ENHANCING THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR ENTERPRISING NONPROFIT

A complete set of tools for applying entrepreneurial strategies and techniques to your nonprofit.

In this compelling book, strategy guru Roger L. Martin and Skoll Foundation President and CEO Sally R. Osberg describe how social entrepreneurs target systems that exist in a stable but unjust equilibrium and transform them into entirely new, superior, and sustainable equilibria. All of these leaders—call them disrupters, visionaries, or changemakers—develop, build, and scale their solutions in ways that bring about the truly revolutionary change that makes the world a fairer and better place.

The rising spirit of social entrepreneurship has created all kinds of new opportunities for nonprofit organizations. But at the same time, many are discovering more than their share of challenges as well. This essential book will help anyone in the field gain the necessary skills to meet these challenges. Written by the leading thinkers and practitioners in the field, Enterprising Nonprofits offers concise and engaging explanations of the most successful business tools being used by nonprofits today. The authors clearly describe all the concepts so you'll be able to embrace the methods of social enterprise for your organization. 

"David Bornstein's How to Change the World provides a wonderful introduction to social entrepreneurship. It is engaging, inspiring, and informative, weaving Bornstein's thoughtful commentary with a set of rich, diverse, and instructive examples. It is the first book I recommend to interested students." -- Professor J. Gregory Dees, Faculty Director, Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

An essential book for anyone interested in understanding the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship. Their comprehensive and thoughtful book offers a great single source for understanding the amazing variety of social entrepreneurs throughout the world. With the burgeoning of interest among scholars, students, foundations, and policymakers, The Power of Unreasonable People should join the short list of required reading on social entrepreneurship.

HOW SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS SPREAD  INNOVATION THROUGHOUT THE  WORLD

Schwartz provides a five point paradigm of social entrepreneurship that will allow any individual to become an innovative changemaker while sharing stories of ground-breaking innovators.

This book is a guide to modern entrepreneurship and accelerated brand-building from the founders of Yes To Inc, the company behind the breakthrough natural beauty brand Yes to Carrots. Ido Leffler and Lance Kalish, two 29-year-old Australians with very different back-grounds and skills, cofounded their company in 2006 with little more than a dream―and made it big. Yes to Carrots has become one of the biggest natural beauty brands in the world. Leffler and Kalish have accomplished it all while maintaining solid principles, investing in meaningful business relationships, giving back to the community, and still making it home in time for dinner.

What motivates a creative thinker?Is it a selfless desire to benefit mankind? A hunger for fame, fortune, and accolades? The need to prove superiority? Or is it a self-sufficient drive to pursue a creative vision, independent of others’ needs or opinions?

Ayn Rand addresses these questions through her portrayal of Howard Roark, an innovative architect who, as she puts it, “struggles for the integrity of his creative work against every form of social opposition.”

HOW A PIONEERING PROGRAM TEACHES YOUNG ADULTS REAL SKILLS FOR REAL JOBS-WITH REAL SUCCESS

Chertavian is the founder of the social venture Year Up, which aims to eliminate the divide between low income workers and the economic mainstream by providing them with training and mentorship. His book shares the inspiring success stories of participants in his program.  

Freedman envisions the transition beyond midlife as an empowering one. Through a map of personal narratives, he inspires and encourages individuals to transform their “crises” into opportunities for change. Marc's social enterprise 'Encore' presents viable options for meaningful involvement past midlife.

How do you gain influence for an idea? In "Breaking Out," idea  developer and adviser John Butman shows how the methods of today's most popular "idea entrepreneurs“ - including dog psychologist Cesar Millan, French lifestyle guru Mireille Guiliano (French Women Don't Get Fat), TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie, and many others - can help you take an idea public and build influence for it.

Consider your business model, are you a pure business, pure nonprofit or a hybrid? Read Jim Fruchterman's short article, "For Love or Lucre."

Who drives transformation in our society and how do they do it? Roger Martin and Sally Osberg argue in their new book, Getting Beyond Better, that the answer is social entrepreneurs, who target unjust and unsustainable systems — or “equilibria” — and transform them into entirely new, superior, and sustainable equilibria. In this excerpt, they tell a story illustrating how vision is the key to successful transformation.

Social entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention. But along with its increasing popularity has come less certainty about what exactly a social entrepreneur is and does. As a result, all sorts of activities are now being called social entrepreneurship. Some say that a more inclusive term is all for the good, but the authors argue that it’s time for a more rigorous definition.

The article is written by Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur turned Venture Capital. He joined Upfront Ventures in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. It lists 12 important attributes to consider to become a successfull entreprenuer. 

Bringing Soul to the Work of Collective Impact

Leaders must be steadfast in their efforts to achieve results that advance equity—just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

POLICYMAKERS on both sides of the Atlantic are keen on a new approach to alleviating society's troubles. On July 22nd Barack Obama's administration listed the first 11 investments by its new Social Innovation Fund (SIF). About $50m of public money, more than matched by $74m from philanthropic foundations, will be given to some of America's most successful non-profit organisations, in order to expand their work in health care, in creating jobs and in supporting young people.

Have you ever built a team from scratch? What are the steps you followed? What advice do you have for entrepreneurs doing it for the first time?

Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. 

Students, seek these opportunities out! Find the sense of purpose and direction you need to gain real value from your college career. It’s programs like these that will ensure you and students for generations to come will take advantage of the incredible value higher education has to offer.

It's clear that there is a "new" brand of social entrepreneurship emerging—one that is more market-driven, measurement-oriented, and corporate-friendly than before. The question is: Will these trends lead to greater social impact?

Bitesized Insights is an open source knowledge library made up of short video conversations with the world's most successful digital entrepreneurs.

When most well-intentioned aid workers hear of a problem they think they can fix, they go to work. This, Ernesto Sirolli suggests, is naïve. In this funny and impassioned talk, he proposes that the first step is to listen to the people you're trying to help, and tap into their own entrepreneurial spirit. His advice on what works will help any entrepreneur.

Social Intelligence and Leadership. Daniel Goleman, psychologist, encourages you to see how you can use emotional and social intelligence to improve your own and your organization's performance.

Keith Ferrazzi is America's leading guru on the power of relationships. The author of the runaway bestseller Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi has been designated one of the world's most "connected" people. A master networker, Ferrazzi has spoken to companies around the globe about achieving success.

"Think About the Life You Want" - Judith Williams, Global Diversity Manager, Google. 

This video talks about why pursuing the life you want is smarter than doing what you love.

Ashok Gadgil, Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, discusses the importance of partnering across disciplines and his work on developing more fuel-efficient cookstoves in Darfur.

The Social Business Model Canvas, is a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool. It allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent, and pivot your social business model. This canvas will form the foundation of the information you submit in a Round 2 written plan.

The Human-Centered Design Toolkit from IDEO.org gives you a set of tools to design an innovative and effective solution to the social problem you're trying to address.

This page of Social Entrepreneurship Resources from the Harvard Innovation Lab features design help, business model planning support, and links to some of the world's thought leaders in social innovation.

The World We Want Foundation supports and promotes Young Global Citizens making positive change in their communities and around the world.  The Foundation offers the first online crowd funding platform for a spectrum of youth-driven social action projects—from community service projects to service-learning projects to seed funding for social ventures.

PiggyBackr is passionate about empowering young people to achieve their goals, to develop 21st century skills from an early age, and to help their schools, teams, and communities raise funds more effectively. While working with young people of all ages and backgrounds, we learned two important things.

       - Fundraising at any age is difficult.

       - People prefer to give to young people who work hard

The Social Enterprise Builder is a step-by-step guide on how to build a social enterprise. This guide is written for anyone wishing to understand more about social enterprise and how to start one. The Builder guides you through a rigorous business planning process, which underpins the future success of a social enterprise.

Download the Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact as a resource for helping build your proposal. Another source: http://www.rootcause.org/social-innovation-resources

REDF's Social Enterprise How-To Resources are a little bit technical, but they collect valuable best practices knowledge for the "nitty-gritty" aspects of your project.

The Global Entrepreneurship Library houses hundreds of valuable resources for any stage of your venture development.