Case Studies

That old adage, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” certainly applies to end-user entrepreneurs, that is, those people who face a problem, solve the problem, then market the solution.

If you are a start-up business or a nonprofit in need of an office make-over or a lesson in how social media can raise your profile, check out the Win a Sweet New Office Contest sponsored by Turnstone, a company that designs and furnishes offices.

I’m sure you are all aware that the cost of advertising is just plain…well…outrageous. Placing ads in magazines, newspapers, and on the radio can cut deep into a business owner’s pocketbook. So what are small- to medium-sized businesses supposed to do? You sure can’t compete against the advertising budgets of the big guns! And if you try to say, “Why bother advertising or marketing at all?” you risk going completely unnoticed, which could put you out of business.

Editor’s note: To help social entrepreneurs anticipate and avoid some of the problems of starting a social-good business, Ventureneer is doing a series of blogs about the progress of Greenway Grameen Infra, a social enterprise in India.

When last I wrote about Greenway Grameen Infra, its non-polluting stove, fuel efficient stove for rural homes in India was just on the market and hopes were high that 50,000 units would be sold by March 2012.

Donors are different these days. I’m talking about the individual donor, not foundations. And I’m particularly talking about the donors you hit up for more than $10 per month. How do you inspire donations in the $10,000 range?

This year’s Social Impact Exchange conference was a great opportunity to bring people together from traditional philanthropy and donor advised funds, as well as high net worth individuals, to engage in a dialogue about the complex issues that are inherent in trying to drive innovation and impact. We’ve walked away better able to understand how we scale promising innovation. We recognize the solutions that we’re all trying to work toward require us to enter into strategic collaborations with many different kinds of partners. We cannot scale something on our own.

Number crunchers love them; the rest of us are intimidated by them.

Analytics and metrics for social media are so bountiful as to be either a feast or overwhelming, depending on your attitude toward numbers. But the one thing they are not is insufficient.

Whatever the goal of your nonprofit – raising awareness of your organization’s mission, generating funds and letters to public officials or finding board members – social media can help. But you need to use the right social medium for each purpose. And you need to use it correctly.

If you aren't sure whether social media is useful for nonprofits, read on. 

A million deaths to zero: A goal within reach?
In 2006, private equity investor Ray Chambers founded Malaria No More with then-News Corporation President and COO Peter Chernin. Chambers is now special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Malaria. The focus of Malaria No More is to end the 1 million deaths per year -- mostly children -- from malaria in sub-saharan Africa. Insecticide-treated mosquite bed nets (cost $10) can bring the death rate to 0.