Frontiers in Social Innovation

5 _____________________________________ Powering the Social Project

The Structural Changes Needed to Fund Social Progress

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Bernadette Clavier

Social entrepreneurs are increasingly approaching their impact work from a for-profit angle. Between 2014 and 2019, the proportion of social entrepreneurs applying to the prestigious Echoing Green fellowship with a for-profit business model increased from 20 percent to 30 percent.¹ Whether they are hoping to do well by doing good or have ambitions to demonstrate that our capitalist system can deliver opportunity for all with the appropriate leadership, they assume that a for-profit organizational structure is the best way to plan for long-term, scaled, and sustained ...