Social Entrepreneurship

Check out this great opportunity from our friends at SocialEdge.org:

The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI™) is a capacity building program for leaders of social benefit enterprises run by Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society.

Looking for stories about social entrepreneurship? Author Wilford Welch has written an inspiring new book, featuring stories from twenty-seven social entrepreneurs—including Echoing Green Fellows Van Jones, Priya Haji, Sasha Chanoff, and Karen Tse.

Welch and his team have also built a tool called My Circle to help young people pursue their passions. Definitely worth checking out: www.tacticsofhope.org/

Is sixty-one the new thirty? So it would seem for the fifteen winners of the 2008 Purpose Prize, an award for social entrepreneurs over the age of sixty. Civic Ventures awards the Purpose Prize annually to encourage and empower people to start “Encore Careers”—using the skills they’ve built over a lifetime of work to create innovative social change.

'Tis the season to give! Gift giving doesn’t stop in a challenging economic environment; it just becomes all the more important for gifts to be meaningful and to go further. Choose a gift that gives twice--once to your loved one, and again to a cause!

Below is a list of holiday gift giving opportunities based on social enterprises supported by Echoing Green.

Last week, I had a chance to hear from a man who revolutionized the way I think about grocery stores: John Mackey, CEO, Chairman of the Board, and Co-Founder of Whole Foods Market. What began as a tiny organic food store in Austin, Texas has exploded into a phenomenon that has affected the way people think about the food they eat; on an even larger level, Whole Foods has provided an incredible example of the potential behind the topic of Mackey’s talk, conscious capitalism.

Yesterday, three Echoing Green staffers took part in The Feast, an all-day social innovation conference. Despite a severe initial shortage of fair-trade coffee, the day kicked off with high energy presentations from Dickson Despommier of The Vertical Farm Project, Tom Szaky of Terracyle, and Joshua Onysko of Pangea Organics.

And that was just before 11 am.