Social Ventures 101
There are many colleagues and organizations that are thoroughly qualified to write on this subject. I am both an enthusiast and practitioner. Creating cash-flow-generating organizations to serve a social need are a passion of mine. And since I seem to have some time, I'll take up the burden of info dissemination. So though I will defer to friends currently in the field for expertise, here are some experience stats of my own:
My Social Venture Quick Resume
- Launched micro-entrepreneur training food business with wider margins than for-profit competitors (micro-entrepreneurs-in-training = free labor!), structurally organized under a nonprofit program.
- Worked with local Chinese government, Fortune 500 Company and international NGO to create social venture business that hires physically and mentally disabled persons and provides teachers, therapy organized as a community center program in China.
- Conducted study of 13 social venture businesses in Mexico, organized under a nonprofit with ties to American corporate foundation.
- Created corporate social responsibility strategy for Chinese division of Fortune 500 company
- Started volunteer nonprofit organization providing professional catering services for nonprofit fundraising events.
- CORO Public Leadership Fellow
- Wharton MBA, awarded Diane & Robert Levy Fellowship for Social Impact
- UC Berkeley undergrad
I hate writing brag sheets. But at least you now know I'm from the trenches, not just some theorizing academic. The point of saying all this is that starting a social venture, or any business for that matter, execution matters. And a lot of creativity helps.
Social Venture Planning and Execution
So rather than tell you how to write a business plan, or worse yet, getting you drooling about thinking about investors and VCs and angels, I'm gonna give very hands-on information, good-to-go execution tips. Oddly, I had never thought starting a business was very hard until I went to business school. Remember that if you ever decide to pursue a MBA - opening one's mind to possibilities often inadvertently closes the mind to other methodologies.
The smart social entrepreneur will recognize and leverage every advantage available and not rely on traditional methods for answers. Not that they are not available, and there are some great organizations that have really funneled resources to social venture hopefuls. But creativity and flexibility is part of the fun of running a social venture, and creativity tends to be the daughter of necessity. You'll understand the thrill too!
Potential Future Social Venture Topics:
- Definitions: WTF is a social venture? Isn't that some nonprofit buzzword?
- The Hybrid Social Venture Model - taking the best of all worlds and morphing when inconvenient
- MISSION FIRST - Fitting the organizational structure to serve needs, not the other way around
- Why your nonprofit employees will make fabulous bootstrapping social entrepreneurs
- Why they will also suck at running a business
- Some Missions make better Social Ventures than others
- Change with the times- going nonprofit first, then converting to for-profit
- International Social Ventures
- Using Corporate Social Responsibility to your advantage
- Community networks are critical for Social Venture survival
- Why Grants are great
- Why Grants might suck
- Beware of the Double- Triple- Bottom Line Threat
- Friends of Social Ventures - organizations, people and websites who really "get it"
Well these are the best off the top of my head. If you found this blog, and saw a topic that's interesting, leave a note and I'll write about it!
Now go, go and make the world a better place!
