Every class on Social Enterprise that I’ve ever taken, or conference that I’ve attended or blog that I’ve followed, and there have been a lot for you an I… has wrestled with the definition of Social Enterprise.
My experience is in running and growing social enterprises that are inside of Non-profits. These little departments further the org’s goals by competing for the retail dollar. This model is only one of the ways social goals interact with capitalism. There are also for-profit social enterprises, impact investors, and B- corps just to name a few.
Social Enterprise is a broad concept. Innovators and business folks are working to create social benefit alongside market returns and I want to talk with them. I’m hoping we can work together to define this field and make predictions about it’s future.