April 16, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
As proponents of applying business models to achieving social change talk with policy makers –- and even others in the nonprofit world –- they can’t assume that people understand the term, “social entrepreneurship,” Mitch Landrieu, Louisiana’s lieutenant governor, told participants at the Social Enterprise Summit, here in New Orleans.
“People who are not MBA’s, that didn’t hang out in Ivy League schools, they don’t know what the hell social entrepreneurship is, and they’ll look at you with a blank stare,” he said. “And if you go out on the ground and talk to people who are social entrepreneurs and you tell them that they’re one, they might slap you.”
In 2007, Mr. Landrieu created the first state Office of Social Entrepreneurship.
The problems that the United States face are tremendous, he said, and neither government, business, nor philanthropy can solve them alone.
“Sometimes government helps; sometimes government gets in the way,” said Mr. Landrieu. “Sometimes business can help. Sometimes business really gets in the way.”
Charity, he said, has its place, but alone it’s not enough.
“The folks like Sr. Anthony over at Associated Catholic Charities have been doing great charitable work over time,” he said. “But that model is basically, I need money, and then I can get that money to people who need it, and I’m not going to ask them to give anything back. That model works in certain circumstances, but it doesn’t work all the time.”
Mr. Landrieu said he started the Office of Social Entrepreneurship, in large part, because of the creative, “born of necessity” solutions he saw in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
To create similar offices in other cities and states, nonprofit leaders and other advocates need to provide clear, tangible examples to their elected officials to help them understand what social entrepreneurship is, he said.
“Your voice can be heard if you speak to them,” he told the audience. “But if you don’t go to them, they won’t come find you.”
