Thoughts on the Subject

"A profit making organization with an effective social mission is a profitable philanthropy, and it's sustainable.  Having a portfolio of tools including grants, pro bono consulting,  volunteers, loans, and/or equity investment, gives the social entrepreneur the flexibility to address problems in a way that can be adapted to the specific operational, political and psychological needs of the situation.  Good social problem solving requires creative system thinking.  The goal is not financial return but effective use of financial and intellectual resources to carry out a well defined and sustainable social mission."  - John Abele, founder of Boston Scientific and the Argosy Foundation

"If you want to reach scale, really large scale, I think you have to do it through the business sector, through the market economy. The economic model in the nonprofit sector for large scale simply does not exist... in terms of reaching hundreds of millions of people, the only way is through a commercial effort." - Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay

"For years, we've accepted the basic view that nonprofits' job is to fight for good and for-profits should help foot the bill. Yet, there's no real reason to wall off the roles of nonprofit and for-profit enterprises, when what really counts is what each can do to enhance people's lives overall. I want to help build a world where their roles are more fluid and synergistic, where businesses also have social missions and nonprofits are entrepreneurial, and together, they form a single, shining constellation for social change." - Steve Case, Co-founder of AOL

What are your thoughts?  TPI would love to hear from you.  Email us at get2us@tpi.org or visit our Online Message Board.