We realize that definitions abound as to what a social entrepreneur is; intentionally, we are keeping our definition broad. A social entrepreneur is someone who has identified a social challenge and has stepped up to find innovative, immediate, small-scale and large-scale solutions that produce sweeping and long-term change. We understand that social entrepreneurs are not only crucial to New Orleans' redevelopment but are also unique members of the professional community. They are driven to produce social impact while employing a selfless, entrepreneurial intelligence and innovative drive. If this definition fits you or someone you know, please contact us to be profiled.

Social entrepreneurs have:

"the continuous energy to imagine, innovate, implement, improve on innovation, scale up, diversify, defy the usual, break the patterns, move in a new direction . . . that exhausting and exhilarating quality of what makes a social entrepreneur . . . no training course will ever teach that." - Schwab Foundation

"Social entrepreneurs are 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. Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.

Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it. In other words, every leading social entrepreneur is a mass recruiter of local changemakers - a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything." - Ashoka

Additional web articles, discussions, and websites on social entrepreneurship and the challenge of definition:

http://www.ashoka.org
http://www.schwabfound.org/definition.htm
http://www.skollfoundation.org/aboutsocialentrepreneurship/whatis.asp
"The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship" from Fuqua Business School at Duke University
"Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition" from Stanford Social Innovation Review
"Defining Social Entrepreneurship" from SocialEdge
"Toward a Better Understanding of Social Entrepreneurship: Some important distinctions" by Jerr Boschee and Jim McClurg

Social Entrepreneurship Docs