It is in this view that 6 HUBs in Europe (Amsterdam, Bucharest, London-Kings Cross, Milan, Stockholm, and Vienna) have come together as pivot points within their regions – in partnership with i-propeller, DIESES the European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA), the European Network of the Foundations for Social Economy (PEFONDES), and Cariplo Foundation - to launch the BENISI project. BENISI - Building a European Network of Incubators for Social Innovation - is a three year EU-supported project to support the scale-up of 300 social innovations across Europe.

“Europe is not facing a crisis of opportunity. On the ground in our HUBs, we witness every day citizens responding to the times through prototyping entrepreneurial initiatives that make their communities a better place.” says Alberto Masetti-Zannini, the founder of HUB Milan and BENISI project coordinator on behalf of the network of HUBs.

What’s the infrastructure for realising world-changing ideas? In our recent global gathering of HUBs we used words like trans-locally connected or multi-local enterprises. This begs us to consider the opportunity to re-consider how entrepreneurs of today might be shaping their businesses differently, and how a network of HUBs might provide the infrastructure to support them in their efforts to scale-up. Thanks to BENISI, HUB members will benefit from stronger HUB to HUB relationships and will be able to build multi-local businesses in several European cities, a more locally-rooted and socially-responsible response to the era of multi-national corporations.

Which social innovations are worth scaling in Europe today? How does an entrepreneur realise he/she is ready to take their enterprise internationally? What tools and support does that entrepreneur need? These are just some of the questions that through BENISI we aim to address. We depart this journey trusting our experience that trans-local collaboration between people who share a common passion in resolving today’s most pressing needs is a great base for building international sustainable businesses. We are looking forward to helping them thrive all over Europe.

Stay tuned…

- by Tatiana Glad, HUB Amsterdam and Alberto Masetti-Zannini, HUB Milan; co-hosts of the HUB EU Cluster

Connect to your local HUB if you have a social innovation that you want to scale up.

Download the official HUB BENISI press release here

BENISI is a three year EU-supported project the HUB Network is launching on 1 May 2013 with project lead i-propeller, in collaboration with DIESIS, the European Regional Authorities Development Agency (EURADA) and philanthropic foundations such as Cariplo Foundation and the European Network of Foundations of Social Economy (PEFONDES).

“Networks are already structured in a collaborative mode; they are more able to spread knowledge and practice horizontally and they are the perfect ally when trying to develop a Europe-wide programme that needs to balance local action with continent-wide strategy and vision,” says project lead Max Bulakovskiy of i-propeller based in Brussels.

The aim of this trans-European consortium is to identify and highlight three-hundred of the most promising, impactful and employment-generating local social innovations – in the public, private, third, social enterprise and cooperative sectors – that are yet to be scaled either significantly within their originating country or internationally. The consortium will create the conditions for these solutions to be strengthened locally and transferred to other European localities.

“Europe is not facing a crisis of opportunity. On the ground in our HUBs, we witness every day citizens responding to the times through prototyping entrepreneurial initiatives that make their communities a better place.” says Alberto Masetti-Zannini, founder of HUB Milan and BENISI project coordinator on behalf of the network of HUBs.

The project will involve six HUBs: Amsterdam, Bucharest, London-Kings Cross, Milan, Stockholm, and Vienna as pivot points within five different geographic clusters of EU and neighbouring countries. These HUBs will collaborate within the HUB network and with partners to encourage social entrepreneurs to scale-up their ventures for positive impact in Europe.

For further information contact: Alberto Masetti-Zannini, HUB EU Cluster alberto.masetti-zannini@the-hub.net +44 7811 385279

The HUB is global network of connected communities that enable collaborative ventures for a better world, with 38 locations and more than 6000 members. Read more: www.the- hub.net

We have two positions for member hosts to join the team at HUB King’s Cross from May and June 2013. Member hosting is a way of swapping your services as a part of the hosting team (one day a week) for a HUB 100 membership with us.

This role is a great opportunity to join a vibrant community of social innovators without the upfront cost of membership. The role will help build your skills and, by surrounding yourself with your fellow start-up community, a vast amount of inspiration and support to get your project off the ground.

The opportunity is open to non-members and current HUB members.

If you’d like to apply for a position please send through your CV to ruby.kvalheim@the-hub.net by 5pm Monday 27 May 2013.

Feel free to get in touch with us at 0207 841 3450 if you’d like to discuss further. You can also find more information about the opportunity here.

The Institute of Fundraising (IOF) aims to be “an influential voice for fundraisers and to be an expert policy lead on fundraising and wider giving”, its website tells us, adding:

“Our policy team works to deliver a strong representative voice on behalf of our members that influences and effects change for the fundraising profession wherever it is needed.”

I am not a member, so mine is a suitably modest proposal for a policy change that the IOF might advocate: that charities stop exploiting young people by refusing to pay their interns.

That scandal will continue as long as funders expect charities to bridge their capacity gaps with eager young graduates whose parents or connections enable them to work for nothing.

It will continue as long as NGOs that wax rhetorical about fair employment practice and equality of opportunity continue to defy those values in their own offices.

It will continue as long as founders of social enterprises convince themselves that their willingness to invest unpaid time in their venture means it is ok to share risks but not rewards with unpaid employees.

In short, it will continue as long as the third sector convinces itself that its core principle of voluntarism can be fairly applied to what are in reaility jobs.

And, if the IOF is as influential as it claims to be, it will continue as long as the IOF itself thinks it is ok to advertise, as it did this week, for an unpaid intern whose job would involve:
•“helping deliver a research project into diversity in fundraising;
•“assisting in preparing briefings on Government activity;
•“collaborating with other charity sector organisations”; and
•“supporting the team’s communications and press work”.

The IOF says it is “the largest individual representative body in the voluntary sector with over 5,300 individual members and 340 organisational members”.

Can it really not afford even the national minimum wage (£6.19 per hour), let alone the London Living Wage (£8.55), for the important role envisaged for the intern?

For the three month period of the internship, the living wage would work out at less than 70 pence per individual or organisational member. I’d call that a fair trade.

As long as those members are willing to keep that 70 pence rather than pay a living wage to a valuable worker, I’d say IOF — like so many of its organisational members — has a major ethical issue at its own heart.

But if they think I’m wrong, I’d be happy to hear their argument about what makes their internship fair.

So here’s an open invitation to come to our workshop, with the Hub Kings Cross, to talk about what a Fair Trade Internship would be like, and how we get from here to there. All welcome — it’s free of charge and you can register here.

Claire Brynteson’s from Buy: Time shares lessons learned as an entrepreneur in this current climate.

We haven’t forgotten our beloved members though! Existing members introducing new people to the network at the same rate or above will enjoy a month free. That’s an offer good enough to share!

Contact our Hosting team via kingscross.hosts@the-hub.net to discuss further.

Member David Tross writes how community empowerment depends on State support, not withdrawal. David lectures on Community Studies at Birkbeck University.

From Broken to Brilliant Britain. From rioting to partying in the streets. Apologies are now actively sought from those people who thought that the olympics was at worst a greedy corporate elephant and at best an over-hyped pageant of minority sports. Not only did the organisation go swimmingly ( in the end) despite all the hurdles ( ok, that’s enough Olympic puns) and in good humour, but the country appeared to come over all community. Even the Union Jack seemed rehabilitated, rescued from its imperial past. This particular patriotism felt progressive, with the multi-ethic winners, volunteer armies and a wacky liberal Trojan horse of an opening ceremony.

Patriotism , however desirable , is hard to sustain beyond events and uncomplicated emotions. What this sense of togetherness did offer was a glitch in the narrative of national decline, which the riots perfectly encapsulated. So how do we get more of the good stuff?

Politicians have been seeking the answer for years. From Tony Blair’s Third Way to David Cameron’s Big Society, successive governments have placed community at the heart of their plans for social and economic progress. The problem is that the state is the political fall guy in much of the rhetoric around community, so that stronger communities are synonomous with a smaller state. This doesn’t work, however empowering the language, because a shrinking state and public service cuts affect the people who depend on them most, cutting grants to charities and community groups makes their work harder at a time of increased demand, and bailing out financial institutions and cutting the top rate of tax creates resentment and a feeling of injustice. As the Harvard professor Michael Sandel notes, too much inequality undermines solidarity, as does privatising or cutting public goods, as does abandoning communities to the tune of empowerment.

What can we learn from the Olympics? on the one hand what appeared an endorsement of big society rhetoric around volunteering and commmunity was also also a a stunning victory for the big state, a demonstration of what large-scale investment in talent, inftarstructure and skills can achieve. You won’t hear this from politicians; Deborah Orr acidly remarked that if ( David Cameron) really believed his own schtick, he would be warning the world about the strain that hosting the Olympics puts on the state purse, fretting about the risks that have been taken with UK plc’s credit rating and bemoaning the Olympics’ lack of a profit motive’. The current government’s state-shrinking agenda is hard to reconcile with the state-backed Olympics. They loved the medals but in regards to investment they might be once smitten, twice shy.