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Social Enterprise Dictionary - Part 3

Posted October 31st, 2011 by Gena Rotstein
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My career has been shaped in the charitable sector. It spans two countries, several sub-sectors and a lot of fundraising time. When I decided to launch my own company it was at the begining of the formal social enterprise discussion in the States. I realized early on that what the charities value as their business and revenue models is not what the traditional markets value.  This seems obvious, when charities talk about their business, they talk about the lives that they have saved and how they do it on so few dollars.  When companies talk about their business, they talk about profit and commodities and consumers.  So it was with great interest that I read this past week's issue of the Globe & Mail on renaming the sector from non-profit to Social Profit.

Taking this article a step further, here are two new terms to add to the Social Enterprise Dictionary that was started a few months ago and has been generating much discussion on LinkedIn and the blog itself. I welcome your comments.

A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with Tammy Maloney, Joni Avram and Brett Wilson at the Uncoference for Social Good. We were discussing the fact that the language used in the social enterprise space is foggy.  Brett put forward two additional terms.  One of which he gave a definition for, the other came out of the dialogue.

Philanthropic entrepreneurship - "investing with a willingness to accept changing the world as part of your returns." - W. Brett Wilson

Entrepreneurial philanthropist - Someone who sees their charitable donation as an investment in the business of the charity, therefore expects a social return that can be measured and quantified.

By changing the name of the sector from non-profit to social profit we are able to show that an entrepreneurial approach to social issues is not only a plausible, but one that is viable and sustainable.  We also now have terms that are easily explained to those who are operating in this hybrid space of social business.

If this is the new mindset, is the term "charity" still relevant?

Comments

The meaning of 'charity'

On November 3rd, 2011 Nadine Riopel (not verified) says:

Interesting post, Gena, and it brings up something that's flirting with the fringes of my brain lately - what is charity, anyway? It's such a loaded term, and means so many different things. And what is it really for? Is it something that is truly able to hold all the responsibility and meaning we assign to it? It is really the best tool for solving certain kinds of problems? What does it do well? What does it not do well? Are there cases where it does more harm than good?

This business of 'charity' and 'charitable' is a complex concept that I think sometimes gets treated as simple, like it should be so straightforward. But it really isn't, is it? Maybe we should re-examine how we use the term, and the concept.

Nadine

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Venture Philanthropy

On November 4th, 2011 Tammy Maloney (not verified) says:

In 2007, I was a volunteer at the European Venture Philanthropy Association's (http://evpa.eu.com/) annual conference. Renaming the non-profit sector to the Social Profit sector is aligned with my most memorable takeaway from the event. It also highlights that the terminology in Europe for "Philanthropic entrepreneurship" is Venture Philanthropy and for "Entrepreneurial philanthropist" it's Venture philanthropist.

Either way I think both sides of the Atlantic would agree that we should make the change to "Social Profit" sector immediately. I'm officially retiring non-profit and switching to social-profit today!

Thanks for the post, Gena!

Tammy

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Social Profit

On November 6th, 2011 Gena Rotstein says:

Tammy;

I too am going to start using the Social Profit term instead of the non-profit term. Will test it out at the various presentations I am making this month and will see what the response is like (charities and investors).

Let me know how things progress with you as you use this term. I am interested to see the uptake on this new term.

~ Gena

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