Centre for Social Innovation

YouChange believes that social innovation should meet social needs, resolve social problems, create social value, and promote the sustainable development of society by using innovative strategies,concepts, ideas, methods and organizations that are more efficient,sustainable, and fair than existing ones.

The role of the Centre for Social Innovation is to explore and cultivate social innovation, to discover and support talents with social entrepreneurship by establishing lasting mechanisms and platforms with cross-sectoral collaboration.

The Social Innovation Venture Philanthropy Fund

The Social Innovation Venture Philanthropy Fund is one of the key mechanisms for the Centre for Social Innovation to explore and cultivate social innovation. The aim of the fund is to discover, incubate and support innovative organizations which meet YouChange’s “3A Criteria” and which are in the later part of early stage of development,prior to the early expansion stages.

Outline of the 3A Criteria:

Aim: The Aim of the organization must be related to social development and solving social problems.

Approach: The approach of the organization should 1) display social innovation, and 2) be sustainable socially, environmentally and economically.

Action: Achieving effective team implementation through strategic planning.

Targeting Stages of Development:

Registered and has been operating for two or more years

Has four or more permanent, full time staff Has clear mission and directions for operations

Has products or services ready for market testing and brand positioning in the area of social innovation.

Targeting directions:

Exploring new fields Applying new technology in the field of public welfare Cultivating talents for new philanthropy

Experimenting in innovative operational and organizing methods within new philanthropy.

YouChange Social Innovation Carnival

The Social Innovation Carnival is a promotional platform for social innovation, offering opportunities for cross-sectoral exchanges that foster and enhance creative and collaborative drives for the social sector in China. The carnival will gather exceptional non profit organizations, social entrepreneurs and corporate citizens from China and overseas, also involves representatives from relevant governmental departments, academic institutions and the media.

It adopts the exciting form of a carnival to create an atmosphere of innovation and to inspire public interest and participation in the area of public welfare. The carnival will promote interaction and collaboration between public welfare organizations, the government, business enterprises and investors, as well as encouraging thoughts and experimentations in innovative methods.

The first carnival will be hosted by YouChange starting in 2010 in Shanghai. According to specific conditions, the future carnivals will be held in different cities in China every one or two years.

Social Innovation Comparative Study

YouChange is working together with the Central  Compilation & Translation Bureau (CCTB) in a social  innovation comparative study. The two organizations will work together in the following areas:

YouChange Social Innovation and Social Enterprises Series is designed to translat and publish social innovation related works from overseas to China.The Social innovation comparative study will cover basic theories,social innovation cases and strategic policy suggestions for social innovation in China and a related monograph will be published.

The YouChange Academic Seminar on Social Innovation will be held .Social Innovation Blue Book will be jointly launched as The Report on Social Innovation every year to review social innovation in China.

Social Entrepreneur Skills Training Program

YouChange is the first local partner in China to support the British Council in carrying out a Social Entrepreneur skills training program. YouChange invested 500 thousand Yuan in the pilot stage of the project and teamed up with experts in relevant fields to establish a selection and appraisal mechanism for prizes in the following areas: start-up phrase, growth phase, mature phase and the special committee prize. “YouChange Exceptional Social Enterprise Prizes” has provided financial support to seven exceptional projects and organizations in various stages of development.

After the conclusion of the pilot project, YouChange continued its collaboration with the British Council by investing one million Yuan into the first full training program in the four cities of Xi’an, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen. The prizes of “New Philanthropy Pioneering Prize”, “New Philanthropy Development Potential Prize” and “Prize for Innovative Methods in New Philanthropy” were added to the “YouChange Exceptional Social Enterprise” prize list. These new prizes offer financial incentive and support to practioners who create innovative non-profit business plans. In addition to financial support, YouChange provides comprehensive and sustained support to potential social entrepreneurs and serves as a bridge between the business community and social enterprises. It also provides capacity building support by holding seminars and providing one-on-one guidance.

Social Innovation Credit Course

The Social Innovation Credit Course was initiated by YouChange,and is offered in partnership with the Research Centre for Civil Society at Peking University. This course is an elective course open to all students in Peking University, for which the students receive an official mark and academic credit points. The inaugural course is named Social Entrepreneurship and the Practice of Social Innovation. The aims of the course are to promote the spirit of Social Entrepreneurship amongst the students as well as offering students with an interest in social enterprise and non-profit organizations an opportunity to gain related knowledge and skills.