Social Entrepreneurship

The Definition Of A Triple Bottom Line Business

Triple bottom line is a term which describes a business that focuses on three main things: people, profits, and the planet. The first use of it was credited to John Elkington, who founded a consulting firm called SustainAbility. Before the term became known, the bottom line in a business was focused mostly on the financial side …

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Who Are The Impact Investing Venture Capitalists Betting On?

DBL Partners, an investment fund based in the San Francisco and Palo Alto area, recently announced the closure of an impact investing fund worth $400 million. This fund is the largest so far in the impact investing space and will focus on companies in the sustainable energy, products and services, digital media and imaging, healthcare and IT …

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Patagonia’s CSR: How Is It Working Out?

  Patagonia, known for its jackets made entirely from pop bottles and their “Don’t Buy This Jacket” Cyber Monday advertising campaign, has been a leader in corporate social responsibility initiatives. We had previously profiled Patagonia’s supply chain transparency, but let’s take a look now to see how these CSR initiatives are working out. Patagonia’s Mission For those …

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How CSR Brings Big Benefit to Small Business

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a significant factor in customer relations, representing an excellent opportunity for small business to significantly engage public support. Redefining success in business, corporations creating value for society often benefit in ways that go well beyond the scope of tangible assets and annual profit. According to the 2013 Social Impact …

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Islamic Finance: A Fast-Expanding Market

When the Western financial world imploded in 2007-8, many nations’ economies suffered as a result. Riding out the storm with little to no negative impact in the midst of severe economic downturn, the Islamic financial market has paradoxically been experiencing exponential growth. For this reason, Islamic finance has become a topic of worldwide interest. However, …

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TimeBanks: Investing Your Talent is a Great Gift!

Being born with a talent is like receiving a great gift, but as they say, giving is better than receiving. Now there’s a way to have your gift and give it, too. Just put it in the bank — the TimeBank. Promoting equality through inclusive exchanges of time and talents, TimeBanks provide investors with a …

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Get Ready for the World’s First Collaborative Marketplace

Social entrepreneurs, businesses with products that have a positive social and environmental impact, and other capitalist do-gooders, get ready for a new way to reach a hungry audience. The latest social venture from Alex Bogusky (along with Ana Bogusky, Rob Schuham and John Bielenberg) is a community for accelerating social innovation, through collaborative branding and …

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Gain an Unreasonable Advantage in Social Entrepreneurship

If you’re developing a solution to one of the world’s most pressing social or environmental problems, but are in need of a leg up, you might be able to gain an unreasonable advantage by connecting with mentors, peers, and investors at the Unreasonable Institute. Unreasonable advantage, you say? Isn’t that a bit, well, unreasonable? Not …

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Organic Fertilizer Company Receives $500,000 Loan from RSF Social Finance

The organic fertilizer company EcoScraps has received a $500,000 loan from RSF Social Finance, a financial services organization that provides funding for nonprofits and social enterprises. The loan will help EcoScraps, a three-year-old company that makes organic, chemical- and manure-free lawn and garden products, expand its network of waste management partnerships and increase its exposure …

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The Glaring Need for a Sustainability Info-rum

As consumer demand increases for green products and companies continue to embrace sustainability as a business strategy, it’s glaringly apparent that there is going to be a need for solid, data-driven information that can help companies make smart decisions. The Fortune 500 has started adding the Chief Sustainability Officer as an official C-suite position, but …

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Loca-vesting

The local first movement has a new frontier: locavesting.  Friday’s stronger than expected jobs report showed several indications of economic growth. Every sector grew, including construction, manufacturing, and agriculture. Image what would happen if we could actually drive investment capital to Main Street! One way to make that happen is embodied in a term I heard …

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Irish Pubs create culture and community–why doesn’t America have something similar?

Say what you will about the Irish. Being half-Irish, half-Italian, I think I’m fair game for most appropriate and inappropriate cultural jokes. But the Irish (whose economy is finally recovering after having been lied to by their media) have something that is hard to explain, that binds their culture in a way that few other countries …

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