Social Entrepreneurship

I'm writing from Hyderabad, India where the social entrepreneurship sector is alive and well thanks to an entrepreneurial climate, non-resident Indians returning home, ex-pats, American philanthropies and local and western private equity.  For example, the Dell Foundation invested along side Bellwether, a social venture fund, on micro-mortgages.  Gray Matter Capital (an Atlanta operating foundation) is developing a rating system to boost quality and build access to growth capital for low-cost schools.  Vishal Vasishth left corporate America to build a Hyderabad-based social venture fund focused on education, health, finance, and utilities. 

In my first few days here, I've seen great examples of smart risk taking with blended capital around business models with scalable social benefits.  We're beginning to see the end of make-money, then give it away, and an expansion of the Omidyar model of make smart investments in organizations that can build prosperity. 

The Race

The run up to the application date for phase 1 of Race to the Top is likely to go down in history as the best 120 days of education policy reform in history.  With plans for higher standards, better data systems, stronger evaluation models, and aggressive school improvement efforts, 2010 is likely to be a banner year.  Several foundations leveraged the opportunity by supporting planning efforts, but opportunities to support/improve local and regional implementation will abound this year.

While final regs are out yet, matching funds for Invest in Innovation (i3) grant applications are/will be in high demand in the coming months.  Having talked to dozens of organizations planning i3 applications, we're optimistic about the wave of innovation and scaling to come.  But they'll need your help and probably fast.  We still would like to see an i3 matching fund developed (perhaps housed at New Schools) to facilitate what is likely to be thousands of requests for support.