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By Jane Wei-Skillern and Beth Battle Anderson Nonprofit organizations often move into new territories by establishing local branches, affiliates, or a combination of branches and affiliates, resulting in a plural form. This paper presents data from a survey of U.S. …

By J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson Traditional sector boundaries are breaking down as societies search for more innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable ways to solve social problems and provide socially important goods, such as education and health care. One …

By Ayse Guclu, J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson All acts of entrepreneurship start with the vision of an attractive opportunity. For social entrepreneurs, an “attractive” opportunity is one that has sufficient potential for positive social impact to justify …

By J. Gregory Dees, Shirley Brice Heath and Laura Smyth Artists for Humanity (AFH) is a nonprofit that hires 30 to 40 teenagers each year for after-school work and training in the arts and entrepreneurship. The young artists, working in …

By James L. Heskett, J. Gregory Dees and Jaan Elias Having founded what they called a “venture philanthropy” operated like a hybrid between a venture capital fund and a philanthropy, New Profit’s organizers are confronted with two issues: 1) the role …

By Gregory J Dees Social Entrepreneurs can create mutually beneficial relationships with their stakeholders and donors by learning from customer-oriented businesses. Specifically, three good habits social entrepreneurs can learn from customer-oriented business includes: Understanding what people value and the alternatives they …

By Gregory Dees The move by non-profit organizations to raise additional funds by allowing corporate partners the commercial use of their name or reputation would likely result in the corruption of the social mission of the nonprofit organization. Several options …

By Gregory J Dees and Jaan Elias A comparison of nonprofit and for-profit business organizations at a time when business is considered the model of efficiency and innovation provides significant insights into the norms that characterize these institutions, their functions …

By Gregory J Dees With the boundaries between philanthropy and commerce blurring, this note briefly gives nonprofit managers and social entrepreneurs a framework (the Social Enterprise Spectrum) for thinking creatively about structural options in the social sector. Harvard Business Review, …

By Gregory J Dees, Marc Boatwright, Jaan Elias Dr. Glenn Lopez, the founder and general director of GuateSalud, faces cash flow problems and some crucial choices about how to expand his innovative health maintenance organization for agricultural workers in rural …