Social entrepreneurship : how to start successful corporate social responsibility and community-based initiatives for advocacy and change

252 Pages·2010·1.89 MB·English

by  Manuel London

Social Entrepreneurship
What motivates someone to become a social entrepreneur? What
are the competencies needed to be effective social advocates and
agents for change? This book answers these questions in an accessible
and practical way, providing comprehensive guidelines, numerous
examples, and sources of information and training for anyone who
wants to start a community-based social advocacy and change initiative
or for employees who want to start a corporate social responsibility
initiative.
Features include the following:
• Examples of individuals and organizations who have learned from
successes and failures in social entrepreneurship
• Self-assessments to help readers evaluate their own talents and
proclivity to be social entrepreneurs
• Steps and strategies, competency-building activities, and assess-
ments to evaluate and facilitate initiatives
• Resources available from foundations, government agencies, and
other sources fo r the budding social entrepreneur.

Social Entrepreneurship
How to Start Successful Corporate
Social Responsibility and
Community-Based Initiatives for
Advocacy and Change
Manuel London and
Richard G. Morfopoulos
First published 2010
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
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© 2010 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
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from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
London, Manuel.
Social entrepreneurship: How to start successful corporate social
responsibility and community-based initiatives for advocacy and change.
Manuel London and Richard G. Morfopoulos.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Social entrepreneurship. 2. Social responsibility of business.
I. Morfopoulos, Richard G. II. Title.
HD60.L66 2009
361.7068’1–dc22 2009025513
ISBN 0-203-87814-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-80128-1 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-80129-X (pbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-87814-0 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-80128-7 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-80129-4 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-87814-9 (ebk)
For Marilyn, David, and Jared London; Melissa Vineski;
and Charles, Frances, Mark, and Andrew Morfopoulos

Contents
Preface ix
About the Authors xiii
1 An Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship 1
2 What Motivates a Social Entrepreneur 31
3 Competencies for Social Action 53
4 Steps and Strategies for Social Entrepreneurship 87
5 Developing High-Performing Social Action Teams 117
6 Overcoming Barriers and Facilitating Social
Entrepreneurship 141
7 Evaluating Success: Measures of Social Performance 169
8 Learning Resources 191

References 217
Index 231

Preface
This book is about skills and methods for social change. The focus is
on social entrepreneurship—an umbrella term that covers social action
initiatives that start in companies and communities. You may start a social
action initiative as a corporate employee, elected government official,
nonprofit agency leader, university student, and/or community activist.
Effective social action requires motivation and skills that are important
for any entrepreneurial endeavor. Social entrepreneurs are motivated
by a passion to help others and themselves. They believe in their own
ability to overcome barriers and accomplish good deeds. They have
skills to motivate and influence others to volunteer, make contributions,
or make decisions to bring about change. Social entrepreneurs see a
problem and are motivated to do something about it, usually finding
ways to involve those who stand to benefit from the advocacy process.
Goals may focus on environmental cleanup and protection, health and
wellness, poverty, or education. Social advocacy and change bring public
attention to a social need, change opinions, obtain resources, perhaps by
influencing legislation or collecting donations, and/or deliver services.
Social entrepreneurs may be people who encourage their companies
to support a social c ause. Corporate social responsibility initiatives may
have spin-off benefits for both the company and the people the initiatives
help. Social entrepreneurship may also occur in communities as people
create initiatives to help others, seeking a variety of sources of support
and in partnership with other organizations. Social entrepreneurs may
form an organization, for instance a foundation, not-for-profit agency,
or nongovernmental organization, thereby embedding the initiative
in a sustainable enterprise. They may start a for-profit business that
addresses a social problem. Concerned citizens may band together in
an informal group to address a social need. The beneficiaries may be
local (e.g., homeless in a local town) or global, as when individuals in
one community or organizations in a Western country raise money
to redress poverty in a village in Africa. Social initiatives may require