Are You a Social Entrepreneur?
"Social Capital" and "Social Entrepreneurialism" are evolving terms that have fuzzy meanings. So, instead of adding another definition, I'm going to give you a check list to help you decide whether you might be a Social Entrepreneur.You're a Social Entrepreneur when:(1) Whether for-profit or non-profit, your entity was founded and continues to exist in large part because of an identified social need, rather than a market need. There might be both; however without the social need, the entity just wouldn't be the same. The employees feel that their work is purposefully contributing to a greater good.(2) That social need might be related to providing for the growth or d

How to Evaluate the Projects of Social Enterpreneurs
What has struck me recently are the number of tremendous people thrown down hard in this economy. With no revenue, with layoffs everywhere, and most people having plenty of time to raise their skill sets, what's an enterprising innovator to do? Why, create social good of course!Today I'm going to address what do you do if you're one of the people who still do have financial assets and an intact career, and feel beleaguered by the masses of excellent people and fascinating projects asking you if you'd like to be their Sponsor.The simplest thing is to turn all of them down, but if you wanted to do that you probably wouldn't be reading this post. You can make allocation based

Social Media Strategy for Non-profits (& Small Businesses) - in 5 Steps
This question came up, and I'm going to give you the answer that has evolved over five years of thinking in this space, first on the Board of the Fremont Education Foundation, and most recently through my work in online community development for The Groupery.What's the best way to launch a social media strategy for a small non-profit (or business)? (1) A blog. This is your content management system and can be your website. You can have one tab that explains about your organization, one or more for prog

Differentiating Spiritual from Social
Begin reading at the bottom. When you finished (or read it the first time), did you feel pain?Many do. That pain is evidence that we're connected. We imagine these two young men; we imagine or remember our own losses. That's Spiritual. Even those of us who do not know these people nevertheless feel their pain.I need to pause here. I do also want to say how heartbreaking it was to hea

Financial and Social Capital - an Example
I just posted a financial analysis I did in 2006. The challenge was to canvas the entire space of novel materials (except bio), with particular interest in nanotechnology; look for a viable publicly traded alternative energy company; and then buy and hold that for three years with no risk management (e.g. options). The name of the company has been obscured, but here's the graph. It was $9 when I recommended it, and roughly $31 now. (Between $25-30 in June '09, so the ROI would be about 3x.)