Buzzword 2008.9 – Social Enterprise

This next entry on the buzzword 2008 list – social enterprise – is a perfect example of the 20 year+ buildup that some buzz requires. The concepts and realities of social enterprise have been around for a long time (Bill Drayton founded ASHOKA in 1980). In 2008 the blending of discussions about social enterprise with [...]

Invest and advocate to achieve mission

I moderated a panel on social investing and community foundations at the 2007 Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations (though you would never know it from omissions in conference program). Panelists included Peter Kinder, KLD Research & Analytics; Lisa Richter, GPS Capital Partners; Mike Miller, Colonial Consulting; and Brian Byrnes, Vermont Community Foundation. [...]

Bernholz in Business Week on Aligned Investing

My opinions on social investing for endowments are well known to readers of this blog. Business Week picked up on them, and had me redirect my thinking to be relevant to individual donors and investors. You can find the article here. I’ll be debating this some more come September 18 at the Council on Foundations [...]

Social investing…with live cultures!

Danone (makers of Dannon Yogurt) and the Grameen Bank are partnering to launch a mutual fund that will invest in factories and jobs for people in some of the poorest countries. “Danone said it hopes to raise $135-million through the fund, which expects an annual return of around 4 percent, comparable to a standard money-market [...]

Social media and philanthropy part 3 (or 4)

Sean at Tactical Philanthropy has taken up this issue – how and by whom are social media tools being used in philanthropy – read his post here. These tools are changing fast enough that his post brings up GiveWell (as it should) which wasn’t live when I started asking about this in August 2006. One [...]