Use social media to increase sales

By Rolfe Larson on March 12, 2011

Social media is not novel any more.  Facebook and Twitter are now household names, worldwide.  They connect people and causes, they build online communities, sure.  But they also sell products, big time. The corporate sector has discovered this power, and recently many nonprofits are finding these online, interactive communities to be powerful places to build […]

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Social Franchises Mostly Fail

By Rolfe Larson on March 1, 2011

A recent discussion on the npEnterprise Forum (the global social enterprise listserv) revealed several key points about social franchises owned by nonprofit organizations.  First, and foremost, they rarely succeed in meeting the nonprofit’s goals.

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Tax/Legal Topics for Social Enterprises

By Rolfe Larson on February 11, 2011

Some of the most complex and confusing issues around social enterprise involve legal and tax topics.  Will we get in trouble if we do it that way?  Do we have to pay taxes on that revenue?  Which tax forms do we have to fill out? Those concerns are made more difficult by the tendency of the […]

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Do Foundations Support Social Enterprise?

By Rolfe Larson on January 25, 2011

Well, yes and no.  They all want their grantees to develop “sustainability” strategies, by which they mean they want you to continue into the future without their money.  So if social enterprise will help an organization diversity its funding sources and rely less on philanthropic support, they’re all for it.  They like reading about it […]

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Do Unions Help (or Hinder) Social Enterprise?

By Rolfe Larson on January 17, 2011

As the social enterprise movement grows, enters new markets, and works with new employees, it’s discovering new partners  … and new adversaries.  One of those adversaries, according to some practitioners, can be unions.  Unions of course exist to balance the excesses of power of management, and seek to protect the jobs and increase the wages […]

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Connect with ~7500 SE fans

By Rolfe Larson on January 7, 2011

Just wanted to mention a listserv devoted exclusively to social enterprise.  Its focus is learning more about how organizations can develop successful social enterprise strategies to generate earned income to pursue mission, build capacity and achieve greater sustainability. If you’re interested, you’re invited to join the 7500-subscriber npEnterprise Forum listserv, the official listserv partner of the Social Enterprise Alliance. […]

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Social Enterprise Goes to Graduate School

By Rolfe Larson on December 30, 2010

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been an explosion of colleges and universities offering social enterprise or variations of that theme at the graduate level. Many of these programs are tied to a business school, which can really help when you bring your great social change idea to the marketplace.  And if you’re already mid-career […]

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Last minute social enterprise gifts

By Rolfe Larson on December 16, 2010

There’s still time to pick up some holiday gifts that also help social enterprises.  If there’s a restaurant or coffee shop in your town that’s a social enterprise (and the odds are there’s more than one), give them a call to see if you can purchase a gift certificate.  Many of them will let you […]

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Social Capital Markets

By Rolfe Larson on October 2, 2010

If there’s one challenge many social enterprises have in common, it’s finding capital.  Insufficient capitalization is a primary reason that small businesses fail or fail to grow, and that’s also the case for social enterprises. The good news: that seems to be changing.  A new field is emerging, so young that it still goes by […]

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7 Sins of Social Enterprise

By Rolfe Larson on September 20, 2010

As the term social enterprise gains traction in the marketplace, more and more organizations are using that term.  There is a real risk that this expansion will dilute the meaning of social enterprise to the point that it means any organization that can claim social as well as financial goals, no matter how vague or […]

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