CANVAS was present at the by-invitation-only 2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual event held at Oxford University's Said Business School, that has been described as the "Davos of Social Entrepreneurship."
The Forum focused on the theme of “culture, context and social change” and was attended by around 700 social entrepreneurs, academics, financiers, politicians, policy makers and others from over 40 countries around the world, including no less than Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, and CEOs from leading companies in design, finance, new technologies, and media.
It's extremely difficult to describe what it feels like to be there, but blogger Rob Katz captures it a bit in his account which you can read here.
We were fortunate to have been more than a mere participant (which would have been fantastic on it own if only for the ideas, energy and networking opportunities that permeated the whole event) as CANVAS was able to present its history, programs, and challenges at the Forum's Consultancy Clinics. This particular session gave CANVAS a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive feedback from an esteemed panel of leading experts and thought leaders. To ensure that the panel felt unconstrained in giving their thoughts and advice, the rules of the Clinics required that no attribution of organizations or comments be made - but click here to see how one of their bloggers reported on our session.
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P.S. On the way to Oxford, we met Charmaine Aserappa at London's Heathrow Airport. Charmaine is the author of the international bestseller, IN A JAPANESE GARDEN (Council Oak Books, 1999), and, as we mentioned before, she wrote "Message in the Sand" - an original children's story that reaffirms the power of one person, even a child, to make a difference.
Written especially for CANVAS, the story will be paired with works by artist Roel Obemio, and published by CANVAS this coming October.
It was great to finally put a face to her name - we had found and only corresponded with her on the Internet previously. It also gave us a chance to present her with one of Roel's original watercolor studies as our small expression of gratitude for her generosity and support.
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