What is a social venture? In this workshop from Bridging the Gap, the Stanford 2005 Net Impact Conference, organized by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, leading thinkers explore specific aspects of early-stage social ventures. How do you evaluate social venture ideas? What makes them viable and sustainable? How can you predict and measure their social impact? What are the tools, measures, and techniques currently used to evaluate social ventures?
This panel brings you the advice of experts and leading thinkers from all parties involved in the creation of a social venture: a funder, a serial social entrepreneur, and a professional consultant focusing on evaluation.
To hear the discussion: http://www.siconversations.org/shows/detail910.html
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Although the lively discussion seems to end abruptly we are still left with an idea of what makes social enterprise tick. There is tension between benefit and profit; why can't both be incorporated into social venture business design? We are reminded that we can create for-profit businesses that have social purpose. An important objective is to figure out how to make the capital marketplace see the value of social enterprise, which will in turn put better systems in place for funding.
Learn More:
More ideas in the Center for Social Innovation quarterly publication: Stanford Social Innovation Review
More events from the Center for Social Innovation
Center for Social Innovation Leadership Development
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Panelists include:
Chris Eyre, managing director of Legacy Venture
Jeff Hamaoiu, intenationally known expert in the field of social enterprise
Sarah Olsen, founder of SVT Consulting
Chris Eyre is a managing director of Legacy Venture, a unique venture fund devoted to amplifying the size and effectiveness of philanthropy. He was a founding partner of Merrill Pickard Anderson & Eyre, the pioneering venture firm that evolved from Bank of America in the '70s. He has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies and has been an eyewitness to the revolution in venture capital and entrepreneurship.
Legacy has allowed Eyre to combine his business, volunteer, and philanthropic worlds into one. He is a senior fellow with the American Leadership Forum, an inaugural member of the Philanthropic Workshop West (TPW), on the board of Benetech, on the advisory board of the Global Philanthropy Forum, on the National Advisory Council for BYU’s Marriott School of Business, a partner of SVP Bay Area, and a member of several other organizations dedicated to advancing the field of philanthropy. Eyre holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from Utah State University.
Jeff Hamaoiu is an internationally known expert and thought leader in the social enterprise field. His opinions and innovations have been sought after by leaders of multinational corporations, social ventures, foundations, government agencies, civil society organizations, and international institutions. As a connector of both concepts and people, he has been instrumental in advancing partnerships in the global social enterprise arena, including his involvement with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
As an attractor of capital and other resources, Hamaoiu has been responsible for the disbursement of millions of dollars into sustainable livelihoods projects. Hamaoiu’s early experiences as a teacher, setting up a school for children with learning disabilities, and working in the private sector, combined with his later experiences helping to build and run a foundation and think tank helped shape his core business ideology, which is centered around doing well financially and doing good socially and environmentally. Founding Origo Social Enterprise Partners in 1999 as a global center of excellence in social enterprise design was a natural next step in Hamaoiu’s career. Today, he leads a team of highly accomplished professionals who are dedicating their lives to the creation and promotion of smart business design and cross-sector collaboration.
Sara Olsen founded SVT Consulting, which specializes in environmental and social due diligence and performance measurement for companies, investors, foundations, and entrepreneurs. SVT’s clients include many early-stage for-profit and nonprofit companies. SVT is the originator of the SET Catalog, a periodic portfolio of global investment opportunities with major social or environmental, as well as financial, return potential.
In 1999, Olsen cofounded the Global Social Venture Competition. She has lectured and taught workshops on nonfinancial performance assessment internationally, and is coauthor of papers on non-financial metrics including “A Framework for SROI Analysis” (2005), “Social Return on Investment: A Standard” (California Management Review, May 2004), and “The Double Bottom Line Methods Catalog” (The Rockefeller Foundation, February 2004). She is an advisor to Calvert Foundation’s Social Enterprise Fund and a member of the 2004 methodology committee for the Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards. Olsen holds an MBA from U.C. Berkeley, an MASW from the University of Chicago, and a BA from Dartmouth College.
