NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The for- and non-profit landscapes are merging to create a new class of organization leader. Generally called social entrepreneurs, these individuals leverage for-profit models to solve some of the world’s most in­trac­table problems — endeavors usually undertaken by traditional non-profits.

“One of the reasons that I think there’s a coming together of the for-profit fairly hard-nosed commercial world with this world of social innovation and social purpose is because people’s lives have been bifurcated between those two worlds,” said David Hodgson. Hodgson is managing director of the private equity firm General Atlantic and chairman of the board of Echoing Green — a non-profit with the goal of providing funding and support for emerging social entrepreneurs.

“Because of the way work has changed, because of the number of people who find themselves in families working their tail off all the time,” Hodgson said, “I think there’s been a growing interest in trying to bring your work life together with your social community life.”

But is it possible to do good while making a profit?