Acumen Fund
A global non-profit venture fund that supports organizations that deliver affordable, critical good and services to the poor. Mainly works in health, housing, finance and water innovations.
Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress
The Arias Foundation was created by former Costa Rican president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias. The Foundation’s Law and Civil Society Program began in 1993, when it produced case studies of the legal environment for NGOs in each Central American country. Next, the foundation began to advocate for a positive enabling environment for NGOs through public awareness campaigns. They are currently working to implement draft laws written by the country working groups in five Central American countries.
Ashoka
A nonprofit organization that works promoting and developing social entrepreneurs around the world, mainly through stipends and professional services that allow "Ashoka Fellows" to focus full time on their ideas for leading social change. Its e-library (http://www.changemakers.net) has several articles about innovative social solutions.
Center for Institutional Development
A nongovernmental organization dedicated to strength civil society in Macedonia. They are involved in advocacy and lobbying for issues connected with CSO sector. Also, in 2004 they organized the conference “Strategies for sustainability of the NGO Sector in Macedonia.”
Columbia Law School Public Interest Law Initiative
PILI’s mission is to “advance human rights principles by stimulating the development of a public interest law infrastructure,” with a particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe. The organization has published numerous country reports in the region assessing the public interest legal climate in the country. Their NGO Advocacy Training program trains lawyers affiliated with NGOs in workshops designed to help them hone their public interest advocacy skills.
Counterpart International
A nonprofit, international development organization, that works in humanitarian assistance, civil society, environmental resource management, enterprise development, and health care. Part of its work in enterprise development is the Social Enterprise Program that seeks to strength NGOs financial sustainability through business ventures that help the organizations to further their mission. They offer business and networking training, funding, advocacy and legal advice.
An organization that provides funding, technical assistance and consulting to new social enterprises, mainly nonprofits, national and internationally.
Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN)
This website features interviews with leading faculty in social enterprise issues and interesting information about relevant articles, books and websites.
International Center for Not-For-Profit Law
The ICNL’s mission states: “The International Center for Not-For-Profit Law is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes an enabling legal environment for civil society, freedom of association, and public participation around the world.” They work in the areas of: Legal Framework for Civil Society, Civil Society Sustainability, Good Governance & Accountability, Public-Private Partnerships, Self-Regulation, Public Participation & Advocacy, Educational Initiatives, and The ICNL Knowledge Center. Their
online library is free but requires registration.
NESsT
A nonprofit organization that supports the development of social enterprises in emerging market countries. Its programs include a philanthropic investment fund, a shopping portal for social enterprises, a series of case studies and research publications, training, and consulting services on a variety of social enterprises topics, such as feasibility study, business plan development, management, and accounting.
A leading global management consultant firm. They publish Mckinsey Quarterly, an on-line journal that covers nonprofit organization issues, among others. They also held the Social Entrepreneur Award, a business plan competition for nonprofits in several countries in Latin America.
According to PSI’s website, “PSI is a non-profit organization that harnesses the viability of the private, commercial sector to address health problems, with programs in safe water, malaria, micronutrients, family planning and HIV/AIDS in more than 70 countries. PSI collaborates with some of the world’s largest corporations to implement workplace health programs. For example, Coca-Cola transports condoms in South Africa. ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobile, Esso, BP, Marathon Oil Company, and Pfizer have been instrumental in increasing HIV/AIDS awareness.”
Supports nonprofit organizations that are lead by social entrepreneurs and generate social change around the world. Among its programs are: the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship that funds organizations to scale-up, The Skoll Centre for Social Enterprise which hold the World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, the Skoll Social Sector Program that supports the development of infrastructure for the social sector, and Social Edge, an online community that share ideas about social enterprise.
An online news resource for the social enterprise community, the Social Enterprise Reporter publishes monthly newsletters with useful information and tools for practitioners, social enterprise news stories, and inspiration. SER focuses its reporting on ventures pursuing earned income strategies, profit-making enterprises, and partnerships with for-profit businesses.
From their website: “Virtue Ventures is a management consulting firm that provides affordable training, technology and consulting services to nonprofits, international development agencies, foundations, government agencies and private companies. Virtue Ventures specializes in bringing business practices to nonprofit organizations.” Their website also offers some of their publications.