Topic 15 of 15 · Social entrepreneurship and earned income
Social entrepreneurship: lean startup, social enterprise and earned income
Free social entrepreneurship courses, lean startup methods and social enterprise guides for founders, nonprofits and NGOs.
- 15 resources
- 13 free
- 2 tools and templates
- 3 sub-topics
Most social ventures struggle because the founders build too much before they test anything. The lean way is cheaper: find your riskiest assumption, test it small, learn and adjust.
This shelf is for social entrepreneurs and for nonprofits that want income beyond grants. It covers lean startup methods for social impact, free courses from Acumen and Ashoka, setting up a social enterprise or trading arm, and choosing a funding model. Expect the early years to be slow: most ventures grow in a hockey stick, flat for a long time before they take off.
You need this shelf if
- You have an idea and want to test it before you raise money
- You're setting up a social enterprise or trading arm
- You depend on grants and want other income
- You want to change a system as well as run a programme
Key questions for leaders
- What's the riskiest assumption in your idea, and how can you test it cheaply this month? The Lean Startup →
- Who pays, who benefits, and are they the same people? Social Business Model Canvas →
- Should you earn income, and would trading pull you away from your mission? Start Your Social Enterprise →
- What funding model fits how you create value? Ten Nonprofit Funding Models →
- Are you ready for a few slow years before growth takes off? Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth →
- Is your goal to grow your organisation or to change the system around the problem? Systems Change Crash Course →
What's on the shelf
15.1 Lean startup and social entrepreneurship
- 15.1C222
Social Entrepreneurship 101
A free 5-week online course from Acumen Academy for people new to social entrepreneurship. It covers 5 areas: what social entrepreneurship is, finding your problem and mission, theory of change and impact measurement, building a financially sustainable model, and scaling. It uses videos with founders such as Charles Best of DonorsChoose.org, reading and workshop guides and a case study. Acumen Academy also has a free course on business models for social enterprise.
Start hereCurrentKey online resourceFree - 15.1C220
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries's book on building new ventures through fast, cheap experiments. It's organised in 3 parts: vision, steer and accelerate. Readers learn to name their riskiest assumptions, test them with a minimum viable product, measure progress through validated learning and decide whether to pivot or persevere. Social entrepreneurs and nonprofit teams use it to test new programmes and earned income ideas before scaling them.
ClassicKey manual or guideBook - 15.1C221
Lean Impact
Ann Mei Chang, former chief innovation officer at USAID and Mercy Corps, adapts lean startup methods to the social sector. The book shows how to test value, growth and impact with small experiments, how to find a model that can reach many more people, and how funders can back this kind of learning. It's full of examples from nonprofits, social enterprises and aid agencies.
ClassicKey manual or guideBook - 15.1C225
Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth
A short Forbes article based on Bobby Martin's book The Hockey Stick Principles. It sets out 4 stages new ventures go through: tinkering, the blade years, the growth inflection point and surging growth. It focuses on the blade years, which often last 3 to 4 years, and gives 3 lessons: bootstrap longer than you expect, keep adjusting the model, and look after your first users. Useful for founders who need patience in the early years.
ClassicShort readFree - 15.1C224
Systems Change Crash Course
A free, self-paced course from Ashoka Changemakers and Ashoka Globalizer. Through short videos and worksheets it walks you through how to spot the system behind a social problem and design a strategy to shift it. It draws on Ashoka's decades of work with social entrepreneurs who tackle root causes. Founders and teams use it to plan how their work can change policies, markets or norms.
CurrentKey online resourceFree - 15.1C186
The Successful Social Entrepreneur's Micro Guide
A short cheat sheet for social entrepreneurs, from the Imaginate method. It splits the path from first idea to scaling into 4 phases. For each phase it lists what to do and what to read. It is for founders of nonprofits and social ventures at an early stage. Readers use it to check where they are and pick their next steps and reading.
EmergingShort readFreeNonprofit Builder tool
15.2 Earned income and social enterprise
- 15.2C191
Start Your Social Enterprise
A 28-page start-up guide for people setting up a social enterprise or trading venture. After an introduction to what social enterprise is, it has chapters on mission, market, money, social impact, people, sales and marketing, legal structure, the business plan and looking after yourself, ending with a summary. Founders work through it chapter by chapter as they shape their plan.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree - 15.2C190
Social Enterprises in Asia
An introductory guide to social enterprise published by Kordant Philanthropy Advisors in 2014 and held on IssueLab. It explains what social enterprises are and the main models they use, drawing on examples from Asia. It is for nonprofit leaders and founders in the region who are weighing whether earned income or a social enterprise model fits their mission.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 15.2C192
Trustees, trading and tax: how charities may lawfully trade (CC35)
Regulator guidance for charity trustees on selling goods and services. It explains when a charity can trade directly and when it should set up a separate trading subsidiary. It also covers the basic rules on using trading income for charitable purposes and how corporation tax applies to trading profits. Trustees and advisers use it when planning earned income or a charity shop.
ClassicKey online resourceFree - 15.2C193
Business Sustainability Planning and Resource Mobilization Toolkit and Training Curriculum
A toolkit and training curriculum from Pact for local NGOs and civil society groups. It helps organisations plan for financial sustainability, choose a business model suited to their own funding context and mobilise resources beyond donor grants. Capacity builders use the curriculum to run workshops. Organisations use the tools to draft their own sustainability plans. It is free under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 licence.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 15.2C194
Getting started on a social enterprise journey
A 7-page guide written by The Bridgespan Group from research with Fòs Feminista and its partners in the global South. It is for nonprofits thinking about earned income. It works through 4 questions: what are your strengths, is there real demand, what mindset shifts are needed, and what capacities and resources are required. A table sets out 5 core capabilities, from financial modelling to getting leaders on the same page.
EmergingShort readFree
15.3 Revenue models and diversification
- 15.3C197
Ten Nonprofit Funding Models
An article that sorts large nonprofits by how they raise money and names 10 funding models, from Heartfelt Connector and Member Motivator to Public Provider and Market Maker. For each model it describes the typical funders and organisations and the questions leaders should ask to test the fit. Leaders and boards use it to name their current model and discuss where to focus fundraising.
Start hereClassicKey online resourceFree - 15.3C195
Developing a Financing Strategy
A CIVICUS toolkit for civil society organisations that have not yet written a financing strategy. It explains why one is needed and what must be in place first: planning, budgeting, financial systems, public image and clear values. It then sets out the options: donor funding, earned income, member fees, public fundraising, investments and careful spending. It ends with ideas for writing the strategy document and putting it into practice.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 15.3C196
Finding Your Funding Model
A workbook for nonprofit leaders and boards choosing how to fund their organisation. It takes them through 6 steps: analyse current funding, learn from peers, narrow the range of funding model options, assess revenue potential and costs of a short list, select the models to pursue, and plan implementation. Appendices include a sample workplan, sample outputs and advice on researching funding sources.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 15.3C198
The Matrix Map
An article setting out a 4-step method for judging programmes and fundraising activities on both mission impact and profitability. Teams list every business line, score impact on a 1 to 4 scale, work out whether each line makes a surplus or needs a subsidy, then plot the results on a grid. The 4 quadrants, Stars, Hearts, Money Trees and Stop Signs, guide what to grow, contain, nurture or close.
ClassicTool or templateFree
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