blairite intention to replace the state with private sector provision – by stealth? http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4937.
———————————-
OSCR, the charities regulator, has removed over 2,000 dead charities from the Scottish Charities list and urges the 6,000 which they are still trying to get hold of, to get in touch: http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4940.
———————————
This week’s bulletin profiles CairnGorm Mountain Ltd (CML) based in Badenoch near Aviemore. CML operates the facilities on the mountain, including the CairnGorm Funicular, the country’s highest and fastest mountain railway. Set up in 1956 as the Cairngorm Winter Sports Development Association, CML is now a becoming a successful social enterprise, making a profit last year of £79,659, despite facing four of the worst winter seasons on record for snow. It recently won two UK Business Excellence Awards for consistently being one of the top tourist attractions in Scotland http://www.senscot.net/view_prof.php?viewid=4941.
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‘Love and Courage’, by Charles Bukowski
‘The one I liked was where Cagney fought in the ring – got punchy – so he could earn money to give his brother music lessons. The brother wanted to be a classical pianist – was said to have great talent – but they both came from the Lower East Side, and so Cagney got into the ring again and again for money to help the talented brother become a classical pianist. Cagney even loses the girl to his brother and it ends with his brother making it (at Carnegie Hall, if I remember) and Cagney punched-out and blind at his newsstand listening to the radio to his brother in the concert hall. And, of course, the girl is at the hall adoring, wild-eyed as Cagney warms his hands over a small fire. Alone in the cold he listens to the radio as his brother plays the piano, Cagney not knowing shit about music and hearing the final applause believes that all the beatings he has taken were worthwhile.’
That’s all for this week. Good luck with your adventures.
Best wishes,
Laurence.
To receive this bulletin directly, you can sign up here: http://www.senscot.net/bsubscribe.php
Dear members and friends,
A billion is a very large number – for instance: a million seconds is about twelve days – a billion seconds is about thirty two years! It took from the beginning of time until 1865 for the human population of our planet to reach a billion. For one billion to become three billion only took one hundred years – that was 1965. And for the three billion to become six billion only needed thirty five years – that was the year 2000. Faster than the growth of people is the growth in the natural resources we use and the pollution we create. It’s happening so fast that even our best science can’t monitor it. By 2050 there could be ten billion humans -stimulated by instant global technology to consume – to expect a lifestyle enjoyed today by maybe 1.2 billion of us. To satisfy such a market. would require the resources of five earth planets.
Over the years, did I really believe that the ‘dolce vita’ was only for us in the west? No longer. China, India and the rest of the world will want their share of wealth. It’s possible that we’ve already lost our chance to get this exploding process under control. Humankind desperately needs to reinvent slowness – to calm the unsustainable speed of innovation – to get ourselves back in balance with nature. Its ok for me – I’m slowing down anyway – it’s one of the pleasures of getting older. But I feel sorry for the young ones – billions of them – squabbling over what’s left. I hear the rumble of distant thunder.
——————————————————-
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) has published a second report on social entrepreneurship in the UK. Like last time the report uses data from 27,000 18-64 year olds randomly, selected by region. It measures levels of early stage socially motivated entrepreneurial activity and shows that 3.2% of the working age population (1.2 million adults) is engaged in such activity. This suggests around 100,000 active in Scotland and I’m wondering what definitions they use. The authors admit that it’s hard to weed out the small-scale voluntary work from social entrepreneurs who may go on to establish high turnover businesses – so they decided to adopt a definition which only includes activities which will generate revenue. I don’t agree with this definition. People like Gandhi, Florence Nightingale et al had nothing to do with ‘revenue streams’. This distortion is imported from the USA. See executive summary: http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4938.
———————————–
‘Orphan assets’ is a new term coined to describe the funds held by banks, insurance companies etc which have remained unclaimed for fifteen years. The estimated amounts are still vague and vary from half a billion to several billion pounds. The Commission on Unclaimed Assets chaired by Ronald Cohen is recommending that the money should create a new ‘Social Investment Bank’ to deliver financial advice and funds to the third sector to help expend its activities. Good piece by Matthew Pike in Society Guardian. http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4932.
————————————-
Liz Gardiner of Fablevision in Glasgow, informs us of the first ever training course in cultural planning (about which she is passionate). The course is 120 hours long, starting in September, and is a collaboration between 3 universities. If you’re third sector, it’s free; public and private sector £1,500: http://www.senscot.net/view_event.php?viewid=4939.
————————————–
There’s a DVD doing the rounds which showcases the social enterprise sector in Scotland – well worth a look. But Ruari Wilson of Forth Sector thinks it features too many folk who are too far from the coalface. Ruari’s review is here: http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4928. You can decide for yourself, by contacting rebecca@indigops.com for a free copy.
—————————————-
NOTICES: We can’t flag all notices here, but submit jobs (http://www.senscot.net/forms/submitjob.php) or events (http://www.senscot.net/forms/submitevent.php) and we’ll post them on our site. This week:
JOBS: 28 vacancies, incl. posts with: BabyGROE, Bridges Programmes, Edinburgh Cyrenians, NISUS Scotland, Greenspace Scotland, Electoral Reform Society, Community Central Hall.
EVENTS: Cyrenians Farm Apple Grafting Workshop, Ednbugh, 12 Aug; Kilsyth International Carnival, August 13; Creating Connections – Strategic Campaigning Training, 11-12 Sept, Edinburgh.
——————————————————–
FEEDBACK FILE: A community is looking for advice in forming an investment company. Can you help? http://www.senscot.net/feedbackfile/index.php. If you have a question for the Feedback File, you can fill in a form here: http://www.senscot.net/forms/exchangeenquiry.php.
————————————
SPECIAL OFFERS: check out the new feature on our home page for offers from office space to milling machinery: www.senscot.net.
———————————–
The Scottish management consultancy Rocket Science has been commissioned by the Cabinet Office to investigate the quality of business advice being provided to social enterprises across the UK: http://www.rocketsciencelab.co.uk/news/#1. Senscot commissioned a similar survey in Scotland last year: https://senscot.net/?viewid=4458. Rocket Science is also conducting a survey in Scotland on the marketing needs of the social enterprise sector; your views could contribute to the design of a better service. http://www.senscot.net/view_res.php?viewid=4909.
———————————————-
Provocative piece in the Guardian by David Walker asks if charities, social enterprises etc are a ‘Trojan horse’ Is the real Blairite intention to replace the state with private sector provision – by stealth? http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4937.
———————————-
OSCR, the charities regulator, has removed over 2,000 dead charities from the Scottish Charities list and urges the 6,000 which they are still trying to get hold of, to get in touch: http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=4940.
———————————
This week’s bulletin profiles CairnGorm Mountain Ltd (CML) based in Badenoch near Aviemore. CML operates the facilities on the mountain, including the CairnGorm Funicular, the country’s highest and fastest mountain railway. Set up in 1956 as the Cairngorm Winter Sports Development Association, CML is now a becoming a successful social enterprise, making a profit last year of £79,659, despite facing four of the worst winter seasons on record for snow. It recently won two UK Business Excellence Awards for consistently being one of the top tourist attractions in Scotland http://www.senscot.net/view_prof.php?viewid=4941.
————————————–
‘Love and Courage’, by Charles Bukowski
‘The one I liked was where Cagney fought in the ring – got punchy – so he could earn money to give his brother music lessons. The brother wanted to be a classical pianist – was said to have great talent – but they both came from the Lower East Side, and so Cagney got into the ring again and again for money to help the talented brother become a classical pianist. Cagney even loses the girl to his brother and it ends with his brother making it (at Carnegie Hall, if I remember) and Cagney punched-out and blind at his newsstand listening to the radio to his brother in the concert hall. And, of course, the girl is at the hall adoring, wild-eyed as Cagney warms his hands over a small fire. Alone in the cold he listens to the radio as his brother plays the piano, Cagney not knowing shit about music and hearing the final applause believes that all the beatings he has taken were worthwhile.’
That’s all for this week. Good luck with your adventures.
Best wishes,
Laurence.
To receive this bulletin directly, you can sign up here: http://www.senscot.net/bsubscribe.php