As my actions show, I’m a strong believer that entrepreneurship can solve most of societies problems. It’s amazing what you can create with your own labor and a little bit of investment. That’s why I find the microfinance movement so interesting. What I don’t understand is why there isn’t more focus on this kind of lending in the United States. Grameen America is a five-year old non-profit that is changing this. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’re aiming for “a market where any individual with a dream can receive affordable financial products regardless of income, previous credit history, education, or business experience.” Grameen America is attacking poverty head on, and it seems like they’re having some great success.
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Although getting money to fund a startup company isn’t what I called easy, there’s a pretty standard process for seeking investment. When it comes to starting up a non-profit, the process isn’t often so clear. This can make finding funding seem impossible. However, there are some smart people who have taken the venture capital model and adjusted it for the non-profit world. One of these organizations is New Profit, which is based in Cambridge, MA. They were founded in 1998 and they focus “on supporting innovative social entrepreneurs who have brought a pathbreaking, big idea to life in an innovative organization.” They do this through their philanthropy fund, which has funded a ton of non-profit organizations. (I’m having trouble determining whether New Profit is actually a non-profit, but philanthropy funds usually are.)
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Maybe I’m dating myself, but I was a big AOL user back in the day. It’s where I started learning about the Internet, so it wasn’t just about chat rooms and IMs for me. I remember getting monthly e-mails from Steve Case, who was the Founder and CEO of the company. Believe it or not, I think I actually read them. Anyway, AOL is a very different company these days, and Steve Case is no longer involved. A lot of what he does now along with his wife Jean Case is focused on The Case Foundation, a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that reflects “their family’s commitment to finding lasting solutions for complex social challenges.” That may sound a bit broad, but it’s really about investing some of the wealth that the Cases have accumulated in “people and ideas that can change the world” regardless of whether they fit into a specific category.
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One development that I’ve become more and more aware of since I graduated college is that of social entrepreneurship. The startup culture doesn’t apply solely to for-profit ventures. The tough thing about starting your own non-profit is getting money to run the organization. Early stage businesses can either grow organically by selling products or get investment at the cost of a portion of future revenues. Early stage non-profits don’t have as many options because most donors only want to give money to established non-profits that have a track record of doing good things with the money. That’s where New York City based Echoing Green steps in. They invest in and support “outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions.” Since Echoing Green is already an established non-profit, they’re able to raise money to support upstarts that already have top notch founders and world changing missions, but not much else.
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As a member on the Board of Advisors for a startup non-profit, I know how hard it is to get things going. Building a website, raising the first $1,000, and writing a “business plan” are all huge challenges that separate ideas from real non-profits. And that doesn’t even include getting started on the good work that is the organization’s mission. The first few years are filled with ups and downs, and leaders of non-profit startups can use every little bit of extra help that they can get. One way that they can get that help is to work with Sparkseed, a San Ramon, CA based non-profit organization “that exists to develop the next generation of social entrepreneurs and increase their impact on society.” It’s an incubator/angel fund for early stage, student-led social ventures (both for-profit and non-profit).
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I was lucky enough to graduate from college without having had to take out any student loans, but even if I had needed to take out a loan, at least it would have been before the “credit crunch.” These days it’s a lot harder for students to finance their educations than it was just a couple of years ago. Credit in general is extremely tight right now, and beyond that, lenders are being very picky about whom they lend to. For students with no credit history, getting a loan can be a big pain in the butt. People Capital is a New York City based startup that is aiming to change that through what they call a “peer-to-peer lending platform.” They’ve developed a Human Capital Score “to assess the creditworthiness of those just starting their credit histories,” and they’re now building out a network of borrowers and lenders to bring the idea to life. It’s kind of like Kiva for education, but with a for-profit incentive keeping things efficient.
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What are your principles? How do they affect the way that you go about your every day life? Depending on what’s important to you, it can be extremely difficult to live up to your own standards in everything that you do. Everyday decisions are much more complex when you have to think about whether your shirt was made in a sweatshop, whether that hamburger you are about to eat was humanely raised, and whether your investment portfolio is profiting from sales of harmful and addictive tobacco products. Some people don’t really care about these issues, while to others they are of grave importance. Not long ago, you might have had to sequester yourself from society to live what you believe to be a socially conscious life. Now there are thousands of entrepreneurs who are creating products and services that will help make living a life that meets your standards easier.
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