Center for Social Innovation

Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Gayle Lemmon discusses how entrepreneurs conduct business in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous environments.

Resource: News Article

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Why are Social Entrepreneurs Like Ginger Rogers?

Social entrepreneurs, those organizations and individuals who work to improve major social issues, don't have the networks and financial systems of traditional entrepreneurs, Sally Osberg, president of the Skoll Foundation told a Stanford MBA audience. Like Ginger Rogers dancing in a 1940's musical, they face the same issues as traditional entrepreneurs, but must do it backwards in high heels.

Resource: News Article

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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.

-Subscription Required

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

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Research: Nonprofits Aren’t More Commercial

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

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

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Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Navigating Through Conflict

Gayle Lemmon discusses how entrepreneurs conduct business in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous environments.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Why are Social Entrepreneurs Like Ginger Rogers?

Social entrepreneurs, those organizations and individuals who work to improve major social issues, don't have the networks and financial systems of traditional entrepreneurs, Sally Osberg, president of the Skoll Foundation told a Stanford MBA audience. Like Ginger Rogers dancing in a 1940's musical, they face the same issues as traditional entrepreneurs, but must do it backwards in high heels.

Resource: News Article

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Embracing a Way to Change the World

Jane Chen, MBA '08, is co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a nonprofit company dedicated to creating low-cost portable incubators to save the lives of low birthweight babies in developing countries. The Embrace infant warmer was launched in India in the spring of 2011 she told the annual Women in Management banquet at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Resource: News Article

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Effective Use of Social Media Requires Tapping Emotions, Book Says

Authors Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith explain how to harness the power of social media to achieve social change in their book The Dragonfly Effect.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Leadership, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Chase Your Dream Skoll Advises Class of 2010

Chase Your Dream Skoll Advises Class of 2010 "Define your dream and chase it with as much rigor and authenticity as you can muster," entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeff Skoll advised Stanford Graduate School of Business 2010 graduates.

Resource: News Article

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Being the Only B

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

The owner of the only certified B Corporation in Kentucky assesses the pros and cons of the certification.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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The Miracle of Financial Inclusion

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

The founder of the Kashf Foundation argues that microfinance can improve the lives of Pakistan’s next generation.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Picking Green Tech’s Winners and Losers

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

Unless clean tech follows well-established rules of innovation and commercialization, the industry’s promise to provide sustainable sources of energy will fail.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

What’s Next: Retailing with Heart

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

Venture into a Panera Cares café and you’ll see the same menu and racks of freshly baked breads that are staples at the 1,400 Panera Bread restaurants across the United States. The only thing missing is the cash register. Instead, there’s a donation box where customers pay on the honor system.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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For Love or Lucre

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

A veteran social entrepreneur provides a guide to those who are thinking through the thorny question of whether to create a nonprofit, a for-profit, or something in between.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

From Blue to Green

The author reviews Jacqueline Novogratz’s book “The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World” and draws insight from the book’s in depth presentation of social enterprise.

Resource: Blog Post

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Generations Converge at the Intersection of Money and Meaning

The movement to provide capital to social enterprises is gaining momentum.

Resource: Blog Post

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Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Climate Change

Social entrepreneurism should focus less on charismatic personalities, and more on ideas that work.

Resource: Blog Post

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Fail Faster, Succeed Sooner

Nonprofits need to be less risk averse.

Resource: Blog Post

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Kiva Introduces Lending Team Feature

Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person microlending Web site, has facilitated nearly $40 million in loans to entrepreneurs worldwide.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Environmental Sustainability with World Water

World demand for water is likely to continue to outpace population. In this panel discussion, experts talk about how this troubling environmental sustainability issue offers a rare opportunity for cleantech entrepreneurs. Our search for sustainable water offers lessons that may help others facing similar large-scale challenges such as world demand for energy. The event was part of the MIT-Stanford Venture Lab Series.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Pairing Nonprofits with Professionals

Catchafire is a New York City-based, for-profit social mission business that matches professionals who want to give their skills to nonprofits and social enterprises that need their help. In this audio interview, CEO and founder Rachael Chong speaks with host Ashkon Jafari about the ins and outs of the organization, from its founding, to its funding, to how it finds "matches."

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Social Innovations, Social Entrepreneurship

Design Thinking for Social Inclusion

Businesses, nonprofits and government agencies increasingly are embracing design thinking to solve social problems. The reason? Design thinking is inherently human centered. In this audio lecture, Jocelyn Wyatt, who directs social innovation projects at the design and consulting firm IDEO, describes how design thinking can be employed in the developing world to address the needs of people who consume a product or service and the infrastructure that enables it.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Health Care, Social Entrepreneurship

Safe Water in Communities

Though the resources may be adequate in the Philippines, 13 million people do not have access to clean and safe water due to issues of infrastructure. In this audio interview, Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman talks with A Single Drop for Safe Water (ASDSW) Executive Director Kevin Lee, the 2010 Tech Award winner in the Equality category. He shares their social entrepreneurship model prioritizing effective water and sanitation systems in communities.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Economic Development, Education, Social Entrepreneurship

Developing Through Mobile Phones

"People can learn from mobile phones," says Sara Chamberlain, Head of Interactive for BBC World Trust and developer. She launched BBC Janala to "raise the language skills of 25 million people in Bangladesh by 2017". She speaks with host Sheela Sethuraman about how 3 million people already started learning English with in some cases the most basic handsets. According to Chamberlain, making English accessible affordably could be "a ticket out of poverty" for the people of Bangladesh.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Education, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

New Biodesign Book Tackles Innovation: Prof. Stefanos Zenios

Q&A with Stefano Zenios on his new book, Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies.

Resource: Video

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Networking Is More Than Lots of Names, Says Heidi Roizen

"Credibility and power don't necessarily translate into a different world," says Heidi Roizen. Sometimes entrepreneurs need to learn new skills to transfter success to another sector.

Resource: Video

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Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship From a Woman's Perspective

To be a successful entrepreneur you need to ignore your naysayers and have a passion bordering on obsession.

Resource: Video

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Opportunities in Clean Tech

What is the future of clean tech?

Resource: Video

Topic:

Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

Using Social Media to Save Lives, Part 1 of 3

A leukemia diagnosis for Sameer Bhatia is the start of a nation-wide project to create a bone marrow registry in India. Robert Chatwani describes one family's innovative effort to create social change and, in the process, find a perfect match for Sameer.

Resource: Video

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:

Environmental Sustainability with World Water

World demand for water is likely to continue to outpace population. In this panel discussion, experts talk about how this troubling environmental sustainability issue offers a rare opportunity for cleantech entrepreneurs. Our search for sustainable water offers lessons that may help others facing similar large-scale challenges such as world demand for energy. The event was part of the MIT-Stanford Venture Lab Series.

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Resource: Audio

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:

Pairing Nonprofits with Professionals

Catchafire is a New York City-based, for-profit social mission business that matches professionals who want to give their skills to nonprofits and social enterprises that need their help. In this audio interview, CEO and founder Rachael Chong speaks with host Ashkon Jafari about the ins and outs of the organization, from its founding, to its funding, to how it finds "matches."

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Social Innovations, Social Entrepreneurship

Design Thinking for Social Inclusion

Businesses, nonprofits and government agencies increasingly are embracing design thinking to solve social problems. The reason? Design thinking is inherently human centered. In this audio lecture, Jocelyn Wyatt, who directs social innovation projects at the design and consulting firm IDEO, describes how design thinking can be employed in the developing world to address the needs of people who consume a product or service and the infrastructure that enables it.

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Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

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Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0 - Reinventing an Industry

Unitus focuses on accelerating the growth of the microfinance industry. While case A examined Unitus options to expand the capital it provides to partners, this second case reveals the decisions Unitus leaders made.

Resource: Academic Case

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Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Ashoka was a professional organization that identified and invested in leading social entrepreneurs globally. The organization faced challenges as it updated its mission to “make things happen in a bigger way.”

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Green River Environmental

David Dodson started the septic company Green River Environmental after mixed results in his previous entrepreneurial ventures. This case tracks three difficult mangerial situations Dodson faced during his tenure as CEO and chairman of the company.

Resource: Academic Case

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Minnesota Public Radio: Social Purpose Capitalism

Minnesota Public Radio had evolved from a small public radio station to a network of 38 stations, mainly through social purpose capitalism. The founder came under criticism after creating for-profit ventures to support and build the enterprise.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

Napo Pharmaceuticals

Napo was developing a compound to treat diarrhea while arranging an innovative public-private partnership to distribute it in the developing world. When that partnership proved difficult to arrange, the founder had to decide whether to continue pursuing it.

Resource: Academic Case

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Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failures

A new breed of entrepreneurs is prioritizing social impact over the creation of wealth. This video case examines the insights, aspirations, and impact of three leading social entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in distributing products and services in hard-to-reach places. It is meant to be used in conjunction with cases SI72 A and SI72 B.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Waste Concern

Waste Concern in Bangladesh had earned an international reputation for its innovative approach to waste management in Dhaka. The organization needed to consider two opportunities to raise capital for expansion from large foreign firms.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Healthcare, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Building the Knowledge Base of the Health Care Fields

By 2005, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation had firmly established the importance of building a knowledge base and communicating its findings to external and internal constitutencies. The foundation faced the challenge of how to effectively execute its communications.

Resource: Academic Case

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Social Entrepreneurs: Correcting Market Failures (B)

This case, part two in a two-part series, explores the challenge of distribution, particularly for nonprofit entities seeking to bring their products and services to hard-to-reach places around the world.

Resource: Academic Case

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Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

SV2: Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund

The Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund provides Silicon Valley donors with philanthropic experience and education to empower their giving, and awards capacity-building grants to nonprofits. The fund’s leadership wondered how to improve the partner consulting program to better leverage partner expertise, and how to engage partners in grantmaking and educational activities.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Research Papers : All

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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

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Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship

Health Care Technology: From Innovators to Providers to Patients: GSBGEN 351

This course examines health care businesses and how they use technology (primarily biotechnology, medical technology, and information technology) to improve patient outcomes and manage costs. Through case studies, students gain an in-depth understanding of how new technologies get developed and commercialized in health care, and of how the whole health care value chain adapts to new technologies.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

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Leadership, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Jacqueline Novogratz (MBA '91)

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.

Resource: Alumni

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Lee Zimmerman and Brian Anderluh (MBA '94)

As co-owners of Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite, a social enterprise that combines environmental stewardship and socially-minded employment strategies, Lee Zimmerman and Brian Anderluh discuss keys and barriers to success, potential for scale, and opportunities for the future.

Resource: Alumni

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An interview with Hope Flammer (MBA '91)

Hope Flammer (MBA '91) and VoiceQuilt help families celebrate loved ones with voice-based toasts, tributes and favorite memories.

Resource: Alumni

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An interview with Leena Ved (MBA '02)

Leena Ved provides high quality educational opportunities for under-served children, and addresses the financing gap in impact investing by supporting early stage companies.

Resource: Alumni

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An interview with Dana Hendrickson (MBA '77)

Through Rebuild Hope, Dana Hendrickson and others help wounded veterans and their families overcome short-term financial obstacles.

Resource: Alumni

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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: Innovators

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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

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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

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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

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