Scott Schwaitzberg and I attended Investors' Circle Spring Fair this past April. I was selected to pitch Catchafire at the event, and Scott joined me as one of Catchafire's advisers. As an an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, Scott consults for-profit companies on becoming more profitable and...

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, "Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve" -- but today, I wonder if "everyone" can even find an opportunity to serve.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In 1994, MLK Day was no longer just a Federal Holiday, but it also...

Cause-related marketing is arguably one of the first "fields" that brought the nonprofit and for-profit worlds together for mutual benefit. Appearing at about the same time as microfinance, the first cause-marketing campaign occurred in 1976 through a partnership between Marriott Corporation and the March of the Dimes, a...

I have received lots of great tips from readers of Part 1 of this post pointing me to resources for both nonprofit and for-profit start-up social entrepreneurs. Below is my list of investors, incubators, networks and other resources that support start-up social ventures in the United States (some also...

Last week, Echoing Green President Cheryl Dorsey was named one of US News and World Report's "America's Best Leaders" for her important work breathing life into both nonprofit and for-profit, start-up social entrepreneurs.

Since 1987, Echoing Green has awarded more than $27 million in start-up capital to...

I am starting a social enterprise that provides skills-based volunteer opportunities for professionals. These busy individuals, who will volunteer their professional skills from 2-5 hours a week, on average, include marketing experts, publicists, strategy consultants, hedge fund managers and even nonprofit development staff. We recently launched our pilot program in...

My Saturday night was spent enthralled by Audrey Tautou's rendition of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel's incredible rags to riches story. After hours of my afternoon had disappeared in frustration as a result of entrepreneur's block (like writer's block, except worse because there's just no time to wait for creative genius to...

All volunteers are not created equal. Certainly three people may be equally able to read to a child, plant a tree, or serve in a soup kitchen. But what if you knew this group included a marketing executive, an editor for a publishing house, and a software engineer? Surely the...