How Philanthropists And Investors Can Work Together To Create Social Change

Monday, March 31, 2014

Scaling up innovation is rarely as simple as investing in a company. The best social innovations aren’t companies – rather they are social movements, coalitions co-created by businesses, social sector organisations and governments working together.

But how do you fund and scale up a movement?

The remarkable story of Aravind Eye Hospitals offers some insights. Aravind is a chain of eye hospitals founded in India that pioneered a new way of delivering ultra-low cost cataract surgery for the rural poor.

In 1992, a social entrepreneur named David Green, who had been working with Aravind to develop their social business model, teamed up with Aravind and the Seva Foundation to set up a company to make the lenses needed for cataract surgery.

Source: Forbes (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Impact Assessment
Tags
impact investing, philanthropy