You can suck. As long as you learn from it. As long as you: Listen. Create. Engage. Be open. Be brave. Test. Change. Make money. (Or achieve whatever your outcome is supposed to be.)

Social media strategy templates: download the "tactical approaches and tools" and "strategy simulation game" . Made for non-profits, but applicable to for-profit businesses as well. From We Are Media's two-day intensive workshop.

VeloCity in Waterloo is looking for ambitious, creative students who are interested in business, technology and/or media. They'll give them the tools, mentors, location to help kick-start their business in an intense incubation period. Think bootcamp for young entrepreneurs.

From the Policy Research Initiative, this is the federal government's policy paper on social innovation: defining it and the players within the sector.

Get inspired: leadership, copyright, motivation, collaboration and passion. It's all here for entrepreneurs of innovative companies.

A directory of information for Ontario government tax credits, incentives and programs for business. Search about 60 programs across 11 different ministries in one spot.

What makes for good communications at a non profit?

A blog for small businesses (even hobbypreneurs) with posts and whole categories on online marketing. From financing to strategy.

Donors are placing nonprofits on the hot seat to measure social performance. Problem is, there is little agreement on what those metrics should be. Professor Alnoor Ebrahim on how nonprofit managers should respond. Key concepts include: * Rather than simply complying with the demands of the most powerful actors, nonprofit leaders need to focus their attention on accountabilities that really matter for achieving their missions. * Measuring results is valuable as a discipline for nonprofit managers, even if they don't find universal metrics for social impact. * We might not see agreement on a common set of metrics in the social sector for a while, but could see a convergence on what constitutes critical reflective learning processes within the organization.

U.S. companies have too often viewed the social sector as a dumping ground for their spare cash, obsolete equipment, and tired executives, but that mind-set, says HBS Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, has hardly created lasting change. In this excerpt from an article in the Harvard Business Review, she issues a call for corporate social innovation, an approach, says Kanter, that's more R&D than it is charity.

Does Ontario need a School for Social Entrepreneurs? SiG@MaRS wanted to find out, so they embarked on a feasibility study. The results of that study can now be downloaded. The answer, (not to ruin the surprise) is "yes!"

Data from social media consulting firm Sysomos (MaRS client) says Twitter users are separated by six degrees. Article in the New York Times.

Through his private venture fund, new book and position at MaRS, Tom has been busy making a meaningful impact on individuals and leading MaRS - Canada's clean tech cluster - to 4th in worldwide rankings. Using his social and financial capital, Tom Rand is a Clean Leader.

Dale Zak's presentation from Net Change Week on Mobile Volunteerism. It profiles Extraordinaries, Ushahidi, Samasource, VMConnect, Causeworld - social ventures that are helping volunteers do meaningful work by using technology. Dale is a mobile software developer passionate about social change.

Vincent Cheung of Shape Collage, recent winner of the MaRS Up-Start Competition, was also named national champion for an award by the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) organization. Congrats to Shape Collage, a MaRS client.

ACE is a national charitable organization that is teaching and igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE delivers experience-based programming that allows university and college students to move beyond the traditional path of post-secondary education. These students are challenged to address economic, social and environmental issues in their own entrepreneurial ventures and in their communities. ACE currently delivers two programs on over 50 university and college campuses across Canada with the involvement of over 1,700 student leaders and student entrepreneurs.

Vincent Cheung of Shape Collage, a MaRS client, has been named the 2010 student entrepreneur Ontario champion and regional champion for Ontario and Quebec by the national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE). Read this online discussion with him on the Globe and Mail about being a student entrepreneur.

Vincent Cheung and Wenfei Yu, MaRS clients and University of Toronto students, took home $25,000 for their business Shape Collage, which placed first in the 12th annual IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition on March 26 & 27 at Ivey Business School.

This report examines impact investing and how leaders could accelerate the industry's evolution and increase its ultimate impact in the world. It explores how impact investing has emerged and how it might evolve, including profiles of a wide range of impact investors. The report also provides a blueprint of initiatives to catalyze the industry.

A book for social entrepreneurs and those who just want to know what social entrepreneurship is all about.