March 17, 2008 - News

The Social Entrepreneurial Mindset: You, too, can think like an innovator
I guess you can say that Geoff Cape knows a thing or two about social entrepreneurship. For approximately 18 years, he has led Evergreen, a national charity and social business venture with a mission of bringing communities and nature together for the benefit of both. In addition to its newest venture, Brickworks, an innovative urban green space project, the organization is currently running a million-dollar program in Ontario with the Ministry of Natural Resources, activities in BC and Alberta, and other programming in the realm of food and urban agriculture.

A testament to Cape’s contributions to the field of social entrepreneurship and healthy sustainable societies, the innovator was recently awarded the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Canada’s first recipient of the prestigious prize. Evidently, Cape has an intimate understanding of what makes these hybrid models work so well within the charitable paradigm. But what makes a social entrepreneur tick? What are the unique qualities, if any, that are commonly associated with those who’ve introduced entrepreneurial buzzwords into the not-for-profit vernacular? And what can any organization, regardless of its model, learn from these entrepreneurs to help it succeed?