By Rolfe Larson on July 22, 2016
By Rolfe Larson, Joining Vision and Action What constitutes “true” social enterprises? Thousands of nonprofits that use the marketplace to accomplish their social goals call themselves social enterprises (SEs). Thousands of for-profit companies with social goals also use that term. Yet these two groups barely talk with each other. Why is that? Benefit corporations and […]
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By Rolfe Larson on May 23, 2016
Research shows that successful social enterprises often share common characteristics. There are many theories why some social enterprises flourish while others languish. Is it leadership, business planning, funding, market or timing that makes a successful social enterprise? Joining Vision and Action is dedicated to providing social enterprises, nonprofits and government agencies with the tools and […]
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By Rolfe Larson on March 8, 2016
By Rolfe Larson and Adam Brock, Joining Vision and Action Competitions are all the rage in the social enterprise world. From New York to San Francisco, organizations seeking to nurture emerging social entrepreneurs have decided to go all in on the pitch session, offering the winners startup funds and technical assistance. Good idea, right? Crowd […]
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By Rolfe Larson on February 12, 2016
Small museums face challenges attracting resources. Admission fees can discourage attendance and reduce gift shop sales. What to do? The following summarizes a discussion in the npEnterprise Forum, the 10,000-circulation online forum for all things social enterprise. The particular question posted by Jean Hardy Robinson was about a small history museum in a thriving tourist […]
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By Rolfe Larson on January 14, 2016
Compiled by Rolfe Larson and Janine Vanderburg With President Obama’s recent State of the Union address, this seems to be a good time to assess the State of Social Enterprise (SE). We decided to crowd-source this one primarily through the npEnterprise Forum (npE), the 10,000+ circulation, non-commercial, moderated online forum for all things SE. […]
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By Rolfe Larson on March 5, 2015
When most people hear about social enterprises that provide training and employment to disadvantaged individuals, they think it’s a good idea. But when they ask what data we have on whether SE’s actually “work,” whether they improve the lives of the people they serve, over the long term, there’s been precious little of it. Fortunately, […]
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By Rolfe Larson on November 18, 2014
Many people will argue that social enterprises should be profitable or at least on a direct path to it. That they must eventually reach a point where all of their expenses are paid from revenues; otherwise they are judged “unsustainable.” But is profitability a reasonable goal for every social enterprise?
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By Rolfe Larson on September 15, 2014
Recently I was struck by a comment from the St Louis County Police Department, that in predominately black communities such as Ferguson, the police practice a “zero tolerance” policy. So if you’re pulled over for almost anything, and they do that fairly often in these communities, and you have an outstanding warrant or even a traffic […]
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By Rolfe Larson on July 17, 2014
One measure that impact investing is gaining more traction is the growing collection of books written about that topic. Most of them focus on international investing, but now there are some that address domestic programs as well. My favorite book on this topic is Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making A Difference, by […]
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By Rolfe Larson on April 30, 2014
Here a few inspiring social enterprise ideas discussed at the recent national Social Venture Network conference. (Source: Forbes article by Devin Thorpe) 1. Be Political. While 92% of Americans favor disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients in their food, objections from the powerful food industry are so strong that only through collective advocacy will this change.
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Rolfe Larson provides consulting and training in areas such as strategic planning, market research, feasibility analysis, business planning, marketing and implementation strategies.
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