Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides platforms at the country, regional and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1998. Its purpose is to "advance social entrepreneurship and to foster social entrepreneurs as an important catalyst for societal innovation and progress." The Foundation is under the legal supervision of the Swiss Federal Government. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Each year the Foundation selects 20-25 Social Entrepreneurs through a global “ Social Entrepreneur of the Year” competition.

History

Professor Klaus Schwab created the World Economic Forum as an independent not-for-profit foundation in 1971. In 1998, Klaus Schwab and his wife Hilde decided to create a second complementary foundation, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, with the purpose to promote social innovation. Pamela Hartigan, who joined in October 2000, was its first managing director. The Foundation is financed from the initial endowment provided by Klaus and Hilde Schwab plus grants and fees for services provided to individuals, foundations or companies.

Social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is the attempt to draw upon business techniques to find solutions to social problems. This concept may be applied to a variety of organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs.

Conventional entrepreneurs typically measure performance in profit and return, but social entrepreneurs also take into account a positive return to society. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector. At times, profit also may be a consideration for certain companies or other social enterprises.

Modern definition

There are continuing arguments over precisely who counts as a social entrepreneur. Thus far, there has been no consensus on the definition of social entrepreneurship, so many different sorts of fields and disciplines are associated with social entrepreneurship. Philanthropists, social activists, environmentalists, and other socially oriented practitioners are referred to as social entrepreneurs. The fact that social entrepreneurs fall under various career types is part of the reason it is difficult to determine who is truly a social entrepreneur. David Bornstein (author) has even used the term "social innovator" interchangeably with social entrepreneur, due to the creative, non-traditional strategies that many social entrepreneurs use. For a clearer definition of what social entrepreneurship entails, it is necessary to set the function of social entrepreneurship apart from other socially oriented activities and identify the boundaries within which social entrepreneurs operate. Some have advocated restricting the term to founders of organizations that primarily rely on earned income–meaning income earned directly from paying consumers. Others have extended this to include contracted work for public authorities, while still others include grants and donations.