Social Entrepreneurship by the Numbers

by Nathaniel Whittemore

Published October 05, 2008 @ 07:27PM PST

30:

Years between 1976, when Muhammah Yunus, one of the most respected modern social entrepreneurs, founded Grameen bank, and 1996, when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

$27:

Size of the first loan Yunus provided.

^2000:

Number of social entrepreneurs Ashoka has elected as fellows. Ashoka supports leading social entrepreneurs from around the world through funding and consultation.

60:

Number of countries those 2000 represent.

4,000,000,000:

Approximate number of people in the so-called “Bottom of the Pyramid” – or those global citizens living on less than $2 a day– that many social entrepreneurs are trying to engage as consumers and stakeholders.

$60,000/$90,000:

Amount of a two-year Echoing Green fellowship for individuals or teams of social entrepreneurs starting new enterprises, one of the most highly sought after social entrepreneurship grants.

$27,000,000:

Amount of total support Echoing Green has provided for social entrepreneurship startups.

63:

Number of chapters in 2002 of NetImpact, a graduate student group focused on social entrepreneurship and using business to create social change.

203:

Number of chapters of NetImpact in 2008.

1:

Undergraduate thesis it took to generate the core ideas of Wendy Kopp’s Teach for America, a fellowship through which graduates of the top American universities commit two years to improving education in some of the lowest performing school districts, as well as one of the most lauded examples of modern American social entrepreneurship .

3,000,000:

Students impacted by Teach for America since 1990 .

$200,000,000

Amount the global consulting firm SustainAbility estimates foundations are putting into social enterprises annually .

$306,390,000,000:

Total charitable giving in the US during 2007 .

72%

Percentage of social entrepreneurs who say access to capital is their biggest challenge .

71%

Percentage of Ashoka fellows whose work impacts national policy within ten years of being elected to join Ashoka .

70%

Percentage “crazy: most social entrepreneurs are, according to Muhammad Yunus .

About 6,700,000,000:

Number of social entrepreneurs on the planet if the Ashoka’s goal of “everyone a changemaker” was achieved.

Bibliography

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/

http://muhammadyunus.org/content/view/93/128/lang,en/

http://www.ashoka.org/

http://www.wri.org/publication/content/7790

http://www.echoinggreen.org/about

http://www.teachforamerica.org/about/our_history.htm

http://www.sustainability.com/researchandadvocacy/reports_article.asp?id=937

http://www.givingusa.org/press_releases/releases/20080622.html

http://www.ashoka.org/impact/effectiveness

Power of Unreasonable People, pg 6