This Week in Social Entrepreneurship

In our “This Week in Social Entrepreneurship” series, each Friday we will feature the top stories in Social Entrepreneurship for the week that we find to be noteworthy, novel, and thought-provoking.  What are your favorite stories this week in Social Entrepreneurship?  Let’s start a discussion!

• The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) application deadline is just a few days away—have you applied yet?  CGI U is an initiative to bring together the next generation of leaders on college campuses to discuss solutions to major global issues.  CGI U 2012 will take place at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. on March 30 through April 1, 2012.  The goal is to get a generation of new changemakers to start discussing and coming up with action plans to solve large scale global issues.   
• A little behind on coming up with a New Year’s Resolution?  Why not resolve to do something good for someone else this year?  This is the concept behind TBD’s new initiative—Resolutions for Good.  Resolutions for Good is a site where you can post and share your resolution to do something good for someone else.  TBD has officially declared 2012 the year to do something good for others, so maybe it’s time to start some good this year!
• On January 21, 2012, Action For India (AFI) is hosting its annual AFI Forum, bringing together leading social entrepreneurs and technology experts so social entrepreneurs can network and find technology related support to grow their businesses.  The social innovator from each sector that shows the most progress six months after the forum will receive the AFI Growth Prize and benefit from awards such as a full-time intern from IDEX (a venture with a successful campaign on SSG!) and a technology/web mentorship on how to scale impact using the web.
• A really interesting study on social entrepreneurship is being conducted by a doctoral candidate and a professor at Harvard Business School.  Matthew Lee, a doctoral candidate at Harvard Business School, points out that most of the existing studies are biased in favor of “heroic entrepreneurs”—visionaries that have achieved large-scale social change on a global level.  In reality, however, proper research needs to include everyone—not just the large-scale achievers. The research so far, conducted on a random sample of Echoing Green Fellow applicants between 2006 and 2011, has uncovered two key trends.  First, most of the applicants are focusing not on global change, but rather localized change within their own communities.  Second, the number of ventures that plan to generate revenue commercially and become self-sustaining rather than rely on donations is growing each year.
• Middlebury College in Vermont (one of the newest Ashoka changemaker campuses) will be opening the Middlebury Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE), a center that will teach and support young change agents to become social entrepreneurs.  The MCSE will support young social entrepreneurs through grants, lectures by social entrepreneurs, and training workshops.  If you are near Vermont, it is definitely worth stopping by the symposium to celebrate the beginning of its first lecture series, January 25-27th 2012.  Noted speakers include Bill Drayton of Ashoka and Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen Fund.  

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Social entrepreneurs, has all this great SocEnt news inspired you to start your own good?  Do you have a social enterprise, a non-profit, or an amazing idea that needs some momentum to take off?  Visit our site to find out how to start your own campaign today.  Still have questions?  We have answers—check out our FAQ section.