Changemakers or Social Entrepreneurs
Changemakers or social entrepreneurs combine passion, creativity, business discipline, innovation, and relentless determination to address social issues and problems -- in short to change our world for the better. As Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka says, "Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."
I've created this lens to house the most useful information and links I've found on social entrpreneurs and who is funding them, as well as information about what I consider a related activity microfinance. Will you please let me know if I have missed an interesting site or link and I will check it out. If I use your link, I'll even give you a free prize!
(Oh, and if you click on the ad links, all proceeds go to the Acumen Fund, so click away...)
Read My Article on "Telling Stories to Change the World"
- Social Entreprenuers & Storytelling
- Terrain: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments has just published my article on Storytelling and Social Entrepreneurs in their latest issue, No. 19: The Music of It All.
In "Telling Stories to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and a Network Proposition," I've tried to capture my latest thinking about how to promote social change through the stories of the people who are effecting such change. In doing so, I've also taken a look at why stories may be the most powerful vehicle for change.
Included are a number of links to resources, stories, and previous posts from "The Green Skeptic."
Sites of Interest
- The Green Skeptic
- My blog devoted to challenging assumptions about how we live on the earth and protect our environment. Focuses on three areas: climate change, social entrepreneurs, and poverty alleviation through ecosystem security.
- Social Entrepreneurs Group on Gather.com
- Join the conversation: A group for those interested in exploring solutions to conservation, poverty alleviation, and economic development in developing countries around the world.
- Acumen Fund
- Acumen Fund supports enterprises that deliver affordable critical goods and services - like health, water and housing - through innovative market-oriented approaches, to the four billion people on earth living on less than $4 a day.
- Ashoka
- Ashoka's mission is to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated, and to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world. Ashoka identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs - extraordinary individuals with unprecedented ideas for change in their communities - supporting them, their ideas and institutions through all phases of their careers. Ashoka Fellows benefit from being part of the global Fellowship for life.
- Base of the Pyramid Protocol
- The BoP Protocol is a pioneering business incubation process that enables multinational corporations (MNCs) to generate new business opportunities at the Base of the Pyramid. Based on a participatory philosophy, the BoP Protocol%u2122 is a model for business co-creation that marries MNCs' resources, technologies and best practices with those of the community.
- Community Action Network
- CAN's Mission is to effect, through social entrepreneurs, major social change and to transform the lives of deprived communities in a tangible and measurable way.
- Draper Richards Foundation
- Provides start-up funding to social entrepreneurs as they launch their ventures.
- Echoing Green
- Echoing Green provides first-stage funding and support to visionary leaders with bold ideas for social change. As an angel investor in the social sector, Echoing Green identifies, funds and supports the world's most exceptional emerging leaders and the organizations they launch.
- Grameen Bank
- Provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh without any collateral. At Grameen Bank, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic solutions.
- Kiva.org - Loans that change
- Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.
- National Center for Social Entrepreneurs
- The National Center for Social Entrepreneurs mission is to increase the effectiveness and financial self-sufficiency of the nonprofit sector by helping individual nonprofits think and act in a more businesslike and entrepreneurial manner.
- The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
- The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides a global platform to promote social entrepreneurship as a key element to advance societies and address social problems in an innovative and effective manner.
- The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship
- The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was launched in November 2003 at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University, to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide.
- Social Edge
- Social Edge is a program of the Skoll Foundation that was inspired by Jeff Skoll's commitment to connecting people with shared passions.
- Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit
- The Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit is a global forum uniting the best in business with the call of our times. The global search for the many ways dynamic leaders in the business sector are putting their people, imagination and assets to work to benefit the earth, from its ecosystem to the needs of its vast, diverse population.
- Enterprise for a Sustainable World
- Enterprise for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to effectively addressing the world's most pressing social and environmental problems through a new and more inclusive form of capitalism: Sustainable Enterprise.
- NextBillion.net
- NextBillion.net brings together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers, and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise.
- The Kopelman Foundation
- The Kopelman Foundation was established in 2001 by Rena and Josh Kopelman to support the work of social entrepreneurs in the areas of Education, Healthcare and Medicine, and Jewish Programs.
- RSF
- RSF provides individuals, non-profit organizations, and social enterprises innovative financial services, and fosters a growing community committed to creating social benefit and environmental sustainability. RSF envisions a world where a new consciousness is brought to financial transactions, a future when profit is determined by social and environmental benefit, as well as financial return.
- VALUE: Tomorrow's Markets, Enterprise & Investment
- valuenewsnetwork.com believes that investors, business and--ultimately--society will benefit from a more rigorous examination of how real value is created. Focusing on the best thinking about value; what works, what doesn't and the best strategies for maximizing social, environmental and economic returns.
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jcolman
Great lens, Scott -- I especially like all of these sites and books of interest. I'm sheltered and haven't seen a lot of these before, so I sense a whole new world opening up before me. Thanks for introducing me to social entrepreneurialism! Posted September 11, 2006 |
