Do Good Design

Today I’m crusading for social enterprises. Why? Because I think we all have the potential to be part of a way of earning an income that also helps people and makes you feel good about yourself.

Social enterprise or “social entrepreneur” are terms that few people know, but I’m keen to get them out into the wider world because I think they’re the way of the future. As one person put it on Couchsurfing, “Is social entrepreneurship just evolved capitalism?” The Boston Globe seems to think so, and I agree.

Here’s how Wikipedia describes social enterprises:

Social enterprise is a relatively new term for a type of business that has existed for at least a century. The term social enterprise relates to social entrepreneur, the name originally given to 19th century philanthropic businessmen and industrialists, who had genuine concern for the welfare of their employees.

Today, its use varies in different regions. In Britain, the focus is on the use of the surplus as the defining characteristic. In North America, there is less emphasis on generating a surplus and more on the double bottom line nature of the enterprise. European usage tends to add the criterion of social rather than individual ownership.

As I say, “profit + good cause = social enterprise.” It’s what I started Do Good Design for, before I knew what to call it.

You, yes you

Much of the talk focuses on large organisations, and I worry that leaves the everyday person behind. What interests me is how people working from home, running their own small business, can act like a social enterprise. How the artist or coach or web designer or piano teacher can be a part of this growing movement of do-good business.

I think that running your own business can be so demanding that it’s hard to find time to think about how to help the environment, or your local community, or donate a portion of profits to a charity. Simply paying the bills can seem enough of a challenge.

But at the end of the day, I also don’t think making money is enough. I don’t have the answers, but hopefully it will become clearer as I take myself and Do Good Design further down this path.