The Dirty Word All Social Entrepreneurs Should Use

Your grandparents may have taught you that it’s impolite to openly discuss money. Sorry, grandma.

Nobel Laureate and Bangladeshi economist Professor Muhammad Yunus developed the term “social business” to describe a business that is created and designed to address a social problem, that is financially self-sustainable, and that aims to make profits that will be reinvested into the enterprise to further its impact, rather than to be distributed to shareholders.

Social enterprise, in brief, is a business that measures its success in impact rather than profit. But that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t make a profit. Though the mission is the core of the entity, the business model is critically important to its viability because, in social enterprise, business and mission have a symbiotic relationship. But, we don’t always see it that way because of one little word with a universe of judgment attached to it: money.

It’s easy to get behind a social mission, at least philosophically. So you want to make the world a better place? Great! Who could argue with that? But say you’re making the world a better place and making money doing it? You may experience a different reaction. A social entrepreneur not only must walk the complex line between profit and impact, but she also has to face an often skeptical society that…