Someone recently asked me what I thought was more important for a movement to take off: a core group of people who are willing to dedicate their all to pushing it forward or a dispersed mass with just enough conviction to support or approve of what other people are doing. To me, the two are inseparable. As was demonstrated by a TEDtalk illustration of a movement happening at the Sasquatch Music Festival, every sporadic dance party requires a first mover, as well as people willing to follow.

What I realized when this question was posed, however, was that although both components are equally vital to a successful movement, almost all social enterprise or social finance outlets currently preach to the converted. A recent run-in at an alumni event confirmed this for me. Halfway through my excitement in sharing some of the work I was doing at Social Capital Partners, a friend stopped and said, "wait – what is a social enterprise? - I’ve honestly never heard of the term before."

As the social enterprise and social finance communities become deeply immersed in establishing what’s newly obvious to them, their ability to converse with and therefore engage the rest of the world becomes constrained, as does their ability to think outside the box. The people hovering at the fringes of the circle need an entry point for the forward momentum to continue as well as to enrich the vitality of the network and the perspectives of the individuals within it.

To me, an online platform like SocialFinance.ca has a very low barrier to entry and therefore a huge potential to reach a wider audience. How can we make the most of this opportunity? Below are a few ideas.

• Imagery, for one, would allow people to understand core concepts by helping them to visualize what is being discussed whether it be through flowcharts or comic strips. I don’t think that the current material should be sacrificed for the sake of simplicity; rather, visuals should be available as a supplement. Some of the ideas being proposed here are truly revolutionary and cannot be adequately expressed through words.
• Secondly, SocialFinance.ca needs to choose a common language. Although posts are coming from all sorts of people each of whom use different terms, SocialFinance.ca can act as a filter to take the first step in establishing a norm and thus, a common understanding of the field.
• Lastly, SocialFinance.ca needs to provoke a deeper understanding by highlighting opposing views on the same topic. There needs to be debate both between leaders in the social finance community as well as with people who disagree with the premise of social finance altogether. In this way, the site will not only open its doors to people who aren’t quite sold, but it will lead to readers developing more nuanced opinions on important issues.

If all this were to happen, then SocialFinance.ca would increase both the breadth and depth of social finance knowledge as well as the number of new ideas that emerge. Put another way, this community would play an important role in transforming social finance from a curiosity to a world-changing movement.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trainorphans/23430005/

Below is the video of Derek Siver's 3 minute TEDtalk mentioned above:

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