Greetings,

Thanks again for taking the time to get to know us last night.
Bringing a group of neighbors together with nothing other than a genuine interest in solving local problems in new ways is really, really hard.

The result was a hodge-podge of ideas and conversations from people with various backgrounds and expertise, leaving many of us which wondering to ourselves, “What just happened?”

For all it's glory, the web, our shared geography and ideological common-ground bring us together, yet the real challenge of building this group – like the larger community we’re trying to forge -- hinges on our ability to develop a platform that integrates a diverse set of passions and expertise. A platform that helps Elize, Jon and Cathy's contribute in a way that is valuable to the rest of the community.

To this end, Ashleigh and I are working on an outcome-focused Net Tuesday Planning document
that will serve as the point of departure for future Planning discussions. Much of the planning work will leverage the work we are doing at NetSquared in a more local context.
(For more context re NetSquared and the "Challenge Model” see below:), and of course, we welcome your input.

What's next?

October Net Tuesday Can'cd:
We’re going to take a break from meeting next month and focus on getting work done so that we can return in November on the scene with a Program that is both interesting and accessible to the doer’s of Austin interested in contributing to this unique community.

That's all for now folks.
Once again, a BIG thanks again to our friends at Steel Advertising & Interactive www.steeladvertising.com for providing the nourishment and space for us to meet up.

And please don’t hesitate to reach us with bright ideas, or anything at all.

Best wishes,
-Billy & Ashleigh

Meeting Notes:

(Some of the major challenges facing Social Innovation Projects that were identified in the group).

A. Funding Model that enable groups to focus on Mission rather than constant Fund-raising
B. Access. Innovators often lack access to funders, gov’t agencies, nonprofits and corporate supporters
C. Focus/Scope-Creep. Social Innovation Projects are often focused on too many things at once
D. Redundant Projects. Often Projects are addressing issues/problems that are already being addressed by other better-funded Projects
E. Mentorship Challenge. Technical and Business Expertise to support growth of Social Innovation Projects is often lacking.

Additionally, there was real interest from the group in us focusing our energy in these areas:

1. Developing New Model for Social Innovation/Enterprise
2. Launching New Projects
3. Helping Nonprofits
4. Inspiring People to Action
It might be too soon to tell how last night's event will impact the future of the group, but
a couple of 'must-have's' come to mind for us:

Roles & Responsibilities.
Since it was tough to say ‘yes’ to chipping-in last night without any real context around what the needs are here, we’ve identified key roles for the community here
http://nettuesdayaustin.pbwiki.com/Community+Roles
We'd like your feedback on the roles and any support you can provide in helping us recruit members

For context re the “Challenge Model” check-out:
N2Y2 Innovation Awards: http://www.netsquared.org/2007/conference/projects
N2Y3 Mashup Challenge: http://www.netsquared.org/mashup
DonateNow Mashup Challenge: http://www.netsquared.org/mashup/donatenowchallenge
Yahoo! Green Award: http://www.netsquared.org/mashup/yahoogreenaward)

These NetSquared Challenges have resulted in:
* Submission of > 300 Projects focused on Social-Innovation from around the globe
* 3,000 people in the community provided feedback to Project Applicants
* We’ve distributed $200K in cash to 45 separate social benefit projects

The Challenges, however, are only one part of the overall NetSquared community.

These gatherings (or “meet ups”) currently happen in over 20 cities.
This growing network of committed social innovators provides an opportunity for people to get real-time, face-to-face feedback on their project ideas, Web sites, or service offerings.

In addition, the community comes together to share information and resources with one another on the NetSquared Blogs (http://www.netsquared.org/blog).
These blogs feature interviews by NetSquared bloggers with people working on a wide variety of innovations (http://www.netsquared.org/tags/interviews), advice from project leads on how to make the most of NetSquared (http://twurl.nl/m4v5bq) and updates from projects that have been previously highlighted through the Challenges (http://twurl.nl/o5escn).

These (3) activities—
(a) Challenges that provide tangible and significant rewards to projects;
(b) opportunities to connect face-to-face at locally managed gatherings, and
(c) community-wide information sharing—mean that the NetSquared platform does more than just run Cash-based Challenges; the platform serves as a living resource to creative and resourceful innovarors committed to developing new solutions to our most pressing social issues.

Resources/Tools:*

1. Net Tuesday Austin Wiki http://nettuesdayaustin.pbwiki.com/
2. Basecamp Site. If there’s interest on your end in contributing to the Project Site (Basecamp), just send us a mail and we’ll add your name as a user.
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