I have started reading a new book written by David Bornstein and Susan Davis entitled “Social Entrepreneurship - What Everyone Needs To Know”. I didn’t even make it past the introduction and I was intrigued as I agreed with what they had written. Here it is…
“No field of work should be defined in the negative. Accordingly, we have tried to avoid relying on terms like “nonprofit” and “nongovernmental organization” (NGO).”
I love it!! It is long overdue that these terms are being reconsidered. In branding, we want to always make sure that what we name our brand represents what the organization does…
Here are a few names of organizations. Can you guess what they do?
1.) Soles4Souls
2.) Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation
3.) IOU Ethiopia
4.) Blood:Water Mission
5.) AllGirlsAllowed
When we look at this list of great organizations, why would we focus on the revenue component? Proper branding makes all the difference. While focusing on the good that these organizations create, one should consider labeling them what Bornstein and Davis write..”as social, social-purpose, citizen-sector organizations”.
My friends at Ashoka define the term “social entrepreneur” as…
”…individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.
Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.”
Bornstein and Davis write about the “ Changemaker”. A Changemaker is defined as anyone that advances change. I want to be called that from now on!! Who doesn’t want to be called a Changemaker?
Newer terms were mentioned such as “Intrapreneur”. This represents the individual that makes positive changes within a business or organization. Finally a “social enterprise” is defined as an organization that uses a business format even though they are set up not to seek a profit.
What’s in a name? Our future I would say. Here’s hoping we can get used to new lingo as effectively as we embrace new strategies to change the world.
Written by Interactive Consultant Mark Smith
