What is nonprofit social entrepreneurship?

Summary:

Simply put, a nonprofit social entrepreneur addresses social issues by starting a business enterprise

Answer:

Social entrepreneurship is an emerging field, particularly among nonprofit organizations. The field is referred to by a variety of phrases, for example, social ventures, nonprofit enterprise, social purpose business and venture development.

The Citizen Base Initiative is a campaign by Ashoka to encourage community organizations throughout the world to diversify their sources of support. The initiative identifies and celebrates the creative ways organizations can enhance their social impact through earned income strategies, community engagement, effective marketing, and strategic partnerships. The website of the Citizen Base Initiative includes discussion of the concept, case studies, and announcements of related program activities. See http://www.citizenbase.org/.

Ashoka's own website includes an article entitled "What is a Social Entrepreneur?" at http://ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur

The Free Management Library references a variety of perspectives, for example, What is social entrepreneurship? Why start a business? What are critical success factors? Where can I get money? See http://www.mapnp.org/library/soc_entr/soc_entr.htm

Rosanna Tarsiero wrote to NONPROFIT (see www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/nonprofit) on May 26, 2005 to announce:
This NESsT (Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team) resource provides a set of principles and standards to help civil society organisation leaders recognise and better prepare themselves for the ethical dimensions of entrepreneurial activity and to help ensure that their standards of professionalism are reflected at every stage of business planning and development. The resource is available for free at http://www.nesst.org/documents/NESsTCommitmenttoIntegrityENGLISH.pdf

6/30/03 -- The Social Enterprise Alliance and Community Wealth Ventures have joined forces to expand the first national online database to track business ventures run by nonprofit organizations. This free, searchable resource is essential for nonprofit leaders and foundation executives who seek to use the growing body of knowledge in social enterprise to help organizations improve their sustainability by creating new wealth in the marketplace. The searchable database is available at both http://www.se-alliance.org and http://www.communitywealth.com.

8/18/03 -- Another good way to keep up-to-speed on earned income issues is to subscribe to the npEnterprise Forum (www.npEnterprise.net), which is the official listserv of the Social Enterprise Alliance (www.se-alliance.org).

The npEnterprise Forum is an email distribution list that discusses practical steps nonprofits can take to enhance their organizational capacity, mission impact, and financial sustainability, through the development of income-generating business activities.

Subscriptions are free, and can be cancelled at any time. The forum is moderated by Andy Horsnell and Rolfe Larson.

The npEnterprise Forum offers friendly interactions among colleagues about social enterprise strategies and best practices. Subscribers range from newcomers to experienced venture managers, and include nonprofit staff, funders, consultants, professors, students, and many others.

Recent discussion topics include business plan competitions, faith-based ventures, retail stores, business plans, projects for refugees and immigrants, and the "best" business schools for social entrepreneurship.

To subscribe, send a blank email message to npEnterprise-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit our web site at www.npEnterprise.net.

From Rolfe Larseon to Nonprofit@rain.org

For a discussion by several of the leading figures in the field, look at Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs, by J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson and Peter Economy published by John Wiley & Sons. (Order Enterprising Nonprofits from Amazon.com. A royalty will be paid that will help support this site.)

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Posted 9/02/99 -- CM; updated 4/20/01, 6/30/03; 5/26/05; CitizenBase added 3/6/08 -- PB