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Extra Credit

Want to learn more about social entrepreneurs and innovation in the service sector? Here are connections to some leading resources in the field.

Ashoka’s Changemakers.net
The first organization to identify and fund social entrepreneurs, Ashoka now has a network of more than 1,700 fellows all over the world. Ashoka was founded in 1981 by Bill Drayton. The name comes from an Indian emperor from the 3rd Century BC who unified the subcontinent and was dedicated to forming an enlightened model of society.

Changemakers.net “open sources social innovation” by running competitions to surface and refine new ideas for social change.

Echoing Green
Launched in 1987, Echoing Green's mission is to spark social change by identifying, investing and supporting the world's most exceptional emerging leaders and the organizations they launch. Through a two-year fellowship program, it helps a network of visionaries develop new solutions to society’s most difficult problem.

Monitor Institute
This non-profit division of Monitor Group is dedicated to using the intellectual, human and financial resources of the consulting firm to amplify and accelerate the public benefit created by innovative private actors—citizens, nonprofit organizations, philanthropists and corporations. The Institute aims to be a leader in anticipating changes and applying new approaches, helping to transform how complex social challenges are addressed in the next generation.

New Profit, Inc.
One of the first funding organizations to embrace a model of “venture philanthropy,” NPI, founded by Vanessa Kirsch, (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/30/khazei.html) selects a portfolio of non-profit organizations that it provides with business mentoring and investment.

Skoll Foundation
Started by former Ebay President Jeff Skoll, the foundation’s mission is to advance systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Started by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, The Schwab Foundation does not give grants or invest financially in the organizations of its selected social entrepreneurs. Rather, it uses its resources to create opportunities where social entrepreneurs who have successfully implemented and scaled their ideas can have access to usually inaccessible networks and, as a result, galvanize financial and in-kind resources that enable them to strengthen and expand. Every year selected social entrepreneurs in its network attend WEF.

Academic Centers:
Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship
Stanford Center for Social Innovation

—Cheryl Dahle