Social Innovation

  WEEK 12 :   Self-Reliance & Microcredit   Main Ideas and Topics of the Week: This week we learned about self-reliance and microcredit.  We focused on the fact that self-reliance has the ability to eliminate poverty.   We learned that there are three beliefs and  perspectives lay the groundwork for self-reliance. First individuals must have a moral sense of responsibility for their own well-being. Providing for oneself and one's family. Responsibility touches our deepest sense of right and wrong. Responsibility provides the fuel that energizes people to move out of poverty.  Second, self-reliant individuals possess the psychological trait known as self-efficacy or the belief that they can do things, even new things and very hard things.  Third, self-reliant people will have a long-term perspective that means they honor and respect the past and understand the importance of their individual and cultural heritage. More importantly a long-term perspective helps people look forward

WEEK 11:  What is Impact Investing   Main Ideas and Topics of the Week: This week we learned about impact investing, which is the practice of investing money in companies that not only generate a profit, but also have social or environmental benefits.  We learned that such investments are a growing focus for investors and have the potential to match other classes of investments in terms of return, but with the added benefit of serving real needs and addressing real challenges. Market watchers expect that the demand for impact investing will continue to grow as people decide to take a long-term vision of the market and use money to influence companies’ direction.  Reflection: One video that I found particularly interesting this week was a TED talk by Kevin Peterson of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Mr. Peterson laid out the case for impact investing and explained what his Foundation was doing to change and better the world around them. But most importantly, this video laid out

  WEEK 10 :   Hybrids and Social Businesses Main Ideas and Topics of the Week: This week we learned about two new styles of business that combines the for-profit and nonprofit sectors called hybrid businesses and social businesses. Hybrids are complex structures that have two legal entities, one for-profit and the other non-profit. The distinguishing factor of both is a social mission and the clear integration of practices or infrastructure from both sectors. We learned that hybrids can be extremely successful, but they also have trade-offs. Sometimes their impact is secondary or even worse ineffective. This happens when the profit driving activities and the social activities conflict so one overcomes the other.  The social business is a bit more straightforward in offering a model that looks to blend social value with profitability. We read about Muhammad Yunus who is one of the leaders of a social business. Hybrids and social businesses strive to find the balance of profitability whi

  WEEK 9:   What is    Main Ideas and Topics of the Week: Nonprofit organizations are a main source addressing social issues. However, they are expected to solve these issues without using resources for anything except the specific problem leaving no money for overheard. Many non-profits have had to shut their doors because of the lack of growth or bad press for using for profit tactics to generate more revenue. This leaves the nonprofit sector at a pivotal crossroad: innovate or die. Dan Pallotta explained, “The for-profit sector, the more value you produce, the more money you can make. But we don't like nonprofits to use money to incentivize people to produce more in social service. We have a visceral reaction to the idea that anyone would make very much money helping other people. Interestingly, we don't have a visceral reaction to the notion that people would make a lot of money not helping other people.” Using the ideas and practices of social innovation, nonprofits can so

    WEEK 8 :   Corporate Social Responsibility   Main Ideas and Topics of the Week: Modern consumers are interested in for-profit businesses avoid making negative impacts on the world and create positive change through their operations. As such many corporations are changing to meet that demand through CSR efforts. This week we learned about CSR subsets and discovered that nearly all businesses support some kind of CSR. We also evaluated which type of CSR is best for an organization given the impact it wants to create. We also saw the part we play as a customer, an employee, and an administrator to CSR in for profit businesses. Reflection: The video that I want to reflect upon is “Why We Need to Re-Think Capitalism.”  https://youtu.be/dvJSK4viVMs  The reason why this one resonated with me is I have always thought that in order to do the best for the world and those in need you should do it through service and not earn a profit from the endeavor.  This video opened my ideas to why this

  WEEK 7 :   What is  Main Ideas and Topics of the Week: This week we learned about two business techniques: lean start-up and business model canvas. Often social entrepreneurs need to create new enterprises or organizations knowing these two techniques can help in creating a successful business. Lean start-up is a method for developing business and products. The founders of lean start-ups don’t begin with a business plan; they begin with the search for a business model. It has three main parts.  First, rather than engaging in months of planning and research, entrepreneurs accept that all they have on day one is a series of untested hypotheses—basically, good guesses.  Second, lean start-ups use a “get out of the building” approach called  customer development  to test their hypotheses. They go out and ask potential users, purchasers, and partners for feedback on all elements of the business model, including product features, pricing, distribution channels, and affordable customer acqu