Philanthropy and Enterprise: Harnessing the Power of Business and Social Entrepreneurship for Development
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.It is an affection, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it. -Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 1More than two hundred years after Adam Smith penned these words, his wisdom on this matter is being challenged by social entrepreneurs and enterprising philanthropists who are deliberately using business ventures to serve the public good.George Soros candidly describes his own change of heart on this matter: "Where I have modified my stance is with regard to social entrepreneurship.I used to be negative toward it because of my innate aversion to mixing business with philanthropy.Experience has taught me that I was wrong.As a philanthropist, I saw a number of successful social enterprises, and I became engaged in some of them." 2 The idea of using business in strategic ways to promote social improvements is not new.Many philanthropists have made grants and program-related investments to business enterprises that serve their philanthropic missions, including investments in organizations that take the legal form of a for-profit venture.Without this philanthropic support, microfinance, for instance, would not have grown nearly as
Author: J. Gregory Dees
Institution: Duke University
Language: English
Subfield: Finance
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2145184489