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Category Archives: social entrepreneurs

The inaugural Positive Pathways to local Rural Prosperity conference was held in Pickering Brook, Western Australia, September 17-20th 2024. Initiated by The Bank of Ideas which has been committed to ‘supporting the growth of enterprising, sustainable and vibrant small-town communities and economies’ since 1989. Here are a few of the cartoons drawn during the conference highlighting just some of the great ideas from the presentations and sessions. For more about small town reinvention and conference assets and presentations click here.

The last Pro Bono news cartoon for 2021. Pro Bono Australia is a voice for the social sector, ‘… a group of socially-minded individuals who help purpose-driven people and organisations … grow (their) impact. We believe society is better off when there is a thriving social economy. So over two decades ago, before the words “social enterprise” even existed, we started one. Our mission is simple: to activate good intentions.’

Today’s Pro Bono news cartoon. Pro Bono is ‘a group of socially-minded individuals who help purpose-driven people and organisations … to grow (their) impact. We believe society is better off when there is a thriving social economy.’

Brian Lim and his small team at Wise Networking have been innovating an air-deployable mobile cell network solution – a miniature mobile phone tower that can be air dropped into a disaster area to quickly restore mobile coverage. Each miniature tower sits within its ‘Gyrochute’ which gently drops the tower to the ground. Read the full story featured in this month’s International Fire Fighter Magazine, pages 84-86, and watch the prototype Gyrochute in action here. These are some of the drawings to help explain the concept and its potential.

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The Story Conference Melbourne 2019 is only a month away. It is ‘themed on the many differing and useful ways that Story and Narrative techniques provide approaches and impacts for work, health and well-being’. See here for videos from earlier Story Conferences, and testimonials.

View the three day program here for links to over 30 workshops and events – including my workshop Pictures of Health- 3 second stories.

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Some of the cartoons drawn at the Power to the People Conference, 15-16 August, an annual conference created by The Bank of Ideas – celebrating Asset Based Community Development (ABCD).

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Charities and Not-for-Profit organisations increasingly rely on the generosity – and favour – of philanthropists to achieve significant good (and relieving government of some obligation…). Subtle social engineering or just the usual market forces?

Yesterday’s Pro Bono news cartoon. Who is Pro Bono and what does ‘Pro Bono Publico’ actually mean, see here.

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Today’s Pro Bono News cartoon. Many charities and not-for-profit organisations depend on attracting philanthropic funds to operate their programs. Higher education is having particular success –  for example, after raising $600 million by 2015, Sydney University is now aiming for $1 billion from donors. “Most of the research and innovation is done from universities and that is what these growing (philanthropic) groups really desire. So other charities have got to perhaps think about casting some of their ask in that language, rather than just the emotive ask” says John McLeod from JBWere Philanthropic Services. read more on the Pro Bono website here.

Each illustrating job often involves getting a glimpse into a valuable, innovative and creative project.  Helen Palmer, creator of Self unLimited, outlined her Folkscape image and after a couple of drafts this is how it turned out.

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To help understand the picture I asked Helen some questions:

What is Folkscape?

It’s a place – a social place and a digital place where people on Self unLimited adventures can meet, share, learn and support each other.

What’s Self unLimited?

It’s an idea and an approach for taking charge about your own experience of work. You don’t have to be self-employed to be in charge and making decisions that affect you now and in the future. It’s for people who are frustrated about work, it’s for people wondering if they need to think differently about work with a future of big changes like AI and robotics.

https://www.be-selfunlimited.com/about-self-unlimited/

The people all have letters on their tops, what does that mean?

The letters on people’s tops come from Self unLimited logo. Each of these people is making their own version of being Self unLimited. The guy wearing the ‘M’ is Mike – he’s in charge of Mike unLimited – which is his own workscape – the place where he makes choices about how he wants to navigate his experience of work.

The scene is a little mysterious, as if the people have just stumbled on a special place, and off in the distance there appears to be more… what is going on?!

Off in the distance are some special places for group learning experiences. People pay to access these – so that’s why they aren’t in the free open space you see most prominent in this picture. https://www.be-selfunlimited.com/learning-options/

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Edible Adelaide poster illustrating Natural Resources Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges’ Edible Adelaide report – cultivating a shared vision for a more edible Greater Adelaide. There are links to the report and an A4 300dpi file of the poster on that page. More background on the development of the report is on the Sustainable Communities South Australia Inc site here.