In the 21st Century, many of us are more ‘connected’ than ever, and whilst we live within economic and ideological systems that thrive on homogenization, we only have to consider the passions, knowledge and skills of any one individual to recognize the immense and diverse assets waiting to be unleashed.

One way I’ve explored doing this involves employing a simple technique called ‘asset mapping’. In the case below – appropriate for any number of participants – this involves mapping the passions, knowledge and skills that participants in any group already possess. I have successfully trialled this method with face-to-face gatherings, but the template can be easily customised for an online process or expanded to explore issue, organisational or team-specific resources. It is essentially a form of real-time crowdsourcing, except, in this case, every bit of data is of potential, perpetual value to all involved.

Facilitating Asset Mapping

First up, here is one example of an outcome from this process, so that you know what it is to which you might be working!

Asset mapping at The Gathering

The 10 Steps:

1. Gather the following materials: nine colourful post-it notes for every participant (e.g. 225 for 25 people), a pack of colourful sticky dots for every 10 participants, three big sheets of butcher’s paper for every 25 participants, and enough marker pens/pens for the group.

Tips: To produce the most visually appealing of asset maps, go for a range of colours (of the lighter kind) when selecting post-it notes. For pens, note that there is an ideal tip thickness that allows for legible writing and reading from a distance. Also, if needed, you can substitute words or symbols for sticky dots.

2. Assemble your group in a way that allows participants to partner-up and ensure each has a something with which to write, a total of nine post-it notes, and access to sticky dots for a little later on.

Tips: I have found this exercise works well around tables where people can write on the post-it notes most easily. Ideally, participants will have a mix of colours with their post-it notes, but as long as there is diversity amongst the group it does not really matter (i.e., it is o.k. for a participant to have all the same colour or groups of colour with their post-it notes, as long as there is diversity in the room and across the asset map categories – ‘Heart’, ‘Head’ and ‘Hand’).

3. Explain to the group the asset mapping process (i.e. the remaining six steps)

Tips: If you would like to introduce asset-based thinking to the group, you can read a quick introduction here. In addition to outlining the process I would suggest explaining the desired outcomes to the group, as well as how long the process should take (I have found 90 minutes plenty for a group of up to 100). I suggest highlighting that participants need only share that with which they are comfortable, and that a gift shared with one’s partner does not have to be recorded on a post-it note (i.e. there is no obligation to place anything on the butcher’s paper later on, but that the final maps are accessible to all participants, irrespective of whether they contributed specific gifts). Perhaps also highlight that this is, in part, a trust building exercise undertaken on the basis that every person’s shared offerings are respected and not open to exploitation.

4. Ask everyone to write the words ‘Heart’, ‘Head’ and ‘Hands’ in the top left of the post-it notes, using one term per post-it note, and three post-it notes for each category.

Tips: So that they can be most easily read from a distance, consider suggesting that participants print their words, rather than use running writing.

Participants should now have a range of post-it notes in front of them, resembling the following (three of each):

5. Allowing 15-20 minutes for this next step, ask participants to first record up to nine gifts – ideally three each of the ‘heart’, ‘head’ and ‘hand’ – with each gift written clearly in the centre of the post-it note listing its relevant category. Participants are then invited to share their gifts with a person next to them in whatever way they desire. Explain the gifts as follows:

• Heart: ‘I am passionate about…’
• Head: ‘I have some knowledge around…’
• Hands: ‘I know how to…’

Model the practice yourself to the group, e.g. “I am passionate about caring for animals, I have some knowledge around how to cut a mango properly and I know how to build a shed using timber and rope”.

Tips: Starting with the heart is the easiest way I have found for people to open up – everyone is passionate about something! Encourage participants to go beyond what they think people might expect them to say are their gifts – the more random the gift, the more likely it will be unique and therefore of even greater value to the group. That said, remind people that every gift is welcome in the space and that there is no obligation for people to share nine, or for that matter, any gifts. If participants seem lost, I encourage them to start with the exact sentences, i.e. “I am passionate about…”.

6. Ask participants to add a coloured dot in the top right hand corner of each post-it note relevant to the amount they are willing to share. Distinguish between a ‘full-time’, ‘part-time’ and ‘casual’ offering.

Tips: I use the traffic light colours for dots. Here red means ‘casual’, orange or yellow means ‘part-time’ and green means ‘full-time’ – you can obviously improvise, as long as you make it clear to all involved. Consider modelling an example of each, e.g. casual might mean you can contact me once a year or every so often, part-time means I’m open to weekly/monthly engagement around this, full-time means contact me at any reasonable hour! It also helps to put up a super-sized example of a completed post-it note, somewhere clearly visible to the group.

7. Ask participants to write their first name and best contact details along the bottom of the post-it note.

Tips: If relevant, remind people of the range of contacts from which they can select one to share, e.g. Twitter handle, email, phone number, Skype name or postal address. Let people know that they can write different contact details for different gifts.

8. Ask participants to add a ‘$’ sign to the left of the sticky dot if they would like to charge for the use of their gift.

Tips: Encourage people to be honest about whether they would like to charge and remind people that it will be up to those involved to negotiate costs when each exchange occurs

Participants should now have a range of post-it notes in front of them, resembling the following:

9. Ask participants to stick each post-it note on the relevant piece of butcher’s paper (each should be labelled either: ‘heart’, ‘head’ or ‘hands’) that will be on the ground or hanging vertically nearby. Offer people a good amount of time to review what goes up.

Tips: Best to have the butcher’s paper affixed to wall or pinboard in advance. Make sure the place where the assets will be displayed is accessible to a roving crowd. Trust that magic will now evolve. Encourage people to bathe in the beauty of their shared assets but also record immediately what offers they might like to follow-up!

At Hub Melbourne

10. Crowd-source someone from the group who is willing to put all the assets into a spreadsheet and distribute to the group electronically or through a printed version.

Tips: The new databasing volunteer should have everyone’s contact details from the bottom of the post-it notes, but if participants have not listed an email address (and for those who chose not to share their gifts publicly) you may want to facilitate a means of sourcing these at this point. Check also if anyone does not wish to be contacted with a copy of the maps. And do not forget to remind the new volunteer to put people’s addresses in ‘blind carbon copy’ if using email!

Asset mapping offers a simple, fast and inexpensive way to resource a project, organisation or movement. Because it focuses on what already exists, it is positive in nature and is great for unearthing latent potential. Once in a database, an asset map easily updated by people themselves and also presents a medium through which people can maintain meaningful connections – it’s actually collaborative living in action! Perhaps most importantly, its informal nature facilitates the strengthening of connections and trust beyond casual acquaintances. But then again, that’s a common trait to most communal activities that are free and fun!

This article orginally appeared at Shareable: http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-map-assets-expose-real-wealth-for-shared-futures.

An interview by Melanie Luxem with Donnie Maclurcan – Executive Director of Project Australia, and Raul Caceres – Project Manager at the Australian Social Innovation Exchange:

“People have realised how easy it is to collaborate with different people, and how easy it is to find things that were very difficult to find in the past. So, for example, before if you needed to find someone who was able to help you write some of the ‘terms and conditions ‘for a specific project, or just look at the legal aspects, then you had to start looking and visiting offices, looking around for people to help you out. But nowadays, you have so many networks where you can just go on and say ‘this is my project and I want to crowdsource the knowledge that I need to help my initiative’” – Raul Caceres

“…a social enterprise, as defined as an operating social innovation that has a part or component of its services that are trade-based, calls into mind that question about ‘sustainability’. The era of government grants propping up not-for-profits is, perhaps, coming to some kind of end over the next few decades, as not-for-profits realise not just the benefits of being detached from dependency to stakeholders, but also the advantages of having a diversified portfolio of income streams” – Donnie Maclurcan

It’s been a big year of ‘getting things up and running’. Here’s what happened for us, and where we’re heading next:

Operations, Outreach and Output

• We launched our new website, as a gateway to our services.

• We conducted 32 free consultancies, through our Social Innovation (SI) Consulting service. These covered projects across all areas of social innovation, with examples including a sailing vessel run on biofuel that transports organic produce on inland waterways to Sydney suburbs; an Ebay-like platform for people to sell unwanted items, with all income going to charities; a speaking service for schools, focussed on mental health; and a community cafe, staffed by people who were formerly homeless. Projects were based far and wide, including Sydney, Melbourne, Bowraville, Canberra, Wellington, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. We’ve been encouraged by the great feedback received. Here’s just some of what people have been saying:

“Spending an hour with Project Australia’s consultant helped me get clarity on some parts of my project that I was finding hard to frame. I also got great practical tips and some excellent follow-up documents that were very useful and thought-provoking. Big thanks!” Kerry Graham, Social innovator and former CEO, Inspire Foundation

“The 1hr provided was invaluable to identify the weak points of our project, and the suggestions for improvement were spot on. You can’t overestimate the value of experience and knowledge.” Joel Hauer, Founder, UnOffice

 

We also conducted our first paid consultancy with the Waratah Community Land Trust Association, running a 4hr session involving asset mapping, branding, development of mission and vision statements, and exploration of appropriate business structures.

• We launched the Tools4Good beta site, showcasing over 1000 tools to help kickstart, support and grow Australian community projects. About 60% of the content has now been finalised.
• We completed all the paperwork, manuals, systems and a new web design ready for the re-launch of our social enterprise: the uThinc Speakers’ bureau.
• We gave nine presentations covering topics such as social enterprise, asset-based approaches, and project start-up, in places including Nambucca Heads, Melbourne, Hobart, Townsville and Sydney. We ran seven workshops about start-up tools, tips and approaches, as well as asset mapping in places including Hobart, Melbourne, Brisbane, Townsville, Geelong and Sydney.
• We launched our Facebook page and now have 2563 followers on Twitter. On a monthly basis, we presently receive over 500 visitors to our projectaustralia.org.au site, almost 200 to tools4good.org.au and just over 50 to uThinc.com.au.
• Through a spot on the Project Local judging panel, we received exposure in 18 local newspapers around Sydney, e.g., here and here. We also received promotion in the Tasmanian Times in regards to our workshops/talks in Hobart.
• We were interviewed by WE magazine about social innovation in Australia.
• In some exciting news, our former Chair, Larissa, was named NSW Australian of the Year!

Governance and Management

• For the second year running, we had our finances double-checked via an Extraordinary Audit, thanks to the folks at Grant Thornton.

• Early in the year we shifted from a Board of Governance to a more hands-on Committee of Management, this saw us say farewell to Larissa, Galina, Les and Vijoleta, whilst welcoming Lauren, Rose, Marty, Julie and Sama. Accordingly, a new constitution was adopted at our August AGM, with a number of new members (Ann, AJ and Billy) joining our Committee in the ensuing months. We were delighted that Larissa has become Project Australia’s patron.
• We’ve just recently brought on a new Management group: Rhiannon, Connie, Jessie and Steve, and said farewell to Julie, Rose and Amina, our AusAid leadership scholar from Nepal.
• We were saddened by the passing of our Honorary Elder, Stella Cornelius, and one of our foundational supporters, Jan Lee Martin.

Partners and Support

A big thanks to Vibewire and the Australian Social Innovation Exchange for operational support; to Project Local, The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, and OurCommunity for help with promotion; to Meals on Wheels NSW for administrative support; and to the Yoga Aid Foundation, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, the Sincerutty Group, and New Moon Blues for financial support.

Plans for 2012

For PA, the coming 12 months is all about upgrading our platforms and scaling our activities!

• We’ll continue to improve our main website, develop our blog, and engage with communities via our Facebook page.
• We’ll be enhancing the design and functionality of our Tools4Good web platform, with the 2.0 version allowing for user-generated content, whilst improving the amount and quality of our data.
• We’ll be expanding SI Consulting, launching a promotional website and recruiting additional consultants to assist in providing this free service around the country.
• We’ll be launching the new uThinc website, recruiting new speakers (possibly through a national ‘voices worth hearing’ competition) and seeking to grow Australia’s first speakers’ bureau for young social innovators. We’re presently finalising an exciting contract with the BUiLD program at UTS that will see us provide this program with regular uThinc speakers.
• Finances forthcoming, we’ll be building our long-awaited three-phase online incubator for social innovation, starting with a simple, automated planning process for not-for-profit initiatives to generate a project plan.

We’ve also got some big events in the pipeline:

• With our partners Vibewire, we’ll be hosting an Open Learning event at the Australian Museum in March, featuring David Price OBE.
• Also with Vibewire, we’ll be running a fundraising trivia night – The Democratic Republic of Trivia!
• We’re also currently exploring talks and workshops with Holroyd local government, the ThinkActChange meet-up, as well as the possibility of an Australian tour of our successful Tools4Change workshop.

Thanks for your ongoing support and inspiring ideas. We hope you have an enjoyable break!

Donnie and the Project Australia team

Let’s face it: most of those big ones are blockers. From minor hiccups (I can’t purchase that website domain until I get paid next week) to deal breakers (my new budget says I need $3000 next month and I have no idea how to source that), the entrepreneurial mind hovers on the challenges.

The good news is that challenges are one of the things that social innovators in the not for profit space invariably have in common with other projects in the for profit space. It’s good news because it means that many others have probably already tackled these challenges, made the mistakes and are ready to share what they learned. A recent example of this is the brilliant free, online book Australian Stories of Social Enterprise by Cheryl Kernot and Joanne McNeill.

The key challenges the Project Australia team hears all the time through our consultancies andworkshops are:

    What is the most appropriate legal structure for what I am trying to do?
    Is my idea a good one?
    Is what I’m trying to do clear?
    How can I make my initiative a social enterprise?
    How can I best fundraise?
    Where can I source further resources and support?

What do you think the biggest questions are for not-for-profit entrepreneurs and social innovation types?