Welcome to Beyond Profit! Despite the fact that the world economy and its media hierarchy seem to be crumbling, against all odds we’d like to welcome you to the launch of a new magazine, the start of a new social business!
Why, you ask? Why start a new business—a new publication, no less—now? We believe that our world could use more good news: Companies doing right. People who put community above self. Investors that look beyond a quick financial return.
We believe that people and businesses that are looking beyond profit—at their impact on society, and their ability to change systems, processes and communities—are worth knowing about.
I recently started reading a book called Deep Economy by Bill McKibben. In it, McKibben, an environmentalist and writer, observes that “more” is no longer synonymous with “better.” For way too long, he writes, we have assumed that the growth of economies, and the pursuit of our own interests in a market society would make us richer. But they haven’t. Instead, too many of us have big houses, eat avocados out of season, and drive SUVs. Meanwhile our climate deteriorates, the world’s bright young minds languish, and poverty rises.
Social enterprise was until recently thought of as passing trend, but now we recognize that we need it, it is here to stay. To quote Jose Maria Figueres, the former president of Costa Rica, whom I met at the Skoll Forum last month: “We have been living on values based on the notion that ‘if you consume, you will be happy, and the more you consume, the happier you’ll be.’ Development does not mean getting six billion people to consume as we do.”
Figueres is right. We can’t continue down this tired path. We must push ourselves to find new models and methods—not to create More, but to live Better, both for ourselves and for those around us.
We are leaving old style “none for you, two for me” thinking, and are entering a new zeitgeist that should spur us to change how we live. But we can only do that if we change the way we think about how we want to live.
It’s time that we start thinking beyond profit—about harnessing markets for large-scale sustainable change, and using business to shape lives in a positive way, because philanthropy can’t do it alone.
You’ll find plenty of examples of beyond profit thinking within this issue: a franchise that can turn low-income men and women into entrepreneurs, a bookstore in Cairo that is creating a culture of literacy, a Indian courier company that employs the deaf.
We hope that through Beyond Profit, we will not only spread the good news, but will also spur innovation. We hope to be a conduit, helping investors find growing businesses, enabling entrepreneurs to surmount their challenges, and inciting you to start thinking beyond profit.
Managing Editor,
Lindsay Clinton
PS. As we launch our first issue, we would love to hear how we can give you what you want … especially while we are still new and nimble. Please write to us at bpmag@intellecap.net.
Pamela Said,
May 3, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
Bill McKibben is not the first of authors to tout the benefits of sustainable economics. Back when some were calling nuclear power “too cheap to meter”, E.F. Schumacher was writing “Small is Beautiful”. Helped launch the sustainability movement, then called “appropriate technology”. Have you heard of Schumacher? He is English, had a lot of followers in the U.S. and especially in Austin.
kevin jones Said,
May 17, 2009 @ 5:16 pm
good luck on the new magazine. more voices are needed.
Lindsay Clinton Said,
May 18, 2009 @ 6:11 am
Thanks Kevin! We appreciate your support and were thrilled to have Wes from Good Capital write for us in the first issue. I hope we can continue to learn from the good work you all are doing.
Lindsay Clinton Said,
May 18, 2009 @ 6:11 am
To Pamela, thanks for your insightful comments on sustainable economics. McKibben mentions Schumacher in his book, but I haven’t gotten around to reading Schumacher first hand. Now I will…Thanks!
Gabriel Brodbar Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 10:17 am
Reformed venture capitalist Woody Tasch (founder and chairman of Investors’ Circle) has written most eloquently on this topic in his recently published book Slow Money. He calls for a new market where “slow money” is invested to grow communities and sustainable businesses, and not to spur growth simply for growths sake. He embraces E.F. Schumacher’s notion that economics is a tool not an end and thus seeks to spur a new construct of meta-economic values. In short, it’s about changing the relationship (i.e. the distance) between investor and investment. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in this philosophy between responsible investing. For those who will be in the New York area in November, Woody will be speaking as part of the NYU Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship’s 2009-10 “Social Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century” speaker series. The event is free, and details will be posted at http://www.nyu.edu/reynolds.
Lindsay Clinton Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Thanks Gabriel! We enjoyed meeting you earlier this week, and loved looking through the NYU Reynolds “FaceBook.” There are some amazing young people you’re working with…hope to be able to work with some of them in the future! And, thanks for sharing the details of this speaker series with our readers.
Karteek Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 11:10 pm
Good Luck with your magazine.Hope to see some great articles…
Mark Pomerantz Said,
May 27, 2009 @ 10:49 am
Good luck!
Many of you remember the Social Enterprise Reporter which Tom White published out of Berkley keying mainly on American Social Enterprises. I believe he is still blogging. In 2001 I started a website which covered the rudiments of social enterprise which I occasionally still update (www.socialenterprisemagazine.org).My academic association, USASBE (US Association for Small Business and Enterpreneurship http://www.usasbe.org ) has an active social entrepreneurship group which I chair and is very interested in teaching cases in SE.In my other hat as a leadership committee member of BALLE-Seattle(www.balleseattle.org) we promote, “Eat Local”, “Buy Local”, and “Invest Local” events and recently sponsored talks by Michael Shuman and Woody Tasch on investing locally.
Mark
john herron Said,
May 28, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
Social Enterprise, and social entrepreneurs, seems to be touted for the size and scale of the impact they make with their innovation. We can all be inspired by the accomplishments of Mohammed Yunus. His impact is truly grand.
I want to see some attention in magazines or discussions on the successful social entrepreneur who runs a small business. In books like “The Millionaire Next Door” we come to recognize the wealth and job producing impact of small business run well over time. I believe that 70% of all jobs are created by small business.
ichi Said,
May 29, 2009 @ 8:24 am
Thank you so much for your generous time-limited free 1-year subscription even outside of US. I just signed up!
I live in Tokyo-area in Japan and am looking forward to receiving the first issue! The trend and movement around social entrepreneurship has grown here as well.I would like to have a dialogue via your publication!
Steve Said,
June 11, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
Lyndsay,
Thank you so very much for all the time and effort that you and your colleagues have put into BP. I was so thrilled to get the inaugural issue and read about the many exciting innovations and inspiring innovators. For the organization I work with, Springboard Innovation, we just launched an online seed funding tool for emerging social entrepreneurs, http://www.thechangexchange.org, and it is so terrific to be able to share your magazine with all the folks involved. For so many of the idea ‘launchers’, as we call them, devising and launching a new social enterprise is not only daunting, but can be very isolating. The profiles and words of Beyond Profit are incredibly timely and much appreciated.
Keep up the great work!
Brian Zhang Said,
June 23, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
when more than 20 million normal workers getting laid off from closing factories by today’s rough economy, people on wheelchairs are getting hired by a new social enterprise a Chinese learning social web CHATnese.org, chat to learn Chinese.
Its creator Brian Zhang is made in China and returned home to make a difference after studying in U.S
Lyndsay, run across your magazine S.E is new to everyone here in China, even ngo and grassroots are like new born baby, with big heart and small idea like providing jobs for people(20 million in China) on wheelchair, I can’t wait to get up in the morning and run down to my office (extra room next to the kitchen) working on the project. it will soon be on line, we are training people on wheelchair now to provide a new immersion way for people to learn Chinese via social web like facebook, and skype and even second life.
Lindsay Clinton Said,
June 24, 2009 @ 12:31 am
Dear Brian,
Thanks for sharing information on your enterprise. It sounds like a great initiative. Good luck in your work…and keep us posted on your progress. We love to hear about new social enterprises.
Lindsay
Lindsay Clinton Said,
June 24, 2009 @ 12:33 am
Thanks Steve. I’ve been talking with one of your colleagues and learning more about The Change Exchange–what I like about your project is the fact that there are entrepreneurs of all ages! It sounds like a great support mechanism for social entrepreneurs. It would be great to see Change Exchange expand to include entrepreneurs around the world!