Why Nonprofits Should Pay Attention to the Share Economy

Peers and Socap are hosting Share: Catalyzing The Sharing Economy Conference on May 13 and 14 in San Francisco. The conference will bring together thought leaders from nonprofits, startups, and companies with sharing economy leaders to learn, discuss, and find new collaborations on the road to the new economy. The schedule and list of speakers make this a must go to conference for those interested in the sharing economy. You can register here.

What the heck is the sharing economy? Why should my nonprofit care? The first wave of the sharing economy started with social media and online networks where we shared our ideas and content and connected with like-minded "strangers." This next evolution is about sharing goods and services for a more sustainable world.

Let's begin with a definition and framework from Jeremiah Owyang who is the chief catalyst and founder of the Crowd Companies Council and one of the thoughts leaders in the sector. His framework is called the "collaborative economy," and is defined as:

The Collaborative Economy enables people to efficiently get what they need from each other. They use powerful technologies that enable Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer lending, the Maker Movement, and the Sharing Economy. If you look closely, the crowd is becoming like a company: self funding, designing, producing, and sharing what they already have.

The infographic breaks down the collaborative economy into different areas and identifies different companies offering those services. As Owyang notes, the companies listed in this graphic are just a representation, there are over 9,000+ companies, many which vary by country and geography. To access the full directory companies visit the Mesh Index, at meshing.it/companies managed by Mesh Labs run by Lisa Gansky.

The area of most relevance to nonprofits is the "money" section, most specifically lending and crowdfunding. But, certainly there are other areas such as space, food, and services - and that some of the entities working in this area are nonprofits themselves. And, of course the biggest reason is the sustainability goals that occur with sharing. For more about why it is important for nonprofits, read Shareable.

I love conferences that are at the beginning of a learning journey and that's just what this conference is about -- its deep dive and discussion about the possibilities and the path forward to the sharing economy. You can register here.