To Profit or Not to Profit?

That’s the million dollar question, right?

We recently came across an interesting argument about that topic on OpenForum.com, about a new breed of social entrepreneurs who are trying to create a “hybrid” organization, combine the best of both worlds – cause and social change, without being tied to grants and sponsors.

The article goes on to talk about tax incentives to reward consumers who are supporting socially good causes and whether the Obama administration’s Social Innovation Fund should be opened up to for-profit companies.

We think it’s a very interesting argument, and one that both sides should be closely watching.

So we’ve posted a discussion on our ThinkTank’s nonprofit discussion board – The ThinkTank for Nonprofits 

Go on, join in and tell us what you think.

VH

Some lose a job and become an entrepreneur

By Laura Petrecca, USA TODAY

Get ready to see more baked goods, custom-designed clothes, jewelry — and even horse saddle pads — on the market.

Those are some of the products that laid-off workers are hawking as they try to grow small businesses. And many more goods and services are likely to come as jobs disappear and the government encourages entrepreneurial ventures.

ADVICE: Wise tips for launching a biz

More than 5 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007. In March, the unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 8.5%.

Faced with bleak job prospects, many of the unemployed are hanging out shingles. One in four workers who have not found jobs is considering launching a business, according to a new CareerBuilder.com survey. (CareerBuilder is jointly owned by Tribune, McClatchy, Microsoft and USA TODAY parent Gannett.)

Among the budding entrepreneurs: Royce Evans. The former job recruiter had dabbled with the idea of selling shock-absorbing saddle pads, but once she was laid off in December, she went full-force into the venture. So far, she’s sold about 150 pads — $85 to $185 — but needs to sell an additional 300 before she can turn a profit.

Read the rest of the story:  http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2009-04-19-jobless-economy-government-help_N.htm

What Do Venture Capitalists Think About Young Entrepreneurs?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

By Jason Mendelson

Q: With a number of great companies being born of ideas coming from a youthful group of entrepreneurs, how are investors reacting to twenty-somethings fresh out of college, with little to no professional experience, without a strong network of seasoned industry experience and with a inconceivable amount of life learning still ahead of them?

Assuming all else is favorable in an investors eyes, what are investors weary of and how can young entrepreneurs prepare for this? In addition, what advice to you have for the young person seeking to build a team of “time-tested, battle-hardened” professionals?

A: (Jason)  We think young-entrepreneurs are great.  In fact, we like spending time with the younger set so much that we are active mentors and investors with Techstars.  And certainly with our fund, we wouldn’t hesitate to fund a first-time entrepreneur with a great idea.

Read the rest of the story:  http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=353&bpid=23165

Better education vital to economy

By LISA GIBBS
Education is an economic issue — I touched on that theme a couple of weeks ago in writing about education funding in President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan. Investing in K-12 education is vital to ensuring that we have the workforce we need to build Florida’s economic future.

Connecting education to the economy is not exactly a bold statement, I know. But clearly there have been obstacles in translating such a principle into action, despite the hard work of a number of educators, business leaders and nonprofit organizations.

So I was intrigued to learn of a new initiative from financial services firm Citi’s foundation, working through Miami-Dade Public Schools and The Education Fund locally, being announced Monday. The Citi Foundation is spending $600,000 — to be matched by local donations — over five years to develop programs aimed at increasing the number of low-income public high school students who enroll in some form of post-high school education.

Miami-Dade is one of three regions chosen for the Citi Postsecondary Success Program; the others are Philadelphia and San Francisco.

The focus on this particular issue stems from the recognition that the United States is falling behind other developed nations in the percentage of its students who pursue college or other post-secondary education — this country has fallen from first to 14th, said Daria Sheehan, a senior program officer at Citi Foundation.

In Miami-Dade, just 44 percent of high school students graduate and go on to

more coursework, said Education Fund President Linda Lecht.

The foundation isn’t interested in creating a lot of new programs, Sheehan said. It’s interested in doing a better job coordinating the efforts of the many organizations already out there working on college readiness in South Florida, such as AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) and The Children’s Trust. Districtwide, the emphasis will be on academic preparation of course, but also on helping students understand simply what they need to do to apply for college and finance it.

As Corey Yugler, program director at The Education Fund, put it, ”We are not educating our children to the standards we demand of our employees,” she said. The question she asks: “Does the business community have the will to do it?”

We have no choice, responded Barry Johnson, president of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, which is developing its own plan on education. ”We can’t rely on Tallahassee to do it,” he said, giving a nod to the state’s revenue shortfalls. “We’ve got to figure out a way to work around the challenges we have.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/business_monday/story/950830.html

Girl Scout Cookie Entrepreneur Stymied by Internet Sales Ban

By Raymund Flandez

It sometimes seems hard to escape people selling Girl Scout cookies. Your co-workers hit you up. Your neighbor knocks on your door. Girl Scouts set up shop outside supermarkets.

But one eight-year-old from Asheville, N.C., found that there are limits to where you can sell the cookies. Her dream of selling 12,000 boxes of those cookies to send her entire troop to summer camp has been dashed by a technicality that’s left a lot of people scratching their heads.

Earlier this year, Wild Freeborn (yes, that’s her real name) posted a YouTube video, with the help of her dad, with an enthusiastic pitch: “Buy cookies! And they’re yummy!” They set up an online order system where customers in their area could purchase Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Samoas. Within two weeks, 700 orders came in.

But Wild Freeborn’s e-commerce plan hit a major snag. The Girl Scout Cookie Program, which according to Newsweek “bills itself as the largest program to teach entrepreneurship to young girls,” says it prohibits all online sales of its cookies — primarily because of safety reasons. Its guidelines state that Internet use should only be for advertising. “When we sell door to door we always have adults accompanying girls,” Denise Pesich, spokeswoman for Girl Scouts of the USA told the “Today Show.” “In this case, we have a very concerned father overseeing the process, and we know she’s relatively safe. But not in all cases is that true.”

As a result, the Freeborns had to take down their advance-order site and the YouTube video as ordered by the Girl Scouts’ national organization. Bryan Freeborn, chief operating officer of Web-design company Top Floor Studio, says that Girl Scout’s policy sends mixed signals and is confusing. He told Matt Lauer of the “Today Show” last week, “We knew there was a policy that it wasn’t OK, but we thought we were taking orders and promoting the cookies and we seemed to think that was within the spirit of the rules. The whole intent was to help my daughter meet her goals, utilizing up-to-date marketing principles.”

Those principles are something that the Girl Scouts have known and encouraged in recent years – but only to a point. A New York Times article two years ago told the trend of some Girl Scout troops all over the country setting up so-called cookie academies and cookie colleges to teach marketing, selling and business skills to girls 11 and over. One 14-year-old in Chicago used email messages to snag cookie orders, selling 1,510 in 2006.

Seems like Wild Freeborn’s just ahead of her time. She even has a Facebook group with 280 members: “Help one girl sell 12,000 Girl Scout cookies in Asheville!”

Does the current rule go against its mission to encourage Girl Scouts’ entrepreneurial spirit? Or do you think the safety concerns are legitimate and trump marketing online efforts?

http://blogs.wsj.com/independentstreet/2009/03/16/girl-scout-cookie-entrepreneur-stymied-by-internet-sales-ban/