Today, the re-named Sustainable Ventures meetup is consistently gathering between forty and fifty change agents (which we expect to grow) every two weeks in Denver and Boulder for an exchange of ideas, advice and learning that benefits everyone in the room.  From non-profit staffers to clean-tech execs, and including investors, advisors and entrepreneurs, the sessions are providing a venue for advanced discussions about how to run a sustainable venture, regardless of sector.

More relevant than my perspective is the feedback from members that sheds light on the experience.  When asked “why should others join this meetup group?”, Ashoka Fellow Lynn Price said, “To engage with individuals who dare to do what they think should be done – in a spirit of unselfish and supportive collaboration.”  Kent McBride, founder and CEO of the Make The Difference Network adds, “if you want to be around people who intentionally use business to improve the quality of life on the planet, then this is the meetup for you.”

More specifically, the meetup provides a chance for entrepreneurs to tap into the collective wisdom of the community.  Half the meetup is dedicated to solving problems for four entrepreneurs — from concept-stage ventures to positive cash-flow businesses — who ask for advice on their biggest challenges.  Members then break into four groups who advise the entrepreneurs in what amounts to a collective intelligence swarm review of the business.

These sessions have drawn rave reviews.  Kendall Thiessen, an intellectual property lawyer who presented his new business concept, wrote “I enjoyed the format and got valuable input on some ideas that I am trying to develop. I would highly recommend this group to entrepreneurs and change agents of all kinds.”

After these swarm reviews end, we gather again as a group to hear innovative and provocative perspectives from experienced, front-line entrepreneurs, who talk honestly about the practical challenges in living triple-bottom-line management principles.  Recently, our speakers have included:

• Bill Shutkin, the prototypical social entrepreneur that has seen more than 20 years of the evolution of the field.  Shutkin’s experience as a lecturer, and his expansive knowledge of the field kept the group buzzing well beyond our proposed ending time.  As member Karl Dakin commented, “I much enjoyed Bill’s historical observation that social enterprises need more business discipline,” echoing several other raves about his talk.
• Ryan Martens, the venture-funded IT CTO who is gaining practical benefits and direct cost savings from his participation as a B-Corporation.  Martens’ open kimono discussion of how he has integrated 3BL values into running his company helped entrepreneurs understand the practical challenges and trade-offs in raising money into an aspirational sustainable company.  Member Katherine Wardell wrote, “Ryan at Rally Software … is creating a consciousness and putting practices in place toward building a sustainable corporation which more and more corporations will find themselves moving toward.”
• Rebecca Saltman, the serial social entrepreneur, and change-maker bringing Ashoka’s Change Your City campaign to Denver.  Rebecca not only provided a sneak-preview of the wide range of activities that Change Your City will undertake, but provided everyone an opportunity to get involved in the movement before it becomes front-page news. Zenia Tata, a serial social entrepreneur, and former executive director of International Development Enterprises reports, “Excellent meeting. Nice to be part of such a dynamic group. Great presentation on Change Your City….exciting times ahead for Denver.”

More amazing speakers are signing on every day — Bill Shutkin threatens a encore performance — and other surprises remain in store as the community expands and the practice area continues to deepen.

Meetup member Noah Blessey sums up the experience in his response, “I really enjoyed my first Sustainable Ventures Meetup. This is a whole new world to me. I’m looking to transition into a creative, dynamic, innovative and socially minded career so it was great to: A.) get me thinking in these terms B.) listen to what other members of the Denver Metro community are doing along these lines and C.) collaborate through our smaller group discussion. I found I had some resources to offer others in the group and more in common with other members than I thought when I first got there.”

The organizers and supporters of the Sustainable Ventures Meetup all look forward to your participation in Denver and Boulder this spring, and beyond.

There is much more detail to come on this project in the weeks and months ahead.  If you’re dying for more inside scoop, get in touch with us.  The wheels of progress are turning on this project right now, and we’ve got a few good friends who are centrally involved.

1. Why are we getting together to create another meetup?
2. What are we going to try to accomplish together?
3. What is the language of sustainable enterprise, and how can we ensure we have a similar frame of reference as we move forward?

We organized the session to allow participants to engage with one another, and not simply be “talked at” by another guru.  This led to a diverse and wide-ranging discussion about what sustainable enterprise is really about, and how we want to engage an authentic and participatory discussion in our community.

We acknowledge that this meta meetup — a networked discussion of how the group will comport itself going forward — is not everyone’s cup of tea.  We hope it’s clear that this session was not representative of what we expect to accomplish, but rather a critical alignment of community viewpoints to allow the meetup to better serve the community of leaders who seek to create more sustainable enterprise in the Front Range of Colorado.

Setting that qualification aside, here are the group’s answers to the three questions poised above:

1. What is the language of sustainable enterprise, and how can we ensure a similar frame of reference as we move forward?

This is a confusing marketplace of ideas and concepts that were each born somewhere else.  Everyone has one foot in this new, emerging space, and another foot firmly planted in some adjacent field.  These adjacent fields include academia, traditional for-profit business, traditional non-profit philanthropy, non-traditional for-profit business (including sectors like cleantech, LOHAS, organic food), corporate social responsibility (CSR), government and potentially other sectors, as well.

Each one of those fields has its own values and lexicon, and while CSR and social entrepreneurism could be mistaken for one another, in fact they are quite different.  In a separate blog post, we will begin to unpack the language of sustainable enterprise and change agency.  In the long run, we’ll contribute to comprehensive maps of the new ecology, but neither of those can be fully captured here.

For now, we are going to say that a sustainable enterprise:

• could be either a for-profit business, a non-profit philanthropy or some other type of hybrid organization
• measures its success in a combination of financial, social and environmental impact
• is thoughtful and aware of the impact that spending habits have on community
• respects the integrity of human rights
• balances collaboration with competition
• balances quality with quantity
• is changing, and learning how to get better at what it does
• may be imperfect, and may not be implementing policies that capture the entire spirit of sustainability

2. What are we going to try to accomplish together?

We want the Front Range of Colorado — defined as the population corridor bounded by Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, and including Denver, Boulder and surrounding communities, which inscribes the majority of the state’s population — to have an increasing percentage of organizations become sustainable enterprise.  Specifically:

• amplify sustainable enterprise practices
• have more new organizations get started with sustainability in their DNA
• connect leaders of these organizations in learning networks
• discuss the challenges of running an organization in a trusted community of peers
• support a community within which we want to raise families and nourish future generations

3. Why are we getting together to create another meetup?

Because no one else is hosting this discussion.  Because we all want to learn and collaborate about building sustainable enterprise.  Because we believe that all enterprises — for-profit as well as non-profit — are a part of a bigger aspect of the human ecology that includes community, society, and human and other life, and that enterprise needs to contribute to that larger cycle, and not simply extract profits from it.  Because we know this is fundamentally a community exercise.

So come join us.  The next event is being hosted in Denver (previous events were in Boulder), timed to coincide with the lunch break at the Angel Capital Summit, which takes place on November 17th, at the Colorado Convention Center.  We will review of the sustainability practices with Jennifer Orgolini, Sustainability Steward for New Belgium Brewing Company, one of Colorado’s highly evolved sustainable enterprises, which produces one of our favorite products, Fat Tire Ale.  In December, we will announce an ongoing schedule of events in Denver and Boulder for 2010.

• Company Stage
  • 7 cash-flow-positive
  • 23  revenue but not cash-flow-positive
  • 28 pre-revenue
  • 2 concept

• Sector (with some grouping):
  • IT
    • 15  digital media & internet
    • 7 software
  • GreenTech
    • 12 clean-tech
    • 4 energy
  • Technology
    • 9 health care and life sciences
    • 1 nanotech
  • Consumer
    • 6 CPG
    • 2 food and beverage
    • 4 service
  • Social Entrepreneur
    • 2 for-profit exclusively social ventures
    • 4 earned-income non-profits
  • Other
    • 1 financing
    • 1 telco
    • 1 real estate

In addition to the four spots traditionally retained for earned-income non-profits, and two projects that are exclusively and specifically for-profit social ventures, several of the clean-tech companies, as well as a mix of the other companies have performance metrics in place around sustainability issues, which would qualify them as sustainable ventures, even in they may not fall in the more tightly defined social entrepreneurship category.

We anticipate being able to promote a track of sustainable ventures that represents approximately 10% of the overall deal flow in the finals of the Angel Capital Summit, upcoming on November 17th.

If you have experience in assessing company viability, as an investor or someone representing them, and have an interest in sustainable business, please contact us directly to join the 100+ person deal screening network.

First post is about the GSSE at CSU, an awesome program that I strongly endorse.  If you’d be so kind, please head over and write a quick comment, to raise the profile of the sustainable enterprise in Colorado on their radar.

Here’s a summary of what to expect, straight from the Meetup description:

PURPOSE
The purpose of this meetup is to provide a place to discuss the specifics of funding, creating and running a sustainable social enterprise. This emerging sector, which spans the for-profit and non-profit worlds, is still taking shape, and there is no silver bullet solution for people who want to create socially- and environmentally-impactful organizations that can stand the test of time. So we need to create the framework in which we operate.

PROCESS
In addition to the typical aspects of a meetup — introductions, community announcements and a general give-and-take atmosphere — we expect to split each meetup into two sessions.

First Session — Metrics
Nothing can be managed if it cannot first be measured. While I’m suspicious of this bromide on a visceral level, it seems to stand the test of time.

Together, we will review different metrics and frameworks, including but not limited to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS) and related Investment Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), Global Footprint, Blended Value, Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI), Whole Systems Risk Management (WSRM) and more.

We will invite thought leaders in the sustainability metrics space to join us each month for interactive dialog about their specific area of expertise.

Second Session — Behind The Scenes
We will invite organizational leaders who are operating within triple-bottom-line and/or sustainable principles to show us how they measure their performance. We expect this open dialog will both benefit the presenter, as well as the group, moving our collective practice forward.

WHO SHOULD COME?
We expect a mix of people to join us, including angel investors, fund managers, entrepreneurs, non-profit executives, thought leaders and the media, as well as anyone else who want to learn about running a transformative organization.

People from the Cleantech, Web 2.0, LOHAS, Non-Profit, Bio-Tech, Media and other related and unrelated fields will all share and gain new perspectives on this challenge.

One of many laudable aspects of the program is the 50/50 ratio of US and domestic students in each cohort.  As we learned recently at their annual kickoff celebration — hosted at sustainable business paragon New Belgium Brewery, this translates into teams with experience on multiple continents, often boasting 10 languages spoken on an individual project.

Six prospective companies presented their plans as the program’s second cohort.  We expect one or two of these to become strong companies after graduation, if not before.  Here are very brief summaries of the concepts:

• RWI is focused on technology to increase clean water in Africa, with a great start working in Kenya.
• Cradle of Tea is tea made from coffee leaves, and is in an interesting internal debate: to use a co-op model or more traditional suppliers model.
• Latin Health has a dengue fever solution.  When the engaged locals this summer, they learned that student nurses more interested than business students, who wanted to graduate and “get a job.” This brings a new opportunity to nursing candidates, helping them earn money in a new way.
• Ayzh is focused on deploying technology solutions for rural women. Opportunity to take 1.2 bn women out of working 16 hrs per day for no money and no respect. Start with health care. Water filter. Aquaponics. More. Education is core to mission.  Generati g sales in2010.
• Organic Oasis is founded by returning peace corps volunteers, creating a business at an intersection of themes, including aquaponics and microfranchising, providing healthier food, increased profits and smaller carbon footprint.
• Rocky Mountain Hops is focused on creating a marketplace for locally produced hops, with a focus on stewardship and a slow-food related philosophy.

Helping to incubate these ideas, the GSSE faculty is first-rate, mixing teach and academics with their collective background in real-world enterprise, both for-profit and non-profit.  We got to spend time with several members of the team — Carl Hammerdorfer, Tom Dean, Paul Hudnut and Margarita Lenk, each of whom are doing good well.

As the world pays more and more attention to Colorado as a hub in sustainable enterprise, everyone needs to keep their eye to the northern end of the Front Range, where GSSE anchors a key hub innovative sustainable enterprise.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this meetup is to provide a place to discuss the specifics of funding, creating and running a sustainable social enterprise. This emerging sector, which spans the for-profit and non-profit worlds, is still taking shape, and there is no silver bullet solution for people who want to create socially- and environmentally-impactful organizations that can thrive for generations. So we need to create the framework in which we operate.

PROCESS
In addition to the typical aspects of a meetup — introductions, community announcements and a general give-and-take atmosphere — we expect to split each meetup into two sessions.

First Session — Metrics and Definitions
“Nothing can be managed if it cannot first be measured.” While I’m suspicious of this bromide on a visceral level, it seems to stand the test of time. At the very least, we need a common understanding at a technical level of what we’re talking about, so we need to develop a fraework within which we can have a meaningful conversation about what outcomes we want to achieve, and how to know we are getting there.

Together, we will review different metrics and frameworks, including but not limited to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS) and related Investment Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), Global Footprint, Blended Value, Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI), Whole Systems Risk Management (WSRM) and more.

We will invite thought leaders in the sustainability metrics space to join us each month for interactive dialog about their specific area of expertise.

Second Session — Behind The Scenes
We will invite organizational leaders who are operating within triple-bottom-line and/or sustainable principles to show us how they measure their performance. We expect this open dialog will both benefit the presenter, as well as the group, moving our collective practice forward.

WHO SHOULD COME?
We expect a mix of people to join us, including angel investors, fund managers, entrepreneurs, non-profit executives, thought leaders and the media, as well as anyone else who want to learn about running a transformative organization.

People from the Cleantech, Web 2.0, LOHAS, Non-Profit, Bio-Tech, Media and other related and unrelated fields will all share and gain new perspectives on this challenge.

THIS IS A NO-PITCHING EVENT
1. The emphasis is on collective learning. We want everyone — especially the investing community — to feel that they are welcome to learn, and not be on the defensive.
2. Entrepreneurs seeking funding have many other avenues to pitch, and we will share resources for those activities during our sessions.
3. Service providers (lawyers, recruiters, accountants) who want to transform their business are welcome, but we are not interested in having you shill your business while we’re all learning.

THIS IS A COLLECTIVE EFFORT
Although the catalyst for this meetup is Greg Berry, it’s not a one-way flow of energy, capital and information from him to the group. In order for us to be successful, we will need the activities, support and engagement of a much broader group. You will see an ever-growing group of “sponsors” who are lending their ongoing support to this endeavor.

We started the series with a group report from the recent Social Capital Markets (SoCap) conference:

Social Capital Markets (SoCap) is the proverbial center of the universe for emerging metrics related to investing in for-profit and non-profit social enterprise. Their annual conference happens September 1-3 in San Francisco, and many people interested in this discussion are going to be attending.

Which SoCap Attendees Are Attending?
* Greg Berry, Benevolent Dictator, W1SD0M
* Rick Zwetch, Principal Partner, interSector Partners L3C
* Matt Nathan, Ashoka Youth Ventures
* Teju Ravilochan, Connection Strategist, Unreasonable Institute

What Will We Discuss?
Although it’s hard to know what we will each learn before we go, here are a few themes you can anticipate:

• Who has investment capital, and where do they want to place it?
• What is the impact of the new investing standards Global Impact Investment Reporting Standards (GIIRS) and Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) that get announced at SoCap?
• How will the Federal Government, and specifically the Office of Social Innovation make an impact on social enterprise?
• Trends and observations gleaned from our collective discussions at SoCap.

Why Should You Come?
This is the most relevant discussion to anyone who is raising money in the social purpose and triple-bottom-line domain. SoCap attendees will return home with new info, insights and inspiration on how the flow of capital in this field will allow social entrepreneurs to thrive for years and decades to come.We will also introduce the concept for the ongoing meetups, which draw on our collective experiences to help Colorado enterprises become more sustainable.

The best commentary on the session comes from the reports we’ve gotten on the meetup page today:

• 

  Startup Guru- Brian Tsuchiya– “ This is a very informed group of socially minded thought leaders. Great questions and comments from the members. ”

• 

  Eric Lombardi– “ The conversation was a good start. Now the group needs to talk online between meetings so we can dig deeper. For example, the group needs to know about “CIC’s” in the U.K. They are “community interest companies” and there are many of them, and they are years ahead of us here in the USA. They have a new website at www.cicassociation.org.uk ,,, and, for example, one of the front page articles there this morning discusses “exit strategies” for social enterprises, a key issue that hasn’t been solved anywhere yet. So is there going to be a online discussion list? Eric Lombardi Eco-Cycle Inc ”

YES.  Help us decide where.

• 

  Josh Clauss — “ I think my tweet from the first session wraps up how I feel about this group: “I don’t know when the last time was that I was in a room in which I wanted to meet literally everyone, but I’m there now. #socapco Meetup” ”

• 

  Greg Berry – “ Exceeded my expectations. The discussion was generative and intellectually honest. Every comment added value, and there was virtually no posturing or arguing. I came away with the sincere sense that is a lot of shared energy in this space, and we have an opportunity to catalyze positive change in our community. Feedback and collaboration are not only encouraged, they are the underpinnings of our success. ”

• 

  Cameron Burgess – “ Think it’s important, in future, to consider the format. I appreciate that we were getting a ‘recap’ on SOCAP, but the challenge of having a panel-type situation is that people revert to a question and answer mode – denying the collective wisdom in the room. If each event is to have a panel, I see no issue with that, but would encourage a style of formatting with general moderation that provides more opportunity for contribution by all members. Otherwise, topics for discussion wind up getting short-changed due to the format. Instead of sharing directly with each other, we share with each other via the panel. Just a thought …. ”

• 

  Ryan Martens – “ Good topic and organization – will need facilitation in the future – wide views – good interest – tons of passion ”

• 

  Kent McBride — “ It was great hanging out with “kindred souls” who believe we don’t have to keep doing business the same old ways, but business can make a difference and make a profit. After hearing discussion of the SoCap event, I wish I had been there. ”

• 

  John Thomas — “ Pleasantly surprised at how many like hearts and minds are in the space–thrilled to be a part of it all…recommend considering meetings to combine open forum as part of the session and clear agenda/goals for another part with moderation to keep on topic and mini metrics to check-in on if/how well we accomplished the meeting goals. Perhaps a first step to consider with regard to setting metrics for the space is to set metrics around our own ability to methodically address the issues and begin to establish & capture a knowledge base to build upon going forward…just a few thoughts ”

• John Brockett –  Greg did a wonderful job of organizing and leading the meeting, thanks Greg! As with any discussion the topics addressed seemed to follow 3 basic themes: 1. the core philosophy of the subject 2. where we stand at the present moment 3. where do we go from here. I was very impressed with all of the participants and their level of expertise in their particular fields of endeavor. It is obvious to me that we are in the beginning stages of a great movement in sustainability, actually I liked the term “thrivability”. My core passion is in developing methods to shift from “consumer business” to “conscious commerce”. In particular I am working with Millennial age youth in opening their minds and hearts to a new definition of “prosperity”. Be that as it may, I felt like I was in the company of people who hold a shared vision of what is possible and the dedication to do whatever it takes to bring that vision into reality. Thanks and I look forward to our next gathering ”

The only other summary is that we’ve already spoken to a few other groups keen to collaborate, and expect to keep community wisdom in this space.

Based on a series of discussions I’ve in person and on the web, it’s clear that there is a serious thread of innovation in the non-profit space, and in order to honor that, let’s change the name to Sustainable Enterprise in Colorado (SEC) meetup.  Thoughts?

Setting aside the vagaries of what social entrpreneurism is and isn’t (we discuss that at the dedicated meetup), the ACS is encouraging both non-profit and for-profit mission-driven organizations to apply for the opportunity to present their enterprise at the event.

The ACS sets aside four of the forty presentation slots for earned-income non-profits to present.

• Non-Profit organizations should apply through the Black Tie group.

For the first time this year, we are encouraging for-profit sustainable / triple-bottom-line / mission-driven businesses to apply as well.  Although there is no formal set-aside of presentation slots like there is for non-profits, we would like to see roughly 25% of the remaining 36 slots filled by companies with sustainable profiles, assuming the rest of the business stacks up to the others who apply.  We will be working hard to balance the needs of investors, traditional entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs.

• For-profit social entrepreneurs should apply through the W1SD0M group

We are using early elements from the Whole Systems Risk Management survey instrument, which is in the late stages of an iterative development.  The application process includes additional questions that address sustainable enterprise principles, and the screening process was designed with sustainable metrics in mind.

A vast majority of the questions that occur are well-documented and addressed on the ACS call for presenters page. If that’s not the help you are seeking, please let us know in the comments here.