Our top 10 moments of 2017: a year in review
This year has been one of the most exciting, busy, program-filled years in SEA history. As the year comes to an end and we plan for the next 365 days of championing social enterprise, it’s encouraging to look back and reflect on all the good that 2017 has brought us. Here are our 10 favorite moments — the best of SEA 2017.
1. Holiday Gift Guide
This November we launched our second annual Holiday Gift Guide — an online social impact shopping guide filled with products from social enterprises across the country — which featured over 176 gifts from 50+ organizations.
2 - 3. Sharing Stories That Matter
Through our storytelling and member spotlight initiatives we learned about and showcased the transformative social enterprise work happening across the world. With these campaigns, we shared nearly 100 organizational spotlights and member success stories.
4. A Sold-Out Summit ‘17
In September, we gathered with social enterprise leaders and enthusiasts from all across the U.S. for our bi-annual convening, Summit ’17. This year’s Summit was hosted by our SEA Los Angeles chapter in in sunny southern California, featured our first ever Social Good Festival held in Grand Park and was a sold out conference, with over 400 attendees.
Speakers from organizations like TOMS, Airbnb, Bank of America, Piperwai, Krochet Kids, Classy, Conscious Period and Benetech led us through powerful and complex discussions on the role of social enterprise in creating inclusive societies and fostering responsible, lasting change. This two-day event was such a transformative and energizing experience to share with our community.
Alongside our returning programs, this was also a year of many firsts for SEA.
5. Demystifying Social Finance
From April to December our first Social Finance Webinar Series walked participants through six lenses of financing for social enterprises, was led by seasoned investors and social enterprise leaders and accrued 550 registrations.
6 & 7. Facilitating Connections
Continuing with the theme of connecting our members with the right tools to grow, we developed our two newest programs, Mentorship and Office Hours. Both programs work to bring social entrepreneurs together with seasoned professionals in our network who can guide them, advise them and consult on tough business questions, whether through in-depth, one-on-one mentorship, or specific consultations. We were able to facilitate 21 connections and book 7 office hours sessions.
8 & 9. A Blog and a Podcast
Two new platforms for media have been added to the SEA docket as well! This spring we launched our first blog on Medium (Thanks to you! We appreciate you following along with us), and, starting in September, released 7 podcast episodes of The Social Enterprise Alliance Series in partnership with Leading Good.
10. Supporting Social Entrepreneurs
Finally, we’d be remiss not to mention our most recent initiative, The Pave A Path Campaign — a fundraiser to create 25 membership scholarships for social entrepreneurs across the country. With this fundraiser, we are able to extend opportunity and access (via all the programs and resources listed above) to those who face financial barriers to joining SEA. You can help us continue to expand our impact and reach our $10,000 goal to fund 25 scholarships by donating here.
As you can see, 2017 was an unprecedented year of learning, growth, collaboration, networking and community and there’s no shortage of more on the horizon. With 2018 will come two new programs, a brand new webinar series and so much more. If you’re interested in being a part of the movement to support and advance social enterprise, follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on Medium and consider joining the SEA community as a member. Thank you for following along with us so far, we are grateful for the year behind us and hopeful for the year ahead.
