Convener's Welcome

SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) is the world’s largest gathering of socially-motivated investors and entrepreneurs. It’s the conference that holds its place in the market at the intersection of Money & Meaning, the place where good things happen when you meet valuable strangers, the connection you would not have made ordinarily. Because of our specific emphasis on gathering voices across a broad spectrum, you’ll run into more people you would not have run into at typical conferences that are focused either on impact investing or philanthropically-funded social enterprise. We are the conference in the middle, where all the important tribes show up to mingle and share new things.
SOCAP is a different model. It is actively for-profit and believes the market can be a force for good, sometimes even a better tool for doing good than giving and philanthropy. And the heart of SOCAP is meaning, talking about what people stand for, why we’re involved in this movement, why some are changing their lives and careers and joining startups to do the good things that mission-focused, for-profit social enterprises can do. We gather people who want to be part of the inspiring alignment of doing good and supporting themselves, in service to building the world we want to leave to our children and grandchildren.
The conference highlights innovative ideas, partnerships, and technologies (and the individuals behind them) that are able to enhance the well-being of people, communities, and the environment – both domestically and internationally.
It does this by:
+ Connecting impact investors (who want a mix of financial return along with positive social and environmental impact) with investable entrepreneurs (who can make it happen).
+ Bringing reports from the field, highlighting trends and new research.
+ Enabling connections that create a market where meaning has a place at the table.
+ Bringing together a unique community of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policy makers, students, artists, and fund managers.
This year, SOCAP is taking a couple of sector focuses, and going deep in these particular fields. We are looking at health as a keystone to solutions for human well-being. We are looking at the awesome business opportunity around the intersection of Obamacare and mHealth, where underprivileged, low- and no-income people are suddenly the most lucrative customers.
We’re changing the story of service work for the oceans: from one of do-gooders mitigating risk as problems come our way, to finding the places the market can be a catalytic force to revitalize this significant part of our planetary ecosystem. We’re starting to get our heads around revitalizing the ocean as a market opportunity, in partnership with philanthropy.
And we’re building the tools to make investors smart about this new, holistic way of investing. We’re looking at innovation as it shows up in a particular city or community, and bringing together the players who can link innovation to community development. This all adds up to real and actionable measures toward a better world in areas that need focus right now; it adds up to what we’re calling Accelerating the Good Economy.
SOCAP13 is going to be a great global gathering, with sessions for newbies along with deep dives and design sessions. The conference will be replete with good parties and music and the cloud of other special interest group gatherings that convene around the big tent of SOCAP.
It’s this combination of energetic inspiration, knowledge, and the connection with valuable strangers that make SOCAP so unique. Come be part of building the market in the space between giving and investing. The world needs you to be part of it.
We’ll see you there,
Kevin Jones
SOCAP Founder and Convener