The Currency of Social Change

"Focus on how you can drive value to a community - think of them first. @skaw #CoCreatePDMA"

posted on July 27, 2011 on Twitter by Nina Miller

Communities gather around a shared set of values, and they all have different currencies. It could be money, recognition, relationships or just pure entertainment. Success for any co-creation process means finding the currency of passionate individuals to lead it. Building strong community can make or break your project, according to Stefan Stern's article "A Co-Creation Primer." How do you find people that are passionate, dedicated advocates that will give their time and recruit more participants? Connect with a larger idea or goal. Connect with activists that are already dedicated to an idea.

Ashoka supports social entrepreneurs, which they describe as "individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change." These people will get their hands dirty and lead innovation projects. Social entrepreneurs get involved because they want to solve the problem, as Toby Daniels said in his #CoCreatePDMA session "Corporate Social Philanthropy: Can Companies Solve the World's Most Pressing Challenges?"

One of Huggies MomInspired Grant program's objectives is to "address the inequities in the venture capital environment for female (mom) owned businesses." Stephen Paljieg told us less than 3% of all the financing goes to the more than 10 million women owned businesses in the U.S. Being a part of solving that social issue makes it resonate at a different level beyond just financial goals, hitting the currency of a group of active thought leaders. It isn't just a new idea anymore, it becomes a revolution.