Social Entrepreneurship Glossary

A global organization founded by Bill Drayton that identifies and supports leading social entrepreneurs (Ashoka Fellows) worldwide.

A legal corporate structure requiring consideration of impact on workers, community, and environment alongside shareholder returns. Certified by B Lab.

The concept that economic, social, and environmental value are simultaneously generated and inseparable across all organizations.

A term popularized by Ashoka referring to any individual who takes creative action to solve a social problem, regardless of formal title or organizational role.

A structured cross-sector collaboration framework requiring a common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone organization.

A business model integrating social and environmental concerns into a company's operations and stakeholder relationships.

A human-centered problem-solving methodology emphasizing empathy, ideation, prototyping, and iterative testing.

Income generated by a social enterprise through the sale of goods or services, as opposed to grants, donations, or government subsidies.

A trading partnership that seeks greater equity in international trade by ensuring better conditions and terms for marginalized producers.

Investing with the dual intention of generating financial returns and measurable positive social or environmental impact.

The systematic collection and analysis of data to assess whether a social venture achieves its intended social and environmental outcomes.

A visual tool mapping the relationship between a program's resources (inputs), activities, outputs, and outcomes.

The provision of small-scale financial services to low-income individuals who lack access to traditional banking.

The gradual departure from an organization's founding social mission, often due to commercial pressures or rapid scaling.

A financing model in which funders are repaid based on the achievement of predetermined social outcomes, aligning incentives with results.

A digital platform collectively owned and governed by its users or workers, aiming to distribute value more equitably than conventional platforms.

The capacity of a social venture to grow its impact through expansion, replication, or adoption by others without proportional cost increases.

A concept by Porter and Kramer proposing that companies can create economic value while simultaneously addressing social needs.

An organization that uses commercial strategies to maximize social, environmental, or community well-being rather than shareholder profit.

The pursuit of innovative, market-based solutions to social and environmental problems, prioritizing measurable impact alongside or above financial returns.

A pay-for-success contract where private investors fund social programs and are repaid by government only upon achieving measured outcomes.

A framework that assigns monetary proxies to social and environmental outcomes to measure value created per unit of investment.

The process of fundamentally altering the components, relationships, or structures of a system to address root causes of social problems rather than symptoms.

A causal framework mapping activities and inputs through outcomes to intended social impact.

A framework measuring organizational success across three dimensions: People (social), Planet (environmental), and Profit (economic). Coined by John Elkington.