(Justmeans.com / CSR News) -  

Contact: Kris Prendergast, 202-558-7115, kris@se-alliance.org

 Social Enterprise Summit 2010 + World Forum

Focuses on the role of social enterprise in a new economy

 Washington, DC (January 5, 2010) – On Wednesday, April 28, the Social Enterprise Alliance will kick off the Social Enterprise Summit 2010 and World Forum, a gathering of 600 leaders from enterprising nonprofits, social-purpose businesses, and capital providers dedicated to using business approaches to address pressing social challenges. The three-day event at the Hyatt Embarcadero will highlight social enterprise models and strategies from all the major continents.

 “The growth of a robust social enterprise sector can usher in a new era of tackling and resolving our most vexing social problems. We’re proud to be hosting the third World Forum, which is designed to convene best practices and thinking to reduce barriers, forge new partnerships, transfer strategies and develop human, financial and intellectual capital so that the sector can be scaled to deliver its benefits around the world,” says Social Enterprise Alliance President Kris Prendergast.

 Social enterprises build a more just, sustainable world by applying market-based strategies to today’s many social problems.  The social needs they address and the business models they use are as diverse as human ingenuity.  From businesses that help people overcome employments barriers to contracted providers of social and human services and everything in between, social enterprises are launched by social entrepreneurs who want to improve the common good and solve social problems in new, more lasting and effective ways than traditional approaches. The growth of social enterprise has the potential to be a defining innovation of this century.

 The conference Program will feature five conference tracks – Finance and Investment, Models and Strategies, Leadership Development, Communications and Storytelling, and Public Policy. Each track will offer sessions within the cross-cutting themes of global, national and local opportunities.

 More than 40 Summit workshops will explore the keys to entrepreneurial success, and five tours will visit eighteen social enterprises at work in the Bay Area. For full conference details, visit www.se-alliance.org/summit.cfm.

 About the Social Enterprise Alliance

A social enterprise is an organization or venture that achieves its primary social or environmental mission using business methods.  The Social Enterprise Alliance brings together the diverse field of social enterprise in North America.  It serves as advocate for the field, hub of information and education, and builder of a vibrant and growing community of social enterprises.  www.se-alliance.org               ###