What is CASE?
The Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship “CASE) prepares leaders and organizations with the business skills needed to achieve lasting social change.
What do you mean by “social entrepreneurship”?
Social entrepreneurship is the process of recognizing and relentlessly pursuing opportunities to create social value. Social entrepreneurs are innovative, resourceful, and results oriented. They draw upon the best thinking in both the business and nonprofit worlds to develop strategies that maximize their social impact. Social entrepreneurship is not about business ethics, corporate responsibility, or incorporating social and environmental impact into business management. Nor is it exclusively about nonprofits launching businesses and other earned income strategies. To learn more about social entrepreneurship, read What is Social Entrepreneurship?
In 2012, Hillary Clinton announced that CASE and Duke were awarded a $10 million contract from USAID to help scale and capitalize global health social ventures around the world. The Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke, now in its retrospective stage, was a major initiative of CASE and included in-depth coaching and consulting by CASE faculty, staff and students with global health social entrepreneurs aiming to scale their impact.
SEAD worked with organizations across Duke to mobilize a community of practitioners, investors, policymakers, faculty, staff, and students to identify, assess, help develop, build capacity of, and scale solutions, technologies, and business models for healthcare delivery and preventive services in developing countries around the world.
The five core goals of SEAD consisted of:
- Build Global Health Pipeline
- Develop Resources and Capabilities
- Leverage Impact Investing
- Enhance Knowledge
- Engage Students and Faculty
Our CASE i3: Initiative on Impact Investing, the first global program at a top MBA program focused on impact investing works with over 40 partners, advisors and funders in the global capital marketplace for impact investing.
CASE i3 seeks to establish a rich set of resources and activities for students, entrepreneurs, investors, funders, academics, and policymakers to explore and support the field of impact investing over its critical period of development over the next 5 – 10 years.
PROSPECTIVE AND CURRENT STUDENTS
I am planning on visiting Fuqua and would like to set up a time to meet with CASE. Can I schedule an appointment?
Thank you for your interest in CASE and Fuqua. We are so proud of our school and cannot wait for you to learn more about it – and hopefully become a member of the Fuqua family. To learn more, we encourage you to review this website. If you still have questions, feel free to email case@fuqua.duke.edu with your name, contact information, status of your Duke MBA application, and brief information about your background and interests. We will put you in touch with a current student to begin to answer your questions and tell you more about CASE and Fuqua.
What courses does CASE offer for students interested in social entrepreneurship or nonprofit management? Do you anticipate offering a special track, major, or certificate in this area?
The Curriculum section of this website provides an overview of the courses relevant to CASE. CASE regularly seeks input from students regarding their interest in new courses and evaluates opportunities based on our capacity and student demand. The Fuqua School of Business does offer a concentration in Social Entrepreneurship in the Daytime MBA Program.
I will be enrolling at Fuqua next fall and am interested in getting involved with CASE. What opportunities are there for student involvement with your research or other activities?
Congratulations on your acceptance! We look forward to meeting you. The best way to learn about opportunities for involvement with CASE is to spend some time checking out the various portions of the MBA Program section of the CASE website. Here you will find an overview of the different CASE activities targeting MBAs as well as contact information for the current student leaders, who are the best resources for understanding the opportunities available to students. In terms of research, there are occasional opportunities for student involvement, such as through independent studies, but students are strongly encouraged first to become involved in CASE through the Net Impact Club.
I am considering looking for a nonprofit summer internship or entering the nonprofit sector after business school. Does CASE have any programs or resources to help me?
CASE and Fuqua offer extensive career planning resources and services for students and alumni interested in social sector internships and careers. We also have programs that are focused on reducing the financial barriers to MBA employment in the social sector, including the CASE Social Sector Scholarship, Summer Internship Fund, Peace Corps Coverdell Fellowship and Alumni Loan Assistance Program.
Do you have any courses, programs, or activities for Fuqua WEMBA, GEMBA, or Cross-Continent students?
Currently, all of our courses and programs are focused on serving the Daytime MBA students. However, if student demand exists and our capacity increases, we may expand our offering to the other MBA programs in the future. Additionally, CASE Events are open to non-Daytime MBA students when they are on campus, as are all of the alumni programs with the exception of the Class of 2001 Loan Assistance Program. If any executive MBA students have a particular interest in CASE, please contact us and we will try to arrange a time to meet when you are in residence.
How can I contact a current student?
If you would like to get in touch with a student, please provide us with the following information via email–your name, contact information, status of your Duke MBA application, brief background, and summary of career interests. We will pass this information on to a member of the Net Impact Club who will contact you as soon as possible. (Please note that the initial contact may take up to two weeks–our students need to balance the demands of rigorous coursework, extracurricular activities, and career planning.)
Where do Duke MBAs with an interest in social entrepreneurship work?
The Fuqua School of business produces leaders of consequence. Duke MBA alumni are known for their outrageous ambition to make a difference. Our alumni work in all sectors of society—the public, private, and social sectors. Read profiles of featured alumni to learn more.
Where can I find more information on the CASE Social Sector Scholarship Program? When I will I be notified about the Scholarship?
To learn more about our CASE scholarship program, click here. During the Fuqua application process, prospective students who meet the minimum CASE scholarship criteria will be contacted from the Fuqua admissions team to see if they would like to be formally considered for the CASE Scholarship.
What does CASE have to offer Fuqua Alumni interested in social entrepreneurship? What are your plans in this area?
We love staying connected with our alumni! Review the alumni section of our website to learn more about the opportunities to engage with CASE and Fuqua. Opportunities include mentoring current students, advertising summer internships or full-time jobs with your organization, or serving as a guest speaker or advisor to students. And, of course, keep up to date with CASE through our newsletter and blog.
As an alumnus, how can I get involved with current students?
There are a number of ways that you can get involved with current students. You can serve as a mentor (more here LINK) or host a student project through our various practicums (more here).
CASE Notes, our blog, covers social entrepreneurship happenings here at CASE and beyond. Be sure to add it to your RSS feed! You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and information from CASE, as well as signing up for our monthly newsletter.
I am interested in social entrepreneurship and would like to do research in this area. Do you provide support for faculty/PhD research?
CASE does not currently host PhD candidates but Fuqua has an excellent PhD program. To learn more visit the Fuqua PhD program site. You can also learn more about CASE’s research programs.
Can you recommend any course materials or cases on social entrepreneurship for MBA classes?
CASE has produced a limited number of cases and conceptual notes, which may be downloaded for free from CASE’s Knowledge Center. Other sources for social entrepreneurship and social impact include Harvard Business School Publishing’s section on Social Enterprise and Ethics, Stanford Business School’s Center for Social Innovation, and CasePlace.org. Another excellent resource for teaching materials and a network of other academics, colleges and universities focused on social impact is Ashoka U.
Do you know of any organizations that support social entrepreneurship research or outlets for publication on this topic?
The following publications and initiatives might be worth exploring:
- The Journal of Social Entrepreneurship
- The Social Enterprise Journal
- The International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA)
- Nonprofit Management and Leadership Journal
- Stanford Social Innovation Review
From time to time, journals may also have special issues on social entrepreneurship like this September 2012 volume from the Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE). The volume includes “Reflections and Insights on Teaching Social Entrepreneurship: An Interview with Greg Dees” by Erin Worsham.
Can CASE provide advising to my social venture?
Unfortunately at this time CASE does not have the ability to offer consulting services to social entrepreneurs. We welcome you to read our case studies and research in our knowledge center to help you with your venture.
How do I engage students?
There are a number of ways that you can get involved with current students. You can find a handy chart of different student engagement opportunities we are currently able to support here.
What resources, programs, or activities does CASE have for social ventures?You can learn about CASE offerings – including programs and student engagement opportunity – for practitioners here. We also encourage practitioners to access our publications (if we hold the copyright, we make all the downloads free!) and attend events that are open to the public (LINK). For classes in nonprofit management, we encourage North Carolina nonprofits and individuals to consider the statewide Duke University Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management.
Can I attend CASE events or courses?
Many of our events are open to the public and we invite you to join them. Please visit our upcoming events site for more information on what public events are coming soon. Unfortunately our courses are only open to current Fuqua students.
Where can I learn more about social entrepreneurship?
We suggest starting with our knowledge center database which contains a rich array of publications in the field of social entrepreneurship. You can find the database here.