we have found them: nine bold and timely
ideas that wow us—and that have earned these
organizations a place alongside enterprise
Community Partners on our honor roll of 2009
Social Enterprises of the Year. will all of these
notions work in the long run and on a grand
scale? Perhaps not. But they represent the kind
of innovative thinking that can transform lives
and change our world.
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An IPO CEO: Nancy Lublin
the tyPiCal not-for-proft sends its donors a
thank-you note, a glossy
annual report with pretty
pictures, and maybe an
umbrella or a book—not
exactly the seeds of loyalty
or deeper involvement.
new york–based do
Something, which aims
to get teens involved in
volunteering, wanted to
create a class of donors
who did something more.
in other sectors, such
people are often known
as shareholders, so the
organization launched
an iPo in September.
investors will not get
any fnancial return but
will have quarterly calls,
shareholder meetings with
the board, and “a level of
transparency that’s all
new,” says Ceo nancy
lublin. this fall wasn’t
peak season for iPos,
for-proft or not, but if ever
there were a time when
organizations needed
fresh ideas to solidify their
donor base, it would be
now. Shares cost $100,000
each, and lublin says
the initiative is on track
to raise $2 million by the
end of 2008. —Jeff Chu
Going Public:
do Something’s
lublin at her
new york ofce
social
enterprises
of the year
Mercy Corps
The Bank of Banks
In Indonesia, where 110 million people live on less than $2 a day, micro-
CEO: Neal Keny-Guyer fnance is a crowded, fractured feld: More than 50,000 microfnance
institutions (MFIs) operate there, reaching 50 million poor people. But
what about the rest? The Oregon-based antipoverty group Mercy Corps ventured a bold answer in
May, when it bought a struggling Balinese bank and reopened it as a wholesale outft exclusively serving MFIs. The mission of this “bank of banks” is to cut MFIs’ costs and ineffciencies, and provide them
with the capital, fnancial tools, and tech platforms they need to improve and expand their services.
“We wanted real impact,” says CEO Neal Keny-Guyer, who argues that microfnance needs such evolutionary leaps to become a sustainable industry. The bank’s frst loans were disbursed in the fall, and
efforts are under way to expand the model to China, Nepal, and the Philippines. —Jennifer Vilaga
112 Fast company December 2008 / January 2009
