1. What is Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship uses business to offer new ideas for wide-scale social and environmental impact.

Social entrepreneurship unites the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and determination. Many social entrepreneurs launch whole new ventures applying innovative and often risk-taking approaches to create scalable solutions, which includes inventing new products and services. Others join existing social enterprises aligned with their interests and passions.

Entrepreneurs create sustainable organizations, which can be set up as nonprofit or traditional companies, with the overall goal to achieve large scale, sustainable and systematic change through new ventures.

2. Nonprofits

Nonprofit models that rely on an earned income stream generate income from their own activities to sustain the organization. While these nonprofits might also receive supplemental funding from grants and donations, they tend to be less dependent on these sources.

3. For-profit Companies

For-profit companies have a social and/or environmental mission embedded into their business model. These companies measure themselves by a double (financial and social) or triple (financial, social, and environmental) bottom line. Some go as far as to write these missions into their legal structure via emerging models like the B Corporation.