Tag Archives: non-profit

Sustainable Non-profits and Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

Posted on September 21, 2008 | 1 comment

Here are a couple of more track descriptions for the upcoming ForSE 2008: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs on October 10th at Boston University.

Sustainable Ventures for Non-Profits

In decades past, many non-profits have achieved only temporary success and limited scale due to dependence on grants and donations. A new breed of ventures have begun innovating revenue models to build greater capacity and sustain operations. These approaches leverage the power of markets to meet social needs. Whether they’re building a socially responsible brand of clothing, providing renewable energy solutions, or bringing banking to the poor, these organizations have discovered the sustainable power of partnering with their customers.

Topics to be addressed in this session include: developing an earned income model, identifying market needs, measuring success, the power of scale, and balancing competing interests.

Cultivating a Generation – Engaging Young Entrepreneurs

A 2007 Harris survey shows 4 in 10 young people between the ages of 8 and 21 want to start their own business. Creative skill development and entrepreneurial experiences provide young people with opportunities to discover their talents and passions, believe in themselves and empower them to create their own futures. This track will explore educational programs focused on engaging young people in real world entrepreneurial experiences that launch them on a path toward building new businesses that create jobs, serve their community and have a positive impact on the world around them.

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Posted in Conference, Education, non-profit, Schools, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainability

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Models for Early Stage Funding

Posted on August 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Several outfits, that I am counseling, are looking at the traditional VC route to raise funds. Sometimes people find this at odds with a socially focused business. The term Social Entrepreneur provides a broad umbrella that covers a number of different types of organizations – ranging from non-profits, to socially focused businesses (as defined by Yunus) to for-profits that have solutions that address a social issue in a major way. Continue reading →

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Posted in Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital, venture philanthropy

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An Introduction

Posted on June 22, 2008 | Leave a comment

The Social Ecosystem

Exploring Entrepreneurial Ideas that Address Social Issues, Enhance the Environment, Sustain Development and Transform the Developing World

This blog is about innovators that are addressing social challenges with fresh ideas, new approaches, and innovative business and entrepreneurial models. These breakthroughs come from a variety of sources ranging from academics, traditional non-profits to for-profit organizations. These include new approaches to charitable giving that have changed the way organizations address social issues. In addition to major changes at traditional philanthropies, they include newer sources of funds ranging from venture philanthropists to socially responsible funds that look for both social and financial returns.

This is an exciting and growing area that impacts us locally as well as internationally. We hope this blog will help educate, explain and engage you with these organizations that are doing exciting work around the world. We will use this blog to:

  • Showcase local and international organizations that have built scalable organizations and are doing significant work impacting social issues.
  • Highlight new approaches to philanthropy and support that are changing the way people address major societal problems.
  • Discuss new business ideas and models that are addressing key issues while providing both economic and social returns on their investments.
  • Present emerging ideas from the rich local pool of social entrepreneurial talent and enable the community to connect and support them.

We look forward to hearing from you about interesting social innovations that you might have come across.

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Posted in Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur

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