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"Just a decade ago, there were virtually no business school courses or projects on social entrepreneurship," Laura D'Andrea Tyson, former chair of President Clinton's Board of Economic Advisors and current Dean of the London Business School, wrote less than a year ago in BusinessWeek Online. "Today," she concluded, "most top business schools have both." In 2003, Fast Company magazine estimated that at least 30 business schools in the U.S., Canada, and England were offering coursework in social entrepreneurship. The authors also noted that a total of more than 250 colleges and universities offered either coursework or degree programs for students interested in jobs "with a social focus." Philanthropy and LegitimacyThe philanthropic community has also helped many social enterprise- related initiatives to gain increased stature. Some of the most prominent examples of this trend include the 2003 establishment of Duke University's Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, located in the university's Fuqua School of Business. The center was founded with a $2.5-million matching grant from the Bermuda-based Atlantic Philanthropies. Even more significant was the $8.3 million grant that the Skoll Foundation provided to Oxford University's Saïd School of Business in late 2003 to found the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. The Skoll Foundation's gift was the largest award ever given towards establishing a program in social entrepreneurship, and the grant funds an endowed lectureship, a managing director, a visiting fellows program, and five MBA scholarships. Local foundations have also begun to expand beyond simply funding initiatives. Many are assembling established resources located in larger, metropolitan regions or helping to develop those resources in smaller cities and more rural environments. Is Social Enterprise Education Limited to Top-Tier Business Schools?While high-visibility activities at "marquee" universities may have won the most notice, mid-level metro region and regional universities have been expanding their offerings at an increasingly rapid pace. In the U.S., Sterling College in Sterling, KS, Berea College in Berea, KY, Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA, and other small schools have formed social entrepreneurship centers. In England, The School for Social Entrepreneurs, founded six years ago by Labor Party leader Michael Young, has already graduated more than 150 trained social entrepreneurs. The school has recently established a network of satellite locations throughout the U.K., all from a tiny campus in Bethnal Green, East London. Benefits to the Nonprofit SectorWhile business school-related activities in both the U.S. and abroad have so far generated a great deal of publicity, they represent only one element of a growing movement. Although a new student generation is enthusiastically embracing the cause of widespread social change, the nonprofit community also stands to benefit significantly from this growing trend. This was the conclusion of a study produced by Pittsburgh-based Olszak Management Consulting, Inc., and commissioned by the Pittsburgh Area Social Enterprise Committee, an informal group that represents local nonprofits and foundations. "A Study of Social Enterprise Training and Support Models," includes individual reports on 14 academic and 18 community- based education and/or training programs. The report concludes that on-campus programs provide a range of potential avenues - from introductory workshops to investor-sponsored management support-for nonprofit leaders and professionals to gain new skills and build the sector's capacity. Additionally, the Social Enterprise Reporter recently conducted an informal survey that found that social purpose initiatives in the for-profit and/or nonprofit sectors can access approximately 25 campus-based centers or institutes for social entrepreneurship, and 15 colleges or universities that sponsor business plan competitions. These centers and competitions provide additional opportunities for social enterprises to garner funding, build public awareness about their activities, and receive training. A Practitioner's Perspective
According to Jan Cohen, Director of New Business Ventures HOPE Services, "'On the ground' insider experience would enable students to be more successful in their ventures, as they would understand the culture, challenges, and opportunities for nonprofits who choose to do this work. Students should be offered, or required to do, volunteer hours or internships with two nonprofits that have social purpose business ventures. "Nonprofits operate in an atmosphere of scarcity," explains Ms. Cohen. "We cannot bootstrap and spend money on start-ups the way many businesses do and that often MBA students expect to do. Nonprofits are community based and publicly 'owned', so risk capital is the 'community's money'—it's from the stakeholders of the mission, and you need to be so careful in how you use it. These subtle, but very real differences are not usually covered in MBA programs and are not understood by the students. So there's an important role for experience in rounding out the learnings in these programs." The Campus as a Staging PlatformGary McPherson, Director of the Canadian Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, sums up what many feel is the value of campus-based Social Entrepreneurship programs: "Universities and colleges are well-positioned to serve as an alternative voice for social movements. Colleges and universities have freedom and respect, which allows them to be more critical, more analytical, more creative, and more outspoken in sowing the seeds required for social change." By sponsoring various educational components - whether they be MBA research projects, on-campus consulting services, undergraduate internships, career-based professional training, or how-to courses and conferences - campuses are serving as a venue for both students and nonprofit professionals to combine academic rigor with real-world applications. As such, these programs are serving as a platform for the growth and increasing legitimacy of the social enterprise movement.
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| Duke University The Fuqua School of Business |
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