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ABOUT SEAN STANNARD-STOCKTON
Sean Stannard-Stockton is the president and chief investment officer of Ensemble Capital Management, located in Burlingame, CA, midway between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. From 2006 through 2012, Sean authored the Tactical Philanthropy blog and wrote regular philanthropy columns for both the Financial Times and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In 2012, Sean officially ended the blog to focus on growing Ensemble Capital.
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One Comment
I saw this a while ago and it was the deciding factor for my support of FORGE.
I know Kjerstin is getting recommendations to get FORGE’s message out and that “transparency” is the focus of those messages but I think we’ve now crossed over from transparency to voyeurism as I mentioned a few weeks ago with very little return (dollar wise).
If Kjerstin keeps putting her eggs in the media/internet basket-not that getting the word out is wrong-I think she is going to lose valuable time and potential connections to really grow FORGE as it should be grown.
What I see, if the attention stays on Kjerstin and transparency is that the “Save FORGE” cause will die the way of so many others that have been spread online.
Think of the “tell your friends to support …… on Facebook, etc. Sure, they join but they don’t contribute. We need more from people than just clicking an “accept” button and that’s what I think is being missed.
I don’t think FORGE will be saved by the multitudes or that Kjerstin’s transparency will be the magic bean. I think the people advising Kjerstin have got to take a much broader view and really focus on the business model and the absolutely groundbreaking impact FORGE’s work will have on the world.
The message that needs to be made, the story that needs to be told is the one about investing in the refugees so that they can build capacity to change not only their lives and the lives of their neighbors but ultimately, the direction of their country.
It’s SE-in it’s highest form-that needs to be outlined, not because SE is cool or because Kjerstin is innovative but because a new model for world change has been created by FORGE. To implement this new model and see it spread to other countries will take many, many people in all 3 sectors coming together to embrace, refine and grow it.
Just listen to what the Stanford Social Innovation Review said about SE and tell me that FORGE isn’t facing the same problem.
“We are concerned that serious thinkers will also overlook social entrepreneurship, and we fear that the indiscriminate use of the term may undermine its significance and potential importance to those seeking to understand how societies change and progress.
Social entrepreneurship, we believe, is as vital to the progress of societies as is entrepreneurship to the progress of economies, and it merits more rigorous, serious attention than it has attracted so far.”
This is the time, guys, when Kjerstin needs help with getting her BUSINESS MODEL out. This is where Kjerstin and the FORGE team hit the pavement and ask for introductions to leaders in business, philanthropy and education to get buy in and pledges of ongoing support. This is where FORGE presents the opportunity to collaborate in order to affect social change.
What FORGE is undertaking-if given serious recognition and coverage-will create a shift in international aid that could be the precursor to a new humanitarian and relief movement.
Now, tell me who doesn’t want to be a part of that?