The Faulkner Gallery at the Downtown Santa Barbara Public Library was packed today (November 20) with attendees from all sectors--nonprofit, business, government, and private--everyone eager to hear more about a new movement called “Impact HUB.” Diana Periera expertly facilitated the hour-long meeting sponsored by Santa Barbara Foundation’s Social Venture Partners. The meeting included an interview with a representative from HUB San Francisco. Lots of questions and great ideas for Santa Barbara followed her presentation, with plans to form leadership groups to move this idea forward in Santa Barbara.

Understanding the Impact HUB concept can be challenging because it’s a relatively new idea with an entrepreneurial twist combining social impact with revenue generation. Basically, the Impact HUB network is an action-oriented community, with over 7,000 individual members in nearly 40 cities across 5 continents. Within this rich tapestry of diversity, there is a common thread that unites everyone—the collective commitment to creating impact within the community.

Impact HUB: Innovation Lab + Business Incubator + Community Center

Typically an Impact HUB site is a 10,000—20,000 square feet site where a wide variety of entrepreneurial businesses gather to do their work. It’s similar to Santa Barbara’s Work Zones and Synergy but it seems to be more intentional about combining businesses that are geared toward making a social impact on the community. Businesses located within the HUB can use their co-occupants as resources whenever they need to. HUB calls it driving innovation through collaboration. Key areas of HUB include education, programming, events for innovation, consulting and advisory for capacity building, and incubation and acceleration for businesses. A HUB location is part innovation lab, part business incubator, and part community center.

Impact HUB started in Vienna and came to the U.S. three years ago. For more information, visit their website http://www.impacthub.net/