Submitted by David Bornstein, Oct 28, 2007 01:00

I have been interviewing social entrepreneurs for 15 years and, in my experience, very few fit within the narrow definition set forth in this article. Most leading social entrepreneurs are looking to have the broadest possible impact with their ideas -- and they will use whatever institutional tools and supports are available. In the US, organizations like College Summit and Teach for America have demonstrated broad impact by working in close partnership with public school agencies, not by avoiding them. Social entrepreneurs are not ideologues; they make efforts to see the world as it is, not as they wish it were. As such, they will work with businesses and governments; they will pursue grant funding, market-based revenues or government support -- whatever is necessary to change the system. Their ability to look beyond the typical blinders of ideology is key to their innovation.
-David Bornstein

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