By Adam Brock, Joining Vision and Action Have you ever talked yourself out of a zany business idea—only to see that same idea make millions for someone else a couple years later? Has your organization ever pursued a money-making strategy long after it became clear that it was failing? Starting a business is inherently risky, [...]
By Rolfe Larson, Joining Vision and Action Nonprofits are hardly new to the venture development world. Your organization already engages in venture activities if, for example, you charge fees for some services, you make publications available for sale, or you sublease space to another organization. So the typical “why” is pretty obvious: to increase and [...]
By Janine Vanderburg, President/CEO, Joining Vision and Action For over three years, Sarah Hidey helped JVA clients raise money—through grantwriting and through social enterprise development. Using her MBA and her background in international development, as well as her passion for social enterprise, Sarah helped our clients plan earned income ventures, and developed our initial version [...]
By Janine Vanderburg, President/CEO, Joining Vision and Action What are the best social enterprise books to read before you start your social business? As social enterprise becomes more popular, dozens of books are being published every year on the topic ranging from academic to inspirational. And while my library contains them all, here are the [...]
By Janine Vanderburg, President/CEO, Joining Vision and Action Have you thought about charging for the services you offer as a nonprofit? Have you been told by your colleagues and board members that you can’t or shouldn’t charge for the services? Myth: The largest source of revenue for nonprofits is grants. Truth: Over 70 percent of [...]
Janine Vanderburg, CEO and President Joining Vision and Action These succession planning resources will help guide the conversation about what traits you want to see in your next leader. Inevitably your nonprofit or social enterprise will have to addresses the critical question: Who is our organization's next leader? Done correctly, with [...]
By Rolfe Larson, Joining Vision and Action What constitutes "true" social enterprises? Thousands of nonprofits that use the marketplace to accomplish their social goals call themselves social enterprises (SEs). Thousands of for-profit companies with social goals also use that term. Yet these two groups barely talk with each other. Why is that? Benefit corporations and [...]
This social enterprise business model template will be the starting point for your success. This social enterprise business model template is a flexible, open source framework for entrepreneurship that JVA has adapted for our social enterprise work. This template provides the basic set of areas and questions that aspiring (and successful) social entrepreneurs need [...]
Making social enterprise your encore career. To hear him tell it, Bill Morris has made every mistake in the book on the road to creating his encore career—CEO and co-founder of Blue Star Recyclers, a nonprofit social enterprise which employs more than 35 people (25 with disabilities) to recycle electronic components in three states. He spent about [...]
What are the best kept secrets of the successful social entrepreneur? By Scot Kersgaard, Joining Vision and Action Senior Associate When Denise Cerreta opened America’s first “pay as you can” restaurant in Salt Lake City in 2003, she had no idea what was in store for her or how to become a successful social entrepreneur. “I was [...]
