Update: Obama’s Social Innovation Fund

By Rolfe Larson on March 11, 2014

The Obama Administration’s Social Innovation Fund (SIF) has now been in operation for several years. SIF was created to fund an annual competition to identify innovative nonprofit programs that provide measurable, scalable solutions to community problems.

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Social Enterprise Trends for 2014

By Rolfe Larson on January 14, 2014

Earlier this month, the Stanford Social Enterprise Review published a brief article entitled “The Rise and Struggles of Social Enterprise in 2013.” Here are some of the highlights:

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Social Impact Bonds Begin To Catch On

By Rolfe Larson on November 1, 2013

Social Impact Bonds are finally moving from idea to reality, in a few states. These “pay for results” government contracts are a new form of financing where payment only occurs if the agreed-upon social results are achieved. No results, no money. Financing comes from a private sector financing intermediary, which secures funds from private investors and […]

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What is a viable social enterprise?

By Rolfe Larson on September 23, 2013

Here’s a suggested framework from my colleague Jim Kucher (founder/managing director, Income for Outcomes). This reminds me of our earlier blog about social enterprise sound bites.  That blog can be seen at: http://managementhelp.org/blogs/social-enterprise/2013/04/18/top-10-social-enterprise-sound-bites/ Here’s what Jim wrote: A viable social enterprise must have: • A viable social change theory (what makes you think you can […]

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Jed Emerson on Social Capital

By Rolfe Larson on August 31, 2013

Jed Emerson is a leader in social capital, with good ideas and clear thinking on this important topic for many social ventures. Here are some highlights from a recent interview:

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Impact Investing: Still Small Fish In Big Pond

By Rolfe Larson on July 10, 2013

Impact Investing continues to garner a lot of attention, at Davos, at the Clinton Global Initiative, at the G8 Summit, and at social enterprises big and small. But it’s still having little financial impact. For now, big institutional investors are not participating. Until they do, impact investing will remain small.

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Social Enterprise Summit Wrapup

By Rolfe Larson on June 12, 2013

Here are some highlights from the recent 2013 Social Enterprise Summit (Social Enterprise Alliance) in Minneapolis:

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Should Social Enterprises Get Preferential Treatment?

By Rolfe Larson on May 14, 2013

I’ve been wondering lately: is it always a good thing for social enterprises and related organizations to receive preferential treatment, in the form of public or philanthropy subsidies and other forms of preferential treatment?

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Spiritual side of social enterprise

By Rolfe Larson on May 2, 2013

I was intrigued and inspired this morning by the following, which the Social Enterprise Alliance posted yesterday on the npEnterprise Forum: Eric Dawson, an Ashoka fellow and the CEO of Peace First, recently wrote a beautiful piece for Social Enterprise Alliance. It’s about working for social change that we may never see happen in our […]

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Top 10 Social Enterprise Sound Bites

By Rolfe Larson on April 18, 2013

From dozens of suggestions in the npEnterprise Forum, our social enterprise social media site, here is our: TOP 10 SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SOUND BITES Social enterprises are businesses that: Use the marketplace to solve pressing social problems. Have a primary purpose to do social good. Serve the common good, making money while solving social problems. Are values-led […]

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