GUEST POST: The challenges of sustaining a social enterprise

By Marielle Nadal

Starting any venture is always exciting. There’s the idea that lights a fire under your backside; the one that gets you all worked up you can’t sleep. Then there’s the stage of infecting others with the idea, and the idea snowballing into something with legs. Then there’s the high of pulling it off, the shared ecstasy of doing what you love, and for social enterprises—seeing the results, and the impact of what you’ve helped bring about. Then, there’s the equally important satisfaction of issuing yourself your first paycheck no matter how small.

After the adrenaline rush dies a bit, and the back-patting stops, the reality of sustaining a social enterprise begins.

Two years ago, we were crazy kids who just wanted to make the world a better place by exercising whatever God-given, UP-trained talent we had as graphic designers, writers, photographers, web designers, animators and filmmakers. Two financial grants later, with a hefty number of projects under our belts (which fluctuated in size through both the lean and the happy times), and enough anecdotes to make for interesting presentations, we’ve learned that though circumstances sometimes point otherwise, the possibilities never end.

Idea!s Creatives began with five crazy kids, but now we can rightfully say that we are five wiser kids. A bit frayed at the edges, and battle-worn, but perhaps shinier as the past few years have not only rubbed us raw at times, but have also allowed us to see and experience even more of the inspiration that got us started in this venture in the first place.

As a multimedia and creative communications outfit that specializes in the advocacies of cause-oriented organizations, we communicate what we’ve experienced, first-hand and through others. We write, and share the experience with others who perhaps seek inspiration. We design images that break down information, and emphasize meanings that allow people to better understand concepts and ideas. We capture photographs that tell compelling stories.

We design websites, bookmarks, pamphlets, books, newsletters, banners, campaigns, exhibits, annual reports and interactive CDs that, in one way or another, seek to get across a mixture of altruism, optimism, the stark reality of facts, and hopeful ideas that will somehow impact lives. We’ve worked with organizations big and small, from causes such as cerebral palsy, to advocating renewable energy, to promoting social entrepreneurship among the youth.

Simply put, we do what we do because it’s the best way we know how to make the world a better place. We’re graphic designers who’ve become social entrepreneurs, and are ensuring the longevity of our endeavor by studying the nitty-gritty of running an organization (where else will you find a bookkeeper-cum-animator?).  Oh how we’ve grown.

What lies ahead, we feel, may be more challenging than a startup.  But we give ourselves leeway to explore, to play, and to exercise, looking at things from an upside down point of view once in a while. We’ve ventured into organizing venues to engaging more people into what we do. And having more people share the view (of a county, or of a world we own), not only brings more hands into the equation of the work we face, but also deepens the spring where we draw inspiration.  And as we multiply hands, we watch the horizon widen.

Idea!s Creatives (www.ideals-creatives.com) is Rhea Alarcon, Bernice de Leon, Dan Matutina, Marielle Nadal and Jan Virnice Sering. Some other activities they’ve spawned as Idea!s are Design to Make a Difference (www.ideals-creatives.com/designdiff) and Pecha Kucha Night Manila (www.pechakuchamanila.com).

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