Social Entrepreneurship

Just like any other businesses, social ventures also require marketing effort to create or increase awareness and generate demand. Channels used by traditional marketers may be inappropriate sometimes thereby necessitating innovation and creativity.

You may be a champ at selling your customers on your firm's offerings, but selling customers on your social entrepreneurism initiative is a different thing altogether. Here's how to enlist your customers' support in your efforts to do well by doing good.

Companies that make donations to good causes play an important role in making the world a better place. But, as with any business activity, there are a few best practices you'll want to embrace before your company jumps full force into donating money to nonprofit organizations.

For businesses that want to make a difference and improve a community, we've got some great advice on creating and participating in community mentoring programs.

Getting involved in the community can be a win-win situation in business. You'll feel good about it, the community will benefit and it can have added benefits to your company and its image.

We take a look at the 4 C's of social entrepreneurship, a framework that allows businesses owners to assess their potential as social entrepreneurs while considering how being cause-oriented might impact the bottom line.

Trends indicate that more and more businesses are building more environmentally friendly enterprises. Take a look at what you can do to create your own "green" business.

Going green is the new thing in business, and that's great news for anybody who cares about the environment. We take a look at a few easy ways small business owners can help the environment and we explain why it's essential that every business owner make the effort to run a green-friendly business.

Email marketing software is green friendly. Using email instead of direct mail can save dollars and help the environment. We discuss how to properly transition from direct mail outreach to effective email marketing.

The national health care systems of many developing countries are ill equipped to provide health care to their burgeoning populations thereby necessitating the use of novel and innovative health care delivery models. The Aravind Eye Hospitals based in India offers many lessons for those yearning to sustainably provide cheap and effective health care.

Low-profit, limited liability corporations (L3Cs) are fast becoming the organizational structure of choice for social entrepreneurs. We take a look at this new organizational form and why it's gaining in popularity.

Many new venture capital funds have been set up in the past few years to provide expansion capital to bold and innovative business models which have the potential to alleviate poverty and deliver goods and services at low costs.

Donating products and services is a great way to give back to the community. Here's how to donate products and services in the most effective way possible.

Without employee buy-in, it's difficult for a social entrepreneur to be effective. Here's how to get employees to back you up in your efforts to make a difference.

Social entrepreneurs know that it's tough to change the world for the better if you go it alone. Here's how to partner with others to advance to a more effective level of social entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurs implicitly must address a challenge.the products you sell should be socially beneficial, yet sometimes that can require some innovative approaches to ensure that your products stay competitive in the marketplace while simultaneously contributing to your company's chosen social cause.

So many social causes, so little time. As a social entrepreneur, the first thing you need to do is pick the battles you are going to fight. We offer some advice on choosing a social cause that your company will support as you go down the path of embracing social entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurs can tap into a number of tax advantages. We discuss the nuances of the many tax benefits you can achieve by making your company active in various social causes.

SMEs are increasingly realizing the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is about managing environmental and social impacts to help your business reduce risks, improve results and enhance its reputation. Integrating CSR into the way you operate your business, and proactively letting others know what you are doing will not only enhance your business success, but will also benefit the larger community. How can SMEs implement CSR in an effective way?

Consumerism has several different definitions that get thrown about. For small business owners operating in a greening world, it is important to know about these views.

Supporting a charity seems like an easy thing for any business to do. In fact, there are many important things a small business owner should consider before they align with a specific charitable organization.

Is your mission statement to run a green company that considers the planet and the preservation of it? If it is then you need to look at more than the ingredients of your product in order to go green across the board.

Human resource professionals play a major role in helping a business attain its CSR objectives. Employee participation is a crucial success factor for CSR performance. How can your human resource function influence employee engagement in, and commitment to, the firm's CSR strategy?

Over the past decade, many companies embraced 'green marketing' by promoting environmentally-friendly policies and initiatives. But it's no longer possible just to give lip service to eco-friendly ideas - you have to back it up as well.

Think making money and improving the world don't go together? If so, it's time you learned about overcoming the Purpose Paradox

Does your business have a giving company culture? We take a look at what it takes to create a culture of giving within a small company.

Being a socially-minded small business starts with documenting your intentions to make social entrepreneurship a core element of your company's vision, mission and core values.

Companies that encourage volunteerism make a valuable contribution to society. Here's how to get your employees to volunteer more.

Accomplished social entrepreneurs take the task of recruiting and hiring new employees very seriously. Without the right people on your team, it can be very difficult to be successful in achieving your company's social entrepreneurship goals.

Cause-related marketing isn't just something that nonprofits do. Social entrepreneurs at for-profit businesses are learning how to market their social causes in tandem with marketing their core products and services.

Just as technology can transform a good business into a great one, technology can be leveraged by social entrepreneurs to take their social contributions and their social causes to a much higher level of effectiveness and efficiency.

Ready to go green? Should saving money through environmentally friendly methods be a priority for your small business? You bet!

There's a new breed of entrepreneurs that has helped marry what have so far seemed like opposing ideas - market forces and social welfare.

A significant proportion of the population in developed countries has limited or no access to financial services like banking, insurance etc. So how does Microfinance help and what are the delivery models being used currently for these services?

Green marketing is a hot topic in recent news and shows just how potent the right mix of smart business decisions and Earth friendly practices can be. The Green movement has arrived, and with it are ways that your business can take advantage of the positive energy around the subject.

Learn how a simple program is making big noise when it comes to reducing corporate paper waste.

Researching how small businesses can go green? Internet fax services are a great way to reduce your paper consumption and be more green-friendly.

Is an entrepreneur who holds meetings online a social entrepreneur? You bet. Online meetings help the environment in a variety of ways.

Social responsibility not only by individuals, but by businesses has become the new standard in America as more constituents realize the benefits that everyone can gain by being more environmentally friendly and responsible through green and sustainable practices.

More and more businesses are beginning to put into action CSR into their organizations. In order to achieve the full benefits, businesses should be aware of where they are and their ultimate destination. What are the most effective strategies for implementing CSR?

Today's investors, consumers, employees and governments have become more refined and more conscious of good corporate conduct, or lack thereof. In this modern business environment, where a company's reputation is one of its most treasured assets, CSR has become one of the key ingredients of corporate reputation. So how can CSR help to boost your business operations and achieve a sustainable outcome?

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in the ensuring the overall development of a nation. But when it comes to the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), only a handful of small businesses are seen as successful. What are the main factors that hinder CSR in SMEs and how can they be overcome?