This book demystifies the complex world of social entrepreneurship, providing all the information you need to understand social investment and innovation, whether you’re a private investor, policymaker, nonprofit manager, or passionate and engaged donor.

In clear and straightforward language, former McKinsey executive Georgia Levenson Keohane charts the development of what the New York Times calls "the emerging hybrid of philanthropy and private equity." In Social Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, a must-read for anyone interested in innovative solutions to social problems, Keohane:

Shows how social entrepreneurship has radically transformed the nonprofit, private, and public sectors
Explores the promise of impact investing--what it really is and how it works
Illuminates the challenges of bringing billions of dollars in private capital to bear on social problems
Identifies smart public policies that promote social innovation at the local and national levels
Recommends specific investment opportunities you can act on now
With in-depth coverage of cutting-edge social programs and philanthropic initiatives, Social Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century provides the knowledge and tools you need to be a responsibly engaged investor and citizen in the coming decades.

Acknowledgments vii

I SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR 7
1 What Is Social Entrepreneurship? 9
2 Early Social Entrepreneurship: The Service Organizations 17
3 Early Social Entrepreneurship: The Funders 29
4 New Philanthropy and the Value of Evaluation 37
5 Technology as a Force for Good 47
6 The Pull of Prizes 55
7 Activist Assets 61
8 From Entrepreneurship to Enterprise 71

II SOCIAL IMPACT IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR 83
9 The Investor Perspective: Impact Investing 85
10 International Impact Investing 91
11 Case Study: The Microcredit Story 101
12 Impact Investing in the United States 107
13 The Enterprise Perspective: Shared Value Capitalism 121

III SOCIAL INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR 129
14 The Case of New York City: Social Innovation the Bloomberg Way 133
15 The Obama Administration in Theory: Social Innovation Goes to Washington 151
16 The Obama Administration in Practice: Unleashing the Innovation Mojo 159
17 Shaping Markets: Social Impact 173

IV ROOM FOR DEBATE 183
18 Social Entrepreneurship Revisited 185
19 New Views on Philanthropy and Government 199
20 Commercialization and Its Discontents 211
21 Social Entrepreneurship for the Twenty-First Century 219

Notes 235
Index 255