Our definition of social enterprise includes any organization or venture that advances its social mission through entrepreneurial earned income strategies. Earned income can come from revenues generated from the sale of products and/or services, or a strategic alliance between a for-profit company and a not-for-profit. Social enterprises are developing new and powerful solutions to society’s most challenging social issues. They represent a powerful new breed of organizations that create sustainable societal change by combining the passion of social mission, the efficiency of a market-based approach and a commitment to environmental protection.

To learn more about social enterprise please read the following two white papers:

• Toward A Better Understanding of Social Entrepreneurship by Jerr Boschee and Jim McClurg.
  
  
• Funding Them To Fish: The Case for Supporting Earned Income Activities of Nonprofits released by the Social Enterprise Alliance.

And an article by Steve Case, co-founder AOL

• Purpose and Profit Go Together

A power point presentation about Social Enterprise and the Social Enterprise Institute.

FAQ's About Social Enterprise please click here

Convergence: Stanford Innovation Quarterly article which is in our library.