Introducing the Social Entrepreneurship API

Published May 15, 2009 @ 08:09AM PT

Pop!Tech 2008 Social Innovation Fellows in Camen, Maine (via Pop!Tech)

The field of social entrepreneurship is on the move. Groups like Ashoka, Skoll Foundation, and Echoing Green have created funding programs to identify and amplify top performing organizations; leading intellectual hubs like Pop!Tech and TED have formed social innovation fellowships to bring their creative prowess to bear on social change; online contest and fundraising platforms like Ideablob, Kiva, and GlobalGiving are making it easier for social entrepreneurs to mobilize their communities to support their organizations.

But who are these social entrepreneurs? Where do they exist? What do they do? Until now, there's been no real cross-organization attempt to answer that question, but with the launch of the Social Entrepreneurship API, any funder, fellowship convener, or simply interested citizen can browse a database to discover the answers to those questions.

Convened by Social Actions and supported by the Peery Foundation, the first ever Social Entrepreneurship API is a live feed of information about the fellowship winners from organizations including Pop!Tech, the Skoll Foundation, Ideablob and Civic Ventures. As an API (Application Programming Interface), the database is designed to be available for programmers to build applications on top of to make the data more useful.

A number of bloggers including Sean Stannard-Stockton and Lucy Bernholz have quickly seen and been excited by the potential. Lucy pointed out that it could make groups easier for funders to find, and that because the information exists online, it was all of our responsibilities to figure out how best to use it. Sean wrote about the potential for something like for all philanthropic grantees.

For my part, I'm thrilled to see how the project evolves. Over the next few weeks, I'll have a few follow ups including "Five Questions" with project coordinator Peter Deitz next week.

Full release below the fold:

Social Entrepreneur API

What if family funds, affluent individuals, and ordinary people could use the Internet to seamlessly find and contribute to the work of vetted social entrepreneurs?

What if social entrepreneurs could easily find peers in their issue area or region and unleash creativity, connections, capital, and collaboration to fulfill their world-changing missions?

What if foundations could showcase their social entrepreneurs contextually on a variety of related websites, and help them be found by funders and media?

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First Open Database of Social Entrepreneurs Represents Breakthrough Collaboration in the Field

Skoll Foundation, PopTech, ideablob, and Civic Ventures (sponsor of The Purpose Prize) Work Together to Create an Innovative API

San Francisco, CA - May 13, 2009 - The Skoll Foundation, PopTech, ideablob, and Civic Ventures (sponsor of The Purpose Prize) are pooling their data to create an open database of social entrepreneurs scheduled to launch in late July 2009.

The Social Entrepreneur API (Application Programming Interface) will be the first open database of information about social entrepreneurs who have won fellowships and awards from social enterprise funders.

The tool will allow philanthropists, investors, press, and fellow entrepreneurs to find social entrepreneurs based on keyword, location, cause area, population served, and a variety of other factors.

Social Actions, a nonprofit initiative committed to making it easier for people to find and share opportunities to make a difference, has convened the collaborating group and is building the Social Entrepreneur API with a grant from the Peery Foundation. Social Edge, a program of the Skoll Foundation, will be one of the first organizations to make use of the Social Entrepreneur API in the form of a search engine on its site.

"The Social Entrepreneur API will provide an easier way for people to find, invest in, and support social entrepreneurs, as well as serve as a resource for social entrepreneurs to connect with each other and partner for greater impact," says Jill Finlayson, Marketing Manager for Social Edge.

The Social Entrepreneur API dataset will be available for any website or individual to search, syndicate, republish, or use to build web applications, widgets, and search engines. Dowser, an online resource to share the stories of social innovators, will be one of the first to use the Social Entrepreneur API as a source of information for its features.

"Collaboration is a mantra that comes up at just about every sector wide conference I have attended in the last year," says Social Actions' Executive Director Peter Deitz. "And yet, real world examples of collaboration are hard to find. We are grateful to the Peery Foundation and excited that four leading award programs in social entrepreneurship have come together to model collaboration for the entire sector."

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Media Contact and for more information:

Peter Deitz
1 (415) 425-7482
peter@socialactions.com

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Blogosphere coverage:

May 14, 2009: ideablob, Tactical Philanthropy, Skoll Foundation

May 13, 2009: Philanthropy 2173, The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Peter Panepento)

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Comments (3)

Nathaniel, thanks so much for drawing attention to the Social Entrepreneur API! Like you, I'm thrilled to see this project come together. Even more, I'm looking forward to its inspiring the widgets, applications, and other tools that truly empower people to find and support these social entrepreneurs. Looking forward to your follow-up with Peter, and to keeping you posted as we approach launch ~

Posted by Christine Egger on 05/15/2009 @ 01:08PM PT
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"The Social Entrepreneur API (Application Programming Interface) will be the first open database of information about social entrepreneurs who have won fellowships and awards from social enterprise funders."

This is what concerns me, that in an area where there are many initiative and few awards, many who are less visible will will be excluded.

Posted by Jeff Mowatt on 05/16/2009 @ 08:01AM PT
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Sharing here that the Social Entrepreneur API has formally launched ~ http://bit.ly/seapi-launch for more information.

Jeff, I think the Social Entrepreneur API is one of many, many complementary resources needed by this field, and look forward to more and more development of all kinds of APIs -- for vetted as well as unvetted social entrepreneurs (and all shades in between). Our job is to 1) create these resources as quickly as possible and 2) communicate very clearly just what you'll find in each, so that people can easily connect with social entrepreneurs that they're specifically interested in supporting.

Posted by Christine Egger on 09/15/2009 @ 02:45PM PT
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Author

Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.