socially marketing

Among the many social networks that have sprung up on the web, xigi.net is one of our faves.  Xigi’s target audience is social capitalists, and its mission is to strengthen the connections (especially investments) between the capital market and social service sectors… or as xigi puts it:  “to increase the flow of capital to good.”

Xigi is taking its mission to the next level by coordinating the first-ever Social Capital Markets Conference (SoCap08) in San Francisco later this year.  SoCap08 explains itself like this:

“‘Doing well by doing good’ is becoming the mantra of a new generation of social entrepreneurs and investors. (SoCap08) will bring together these catalytic changemakers - the entrepreneurs who want to change the world and the capital that wants to make it happen.”

I’m excited about this conference, for many reasons.  For starters, it will be great to talk face-to-face with others working in social capital, both to see what they’re up to and to spread the socialmarkets gospel.

On a deeper level, I’m excited about what this conference means for the social capital market space as a whole.  It’s further confirmation of the momentum behind new models of both capitalism and philanthropy - and for what is possible at their intersection.

The idea of directing even a marginally larger slice of the market’s vast resources into the social sector is a mighty powerful one.   I’d love to not just see it happen - I’d love to help make it happen.

I have no doubt ‘08 is just the beginning of a long run of SoCaps.  We will be there to see for ourselves, and it would be great to see you there if you will too.  If not, you can at least follow the action from the SoCap08 site or any of its live (and semi-live) coverage - perhaps even from right here at the socialmarkets blog!