Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards for 2008

In an effort to include multiple examples of successful social entrepreneurs (and pass little Google love to social enterprises, I’ve included some of Fast Company’s contest winners for the best or most innovative social entrepreneurs. (the organization descriptions of snippets from Fast Company’s)

ACCION International-ACCION International is a private, nonprofit organization with the mission of giving people the financial tools they need – microenterprise loans, business training and other financial services – to work their way out of poverty.

Acumen Fund-Acumen Fund identifies and supports enterprises that provide health, water, housing and energy to the poor. We bring capital, knowledge and talent to accelerate markets for the poor, having seen their power as customers who are willing to pay for affordable, quality services that can change their lives. We have seen this working with our portfolio enterprise in South Asia and Eastern Africa.
Acumen Fund’s investments have impacted over 13 million lives.

Aspire Public Schools-Aspire Public Schools, a non-profit organization that builds and operates high-quality charter schools throughout California, is rooted in the commitment that every child is college material. Through small classes and a curriculum that constantly reinforces the possibility of college for all students, Aspire works to transform the American public-school system and send a generation of young kids to college who did not previously have that opportunity. Aspire aims to improve the achievement of all students in California by growing to 50 schools—as measured by academic performance, increased college matriculation and graduation rates.

BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life)-BELL’s mission is to increase the academic achievements, self-esteem and life opportunities for children living in low-income, urban communities…BELL views out-of-school-time, particularly during the summer, as a critical opportunity to help children excel. Time is available for learning; teachers are available to teach; local college students serve as outstanding tutors, role models and mentors; schools and all of their resources are generally available. BELL has leveraged these community resources to provide transformative educational experiences to more than 30,000 children in Baltimore, Boston and New York City since 1992.

Calvert Social Investment Foundation-Millions of people around the world live in poverty, struggling to find jobs, provide for their families and secure decent housing. They also often lack access to the essential financial services necessary to be self-sufficient. As a result, the gap between rich and poor is widening. Calvert Foundation allows you to support communities through an investment that offers a financial and a social return – creating affordable housing, jobs, micro-credit, community facilities, fair trade coffee co-ops and social enterprises (businesses motivated more by public and social good than by personal profit). Community investment helps close the gap between rich and poor by channeling flexible, affordable capital to communities underserved by traditional financial institutions.

Ceres-Ceres is a groundbreaking public interest group catalyzing U.S. companies and investors to respond to critical sustainability challenges such as global warming. The Ceres network comprises some of the world’s largest institutional investors, leading Fortune 500 companies and environmental organizations who share a concern for the planet’s future and understand that meeting the sustainability challenges of the 21st century is both good public policy and good business. In this regard, Ceres has bridged the philosophical gap that has often cast sustainability issues as a confrontation between business and the public interest. Bringing investors, companies, environmentalists and other key stakeholders together to build a sustainable and prosperous future is at the core of Ceres’ mission.

Citizen Schools-Citizen Schools is a leading national education initiative that uniquely mobilizes thousands of adult volunteers to help improve student achievement by teaching skill-building apprenticeships after-school. Our programs blend these real-world learning projects with rigorous academic and leadership development activities, preparing students in the middle grades for success in high school, college, the workforce, and civic life.

City Year-City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world. As tutors, mentors, and role models, these young leaders make a difference in the lives of children and transform schools and neighborhoods across the U.S. and in South Africa. City Year is a proud member of AmeriCorps. This year, City Year’s 1,400 young leaders will complete more than 2.4 million hours of service.

Civic Ventures-Civic Ventures is leading the call to engage millions of baby boomers as a vital workforce for social change.
A small organization with big goals, Civic Ventures works as a catalyst, bringing people and organizations together to create bold reactions and make change. Today, through creative programming and an inventive portfolio, Civic Ventures:
* Documents the reality that boomers want to engage in work that matters (see New Face of Work survey).
* Builds a growing movement of people in their Encore Careers and develops a clearinghouse of services and policies to support them (see Encore.org).
* Promotes the passion and limitless potential of this don’t-hold-me-back generation (see Purpose Prize).
* Creates replicable, on-the-ground programs that match this new workforce with critical needs in communities (see Experience Corps and Next Chapter initiative).
* Encourages employment policies and practices that create more pathways to good work for people in the second half of life (see BreakThrough Awards).
* Pilots new approaches that help people transition to this work (see Community College Encore Career project).

Civic Builders-Civic Builders seeks to create an environment where great charter school operators can thrive. It supports the charter school movement by taking on one of the largest obstacles to charter school success: real estate. As a non-profit facilities developer, Civic provides high quality charter schools with modern low-cost facilities. By relieving charter schools of the burden of navigating an extremely complex and competitive real estate marketplace, Civic enables school administrators to focus time and resources on the important work of educating children. Civic works towards the day that equal educational opportunities exist for all New York City school children.

College Summit-College education is the key determining factor in professional success, and the most effective way to break the cycle of poverty in a family. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a worker with a bachelor’s degree earns nearly $1 million more over his or her lifetime compared with someone with only a high school diploma. Yet, every year nearly 200,000 college-capable high school graduates from low-income families do not enroll in college; they do not even apply. College Summit, a national, school-wide college access program, equips schools and districts with tools and support to increase the college enrollment rate of all students, with a particular emphasis on those from low-income backgrounds.

Common Ground-At Common Ground, we know firsthand that the homeless have talents and dreams…that a person who is capable of extraordinary things can wind up homeless. We know too, that one can only make a difference in the lives of homeless people by first providing them with a home. Then they can actively participate in their own rehabilitation. In 1990, Common Ground pioneered the concept of mixed-income supportive housing: affordable housing for a range of income groups with on-site social services. These services help formerly homeless tenants restore their health, regain their economic independence, and rebuild their lives. Of those we assist, 93% remain stably housed. Indeed, their lives are transformed.

Community Reinvestment Fund-Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF) is the nation’s leader in bringing capital to public and private nonprofit community development lenders through the secondary market for loans. CRF has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into low-income and economically disadvantaged communities around the country to help stimulate job creation and economic development, provide affordable housing and support community facilities.

Endeavor Global (ranking issue) -Endeavor transforms emerging-market economies by identifying and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs. High-impact entrepreneurs have the biggest ideas and the most ambitious plans. They have the potential to create thriving companies that employ hundreds — even thousands -— of people and generate millions of dollars in wages and revenues. And they have the power to inspire countless others.

First Book-First Book is a nonprofit organization with a simple mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Since 1992, First Book has placed more than 50 million new books into the hands of the most disadvantaged children –- books to read, to enjoy, and to keep as their own. First Book was designed in response to significant research findings. Studies show there is a single factor that strongly determines a child’s future ability to read: the number of books in the home. Yet access to books is virtually nonexistent for children in low-income families.

Heifer International-Heifer provides livestock to poor families in developing nations to use for farming, food production, and fertilization. In addition, we teach animal husbandry and skills for flexible and sustainable rural farming. The idea: empowering communities with resources and education toward self-sufficiency is a better long-term solution than handouts for fighting hunger. Heifer’s signature value, “Passing on the Gift,” requires recipients to share offspring of their animals along with resources and skills with other farmers, creating an ever-expanding network of hope.

Housing Partnership Network-The Housing Partnership Network is a peer network and business alliance of 87 of the top-performing nonprofit housing organizations in the United States. Our members are entrepreneurial, innovative and grounded in their local markets through partnerships with the private and public sectors and civic leaders. They combine charitable mission with business savvy for maximum social impact.

IFF-For nearly two decades, IFF has proven that investing in communities can advance vital needs and strengthen already well-run nonprofit corporations while providing sufficient income to sustain operations. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), IFF provides below-market rate real estate loans and real estate consulting to nonprofit corporations that serve low-income communities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Jumpstart-Jumpstart engages preschool children from low-income communities in an intensive early education program to improve their cognitive and emotional development, ensuring they enter kindergarten prepared to succeed at grade level. The organization’s foundation is its research-backed curriculum, active learning approach, and one-to-one adult-child interaction. Jumpstart trains adult mentors, primarily college students, to work in exclusive yearlong relationships with the children.

KickStart International-KickStart presents a new way to fight poverty. KickStart sells inexpensive technologies, such as human powered irrigation pumps, to farmers in poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa who wish to start or improve small-scale businesses. Most of KickStart’s customers live on less than one dollar a day. Our technologies help them transition from subsistence farming to commercial irrigated farming. With irrigation, they can grow three or four crop cycles annually rather than just one, and they can sell in-demand fruits and vegetables throughout the dry season. KickStart’s biggest seller, generating 70 percent of sales, is the Super-MoneyMaker foot-driven irrigation pump. On average the pump can raise a farm’s income from $110 to $1,100 annually.

KIPP Foundation-KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the nation. At KIPP, we believe there are no shortcuts to academic success. Outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, and a strong culture of achievement and support help our students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college. There are currently 57 locally run KIPP schools in 17 states and Washington, DC, serving over 14,000 students. More than 80 percent of KIPP students are low-income and more than 90 percent are African American or Hispanic/Latino.

Mercy Corps-Mercy Corps never shies away from a challenge. For more than 25 years, the global humanitarian organization has used innovative, entrepreneurial thinking to tackle some of the world’s most difficult problems. Mercy Corps works with people whose lives have been shattered by conflict or natural disasters, and it operates in many of the toughest places in the world: Iraq, Darfur, Afghanistan and Somalia, just to name a few. Mercy Corps’ goal is to help transform places wracked by poverty, conflict and oppression into peaceful, prosperous and just communities.

Network for Good-If you’re someone who wants to help your favorite cause, we’re here to help by:
• Processing donations for your charity with DonateNow
• Enabling you to email your supporters with EmailNow
• Tracking your supporters in a donor database created in partnership with Salesforce.com
• Providing you with fundraising training, including “Nonprofit 911” calls

New Leaders for New Schools-The mission of New Leaders is to ensure high academic achievement for every student by attracting and preparing outstanding leaders and supporting the performance of the urban public schools they lead at scale. Through a comprehensive program, New Leaders provides aspiring principals with rigorous, hands-on training; a year-long, full-time residency in an urban public school; ongoing leadership and school support from successful veteran principals; and a lifelong community of like-minded peers. By fundamentally reshaping how principals are prepared, New Leaders for New Schools has seeded significant improvement in urban schools and school systems around the country, including Baltimore, California’s Bay Area, Chicago, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York City, Prince George’s County, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

The New Teacher Project- In recognition of the growing body of research showing that teacher quality –- not class size, not curriculum, not facilities -– is the single most important school-based factor influencing student achievement, TNTP collaborates with school districts and states to recruit, select, train and hire exceptional teachers. This year, its clients include school districts in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., among others. Formed in 1997, TNTP seeks to close the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students and to reverse the pattern of low student achievement in urban public schools.

PATH-What if products and strategies for improving health in the developing world were designed expressly for the people who need them? The free-market concept of user-driven design is rarely applied to nonprofit causes, but it’s been the foundation of PATH’s approach to global health for the last 30 years. Instead of tossing wealthy-world answers at problems unique to poor countries, PATH creates real solutions for permanent change, such as health “technologies” for remote villages, immunization programs built side by side with the governments administering them, and cultural projects sparking dialogue and social change in communities at risk of HIV.

Peaceworks Foundation-Conceived by the PeaceWorks Foundation, OneVoice is run by Israelis and Palestinians through offices in Tel Aviv, Ramallah, and Gaza City. In addition to its unique methodology, OneVoice deploys cutting edge technology, electronic democracy, a network of activists and member organizations, and a broad cadre of experts, dignitaries, celebrities, business leaders and spiritual authorities. Its award-winning Public Negotiations Process educates people about the issues themselves as well as about the art of negotiation and non-violent conflict resolution.

Points of Light Foundation & HandsOn Network-On August 1, 2007, The Points of Light Foundation and Hands On Network merged to become an integrated, dynamic new presence in the volunteer sector. Both organizations entered the merger with a strong national reputation, as well as a unique history and set of solutions to offer. The new alliance has a presence in hundreds of communities nationwide, within reach of over 80 percent of the US population. Together, we offer an unmatched blend of ideas, innovation, and expertise, and a powerful commitment to helping citizens to engage, take action, and solve community problems through volunteer service.

PSI-PSI uses the private sector to improve the health of millions of low-income people in more than 60 developing countries. With programs in malaria, reproductive health, child survival and HIV, PSI makes branded health products and services available at affordable prices to address the most pressing health needs of the poor in a measurable way.

Public Allies-Public Allies advances new leadership to strengthen communities, nonprofits, and civic participation. We are the premier pipeline for developing diverse, young nonprofit and community leaders, and preparing leaders and organizations to lead more effectively for our changing times.

Raising a Reader-Since 2001, Raising A Reader has filled a critical niche in the spectrum of national early literacy programs, providing a low-cost, scalable method for communities to foster read-aloud routines in the homes of low-income families. Today, Raising A Reader is serving over 100,000 children annually across 32 states and 150 communities. Each week, every child in the Raising A Reader program brings home a sturdy red bag filled with four high-quality, developmentally-appropriate, multi-cultural children’s books. Raising A Reader is cost-effective because the bags and books remain the property of the agency delivering the program and can be used year after year. The average cost per child served over a five-year period is less than $35.

Rare-Rare’s approach is to identify promising leaders in the world’s most threatened natural areas and provide them with two years of training and support to launch a campaign for the environment in their communities. These local leaders start with 11 weeks of coursework (currently in four languages) at one of Rare’s university-based training centers. They return home equipped with new outreach tools, a two-year budget, a Rare mentor, and peer support from an online platform developed in partnership with Omidyar Network (run by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar). Rare organizers turn on the power of local pride using over 30 different grassroots marketing vehicles.

Reach Out and Read-Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national organization developed by pediatricians and early childhood educators to help children start school ready to learn, with a special focus on children growing up in poverty. By training doctors and nurses to provide literacy advice and give free, culturally and developmentally appropriate books at each well-child visit between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, ROR leverages the existing structure of pediatric primary care to provide a proven, cost-effective literacy intervention in the earliest years of a child’s life, when it matters most. Founded as a single program in 1989 at Boston City Hospital, ROR now serves more than 2.8 million children and their families annually

Room to Read-Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure. We seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education is a lifelong gift that empowers people to ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations. Through the opportunities that only an education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time. Organizational efforts are currently focused on Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zambia — all countries with a desperate lack of resources to adequately educate their children. Room to Read is a dynamic, results-oriented organization. Since our inception in 2000, Room to Read has reached over 1.5 million children by building over 400 schools, establishing 5,000 libraries, and publishing 225 new local language children’s titles representing over 2,000,000 books.

Root Capital-Root Capital is a social investment fund that addresses these inter-related challenges by providing affordable credit and financial education to grassroots businesses in the developing world. Launched in 2000, its mission is to fight rural poverty and conserve natural resources by supporting businesses that foster environmental stewardship and increase income and market access for the rural poor, who account for 70% of the 2.7 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Root Capital targets enterprises where smallholder producers have organized themselves into businesses, which have selling power and thus the ability to fetch better prices for quality as well as Fair Trade and organic certifications. To date, Root Capital has provided over $70 million in loans to more than 160 rural enterprises across 26 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Over ninety-nine percent of its loans have been repaid.

Rubicon Programs Inc.-At the same time, Rubicon has become a resourceful and self-sustaining organization, funding well over half of a $17 million dollar budget from revenues generated by its own successful enterprises. Rubicon teaches self-reliance and personal responsibility from the inside out, transforming lives by building profitable businesses and jobs through determined and skilled entrepreneurship.

Scojo Foundation-Scojo Foundation, a non-profit social enterprise, reduces poverty and generates opportunity through the sale of affordable reading glasses. Scojo Vision Entrepreneurs are low-income men and women living in rural villages who are trained to conduct vision screenings within their communities, sell affordable reading glasses, and refer those who require advanced eye care to reputable clinics. Each Scojo Vision Entrepreneur receives his or her own “Business in a Bag,” a sales kit containing all the products and materials needed for vision screening, sales, data collection, and marketing, and gets ongoing support from staff. With blueprints for success, Scojo Vision Entrepreneurs run profitable businesses, earning more than twice their previous daily income on each pair of glasses sold. And with a new pair of low-cost glasses, their customers are able to double their productivity.

SEED Foundation-The SEED Foundation establishes urban public boarding schools that prepare children academically and socially for success in college and in the professional world. The SEED School’s round-the-clock academic and social skills curriculum delivers a top-caliber, college-preparatory boarding education to 320 urban children in grades seven through twelve, many of whom lack access to the resources necessary for success.

Teach for America-Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in underserved urban and rural public schools. Our mission is to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort.

TransFair USA-For farmers and farm workers throughout the developing world who produce the products that Americans enjoy every day — coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, rice, vanilla, fresh tropical fruit and flowers — low prices, market volatility, lack of access to pre-harvest financing and isolation can create a cycle of poverty. These farmers often cannot recover their cost of production or earn a high enough wage to invest in their futures. Families, communities and the environment all suffer as a result. TransFair USA is the exclusive third-party certifier for Fair Trade Certified™ products in the United States. TransFair USA’s mission is to build a more equitable and sustainable model of international trade that benefits producers, consumers, industry and the Earth. TransFair achieves this mission by building capacity, certifying and promoting Fair Trade Certified products, and providing producers with the tools and resources needed to succeed in the global marketplace.

Unitus-Unitus is a worldwide leader at scaling innovative solutions to global poverty. We accelerate access to life-changing financial services for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid — the 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day.

Witness-WITNESS uses the power of video to open the world’s eyes to human rights abuses. By partnering with local organizations around the globe, WITNESS empowers human rights defenders to use video to shine a light on those most affected by human rights violations, and to transform stories of abuse into powerful tools of justice. Founded by the musician and advocate Peter Gabriel in 1992, WITNESS has partnered with human rights groups in more than 70 countries, bringing often unseen images, untold stories, and seldom heard voices to the attention of key decision makers, the media, and the general public — catalyzing grassroots activism, political engagement, and lasting change.

Working Today Freelancers Union-Sara Horowitz founded Working Today-Freelancers Union in 1995 to represent the needs and concerns of the growing independent workforce. Working Today-Freelancers Union seeks to update the nation’s social safety net, developing systems so that all working people can access affordable benefits, regardless of their job arrangement. As executive director, Ms. Horowitz takes an entrepreneurial approach, pursuing creative, market-based solutions to pressing social problems.

Year Up-Year Up’s mission is to close the Opportunity Divide in our country by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education.
We achieve this through a high-support, high-expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, corporate apprenticeships, college credit, a behavior guidance system and several levels of support to place these young adults on a viable path to economic self-sufficiency. Our intensive training and education program serves urban young adults, ages 18-24, in Boston, New York City, Providence and Washington, D.C.

Better World Books
Developing World Markets
Domini Social Investments
Equal Exchange
Herman Miller
New Leaf Paper
Organic Valley Family of Farms
Seventh Generation
ShoreBank
SustainAbility