Center for Social Innovation

Jessica Jackley Discusses Stories of Poverty and Entrepreneurship

[photo - Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva]

The cofounder of a microlending outfit says entrepreneurs need to "wake up each day and say, 'Now what?'"

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Students Practicing Entrepreneurship During IDEAcorps Help Ed Tech Winner Earn $50K at The Big Idea

[photo - Students Help Win $50K at The Big Idea]

Education Everytime, a venture that uses music to direct students through class transitions, got a huge boost last month when 6 students helped the company win $50,000 in funding at The Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Help for the Undecided

A Stanford GSB student's new company could make voting decisions more like online shopping.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Two Green Approaches

There are all manner of approaches to 'green investing,' and the folks at Carbon Lighthouse — recipients of an $80,000 Social Innovation Fellowship from the Center for Social Innovation at the Graduate School of Business — manage to combine two of them under the same roof.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Hire Missionaries, not Mercenaries

James Gutierrez, MBA '05, discusses how he built Progreso Financiero, where he gets his best ideas, and the best advice he's ever received.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Jessica Jackley Discusses Stories of Poverty and Entrepreneurship

The cofounder of a microlending outfit says entrepreneurs need to "wake up each day and say, 'Now what?'"

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Students Practicing Entrepreneurship During IDEAcorps Help Ed Tech Winner Earn $50K at The Big Idea

Education Everytime, a venture that uses music to direct students through class transitions, got a huge boost last month when 6 students helped the company win $50,000 in funding at The Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Help for the Undecided

A Stanford GSB student's new company could make voting decisions more like online shopping.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Two Green Approaches

There are all manner of approaches to 'green investing,' and the folks at Carbon Lighthouse — recipients of an $80,000 Social Innovation Fellowship from the Center for Social Innovation at the Graduate School of Business — manage to combine two of them under the same roof.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Hire Missionaries, not Mercenaries

James Gutierrez, MBA '05, discusses how he built Progreso Financiero, where he gets his best ideas, and the best advice he's ever received.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Research: Cadaver Commerce

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

The moral legitimacy of a new market can come as much from how you sell something as from exactly what you’re selling.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Nonprofits, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Too Good to Fail

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

In August 2010 the US government closed ShoreBank, one of the country’s leading social enterprises. Why did ShoreBank fail? And what lessons can be learned from its 37-year record of innovation?

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Research: Nonprofits Aren’t More Commercial

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

A new study finds that nonprofits are not becoming more commercialized.

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

One Acre at a Time

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

One Acre Fund feeds the world’s poor by helping them feed themselves.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Social Innovation in Washington, D.C.

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

A look at what’s needed next to create the right policy environment for innovation and results.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

The Innovation Imperative

The long-term strength of our nation relies on the level of commitment we have toward innovation. Influx of talent, new mindset and new network technologies are the new convergence of innovation. President Obama must broaden the focus across and among the private, public, and nonprofit sectors—to seek and spark the most promising innovations whether they come from commercial or social entrepreneurs, executives or line workers, community leaders, public servants, researchers, or citizens who don’t fit into any of these categories.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Social Innovation in the White House

The White House is about to announce the creation of the Office of Social Innovation.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

SkollFest Wraps

This blog is the last of Marcia Stepanek’s coverage of the Skoll World Forum 2009 at Oxford University.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

SkollFest

Reporting from the 6th annual Skoll World Forum for social innovation

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Party’s Over

“There’s no question: with public trust in CEOs and corporations at rock-bottom and the change mantra out of Washington [and Davos] and this week’s TED2009 still freshly potent, cause-wired social entrepreneurs have never had a better opportunity to boost traction globally for their Web-powered ideas.” - the author

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

A Crash Course on Creativity

Creativity often feels like a mystery. Struggling to unleash our creative potential can sometimes hinder us on the path to social innovation. In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Stanford Professor Tina Seelig discusses the tools and conditions each of us has that allow us to increase our creativity—our own, our team’s and our organization’s. She shares specific approaches to rethinking questions and reframing problems to unlock the path to innovation.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Mobile and Branchless Banking

In a country that lacks formal financial services but contains over half a billion cell phone users, two brothers saw a unique opportunity. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman speaks with Abhishek Sinha, co-founder of Eko India Financial Services, about their efforts to lower the barriers for end-consumers in India. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Flextronics Economic Development Award, Sinha discusses Eko India's breakthrough developments in branchless banking.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World

Businesses are in the business of business. But they are beginning to be in the business of doing social good as well. As companies shift to incorporate environmental, social, and welfare-based themes into business plans and products, Aron Cramer points out a trend of decreasing poverty and improving the environment as corporations look to increase both profit and human development.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

Solving Infant Mortality with Social Entrepreneurship

Of the twenty million premature or underweight babies born every year, four million will die in their first month of life. In this audio lecture from the 2011 Women in Management banquet at Stanford, Jane Chen discusses her recent efforts to change these numbers, and the personal journey that took her there. Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a nonprofit company that has developed a new low-cost, portable incubator for use in India and other parts of the developing world.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Promoting Social Entrepreneurship Among Youth

Keeping social entrepreneurship strong means mentoring our youth, says Bill Drayton in this university podcast. The founder of Ashoka, the world's oldest support organization for social entrepreneurs, Drayton discusses how children are an important focus for the organization's current roster of emerging social enterprise all-stars. Identifying key leadership qualities and how to nurture them, he also rallies an audience of Stanford business school MBAs to become changemakers.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Leadership, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Using Entrepreneurial Approaches to Solve the Problems of Global Poverty

In turbulent times like ours, we need “hard-edged hope,” says Jacqueline Novogratz, the much-celebrated founder of the Acumen Fund. Affirming that the world is indeed a better place now than it was 40 years ago, she traces her own journey from a childhood witnessing racial inequities all around her in Detroit to a career leading the field of social impact investing. Novogratz rallies the community of Stanford business graduates to be part of the new generation of innovative problem solvers.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Innovative Design Saves Tiny Lives

Jane Chen, MBA '08, has a vision of a place “babies no longer die from being cold, where people no longer die from preventable causes. And where every person has the ability to choose [his or her] own fate.”

Resource: Video

Topic:

Gaming for the Greater Good

What if games were used to solve real-world problems?

Resource: Video

Topic:

Education, Social Entrepreneurship

Design for the Ripple Effect: How a Small Act Leads to Big Change

How can we design for the ripple effect so that small acts of goodness trigger big ones?

Resource: Video

Topic:

Missions of social impact and profit do not need to be opposed, say social entrepreneurs. In fact, bringing the two together in a double bottom line can create dynamic new opportunities.

Resource: Video

Topic:

A Crash Course on Creativity

Creativity often feels like a mystery. Struggling to unleash our creative potential can sometimes hinder us on the path to social innovation. In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Stanford Professor Tina Seelig discusses the tools and conditions each of us has that allow us to increase our creativity—our own, our team’s and our organization’s. She shares specific approaches to rethinking questions and reframing problems to unlock the path to innovation.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Mobile and Branchless Banking

In a country that lacks formal financial services but contains over half a billion cell phone users, two brothers saw a unique opportunity. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman speaks with Abhishek Sinha, co-founder of Eko India Financial Services, about their efforts to lower the barriers for end-consumers in India. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Flextronics Economic Development Award, Sinha discusses Eko India's breakthrough developments in branchless banking.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Leadership, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Using Entrepreneurial Approaches to Solve the Problems of Global Poverty

In turbulent times like ours, we need “hard-edged hope,” says Jacqueline Novogratz, the much-celebrated founder of the Acumen Fund. Affirming that the world is indeed a better place now than it was 40 years ago, she traces her own journey from a childhood witnessing racial inequities all around her in Detroit to a career leading the field of social impact investing. Novogratz rallies the community of Stanford business graduates to be part of the new generation of innovative problem solvers.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World

Businesses are in the business of business. But they are beginning to be in the business of doing social good as well. As companies shift to incorporate environmental, social, and welfare-based themes into business plans and products, Aron Cramer points out a trend of decreasing poverty and improving the environment as corporations look to increase both profit and human development.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

Solving Infant Mortality with Social Entrepreneurship

Of the twenty million premature or underweight babies born every year, four million will die in their first month of life. In this audio lecture from the 2011 Women in Management banquet at Stanford, Jane Chen discusses her recent efforts to change these numbers, and the personal journey that took her there. Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a nonprofit company that has developed a new low-cost, portable incubator for use in India and other parts of the developing world.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

No Results Found

Topics:

Kiva.org and the Power of Storytelling

This case details the founding story of Kiva, with particular focus on the way that Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery have stayed true to the original mission by telling authentic stories about entrepreneurs in East Africa, and how those stories have influenced lenders and fellows.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

The Siebel Foundation and the Meth Project

This case details the innovative work of business executive Tom Siebel, who launched the Meth Project in 2005 to 'unsell' meth to first time users in Montana. The program used an innovative research-based marketing campaign and has since scaled to other states.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Gardenburger

The CEO of Gardenburger, a seller of veggie burger products and other food alternatives to meat, considers the company’s advertising strategy. He aims to take the company from the small health-food niche to the consumer mainstream.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Touring in the Galapagos Islands

Various economic and environmental issues face the owners of a cruise business in the Galapagos Islands. The case gives special attention to the efforts of locals to preserve and enhance their own ecotourism business prospects.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

As Green As It Gets

As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship

Overstock.com and Worldstock

Worldstock, Overstock.com’s socially responsible initiative, which marketed handicrafts produced by developing nation artisans to the United States, was suffering losses. Some stakeholders wondered if Worldstock would be shut down or spun off if the situation did not improve.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Equity Bank, a microfinance service

Equity Bank, a microfinance services provider, experienced a remarkable turnaround in the early 1990s. What strategy did the CEO pursue to accomplish such a feat?

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Environment, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

IDEAAS and PSA: Replication in the Amazon

Two social ventures collaborated with each other to help expand one’s solar energy services from southern Brazil into the Amazon region. The case highlights the core factors that led to the project’s ultimate outcome.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Entrepreneurs Foundation

This strategy case discusses a number of challenges facing nonprofit managers. These include establishing a sustainable and self-supporting operating model, generating corporate-sector support, and managing through a financial crisis.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Unitus (A): Microfinance 2.0 - Reinventing and Industry

Unitus focuses on accelerating the growth of the microfinance industry. This first case describes the Unitus business model for microfinance and whether or not the company should expand the capital it provides to partners through a debt or equity fund.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Kiva.org and the Power of Storytelling

This case details the founding story of Kiva, with particular focus on the way that Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery have stayed true to the original mission by telling authentic stories about entrepreneurs in East Africa, and how those stories have influenced lenders and fellows.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

The Siebel Foundation and the Meth Project

This case details the innovative work of business executive Tom Siebel, who launched the Meth Project in 2005 to 'unsell' meth to first time users in Montana. The program used an innovative research-based marketing campaign and has since scaled to other states.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Gardenburger

The CEO of Gardenburger, a seller of veggie burger products and other food alternatives to meat, considers the company’s advertising strategy. He aims to take the company from the small health-food niche to the consumer mainstream.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Touring in the Galapagos Islands

Various economic and environmental issues face the owners of a cruise business in the Galapagos Islands. The case gives special attention to the efforts of locals to preserve and enhance their own ecotourism business prospects.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

As Green As It Gets

As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

Topics:

The Meaning of “Social Entrepreneurship”

This seminal paper defines the term social entrepreneurship and helps shape, what was in 1998, the nascent field of social entrepreneurship.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

Topic :

The Power of Social Technology: GSBGEN 358

The goal of this seminar is to investigate how social technology (e.g., blogs, websites, podcasts, widgets, community groups, social network feeds) can change attitudes and behaviors in ways that cultivate social change. We study the strategies and tactics used by companies and causes that have successfully catalyzed social persuasion.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Social Entrepreneurship: STRAMGT 369

This course focuses on the efforts of private citizens to create effective responses to social needs and innovative solutions to social problems. It equips students with frameworks and tools that will help them be more effective as a social entrepreneur.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Social Enterprise: STRAMGT 341

This course explores the challenges and opportunities related to social entrepreneurship. Students study nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid organizational forms, and examine issues from a variety of perspectives, including that of entrepreneur, CEO, funder, and board member.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Design for Extreme Affordability: OIT 333/4

Students apply engineering and business skills to design product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures in developing countries. The aim is to address challenges faced by the world's poor.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Leadership in Diverse Organizations: OB 393

This course is designed to help students understand and manage human systems, exercise leadership, and work effectively with other people, specifically within the context of culturally diverse groups and organizations. The underlying premise is that diversity can present unique challenges and opportunities.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

Topic :

Farm to Cup Merger Emphasizes Partnership & Economic Empowerment

[photo - Farm to Cup - Root Capital Lending]

A grassroots student effort led by Caroline Mullen, MBA ’12, Catha Mullen, MBA ’13, and Monica Lewis, MBA ’12, now has even more impact through a merger with Pachamama Coffee Cooperative.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Economic Development, Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship

Creating Peace, One Entrepreneur at a Time

It was the suicide of a young man that turned Vivek Garg toward using business as a means of fostering peace and reconciliation.

Resource: Student

Topic :

Skoll's Philanthropy Focuses on World's Biggest Challenges

The March/April edition of Stanford magazine features a profile of alumnus Jeff Skoll, one of only 20 people who've ever given away $1 billion. He hopes to engage everyone in the planet's survival by leveraging the power of Hollywood.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

Yohei Iwasaki (MBA '10)

Yohei Iwasaki and mOasis are enabling farmers to grow more crops from less water and to cultivate previously underutilized land, producing a sustainable environment that significantly reduces food and water shortages.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Jane Chen (MBA '08)

Jane Chen's passion for helping others has taken her on an incredible journey from doing social work in China to founding Embrace, a company that sells premature infant incubators.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Jessica Jackley Discusses Stories of Poverty and Entrepreneurship

The cofounder of a microlending outfit says entrepreneurs need to "wake up each day and say, 'Now what?'"

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Students Practicing Entrepreneurship During IDEAcorps Help Ed Tech Winner Earn $50K at The Big Idea

Education Everytime, a venture that uses music to direct students through class transitions, got a huge boost last month when 6 students helped the company win $50,000 in funding at The Idea Village’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

A Crash Course on Creativity

Creativity often feels like a mystery. Struggling to unleash our creative potential can sometimes hinder us on the path to social innovation. In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Stanford Professor Tina Seelig discusses the tools and conditions each of us has that allow us to increase our creativity—our own, our team’s and our organization’s. She shares specific approaches to rethinking questions and reframing problems to unlock the path to innovation.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic :

Farm to Cup Merger Emphasizes Partnership & Economic Empowerment

A grassroots student effort led by Caroline Mullen, MBA ’12, Catha Mullen, MBA ’13, and Monica Lewis, MBA ’12, now has even more impact through a merger with Pachamama Coffee Cooperative.

Resource: Innovators

Topic :