A drumroll if you please for what is probably the biggest news in our short history thus far... We have just launched our first international community hub! tbd* is quite literally running into the face of adversity and going UK. We like to call it the Brentrance.
What does this mean? Well, put simply, we will now be featuring weekly news, inspiration, funding opportunities, events and of course jobs for social impact professionals based in the UK, and those who would like to be. And you will find it all gathered here.
Why the UK? The reasons are threefold:
1. The UK has long been feted as a global hub for social innovation. Where else has the Government raided dormant bank accounts to the tune of 600 million and set it all aside for impact investment. The sector is huge! Fantastic! But, on the flip side, it is increasingly intransparent. Projects and ideas get duplicated, potential talent gets lost, resources are wasted. So we are setting out to make the sector easier to navigate. Not just for individuals getting started, but also for those already heavily involved in the sector who still don't know everything and everyone. Not to mention those of us in other countries, who can learn a lot from the successes and failures of this growing and widely established UK market.
2. By providing people with access to the knowledge and tools they need to use their careers for social good (whether that's through discovering a new job at a charity or scaling their own social enterprise) we hope to enable and empower them to do so. To take back their sense of power and autonomy. To recognise that each individual has the ability to change the world and that there are thousands of positive stories out there - to counteract the increasingly negative headlines of doom and gloom - from people, businesses and organisations who are doing just that. Modestly put, we hope to reinstil a sense of optimism in the future of the UK and its role as a global force for positive social change. (And you thought we were just a jobs board! Ha!)
3. Whilst up until now we have been based in Berlin, one of our co-founders, Naomi, was born and bred in Oxford and spent the first part of her career working there for Oxfam. Over the last 10 years since that first job, she has retained and built on her network in the UK, giving her the privileged position of being an insider-outsider. Alongside her we have a very wonderful UK country manager, Olwen, and plenty of friends like On Purpose through to the Year Here - who are helping to ensure that we are not missing the point. We feel with this setup we have the best shot at creating something authentic and valuable, with the aim of ultimately piloting how a more international tbd* community might work in practice.
But we can only do it with you. We are looking for guest contributors for content, partners and ambassadors to help us run our free, local networking events and share critical thoughts and ideas. And for the next three months, you can post your own jobs and events for free! Get in touch here: olwen@tbd.community
So, yes, it's a power grab. But, hopefully, not as you know it. And we hope that you will be a part of it, too.
Sign up for the UK newsletter here. Check out the newest articles, jobs and events in the UK.
Originally published September 18, 2017
