Social Ventures and Enterprises should Invest in other Social Ventures and Enterprises

In their seminal work, "Dark Side of the Moon," English band Pink Floyd wailed about the complexities and rigid state of money. The claims of people being gripped in the clutches of an avarice lifestyle were plentiful. "Share it fairly, but don't take a slice of my pie," wails David Gilmour as he tells listeners that money makes people hypocritical. People want money to be shared and given freely, but are not interested in giving any of their own money away. As this week focuses on the funding sources for many social ventures and enterprises, I wondered if entrepreneurs were singing the same tune.

I tried to find information about social ventures and enterprises that receive funding- I found tons of articles, but when I did a search for social ventures and enterprises that receive funding and give back to other social ventures and enterprises, the best I could find were crowdsourcing platforms like KickStarter and IndieGogo.

If you were to research Bill Gates today (the world's richest man-- talk about money!), you would find in current news that pundits have been telling him to fund startups and divest in charities. You would also find backlash to his thoughts on America's education system and his top education-related startups. I cringed at the nerve of people telling someone who is clearly invested in a mission to not fund charities that have a purpose and goal, but most of all I cringed at the double standards.

In large sum, Gates' billions do not equate to the same millions that are invested (as a loan) to start ups.

From the first lecture in "Foundations of Social Innovation and Enterprise," we were told that good ideas can come from liquid networks: where old ideas and physical resources can be cannibalized, recycled, and repurposed to create new ideas. The old idea of social ventures thinking in the singular and insular ways that allow them to get millions of dollars to invest in a company should be repurposed. To have a broader impact social ventures should invest in other ventures to help improve the world. Surely, I am not talking of investing loan money or investment money, but actual revenue generated from the business would help propel the mission and goals of the social venture forward.

Last week, we learned in class that social ventures have to have purpose, and in my opinion, once funded and successful, some social ventures lose sight of the big picture goal. These actions deviate from the multi-tiered definition of a social entrepreneur which contains: an individual who adopts a mission to create and sustain social value, and recognizes and relentlessly pursues new opportunities to serve that mission.

Do you think social ventures and enterprises should invest in other ventures that help reach its goals, or should social ventures and enterprises focus on their own implicit goals?