About this course: This course offers an introduction to social impact strategy and social entrepreneurship, including key concepts, an overview of the field, and tools to get started as a changemaker. Students will learn how to innovate and design new ideas and new organizational forms to implement those ideas. Students who take this course will be better prepared to launch social impact organizations of their own invention. By moving through four stages, Define, Design, Pilot, and Scale, students will turn their passion for changing the world into concrete plans for launching a nonprofit or for-profit venture designed to achieve a social goal. This course will allow students to systematically think through problems; develop and test an innovative solution; assess risk, competition, and performance; and spread impact in a way that is financially sustainable. Students who complete the course become eligible to apply for an in-person educational experience, called the Global Social Impact House. GSIH is a seven-day residential program that provides fellows with the tools, community and training they need to advance their ventures. Workshops are customized to the needs of fellows and explore advanced concepts in business models, design thinking and leadership. The program is also designed to help fellows build meaningful, global connections while living together in an inspirational host location. For more information on the Global Social Impact House, please visit: socialimpactstrategy.org/residential/gsih
Who is this class for: This course is intended as an introduction for individuals who want to learn how to mobilize resources to solve complex social problems in ways that are sustainable, scalable, and valuable. Social impact can happen in any sector, in any corner of the world, so this course is designed to be relevant for learners in any sector or country. Some students may hope to develop a new venture, while others may be “intrapreneurs” who work to create systematic change within an existing for-profit, non-profit, or government organization.
Created by: University of Pennsylvania
Taught by: Peter Frumkin, Professor
Nonprofit Leadership Program, School of Social Policy & Practice
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 4 weeks of study, 2-4 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introduction
Learn about the key qualities of social innovation, social enterprise, and social entrepreneurs. How do social entrepreneurs approach problem solving? How might we identify social initiatives that are truly innovative in their approach to delivering on their mission, sustaining their venture, or scaling their impact? This module introduces the topic and offers examples of initiatives you might study as cases organizations throughout the course.
9 videos, 1 reading
- Video: 1.1 Introduction to Social Innovation
- Video: 1.2 Traditional approaches to public problem solving
- Video: 1.3 A social entrepreneur's approach to problem solving
- Video: 1.4 Introduction to the social enterprise and the social enterprise spectrum
- Video: 1.5 The Importance of the business model
- Video: 1.6 Traits of social enterprise across the spectrum
- Video: 1.7. Meet Carlos and Coco
- Video: 1.8. Anatomy of a Social Entrepreneur
- Discussion Prompt: Introductions
- Discussion Prompt: Admirable social innovators and entrepreneurs
- Reading: Recommended Readings for Week 1. Introduction
Graded: Week 1 Quiz: Introduction to Social Innovation, Enterprise, and Entrepreneurship
WEEK 2
Define and Design
Learn the inputs and basic blueprints of a well-articulated vision. Develop an understanding of the design process, and learn to use an empathy map and a mind map for client-oriented innovation. Learn to build a logic model, which will help you articulate your innovation's theory of change from resources (inputs) to activities to impact. We encourage students to apply these tools immediately, to an active or idea-stage social initiative, that you are working directly on or that you admire.
13 videos, 1 reading
- Video: 2.2 Why is Design Thinking Important for Social Innovation?
- Video: 2.3 How to Design Part 1: Spark Useful Insights by Listening with Empathy
- Video: 2.4 How to Design Part 2: Identify the Most Powerful Insights and Potential Solutions by Building a Mind Map
- Video: 2.5 How to Design Part 3: Prototyping
- Video: 2.6 Embracing Creativity and Innovation
- Video: 2.7 Articulating your Roadmap to Impact: The Logic Model
- Video: 2.8 The Logic Model: Critical Elements
- Video: 2.9 The Logic Model: How to Use It
- Video: 2.10 Three Examples of Logic Models
- Video: 2.11 Tips for Building a Strong Logic Model
- Video: 2.12. Carlos and Coco Define and Design (Part 1: Listening with Empathy, Empathy Maps, and Mind Maps)
- Video: 2.13. Carlos and Coco Define and Design (Part 2. Prototyping and Logic Models)
- Discussion Prompt: Mind Mapping for Powerful Insights and Potential Solutions
- Discussion Prompt: Logic Models for Building a Roadmap to Impact
- Reading: Recommended Readings for Week 2: Define and Design
Graded: Week 2 Quiz: Finding Innovations and the Road to Impact
WEEK 3
Pilot and Scale
We must test our ideas in the real world, early and often, to determine if they can truly deliver on either their social or financial mission. Learn to build and use the balanced scorecard, a key tool to assess the real-world performance of a social innovation. The scorecard will allow you to measure and articulate both the initiative's current reach and health, as well as the work that is left to be done. An innovation achieves the intended social impact in a way that is financially supportable may be a candidate for scale. Learn to assess whether and how to approach scale for your social innovation.
11 videos, 1 reading
- Video: 3.2 A Third Approach to Measuring Performance: The Balanced Scorecard
- Video: 3.3 Examples of Balanced Scorecards
- Video: 3.4 How to Develop a Balanced Scorecard - Overview
- Video: 3.5 How to Develop a Balanced Scorecard - Detail
- Video: 3.6 What is Scale?
- Video: 3.7 The Importance of Scale in the Social Sector
- Video: 3.8 Five Approaches to Scale - Overview
- Video: 3.9 Five Approaches to Scale - Details and Implications
- Video: 3.10 Approaching Scale Critically
- Video: 3.11. Carlos and Coco Pilot and Scale (Scorecard, Marketing Matrix, and Customer Segmentation)
- Discussion Prompt: Performance Measurement
- Discussion Prompt: Paths to Scale
- Reading: Recommended Readings for Week 3. Pilot and Scale
Graded: Week 3 Quiz: Performance Measurement and Scale
WEEK 4
Sector Selection and Business Models
This course concludes with an exploration of the organizational forms and modes of delivering impact across the business model spectrum.
15 videos, 1 reading
- Video: 4.2 Features of the Business Model
- Video: 4.3 Business Models along the Business Model Spectrum
- Video: 4.4 Choosing a Model - Introduction
- Video: 4.5 Choosing a Model - How to Choose
- Video: 4.6 Drilling Down on Assessment 2: Competitive Positioning
- Video: 4.7 Competitive Positioning: Market Characteristics and Differentiation
- Video: 4.8 An Example of Competitive Positioning: Blue Avocado
- Video: 4.9 An Example of Competitive Positioning: Jolkona
- Video: 4.10 Key Criteria of Competitive Positioning Assessment
- Video: 4.11 Choosing a Model - Pathways Lead to Many Organizational Forms that Can Result
- Video: 4.12 Balancing Mission and Profit
- Video: 4.13.Carlos and Coco Choose a Business Model
- Video: 4.14 The bottom line
- Video: 4.15. Key Questions all Social Innovators Must Ask
- Discussion Prompt: Sector Selection and Competitive Positioning
- Discussion Prompt: What's Next and Staying in Touch
- Reading: Recommended Readings for Week 4. Sector Selection and Business Models
Graded: Week 4 Quiz: Sector Selection and Business Models
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University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.
Ratings and Reviews
This course is full of meaningful content which is easy to understand and is essentially action oriented learning. I already have my social initiative called SHAPE (Society for Harassment Awareness Prevention and Education) which is operating in Chandigarh, North India. This course equipped me with a very clear insight on how to go about running my initiative in a more efficient manner. I thank Professor Frumpkin and the entire team for thinking of developing this valuable resource.
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The course gives one tools and skills required to start and run social enterprises that are sustainable, scalable and above impactful. The emphasis of the course on the need for learners to practically apply what they have learnt by going on to the actual environment and speaking to stakeholders in order to get their perspective and clearly understand the pain points before coming up with a solution was quite eye opening and empowering. The examples that were given to illustrate the various points were very relevant and also made it easy to understand concepts of social Entrepreneurship. This course inspired me to want to undertake the "Executive Program for Social Impact Strategy".