Social innovation = Local happiness
Interest in social innovation is growing. It needs to. Our societies are facing some of the greatest challenges of our time: increasing inequality, rising poverty rates, the instability of the economy, climate change, and a plethora of other issues. At the same time,...
Walk the Line, SEA-Style
This past month social entrepreneurs gathered at the Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA) Summit 2014 in Nashville, Tenn., and enjoyed content-rich workshops, engaging pitches from social entrepreneurs, excellent Southern cuisine and music from some of Nashville’s...
“Ask What You Can Do for Your State”: Entrepreneurs in Michigan take “The Challenge”
The Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge gives entrepreneurs in the state an opportunity to make a difference Michigan Corps’ motto is a call to action that invokes the famous line President John F. Kennedy delivered in his 1961 inaugural...
What Social Enterprises Can Learn From the UN
Running in NGO circles, one is likely to come across some misgivings of UN activities. Granted, certain suspicion is warranted. The largest international organization is made up of people, and people make mistakes. Even so, most of these doubts can be attributed to...
Getting Ahead By Investing From Within
“Keep your eye on the prize” is a common catch phrase that, for the social enterprise community, has come to mean staying focused on achieving your social change goal. Oftentimes, the decision to become a changemaker – and to accept all the sacrifices...
Seeing the Forest for the Tees: The Link Between Your Wardrobe and the World’s Forests
I went shopping with a friend at Christmas who was searching for a gift for her 15 year old niece. Neither of us think of shopping as a recreational activity (I’d rather be surfing or at a matinee!), but there we were in a mall in the midst of the pre-Christmas...
Will Consumers Purchase From Social Enterprises? New Survey Shows Promise
This holiday season individuals will be typically generous and give their money and time to various charities. However, at the end of the year this largesse will account for only less than 2% of the gross domestic product in the United States (according to Giving USA...
How to Grow Your Garden – And Your Social Enterprise
This summer I helped build a community garden in Thorncliffe Park, one of Toronto’s most densely populated high rise communities on the Eastern side of the city, along the Don Valley. The garden was a pilot project, to test whether the community could expand its local...