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ELC Clients - Social Entrepreneurs & Non-Profits Individuals or groups who wish to build a non-profit business or charitable services organization, as well as those pursuing social entrepreneurship objectives, fit into this category. Most of these ventures will be generally eligible for ELC services. Well established non-profits with substantial endowments, as well as private foundations, will likely not be eligible for ELC services. Because of the emerging trend in social entrepreneurship for new ventures to demonstrate both low cost access strategies and profitable market strategies, ELC will consider providing services to founders who are not exclusively committed to forming a non-profit. In fact, ELC can help such founders think through the pros and cons of establishing non-profit vs. for profit organizations. Accepted clients will be assigned a team tailored to the needs of the proposed venture. In some cases this will be a full team consisting of different students and attorneys for review of: business planning, structure, and governance; intellectual property, particularly trademarks, trade secrets, copyright, and, if applicable, patents; employment law; business licensing; and tax planning and compliance. In other cases, a non-profit or social entrepreneurship venture will be assigned a team with a single student and supervising attorney. For example, a small co-op that needs to focus solely on governance and co-op organization law, or obtaining tax exempt status can benefit from the efficiencies of a single business and tax law trained student and supervising attorney team. The initial confidential legal and business audit report will assess the following areas, as applicable; additional legal services in these areas may also be offered upon mutual written agreement of the venture and ELC: * Business planning * Entity selection and registration * Differences between non-profit governance (including co-ops) and for profit governanc

Venturesource is a free open-content community resource center to help social entrepreneurs plan, start, manage, and grow successful social enterprises.

"London Creative Labs is a Social Business committed to ensuring decent work for everyone. It uses a unique and evolving combination of collaboration and business model innovation to generate new business opportunities that provide and/or enable work."

"Sida is developing new forms of collaboration with industry via the programme Business for Development (B4D). The objective is together with companies, contribute to reduce poverty and environmental impact, create more and better jobs and encourage growth. "

"Seattle Good Business Network is a new membership association of locally-owned, Seattle-area businesses that are committed to the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. Its purpose is to educate member businesses on the value of operating sustainably, support them in improving or adopting sustainable practices, and connect them with the information and resources to create a healthy and prosperous local economy based on shared environmental and community values. We Imagine A Seattle Where: * Business profits are circulating within our regional economy, supporting other local businesses. * The very concept of "waste" is passé, where only renewable sources of energy and water are used, and carbon emissions are dramatically reduced. * Residents choose to buy local and green first, and businesses are active partners in their communities. * Everyone understands that the person behind the register is a neighbor. An economy based on these values-local ownership, environmental awareness, and community engagement-is a vibrant, resilient economy more immune to external upheaval and changes in global energy prices. Businesses that operate with these values are profitable, thriving businesses. With the right information and active support, local business owners have the power to transform their operations in ways that benefit their business, employees, customers, and our larger local economy. The Seattle Good Business Network aims to be a catalyst for this transformation. Membership Members of the Seattle Good Business Network are locally-owned businesses such as restaurants, coffee shops, grocers, and bars; retailers of all kinds; personal care and home services; professional services of all kinds; and local producers. The Network will help its members: 1. Connect with other local businesses. We will establish a local business network to provide interactive ways for you to share valuable information about becoming more sustainable, includi

"The Lemelson Recognition and Mentoring Programme (L-RAMP) recognises, connects, mentors and funds ideas that seek to serve the rural poor, with a focus on ideas in agriculture, water, energy and dairy. We support innovations right from the idea stage and incubate them till they enter the market. "

"Entrepreneur Commons is a platform to support entrepreneurs through self-help groups and loans. The fund is managed by a not-for-profit social network of entrepreneurs - a support platform that can scale, and that also provides a way to screen deals, based on inclusion of every entrepreneur into the process rather than exclusion through a competitive process. It is especially useful to social entrepreneurs, for whom the regular funding processes do not really work. And it simplifies the investment decision for social investors because success can easily be measured - when the beneficiary businesses are social businesses and loans (with rates that can be benchmarked against market returns) are paid off, then the social investor can be satisfied that he has done his part."

"Please add more resources to this list if you know of them, and if you have any suggestions on how to better organize/categorize this list, please add a comment to the Collaboration in the Social Change Sector discussion."

"Committed and innovative people change the world. Our mission is to enable youth and adults to solve challenges with sustainable, innovative solutions. The world needs genuine innovators-those who dedicate themselves to an ideal, draw from many domains, and reframe challenges as opportunities. Innovators not only move mountains but often change the entire landscape. That landscape defines the potential available to the rest of the community. When focused on important problems innovations can result in enormous social good. We plan to increase the potential for innovative solutions in areas where good ideas are needed most. Springboard Innovation was formed in 2004 to help fill the gap of learning and support for those who wish to make a difference in a new way. We create opportunities for community members to learn how to launch social ventures, provide ongoing consultancies, help them network with others, help them get seed funding, and work to build a supportive ecosystem in the cities where they live. Springboard works through four core strategies. These work together to offer both a sequenced continuum of experience and a cycle of programs and resources that allow leaders and supporters to connect at any point, nurturing community-led community change. "

"Alchemia Consulting is not your typical consulting firm We help companies drive true long-term business success by heightening people's engagement with their company, introducing collaborative practices, building management excellence, and designing performance management processes and programs that inspire and motivate. Alchemia Consulting believes that by building work environments where people are invited to do their best and most creative work, heightened business success and profits follow. Alchemia Consulting's mission is to bring people centered programs, initiatives, and practices into organization that build thriving workplaces. Our consultants are trusted advisors and collaborative partners to leading companies. We are known for our quality of work and our exceptional expertise, skill and talent. Our cutting-edge approach allows us to identify, develop and implement solutions that align with our clients' visions, strategies and goals. If we can't achieve your goals, we'll tell you. We place our clients' interests above our own and we accept only projects for which we are qualified. We'll discuss the value of the project work and it's ROI for your company from the start. Explore our website, learn about our process and tools, meet our people. Discover what Alchemia Consulting can do for your organization. We are tri-located in Seattle, Miami and Denver with alliances across the United States. If you have questions or comments, please take a moment to send us a quick note. We'd love to hear from you."

"cosi10 is a transformative event for social innovators, social entrepreneurs and their social ventures that's happening all over the world in the second half of 2010. * A simple, self-organizing face to face unconference event. cosi10 participants come together under the guidance of a local host who follows the cosi10 unconference event guide. Through that process, participants network and learn from each other in dynamic collaborative conversation (in their local languages) about impact strategies, sharing resources for developing our skills, and planning what it takes to build thrivable social innovations and revenue models. The participants co-create the story of what happened offline in the online event space at ned.com, where other cosi10 participants from around the world can respond, interact and connect around common purpose. Learn more about the cosi10 Unconference Format"

"The rise of social and sustainable enterprise has occurred in response to an overwhelming need for systemic change. Yet collectively, the issues we're seeking to address require more intelligence, more resources and more influence than we individually have access to. We firmly believe that the wisdom we require to pass through the perfect storm of social, environmental and economic problems is to be found in the collective - in our connections and collaborations - as opposed to within the confines of our own individual, entrepreneurial and organizational structures. W1SDØM has been created to support change agents, investors and advisors by facilitating the flow of capital - be it human, intellectual, social or financial - to more effectively create the next generation of global sustainable enterprise."

NextBillion.net is a website and blog bringing together the community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise. It is a discussion forum, networking space and knowledge base for individuals and organizations interested in the "next billion". Our goal is to highlight the development and implementation of business strategies that open opportunities and improve the lives of the world's approximately 4 billion low-income producers and consumers.

"We're a social enterprise with the ambition to inspire and support imaginative and enterprising initiatives for a better world. The Hub is a global community of people from every profession, background and culture working at 'new frontiers' to tackle the world's most pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges. We believe that there is no absence of good ideas in the world. The problem is a crisis of access, scale, resources and impact. So it felt vital to create places around the world for accessing space, resources, connections, knowledge, experience and investment. "

"Social Venture Planning and Legal Guidance for a Better World"

The Academies for Social Entrepreneurship creates training and mentoring programs for sustainable, mission-based businesses. Our core program is Social Enterprise Academies. The Academies for Social Entrepreneurship plays the role of convener and catalyst, connecting the organizations and people needed to create, grow and celebrate social enterprises. SOCIAL ENTERPISE ACADEMIES ABOUT THE ACADEMY A Social Enterprise Academy creates an eco-system of support that nurtures entrepreneurship and innovation in non-profit organizations. Its goals are to: * Enable non-profit organizations to develop the skill sets and resources that will enable them to attract growth capital and increase revenue from earned, rather than donated income. * Build overall organizational capacity. Academies enable non-profits to improve organizational performance by applying business practices and analytical thinking to their everyday operations. * Create community-based change in the broader local non-profit marketplace by promoting convergence between the best practices of business and philanthropy. IMPACT OF THE ACADEMY To date, our unique combination of training, mentoring & "fast pitch" plan competition has: * Expanded capacity in 126 non-profit organizations; * Utilized the mentoring talents of more than 100 business men and women ; * Produced millions of dollars in new investment and earned income streams. 90% of those participating in one of our business plan competitions say that it had a significant positive impact and 65% have launched or expanded ventures which generate new income for their agencies within a year. Academies are currently planned or under way in OrangeCounty and Los Angeles and San Diego counties (California) and in Las Vegas.