I am really enjoying the twitter feed on the piece I got into the Guardian Public yesterday on social impact assesment. It is gratifying when people describe your work as spot on especially if they are leading lights in the social enterprise world. I will continue to bang on about social impact assesment as I truly believe it is the only way to ensure the most vulnerable in our society are not left behind as everything changes. I believe we are in a transition phase and managing the risks and maximising the opportunities will all come down to measuring and valuing social impact.
Last night having popped home early to take my daughter and her rabbit to the vet, my husband suggested making the most of my rare early appearance at home to pop out to Wimbledon and see if we could get in. We took the boys who love their tennis, our Joe is the top seed in his year at school, and literally swaned in. At 7pm there is still 2 and a half hours of play and for £14 cash you can literally just walk in. We didn't even have to queue! Its the gate near Car park 10 for those who want to give that a go. We saw Clement and the boys got to see Jovovich on Centre Court as some kind soul gave Sam two centre court tickets. Sam does have a wonderfully smiley face and lovely things do seem to happen to him. Long may that last.
This morning we had our joint event with PWC and the LDA on Governance and Risk. We had a full room of leading social entrepreneurs and the discussion was fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the horror shown by the PWC risk experts to the notion of starting to deliver contracts before they are signed. Such a different culture to ours where such things are common place. If social enterprise is to deliver more contracts not only will we have to behave differently but the public sector will need to treat us differently. No more expecting us to start contracts at risk and no more protracted negotiations followed by unrealistic deadlines. Keep an eye out for the next event, there have been three so far in the series and they have gone down a storm. I was almost told off by one CEO as she left for not telling people how good the program is as having not attended the first 2, she felt she had missed out. So I am telling you, these sessions are top notch and you well worth your time. For more info contact the SEL offices (020 702201920).
During the event I had an interesting chat with Steve Wyler from the DTA about how we can get the most out of Big Society which we agreed has presented us with an unparalleled opportunity. I will reflect some of that conversation tonight when I respond to Nick Hurd's speech at the Acevo reception for new MP's.
I will also need to comment on the budget, as indeed will we all. I do hope amidst the doom and gloom there remains enough investment for us to, in the immortal words of the sports commentator David Coleman at the '76 Olympics, open (our) legs and show (our) class.
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