Financing Fantasy #2: Venture Capital

By Rolfe Larson on August 10, 2011

At first blush, venture capital sounds appealing.  In theory, they can provide us with that hunk of cash we need to launch our great idea, and then when we succeed they can make a decent return while we make a big difference in the world.  We just need a business plan to show them how […]

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Financing Fantasy #1: Angel Investors

By Rolfe Larson on July 7, 2011

Everybody wants to be on the side of the angels.  And while angel investors aren’t divine, many social enterprises labor under the mistaken assumption that they represent a ready source of capital.  Unfortunately, very few social enterprises secure financing this way, and frankly, even if you could get such funds, in most cases they’re not […]

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Finding Good Venture Ideas (Part 3)

By Rolfe Larson on June 21, 2011

This blog was written by guest writer Jan Cohen. Today we venture up the Risk Chart to explore New Markets for Existing Services or Products. The focus is on researching who else could use, and pay for, what you already provide.

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Finding Good Venture Ideas (part 2)

By Rolfe Larson on June 14, 2011

This blog was written by guest writer Jan Cohen. As we discussed last time, when most nonprofit staff and Boards think about earned income, they typically think about doing “something new”. This Risk Chart helps organizations to clearly see how risk increases as they go from “things and people they know” to those they have no […]

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Finding Good Venture Ideas (part 1)

By Rolfe Larson on June 8, 2011

This blog was written by guest writer Jan Cohen. When most nonprofit staff and Boards think about earned income, they typically think about doing “something new”.  The Risk Chart helps organizations to clearly see how risk increases as they go from “things and people they know” to those they have no experience with.

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Are Mergers Good for Social Enterprises?

By Rolfe Larson on June 3, 2011

It’s very rare for social enterprises to merge.  And when they do, it’s usually because one of them is failing.  But let’s consider a situation where impact and sustainability might be enhanced if two successful social enterprises were to merge.  Should they?  

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Using social media to sell stuff (Part II)

By Rolfe Larson on May 20, 2011

Given the explosion of social media for networking, relationship-building, communication and awareness, I’ve been surprised at how few social enterprises seem to be using it specifically to attract and retain customers.  The good news is that this is changing, and, well, the more I look the more ventures I come across taking advantage of these […]

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Low/no profit is not a virtue

By Rolfe Larson on April 29, 2011

The way you hear some social enterprisers talk, you’d think it’s an inherently good thing to lose money, or if you have to make a profit, keep it small.  For example, the new Low-Profit Limited Liability (L3C) corporate structure, which allows an SE to have social objectives and attract investors, has that low profit mentality […]

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“Social” alternatives to Groupon

By Rolfe Larson on April 15, 2011

Groupon seems to have recently arrived at the social enterprise sector.  Many SEs have applied for participation in Groupon promotions, and a few have been picked.  Results so far have been mixed, in terms of long-term benefit to the social enterprise.  And there are folks who would prefer to avoid Groupon, in part because of […]

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Measuring outcomes for social enterprises

By Rolfe Larson on March 24, 2011

Evaluating the impact of a social enterprise is often difficult to do.  For most sectors, there are no agreed-upon metrics to rely upon to tell others how successful you have been.  But you don’t have to start from scratch.  Here are some perspectives and suggestions that might be helpful:

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