I&E Academy: Designing Business Models for Social Impact

Every organization-whether for-profit or nonprofit, commercial or social enterprise-has a business model that describes how the organization creates, delivers, and captures value. In many cases, social entrepreneurs are most creative and add the greatest value in the design of their business model-they have a wide range of options for structuring their ventures, acquiring capital,
pricing their services, paying their workers, and coming to terms with suppliers. Regardless of how effective an innovation is at achieving social impact, a social venture's business model must be "sustainable" over the period of time required to achieve widespread, lasting impact. In this session, we will explore the fundamentals of social venture business models, consider alternative models for social value creation, and apply tools for documenting and refining business models to promote greater viability, scalability, and impact.