Did You Know?

In U.S., 20.9 million women lived below the federal poverty threshold in 2007

The Women’s Bean Project in Denver CO employs women from backgrounds of chronic unemployment and poverty to manufacture gourmet foods.

The Women's Bean Project does not hire women to make and sell bean products. We make and sell bean products to hire women.

Did You Know?

Economically disadvantaged teens are more likely to be un- or under-employed in the summer job market

Early work experience improves prospects for employability and real wages in the later teens and early 20s

Work experience in high school also increases the likelihood of graduation and lowers teen pregnancy and delinquency

Juma Ventures develops and operates businesses for the purpose of providing job opportunities to economically disadvantaged teens.

Did You Know?

One-third to one-half of HIV- positive Americans are either homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness

Housing Works provides health, housing, legal and case management services to people with HIV. It also trains clients to run several upscale retail businesses that annually return $13 million to the organization.

Did You Know?

There are approximately one billion nonliterate adults (persons 15 years old and above) in the world today.

Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.

The company has converted more than 22 million donated books into $6 million in funding for literacy and education and in the process, diverted more than 12,000 tons of books from landfills.

Did You Know?

Each year, more than 600,000 Americans aged 70 and older stop driving and become dependent on others to meet their transportation needs

How will your elderly parents get around if they become unable to drive themselves?

The Independent Transportation Network provides rides with door-to-door, arm-through- arm service to thousands of seniors nationwide.

Did You Know?

There are approximately 8 million blind and visually impaired persons in the U.S.

Benetech operates Bookshare.org, which allows people with print disabilities to legally download over 40,000 books and periodicals to be read as Braille, large print or synthetic speech.

Did You Know?

A microenterprise, commonly called “mom and pop” business, is a business with 5 or fewer employees and a seed capital of $35,000 or less

There are more than 23 million micro-enterprises, representing 18% of all private employment and 87% of all businesses in the U.S.

Very small firms tend to obtain credit from non-traditional sources such as owners’ loans and personal credit cards rather than traditional loans

Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation offers small business loans and also manages a catering business and bakery - which provides income to both WWBIC and its clients.

Did You Know?

136 million tons of building- related waste is generated in the U.S. annually, nearly 60% of all non-industrial waste in the U.S.

But only 20 to 30 percent of this building-related waste is estimated to be recovered for processing and recycling.

Materials Matter diverts construction waste and materials from landfills and sells the products at discounts through a Home Improvement Outlet to nonprofits working in housing and community development.

Did You Know?

In 2005, 1.4 billion people, or one quarter of the population of the developing world, are estimated to live in extreme poverty of $1.25 a day

Fair Trade provides a fair price for producers of coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea and other goods in developing countries.

TransFair is the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States.

In the past six years, TransFair has certified 74.2 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee, providing coffee farmers in some of the poorest communities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia with over $60 million more than they would have earned selling their harvests to local intermediaries.

What do all these solutions have in common?

They are using business to solve a social problem

Social enterprise harnesses the power of the marketplace to solve critical social or environmental problems

We envision a proliferation of social enterprises as a primary means of creating a more just and sustainable world.

The Social Enterprise Alliance is the only member organization in North America to bring together the diverse field of social enterprise. It serves as advocate for the field, hub of information and education, and builder of a vibrant and growing community of social enterprises. Join the movement!

Visit us at co-produced by Kevin Hong & the Social Enterprise Alliance