Sandra Dickinson

Thank you for your comments and questions, quixotic. This is the kind of feedback I was hoping to receive. I will edit my proposal based on your comments.

In the meantime, my definition:

An earned income venture is a business activity operated by a nonprofit for the purpose of making some of its own money to support its social mission.

Nonprofits who operate earned income ventures care about profitability because – when your venture is profitable -- you are making more money than it costs you to operate the venture. When your venture is profitable, you have money left over to contribute to the support of your mission. When the venture is not profitable, it’s not serving its purpose.

Here are some more elaborate definitions that ground the SElearninggames project (These definitions come from the lexicon provided by the Social Enterprise Alliance - the only membership organization dedicated to nonprofit earned income venturing.):

Earned Income: Payments received in direct exchange for a product, service or privilege. [Earned income for a nonprofit includes such elements as tuition and fees for service, commercial products or services, government contracts, consulting fees, membership dues (when dues purchase tangible benefits), sale of intellectual property, agreement to use the nonprofit’s identity, property rentals, etc. Earned income does not include such sources as corporate, foundation or government grants or subsidies, contributions from individuals, or in-kind donation of products or services.]

Earned Income Strategies: Attempts to capitalize on the earned income potential of a program or other organizational asset (property, intellectual capital, reputation, etc.) in order to cover part or all of the program’s costs or to offset a portion of the organization’s overall expenses.

Social Enterprise: An organization or venture that advances its social mission through entrepreneurial, earned income strategies.

Social Entrepreneurship: The art of persistently and creatively leveraging resources to capitalize upon marketplace opportunities in order to achieve sustainable social change.

As a founding SEA board member, I know how controversial definitions are in this arena. Definitions were controversial several years ago, and still are today. (You may have seen the article in the Spring issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review, calling for a more rigorous definition of social entrepreneurship.) So, you are right on when you ask me to clarify my definition.