Dave McDonough

Dave is the President of the Social Enterprise Institute which provides nonprofit leaders a unique opportunity to develop the skills and networks needed to develop successful social enterprises. Social enterprise represents a powerful new and different breed of organizations that address society’s most pressing social issues by combining the passion of social mission and the efficiency of a market-based approach.

Dave is a social entrepreneur with a proven track record of launching and growing social enterprises. In March 2006 the Social Enterprise Alliance, the leading national social enterprise organization, presented Dave their annual award for Advancing the Field.

With over 14 years of nonprofit experience Dave was previously President and CEO of Chrysalis, a nonprofit agency providing employment opportunities to disadvantaged communities. Dave founded Labor Connection and StreetWorks, two social enterprises that annually employ over 800 former welfare recipients and generate $3 million in annual revenues. In 2005 Chrysalis was a finalist in the Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards and was presented with the “Rose Award” as the top social service agency in downtown Los Angeles in the past 25 years.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation selected Chrysalis’ temporary staffing agency as a National Demonstration Project model of a successful solution for returning the hardest-to-employ to the workforce (2003). In 2002 the Institute for Social Entrepreneurs profiled his efforts launching a nonprofit enterprise in the book “The Social Enterprise Sourcebook”. As a result of his entrepreneurial approach to social issues Dave was one of seven representatives from across the country selected to speak at a White House conference exploring "Innovative Solutions to Hunger and Poverty”.

Betsy Densmore, Vice President

Prior to joining the Institute, Densmore worked in all facets of the philanthropic community. For ten years, she served as the Executive Director of the Chicago Bar Foundation, a community foundation which provides funding and direct services to promote “justice for all”. Under her stewardship, the Foundation tripled in size and was relied on for its regional leadership in expanding access to legal services and addressing juvenile justice issues. Previously, as Program Director for the Center for Neighborhood Technology (Chicago), she supervised a large, fee for service social enterprise which supported nonprofit organizations in reducing their energy costs and worked with private foundations and public agencies to develop special grant and loan programs for low income neighborhoods.

Her past experience also includes serving as the Manager of Consumer and Community Issues for McDonald’s Corporation and as the Executive Director for the Corporate Responsibility Group of Greater Chicago. She has participated in founding two businesses and served as a consultant on strategy development, fund-raising and management issues with other small businesses.

Most recently, she was a manager and program leader for Landmark Education, a global personal development and leadership training organization, for seven years. While at Landmark, she personally trained hundreds of people in breakthrough thinking methods, while managing a large part of the local office operations.