Market Wise but Social Heart

February 13, 2007 in Social Justice by Rebecca | No comments

Here at Beck’s Cafe we’ve talked a little about Social Entrepreneurship before. But one thing we have not done is to give some bona fide examples of how it works. Examples can be great teachers for you to prime the pump of innovation and get your creative juices going.

But what is a Social Entrepreneur? In a nutshell, they are people that see problem and use their entrepreneurial energy to solve them. In another context they’d be investment bankers. But the problem they see energizes them and they take compassionate action.

The business magazine Fast Company has taken to honoring what they see as the top 25 on an annual basis. I haven’t seen the new list yet, but here’s last year’s list filled with visionary people who’ve decided to do something. How can you do something right where you are to help vexing problems you see in your community? Read this list for some inspiration!

For the full article, you can visit Fast Company at this link here.

The Top 25 Groups That Are Changing the World (from Fast Company, “25 Entrepreneurs Who are Changing the World, 2006“)

Firm Web Address
ACCION International http://www.accion.org/default.asp
BELL http://www.bellnational.org/
Calvert Social Investment Foundation http://www.calvertfoundation.org/
Citizen Schools http://www.citizenschools.org/index.cfm
City Year http://www.cityyear.org/
College Summit Inc. http://www.collegesummit.org/
First Book http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674095/k.CC09/Home.htm
Grameen Foundation USA http://www.grameenfoundation.org/
Heifer International http://www.heifer.org/
Housing Partnership Network http://www.housingpartnership.net/
Jumpstart http://jstart.org/
Kickstart http://kickstart.org/
New Community Corp. http://newcommunity.org/main.htm
New Leaders for New Schools http://www.nlns.org/NLWeb/Index.jsp
PATH http://www.path.org/
Pioneer Human Services http://www.pioneerhumanserv.com/
Raising a Reader http://www.pcf.org/raising_reader/
Rare http://www.rareconservation.org/
Room to Read http://www.roomtoread.org/
Rubicon Programs Inc. http://www.rubiconprograms.org/
Teach for America http://teachforamerica.org/
Transfair USA http://transfairusa.org/
Unitus http://unitus.com/
WITNESS http://witness.org/
Working Today — Freelancers Union http://www.freelancersunion.org/