Sweet Notions: Another exciting social enterprise

Sweet Notions Logo Reverse-2Shannon: “In this part of the venture we are getting people to think how they support missional activity beyond just writing a check, asking them to actually take the time and see what they have and then we turn that into capital. It also gets people thinking about other innovative ways to engage in kingdom work. So in the giving there is a stewardship and discipleship aspect and as we do it is also allows people to think more creatively and gives us a platform to help others launch social enterprises and think of what they can do with that they have.”

You may remember Shannon Hopkins from The Truth Isn’t Sexy Campaign which was a huge success. Now Shannon and Jessica Stricker are launching a incredible social enterprise called Sweet Notions.

Shannon: “You might know that I have launched a new initiative with a friend whereby we collect accessories and resale them through boutique events around the world. We did a pilot in the spring in America and found we were onto something. So we are publicly launching in both the US and UK in the autumn.

This initiative is considered a social enterprise because we are tying to create multiple kinds of capital: economic, environmental, social and spiritual. I am excited about this venture and would love for you to go check out the website. www.sweetnotions.org

Technorati Tags: ,

We really do need help to make this a success… We are still looking for women who will partner with us by clearing out their closets and giving us their accessories they no longer wear, and asking their friends to do the same. If you are interested their is a flier you can download from the website. We are also looking to book more boutique events for the fall calendar. Why don’t you think about hosting an event in your home, office or church??

Check out the site and let me know what you think!

And please pray for me as we launch this new venture.

Cheers

Shannon”

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

11 Comments

  • brad says:

    Thanks for this post and link, Andrew. I just perused the Sweet Notions site and am reminded from this new social enterprise of how many, many things I appreciate about the entrepreneurial edge of ministry in emerging cultures. Such as how it integrates so many of the important attitudes and actions at the core of a truly holistic biblical way of being.
    It fuses creativity with crucial justice endeavors. And it emphasizes personal eco-stewardship with conscientious community. And it mixes multiplicational networking (Get your friends involved!) with missional-mindedness. It lives what it teaches, and teaches through how it lives.
    But really, this kind of missional manifestation is not based in a bunch of ethereal “its’s” and “whats’s,” but on down-to-earth “whos’s.” We all need those who already embody this kind of lifestyle, who can activate it in us, or validate it for us when it’s intuitively there. We’re sparked for service ourselves by passionate people who not only “get it” but “are it” – people like Shannon and the many who share living out life with her.
    And to me, Shannon Hopkins is the most integrated-est, innovative-est, incubator-est people I’ve ever known. Kudos and thank-you’s to Shannon and the wonderful women and men and children who’ve invested themselves in catalyzing this amazing community of impact in Sweet Notions! I appreciate your being activators/validators for others of us looking for ways to live out our faith concretely …

  • andrew says:

    thanks brad. nice words. i know shannon will get a kick out of them when she reads this.
    hey – i will be in san francsico in a few weeks. can we hook up?

  • andrew says:

    and are you still coming to las vegas?

  • brad says:

    yo! andrew! ferr shizzle we can connect in san francizzkle.
    i’m still hoping to go to GodBlogCon in L.V., but it seems to be a ‘thin hope’ at the moment. would take financial miracles to get me there. however, to quote two great theologians … okay, so it was the Elves, Legolas apologizing to Aragorn at Helms Deep in The Two Towers, ‘Forgive me. I was wrong to despair.’ and Arwen restating to Elrond her choice of waiting for Aragorn over sailing to the Grey Havens, and her reason: ‘There is still hope.’
    there is always hope. despair is only for those who absolutely know the outcome; i do not, therefore i can still hope and move onward toward the goal, actively watching to see what providentially transpires …
    yeah, i’m a Frodo …
    ferr rizzle …

  • Justin T says:

    Can somebody post some good links/books/articles for like a 101 Social Enterprise crash course for me?
    I’m a youth pastor exploring new ways. I think this stuff really has some grit and would like to expand my thinking and my dreams for what a community of youth could look like.

  • brad says:

    Hey Justin – great question. Could I recommend the titles below as starter background books. These are more reference/resource reading, with practical stuff but not specifically how-to manuals. (Can somebody out there recommend that kind of book?) But many will help your group with ideas for projects that consider the “triple bottom line” – people, planet, profit.
    *Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance* by Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjelle A. Nordstrom. Fusing creativity with activism and business.
    *Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century* by Alex Steffen, Al Gore, and Stephan Sagmeister. Related website: http://www.worldchanging.com/. Emphasizes environmental issues, but it seemed to me when I skimmed its 600+ pages, that it had a lot of practical suggestions on how-to’s.
    Those are some of the newer ones that offer worthwhile resource/reference reading. But social enterprising ain’t all that new, though the decentralized and internetworking aspects bring a different flavor to it. For some “classic” reading that has hung around because it’s good, check out:
    *More-With-Less Cookbook* (World Community Cookbook) by Doris Janzen Longacre. This has been around for at least 25-30 years now, and with its emphasis on sustainable cooking, could perhaps spark a starter project: what social enterprise project could you invest the funds in that represent the difference between what it would normally cost your group to eat for a week, versus on the more-with-less plan?
    *Creating Community Anywhere: Finding Support and Connection in a Fragmented World* by Carolyn R. Shaffer, Kristin Anundsen, and M. Scott Peck. Been around for at least 15 years, and one of my favorites to recommend for its range of topics and practical ideas for local community involvement.
    Hope that’s of help in getting started, with a few key background materials you might well find yourself looking at over and over through the years …

  • LOVE IT! Shannon and Jes both rock! Hey if your in the states, you could always pop to Austin….

  • andrew says:

    Austin next March, i think Cathryn.
    brad – thanks for the book recommendations.

  • Justin T says:

    Very cool Brad! Definitely what I was looking for!

  • brad says:

    hi justin – just a few weeks ago i put together a bibliography that included a section on new ministry development, so here is another item i check out while doing that research and it looks helpful, especially on collaboration with other groups and community agencies:
    *Well Connected: Releasing Power and Restoring Hope through Kingdom Partnerships* by Phil Butler http://www.connectedbook.net/index.html

  • OH- yeah… SXSW is running the same time as that Blog thing you mentioned.. I’d like to come to the table on that one… can you sneak me in the back door? That would be cool cuz i think Mark is gonna be giging it too…. so could be a good tribal hook up meal with some juicy tunes. (not sure, but looks like Marks new CD will be if not out- in the final phases!) Feel free to crash here if you like, or a night here, a night there… (DnA’s) Will provide a gracious plenty of good grub (no haggis)-
    xoK8

Leave a Reply