RNI and Social Entrepreneurship

Social Enterprise roughly means making the world better through the efforts of for-profits and non-profits and broadly covers problems in the areas of poverty, health, education, the environment, and other social issues. Social Entrepreneurship uses principles from business to help manage a venture that creates social change. Social enterprises are usually revenue generating and leverage their profits to create that social change.


How Can I Get Involved?

Michigan has a strong legacy of MBA working at social enterprise and starting new social ventures in a variety of areas from Clean Tech to Fair Trade chocolate. Below find guides of some of the ways to get involved in Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan:

Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies

  • Dare to Dream - Apply for funding to support your business idea and also get support from a community of advisors.
  • Social Venture Fund - Research and fund emerging business ideas that have a social/environmental slant. Great for student interested in VC, Cleantech, or PE.
  • Marcel Gani Internships - Gain experience at a start up both locally and nationally.


Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club - Has a resource of typical business planning events.

William Davidson Institute - A Michigan Institution focusing on BOP work and research.

  • Social Enterprise Speaker Series
  • NGO Alliance 
  • WDI Sponsored Internships

Emerging Markets Club - Provides education and research around international development issues.

Social/ Environmental Business Plan Competitions - Several Companies and University host business plan competitions that focuses on social enterprises. Some prizes are over 50k in monies.

Community Consulting Club

Domestic Corps internships

MBA-Nonprofit Connection internships
 


What Classes Should I Take?

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a place to start in terms of classes that may be relevant to those interested in Social Entrepreneurship.


Thought Leadership about Social Entrepreneurship

 The Bridgespan Group: A Bain-affiliated nonprofit consulting firm, The Bridgespan Group serves nonprofit organizations and foundations. In an effort to extend impact beyond their direct clients, Bridgespan is dedicated to sharing what they learn with the broader nonprofit community, to help other organizations pursue their own missions more effectively.

Changemakers.net: Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public that focuses on the rapidly growing world of social entrepreneurship. Its mission is to provide inspiration, resources, and opportunities for those interested in social change throughout the world.

The McKinsey Quarterly: A publication of global consulting firm McKinsey & Co., the McKinsey Quarterly is a print and online publication that draws on the experiences and expertise of the firm to produce articles that aim to offer new ways of thinking about management in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Access to some articles requires membership.

Root Cause Institute: Root Cause develops and supports enduring solutions to social problems through strategy consulting, knowledge sharing, and the building of sustainable social enterprises.

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Published by the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford Business School, the Stanford Social Innovation Review's mission is to share substantive insights and practical experiences that will help those who do the important work of improving society do it even better. Access to some articles requires subscription.

University Network for Social Entrepreneurship: aims to develop and legitimize social entrepreneurship as a vocation and a field of intellectual endeavor. The network is designed to be a resource hub and an action-oriented discussion forum to expand social entrepreneurship education and participation around the world. The network's website includes teaching materials, research materials, and information on action opportunities.


Organization/Initiatives

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public: Ashoka's mission is to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world. Ashoka has invested in more than 1,400 Ashoka Fellows in 48 countries.

Blended Value Map: Value is what gets created when investors invest and organizations act to pursue their mission. Traditionally, we have thought of value as being either economic (and created by for-profit companies) or social (and created by nonprofit or non-governmental organizations). Jed Emerson's Blended Value Proposition states that all organizations, whether for-profit or not, create value that consists of economic, social and environmental value components-and that investors (whether market-rate, charitable or some mix of the two) simultaneously generate all three forms of value through providing capital to organizations. Thus, the outcome of all this activity is value creation and that value is itself non-divisible and, therefore, a blend of these three elements.

Draper-Richards Foundation: Provides funding and business mentoring to social entrepreneurs as they begin their nonprofit organizations.

Echoing Green: Echoing Green provides first-stage funding and support to visionary leaders with bold ideas for social change. Through a two-year fellowship program, Echoing Green helps passionate social entrepreneurs develop new solutions to some of society's most difficult problems.

Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards: Recognizes entrepreneurial organizations that are using the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems.

The Manhattan Institute: The Manhattan Institute Award for Social Entrepreneurship honors non-profit leaders who have found innovative, private solutions for America's most pressing social problems.

Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship: Supports social entrepreneurs around the world.

The Skoll Foundation: Provides support for social entrepreneurs, researchers, and efforts to build the capacity and infrastructure of the social sector. Also maintains the online community SocialEdge and a comprehensive list of social sector and technology resources related to social entrepreneurship.

Youth Venture: Encourages teens to start and lead their own organizations for the betterment of their communities.