Greg Dees
For-Profit Social Ventures
By J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson Traditional sector boundaries are breaking down as societies search for moreinnovative, cost-effective, and sustainable ways to solve social problems and provide socially important goods, such as education and health care. One result has been a rise in the number of social entrepreneurs who want to combine a […]
The Process of Social Entrepreneurship: Creating Opportunities Worthy of Serious Pursuit (Arabic translation)
All acts of entrepreneurship start with the vision of an attractive opportunity. For social entrepreneurs, an “attractive” opportunity is one that has sufficient potential for positive social impact to justify the investment of time, energy, and money required to pursue it seriously. Our model breaks the opportunity creation process into two major steps. First, a […]
The Process of Social Entrepreneurship: Creating Opportunities Worthy of Serious Pursuit
By Ayse Guclu, J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson All acts of entrepreneurship start with the vision of an attractive opportunity. For social entrepreneurs, an “attractive” opportunity is one that has sufficient potential for positive social impact to justify the investment of time, energy, and money required to pursue it seriously. Our model breaks […]
Futures for Kids
By Ayse Guclu, J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson Geoff Cramer and Bill Ziefle’s plan to establish Futures For Kids (F4K), a nonprofit organization designed to provide high school kids with resources for exploring their post-high school educational, training and career opportunities, had seemed destined to succeed. But after a year, success no longer […]
New Schools Venture Fund (A)
By J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson In December 2000, New Schools Venture Fund was debating the role it should play in helping one of its for-profit investees, LearnNow, attract new capital. A $20 million venture philanthropy fund, New Schools invested in for-profit and nonprofit education ventures that targeted a vulnerability in the K-12 […]
Triangle Community Foundation
In February 2000, Triangle Community Foundation (TCF) director of Philanthropic Services Tony Pipa presented the foundation’s new mission statement and its internal ramifications to the staff. It had been over two years since TCF’s board had mandated that donors, not nonprofit organizations, were the foundation’s primary customers. Executive Director Shannon St. John, Pipa, and other […]
The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship describes a set of behaviors that are exceptional. These behaviors should be encouraged and rewarded in those who have the capabilities and temperaments for this kind of work. We could use many more of them. Should everyone aspire to be a social entrepreneur? No. Not every social sector leader is well suited to […]
Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs
By J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson and Peter Economy A hands-on resource that shows nonprofits how to adopt entrepreneurial behaviors and techniques The rising spirit of social entrepreneurship has created all kinds of new opportunities for nonprofit organizations. But at the same time, many are discovering more than their share of challenges as well. This […]
Mastering the Art of Innovation
By J. Gregory Dees Greg Dees offers practical advice for nonprofit leaders about how to identify innovative opportunities, manage the tensions inherent to the innovation process, and build an innovative, adaptive organization. Chapter 7 in Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs, edited by J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson and Peter Economy John Wiley & […]
New Schools Venture Fund (B)
By J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson Supplements the (A) case. Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business Harvard Business Publishing, Prod # SI7B-PDF-ENG, 2001 http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam;jsessionid=795080605C6D2E8437D77DEF2B4151CE?R=SI7B-PDF-ENG&conversationId=772906