This post is part of a series of posts generated through a collaboration with Geri Stengel of Ventureneer to provide a one-stop resource for insights and news from the Social Impact Exchange Conference on Scaling Social Impact, held June 17 - 18, 2010.

The Social Impact Exchange Conference on Scaling Social Impact ended with the selection of 2009-10 Business Plan Competition winners. Eight organizations competed in the final round and were grouped in two categories: early-stage and mezzanine-stage. The early-stage finalists – organizations that have a strategy for scaling their social impact and whose initiatives are in the early stage of growth – included Benetech, Higher Achievement, North Lawndale Employment Network, and Rubicon Emerge. The mezzanine-state finalists – organizations that have significant levels of success and demand for services from their target populations, and also have demonstrated positive outcomes and defined strategies for scaling social impact – include First Book, Grameen Foundation, the Parent-Child Home Program, and ROC USA, LLC.

This post is part of a series of posts generated through a collaboration with Geri Stengel of Ventureneer to provide a one-stop resource for insights and news from the Social Impact Exchange Conference on Scaling Social Impact, held June 17 - 18, 2010.

I generally don’t get excited about attending conferences. The content often is reduced to a basic level to accommodate as many people in the room and the opportunities for substantial learning and networking are limited. That said I’m eager to participate this week in the inaugural Social Impact Exchange Conference on Scaling Social Impact. 

This week foundations, international grantmaking institutions, individual donors and global Southern activities have gathered in San Francisco for the Grantmakers Without Borders (Gw/oB) annual conference. As Gw/oB marks its 10th anniversary, its conference participants continue to focus on issues of social justice, gender equity and reproductive rights, agro-ecological production and food security, and human rights. Emerging issues – such as LGBTIQ movements and the ongoing humanitarian and development needs in Haiti – have also generated strong interest.

On Thursday, the Corporation for National and Community Service (the Corporation) held a media advisory conference call to provide details about the Social Innovation Fund. Paul Carttar, Director of the Social Innovation Fund, and Marta Urquilla, Senior Advisor for Social Innovation, framed the conference call as an opportunity to provide details about grant application process and next steps. Following the call, the Corporation released a press release on the SIF process and a link to the conference call audio (which will be up for about 30 days).

On Tuesday, Bill Gates posted a short Tweet: "Headed to TED - http://bit.ly/brwfV1 - I will be sending notes and taking your questions. Send them to @BillGates and tag them #BillatTED." On Friday, some of those questions will be answered via a video feed following his TED presentation on energy and climate change. (UPDATE: The video link is here.)

As is typical with a Bill Gates Tweet, the post was retweeted and referenced a lot. The questions submitted have also been interesting to review. Using the webstie What the Hashtag?!, I  pulled together a listing of most of the questions submitted in advance of Friday's presentation at TED. Of the nearly 500 tweets using the Hashtag, approximately 70 or so where actual questions. The rest were retweets, nonsensical questions or personal pleas, and comments.