The Pope and the CEO > Social Investment
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PovertyCure – What if we’ve been asking the wrong questions?
“Charity has its place in emergency situations.… A life that is lived on as a recipient of charity is a miserable life. I think, in our DNA, the way God made us, we are made as co-creators. God wants us to perfect and to really finish His creation. And if you’re simply a recipient of charity, you’re not doing that; you’re not fulfilling your real destiny, which is this creative capacity that God has endowed us with, we’re letting that creative capacity sit idle. I think that’s—at probably at the deepest level that I can reach—what’s so inadequate about the traditional response to poverty.” Damian von Stauffenberg
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Upaya Social Ventures
I wanted to introduce all of our readers to an organization that a friend of mine has been instrumental in starting – Upaya Social Ventures. Upaya looks for enterprise-based solutions to poverty that focus not just on the enterprise, but on the community at large. Their model includes a deep consideration of the food, health, housing, and financial services in the area and how these various sectors are affected by the businesses that Upaya is supporting. It’s a very innovative idea and I am excited to see where their projects take them. Currently, they are working on fundraising and implementation of a community dairy project. The project will create dozens of new jobs in an impoverished community in India, provide technical training to many women in the community, and streamline the process of getting the dairy products to market. I encourage all of you to check out the website, and check out this particular project to see if you would like to get involved!
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What Do We Receive When We Give?
A few days ago, Seth Godin posted a blog entry about the benefits of charity. Now, he wasn’t talking about the benefits to the recipients of charity, but about the benefits to those who are charitable. Seth was saying that all of us gain something when we give, even if it’s just a small feeling of satisfaction. Some people like the recognition they receive – philanthropists on a large scale, who get their names on key buildings in the community; others, on a small scale, prefer a simple “thank-you.” Seth’s main point is that people associated with charitable causes can do a better job of promoting those causes not with simple marketing schemes, but by appealing to our desire to be a part of something, since we all know that we somehow often gain more when we give than we receive. I think that Seth touches on a very key issue – that giving is a part of us, a part of who we are. The Catholic Church teaches that we were created to make of ourselves a gift. If it’s this much a part of us, then no amount of “tote bags” or other marketing ploys that Seth mentions… Read more
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Social Entrepreneurship Guide
The rise of social entrepreneurship in recent years has been nothing short of remarkable, and it really is great seeing people desire to serve their community through their business ideas. Wondering what social entrepreneurship is all about and how a business can have a positive impact on its community? Inc.com has this guide that is packed full of materials. In it, they profile different social entrepreneurs and also give valuable information on the different models that people follow – for-profit models, hybrid models, and even nonprofits with earned income. We highly recommend that you check this out!
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Innovative Insurance Ideas in Africa
The New York Times blog had this very interesting article last week on a new method of insuring farmers in Ethiopia against the loss of their crops when the rains fail. It’s a very innovative solution to a problem that has been plaguing farmers in developing countries for a long time. Farmers in Ethiopia have often had to contend alternately with unpredictable flooding from heavy rains or long periods of drought, and it severely hampers their ability to make a living and feed their families. In times of famine many people starve to death. Since farmers cannot risk using good seed on a crop that might fail, they often use materials and technique of poor quality and hurt their ability to access markets that would give them a better gain for their crop if it does survive the unpredictable weather. Insurance for these farmers used to be too difficult – it was too expensive for the farmers, or not worth it for the insurance company to write up a policy of such a meager size. These same problems have existed in many countries. The article explains the new solution in Ethiopia – a barter system of labor for insurance. It… Read more
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Breakthrough Innovation Prize Finalists Announced
Our BIG prize finalists for our Philippine competition have been announced: Bottle School Project: Grassroots Contractors by Illac Diaz Coco-fish composite business plan by Taufan Arhammar, Fajri Nugroho, Sabila Haqi, and Fanny Purwati GKonomics: The Business of Nation Building by GKonomics International, Inc. Hodapen, an Environmentally friendly Substitute for Wood by Hossein Davani, Anthony Davani, Morgan Munter, and Aryan Davani Let the Last be First: The Poor as Vanguard of Solar Energy by Crescente de los Reyes Messy Bessy Cleaners: Helping Ourselves through Sustainable Enterprises by Messy Bessy Cleaners, Inc. PEERnet Venture, a YouthLEAP Initiative by Kabataang Gabay sa Positibong Pamumuhay (Peers for Positive Living) Good luck to all of them!
