Lots of recent coverage of social entrepreneurship in the media.  Yahoo finance has an article called Introducing Social Entrepreneurship that covers the activites of Echoing Green, a social venture capital firm that funds and supports non-profits and social service organizations. 

New York Time Op-Ed contributor David Brooks has a column called "Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders" that discusses the social entrepreneurship movement.  He describes this group:

"These thoroughly modern do-gooders dress like venture capitalists. They talk like them. They even think like them. That means that aside from the occasional passion for heirloom vegetables, they are not particularly crunchy."

Inc. also has a recent article on this topic.  I really like their definition of social entrepreneurship:

"Social entrepreneurs use cutting-edge, innovative business methods to promote positive social change. While profit is still the primary yardstick for assessing business, social entrepreneurs also measure the extent to which business makes a positive impact on society. Traditional nonprofits and citizen groups have been mainly distinguished by their benevolent intent. In contrast, social entrepreneurs stand out by their pragmatic emphasis on getting results."

No matter how you define it, social entrepreneurship is a rapidly growing small business segment. 


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