Social Innovation Sweet Spot

People often ask me why I started Flashpoint Labs with my co-founder Leanne Townsend. I tell them that it was at our social innovation sweet spot.

The idea of Flashpoint Labs was at the intersection of our passion, skills/knowledge/experience/talent, sphere of influence, community needs, and what works.

Leanne and I had a passion for youth empowerment, photography and social enterprise development. This stemmed from our experiences growing up and in our work lives.

We had skills, knowledge, experience, and talent in each to some extent. Some more than others for sure. For example, I had not worked directly with young people from diverse backgrounds before, but I had been a snowboard coach for young people in prep and high school. My diverse group of friends growing up gave me a good understanding of issues affecting young people ‘at risk’ and how to relate to people from different cultures and backgrounds. I was an amateur photographer, having not taken a photography class since high school. At the time we embarked on starting Flashpoint Labs, I had initiated social innovation projects and work for small NGO’s, but I had never started my own enterprise. I had spent a lot of time reading and learning about each of these areas though and I was keen to put my knowledge into practice. I believed I had a talent or knack for enterprise development and ‘making things happen’. Leanne was significantly more experienced in all these areas and her guidance was vital.

I felt I had a sphere of influence in the photography industry as I had many friends who were budding photographers. This was crucial in deciding to start Flashpoint Labs. Without this, despite the other factors, I would not have started the organisation. It has proved to be pivotal in our success. Leanne and I also had a sphere of influence in the Indigenous Sector and the Corporate Sector, particularly Leanne. There is a growing connection between corporations and Indigenous people, companies and communities through Reconciliation Action Plans. We were keen to use our connections in the Indigenous Sector to reach young people to empower and to use our connections in the Corporate Sector to provide services to and to partner with for grants and sponsorship.

In terms of community needs, we knew that levels of education and employment in diverse communities were low. Particularly in Indigenous communities. So we knew there was a real need for education and employment opportunities. Not just any education and employment opportunities though, those that were tailored, relevant and meaningful to young people from diverse backgrounds. More than one in three or over 30% of young people are not engaged, or not fully engaged in formal learning or earning (are considered fully or partially disengaged). We know the rate amongst young people from diverse backgrounds is much higher (source). We wanted to address that by giving diverse young people, and young people at risk of being disengaged, opportunities to learn creative and professional skills in a fun and innovative way. Twenty first century employers want young people with technical skills, such as in media, design, photography and film but they also want young people with soft or generic skills such as creative and critical thinking as well as interpersonal skills and an ability to work collaboratively.

We finally looked at what was working in general and in the area of innovative education and employment training through photography. We found PhotoVoice and Adobe Youth Voices. Two amazing organisations doing incredible work all over the world. They had all the methods and content we needed to engage young people appropriately and effectively. They had both published manuals to support people to establish and run participatory photography projects. While their resources where amazing, I still saw them as quite traditional NGO’s. Both organisation ran off donations and grants from people and organisations. Neither traded much to generate revenue and ensure their financial sustainability.

This is where I wanted Flashpoint Labs to be different. Rather than set up an instance of PhotoVoice or Adobe Youth Voices in Sydney, Australia, I wanted to set up a social enterprise that had trading baked into it’s model. I wanted us to figure out how to provide products and services of value that would generate us enough money to run programs and reach as many young people as possible. I also didn’t want our connection to young people to be completely project based. I want on-going connection and support for young people engaged in our programs. This is how the apprenticeship program was born. We are now also developing a monthly program that young people can pop into and continue to learn and practice at their own pace.

So that’s how we found our social innovation sweet spot and decide to start Flashpoint Labs. I hope this helps you think about how you can find your social innovation sweet spot. Let me know if thinking about your passion; skills/knowledge/talent/experience; sphere of influence; community needs and what works, helps you pick an initiative worth starting. Some prompting questions might be:

Passion:

What are you passionate about? What do you love doing? What do you want to do with your time? What motivates you? What difference do you want to make in the world? What impact do you want to have?

Skills/Knowledge/Talent/Experience:

What are you good at? What skills do you have? What knowledge base can you draw on? What natural talents do you have? What experience do you have?

Sphere of Influence:

Who do you know? Who are you connected to? What networks are you a part of? What relationships can you leverage to help you and your organisation make an impact?

Community Needs?

What are pressing needs in the community you want to work with? What are the greatest social and environmental issues that need to be addressed? What annoys you most about society? What can you do about it given the above answers?

What works?

What are social innovations and social enterprises that work in you area of interest or in your community of interest? What are social innovations and social enterprises that work in general, both at the beginning and when scaling?