Lofty Ideals Smart and socially conscious students build businesses with high standards.
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Do you want to be socially responsible? Think about starting abusiness. Whether it's for-profit or nonprofit, you can harnessall your youthful idealism and focus your socially responsibleefforts with a business venture. "Social entrepreneurship isreally about finding innovative approaches and solutions to some ofsociety's most pressing needs, problems andopportunities," says Beth Battle Anderson, managing directorat Duke University's Center for the Advancement of SocialEntrepreneurship. If you're a graduate or an undergraduate,this could be just the right time for you to find your altruisticentrepreneurial calling.
College was the right time for Matthew Gutschick and BenWhiting, both 22, founders of the nonprofit MagicMouth Productionsin Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Coming up with the idea in late2004 and fine-tuning it throughout 2005, the pair wanted to createa forum for performing and teaching theater and magic to youngpeople. They had their first show this year. Gutschick and Whiting,both 2006 graduates of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem,studied theater (Gutschick also studied communications). Some oftheir theater professors helped the pair make contact with theoffice of entrepreneurship at WFU. "We decided to go nonprofitbecause it gave us a larger measure of credibility andauthenticity," says Gutschick.
Determining whether to go for-profit or nonprofit is a key stepfor socially responsible entrepreneurs in college, notes BattleAnderson. And while financing a business venture is always achallenge, she says it can be even more difficult for socialventures. "There is a really refined capital market forraising money, be it [for] a nonprofit or for-profit," saysBattle Anderson. "But probably one of the biggest challengesis actually determining impact and how you're going to measurethe value you're creating. In traditional businesses, there arevery clear bottom lines. With a social venture, the bottom line isgoing to be different because your primary goal is social impact,and measuring that is a much more complex undertaking." Setgoals and clear metrics for success in the beginning phases of yourbusiness--and seek out mentors who can help.
The founders of MagicMouth Productions found assistance frommany avenues: Gutschick interviewed a theater company owner tolearn more about how to make the venture long-running andself-sustaining, and the pair even received grants andcontributions from The Kauffman Foundation and the Chambers FamilyFund (Cisco Systems).
Other aspiring young social entrepreneurs can check out theBrick Award program from the Do Something organization, whichoffers $10,000 grants to winners. "[The program is] designedto support, inspire and celebrate young community service 'rockstars,'" says Emily Luke, who runs the Brick Awards andgrant programs for Do Something. Go to www.dosomething.org/awards/brick for the applicationdeadline and information.
With social entrepreneurship opportunities in wide-rangingrealms such as education, eco-tourism, clean fuel technologies andthe environment, running this type of enterprise can beparticularly rewarding for students. Says Battle Anderson,"What is most exciting and compelling for business schoolstudents is the opportunity to take some of what they'velearned and apply it to something they feel is going to make ademonstrable difference in the lives of others."
