Transformational Leadership. Social Entrepreneurship

If you want to be a changemaker and a positive force in the world, then you need to follow the path of social entrepreneurship.

As a social entrepreneur, you will need a means through which you can impact the world. You can sign up as a volunteer with any non-profit organization of your choosing or you can donate money for the organizations who are doing the right kind of change you want to see in the world.

The more challenging yet infinitely more rewarding path, however, is to start a social enterprise or a non profit organization. Here are several steps you need to follow:

Identify how your passion intersects the needs of the world.

What are you passionate about? It is difficult to do something that you are not passionate about. If you are passionate about books and education, then you can pursue that path and establish a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children or youth be educated. This is what John Wood did through Room to Read.

Or if you are passionate about fashion, perhaps you can engage young fashion designers to use recycled materials without compromising the look and the quality of the clothes being designed. This is what Carmina Mancenon did with StitchTomorrow.

Understand your passion. Look for the needs of the world. They are many. Focus on the intersection of your passion and the needs of the world and you will always have a way of initiating change in the world.

Don’t stall. Start right away. If you wait for your plans to be complete and perfect, you will never start. It is important to start right away! It does not matter if you do not have all things figured out.

A social entrepreneur is not averse to risk-taking. In fact, it is because of these very risks that social entrepreneurs manage to find solutions that last.

Craft a barebone business plan, which you can expand later. As you start your foray into social entrepreneurship, you will need a barebone business plan. It does not have to be complete. You just need to answer a few questions:

1. What will the organization do? What products or services will the organization offer?
2. Who are the intended beneficiaries of the organization?
3. Who will implement the vision of the organization?
4. How will you measure success?
5. What kinds of expenses do you expect to make?
6. Where will the money come from?
7. How will you recruit passionate people to join you?

These are just simple questions but the answers might be a bit difficult. Do take time to answer them and figure out how you can sustain your non-profit organization.

After having your barebone business plan, decide on your social entrepreneurship model.

1. For profit. Will you provide social services for a fee? In this case, will the cost you will charge be justifiable?
2. Non-profit. If you will operate as a non-profit, how will you secure funds? How can you ensure sustainability of the organization?
3. More-than-profit. This model combines both profit and non-profit models to ensure sustainability. This is probably the most ideal model that you can choose for your organization.

Recruit volunteers. Your initial volunteers may be mom and dad, who can offer support and assistance with your project. But it would be important to recruit volunteers who are also passionate with the issue or problem you are addressing.

Think of a suitable structure. Go for efficiency and creativity. When you shall have recruited people, you need to establish a suitable structure that will facilitate communication, creativity and efficiency in the organization.

Expand your social enterprise business plan. Engage your people in strategic planning. Through this non-profit strategic planning, you will be able to identify key targets; craft the organizational vision, mission and goals. And you will be able to identify the best means of service delivery. After the strategic planning, commit it to writing so you have a guiding document for the operations of the organization.

The next logical step would then be to look for funding. You can do this by sponsoring fund-raising events. Or you can also write proposals to funding agencies and social enterprise foundations that deal with these kinds of projects. This calls for an entirely new blog post.

Register your organization. Do your research and check with your state and your government the requirements for registering your organization. In the United States, you will also need to apply for 501(c)(3) status, which will make your non profit organization income tax exempt. Moreover, you can also receive tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations.

It may sound complicated but don’t be daunted! This is just the administrative part of your organization. As you keep doing the work, show the results, ensure transparency and go change the world!

Dream big and pursue bold goals! If you do, you will also manage to attract bold people and even the forces of the universe will conspire to help you achieve those bold goals!

Related posts:

1. Social Entrepreneurship: A Call to Action
2. What is Social Entrepreneurship?
3. Social Entrepreneurship and Non Profit Fundraising Ideas
4. Social Entrepreneurship Business Ideas
5. Fighting the Culture of Dole-out through Social Entrepreneurship