Photos: Guest Panelists at the 2009 Social Enterprise Forum, from left to right: Al Mulholland, CFDC Sunshine Coast; Christine Chandler, Community Resource Centre; Glen McClughan, SCACL; Shelly McDade, Sunshine Coast Credit Union; Lee Ann Johnson, Town of Gibsons; Greg Welstead, Just Business People; Barry Smith, Habitat for Humanity; David LePage, Enterprising NonProfits (ENP).

I''m at the Cedars Inn in Gibsons on a sunny May afternoon, and many of the Coast's best and brightest are gathered together at the sold-out Social Enterprise Forum, talking about how we can blend business and non-profits to create sustainable - and profitable - social enterprises.

The format of the day is a blend of speakers, panel discussion and group brainstorming and already (halfway through) ideas are flying fast and furious around the tables, and the networking has intensified immensely since the beginning of the event.

It's so interesting to hear what other communities around the province are doing. Did you know, for example, that a non-profit in the cariboo region provides catering services to a prison and hires at-risk youth for the program? Or that another NFP teaches at-risk people in the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver the food service industry?

All of our non-profit organizations are facing a sea change in revenue and funding models. Every NFP needs to be taking available funding and working with local talent and resources to use that capital to create PROFITABLE social enterprises that makes sustainability possible.

Social enterprise also includes businesses with a social development bent, such as developers who provide land for affordable housing, the fish market that runs a soup and sandwich kitchen, and businesses that donate a portion of their sales to not-for-profits in the region.

Clark Hamilton Enterprises is one. Sechelt Fish Market is another. And so is Bigpacific.com. Did you know that Bigpacific provides not only a discount to the members of the Sunshine Coast Bed & Breakfast, Cottage Owners Association but also donates a portion of sales to Sunshine Coast Tourism as a non-profit entity working to promote tourism here off-Coast.

As well, over the 12 years Bigpacific.com has been in operation, we have helped found the SCCBCOA, and were involved in many tourism initiatives and boards, and have donated hundreds of hours of free web development and consulting to various not-for-profit groups and organizations.

Now it's my pleasure to give to the people of the Sunshine Coast, through the development of this portal you're now visiting, Bigpacific.ORG. It's a 100% free community network for the Sunshine Coast, like a Facebook but solely devoted to the Coast and its residents. You can upload content, such as video, audio and photos; you can start a blog about your life or business on the Coast; you can chat and have discussions with other people in the community.

So tell YOUR story, whether it's a personal one, an organization's tale of development, or the trajectory of your business and why you love it and work it. I'm so grateful to share this community with so many amazing, talented people and I just want to step back and be dazzled by whatever you create and share.