Social Capital takes a step forward

One of the toughest nuts to crack in the world of the Social Entrepreneur is the balance between growth oriented risk-based capital (aka private equity) and the need to use profit to fund a social mission. This issue is even tougher when most of the traditional non-profit mindset is conditioned to a world where social benefit organizations are evaluated on how little they spend on infrastructure and growth. And here in the U.S., we are actually lagging the efforts of most of the rest of the developed world.

Good news on this front may be coming in a proposal to develop social impact bonds that can serve as a source to fund expansion and growth while rewarding investors. It's got a long way to go, but it's a great step forward - and might be particularly useful to those of us in the great state of Maryland.

Keep your fingers crossed on this one!

The Mind of the entrepreneuer

One of the more interesting debates that goes on about Social Entrepreneurship is the issue of being pulled off mission by concerns over money (and that NEVER happens in a traditional non-profit, does it? -sarcasm intentional) The truth is that even if you are forming a for-profit entity, it's not about the money.

For the commercial entrepreneur, money is how you measure the success of the venture. For the social entrepreneur, the metrics are a bit fuzzier (but that's a topic for another post).

Interestingly, how their brains work is really quite similar - Take a look here at how entrepreneurs think

PS - If nothing else, this constant adjusting and ability to assemble disparate resources should convince you that the Social Benefit industry needs a lot more folks who can think this way.