Social Innovation

This week I learned about Self-Reliance and microcredit. I liked this quote from President Monson. He said that self-reliance is “the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the necessities of life for self and family”. He taught that this is an essential element of our temporal and spiritual well-being. The areas of self-reliance we strive for are education, health, employment, family home production and storage, family finances, and spiritual strength. I also learned about microcredit and what loaning even a small amount of money can do for people. I learned from the study material that people who are struggling around the world are eager to work hard to improve their lives and repay the money. These loans allow them to get businesses up and running, help them gain self-confidence and be self-reliant, and improve their standards of living.  I liked the talk by Muhammad Yunus. His philosophy about poor people and economics was very interesting. I t...

This week I learned about impact investing. Impact investing is directing capital to companies that generate social or environmental benefits and also make a profit. I like Kevin Peterson's definition of impact investing from his Ted Talk titled Impact Investing: Your money doing good in the world - and your wallet. He said impact investing is " The intentional marriage of profit and values". I liked the Ted Talk by Kevin Peterson. He gave some tips for how to make impact investing possible in our own communities. He said to spend money at local businesses, put our money in local credit unions, and check our investments or ask an advisor about socially responsible or sustainable investing.  Muhammad Yunus would like poverty to only exist in museums. Is that possible? While this is a nice thought, no I don't think it's possible. People have ups and downs at various points in their lives. Things are complicated. Some people are addicted to drugs and don't want t...

This week I learned about hybrids and social business. These types of companies are set up as a business to solve a social problem. They aren't focu sed on making money. They are focused on solving a social problem and they use the business side of things to make money to run their organization. I liked the example of Hot Bread Kitchen in New York City. Immigrant women make bread inspired by their origin while learning job skills. The funds from selling the bread help fund this social mission.  I enjoyed the Ted Talk by Peter Singer: The Why and How of Effective Altruism. He taught that we can all give even if it's just a little. We live such abundant lives in America and so many around the world are suffering. He spoke about several websites to use to find the most effective charities. He said to give to those charities to do the most good with our money. He mentioned that giving gives us self-esteem. I liked that a lot. I think that's true....

This week I learned about nonprofits. I learned that often times nonprofits don't have the infrastructure to do well and succeed. They also suffer from their funders having unrealistic expectations. We've always had the idea that charities should spend as little as possible on overhead and fundraising so that most of our donations can go to support the actual cause. I learned that that isn't necessarily true if we want the nonprofits to be able to survive and make a difference in social issues.  I liked Dan Pallotta's Ted Talk about nonprofits. He brought up the 5 differences between nonprofits and for-profits: 1. You can't use money to lure talent away from the for-profit sector; 2. You can't advertise on anywhere near the scale the for-profit sector does for new customers; 3. You can't take the kinds of risks in pursuit of those customers that the for-profit sector does for new customers; 4. You don't have the same amount of time to find th...

This week I learned about CSR which is Corporate Social Responsibility. CSRs are businesses that aim to be socially responsible. Companies can do this through the economy, environment, or contribute to the public. This is important because the success of a company is based on what people think about it. Consumers and employees want to support and work for businesses that are contributing to a worthy cause. It is important to have a socially conscious image.  This article: The Broken "Buy-One, Give-One" Model: 3 Ways to Save Toms Shoes was interesting to me, and I agree with the article. I learned a lot by reading it and thinking about what I have learned so far in this course. It brought to light this complex situation in a way I had never thought about before. Selling Toms shoes in the west and then donating shoes in needy countries doesn't help those countries and causes more harm. It hurts the development of workers, farmers, traders,...