Academics and advisers are the gloomiest of the social enterprise movement, according to a poll of delegates at the Skoll World Forum.
Almost 200 of the 785 delegates at the three-day event in Oxford responded to a survey asking how they felt social enterprise was coping in the current economic downturn.
It showed that 59 per cent of academics and advisors were 'moderately pessimistic' about the economic situation and 6.5 per cent were 'highly pessimistic' - nearly two-thirds in total.
Sally Osberg, president and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, said academics felt ‘the end is nigh'.
In contrast, less than half of social entrepreneurs felt pessimistic (40 per cent were 'moderately pessimistic' and 5 per cent were 'highly pessimistic'). And 84 per cent of social entrepreneurs believed their programmes would increase in size or stay the same over the next year.
Osberg praised social entrepreneurs for focusing on the opportunities that could arise from the credit crunch.
‘It speaks to the DNA of the social entrepreneur,' she said, commenting on the optimism of the Skoll delegates.
Osberg said that the survey showed only 16 per cent of organisations would be cutting back - a contrast to the 40 per cent of non-profit organisations in the US that said they would be scaling back or eliminating programmes in a recent US-only poll.
The survey also showed that in the last six months almost 87 per cent of funders said their grants had remained the same or increased and that, over the next year, 63 per cent said funding would remain the same or increase.
It's a statistic mirrored by the foundation, which is increasing the amount of funds it contributes as part of partnerships.
Osberg said that forming partnerships was important during an economic downturn, not only for better security, but to help build innovation.
‘Social entrepreneurs and partnerships are more determined to make a difference at this time,' she said.
Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, agreed and said that the economic downturn put more pressure on the centre to ensure there would be innovators to make a difference.
‘There's pressure on the faculty and pressure on Skoll to respond to that urgently,' she said.
Hartigan added that the Skoll World Forum responded to feedback from last year's delegates and added 50 per cent more sessions this year.
