Make Your University a Social Innovation Incubator

This post concludes an 11-part series on Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University. This post's author is Alan Harlam, Director of Social Entrepreneurship at Brown University

Brown is a place with exceptionally talented, entrepreneurial young leaders and a strong culture of activism. Since joining Brown, I've worked within a community of students and alumni that are pushing the envelope of social change with new ways of thinking and acting -- many of which have attracted global recognition from leading social entrepreneurship organizations, including Ashoka, Echoing Green, Draper Richards and Rainer Arnhold.

The mission of the Social Innovation Initiative is to create a generous culture of idea and resource sharing to support social entrepreneurs -- and to enhance their work's impact and sustainability. In a short time, we 've taken great strides to create institutional support for entrepreneurs and their work. Simultaneously, though, I'm always aware that we can magnify our impact to help nurture projects and leaders to their full potential. To that end, here are two tactics that I'd like to share:

1) Mobilize alumni as mentors and pro-bono/affordable professional advisors

Young entrepreneurs are eager to receive guidance and advice from peers, as well as those who've gone before them. An alumni network represents a vast, largely untapped resource that can offer such support, and in fact is eager to provide it. At Brown, we've begun to connect with alumni to ask for their help, and been greeted by enthusiasm -- especially from young alumni who have more time to offer than money. Financial support from alumni is invaluable to institutions, but universities should also work on forging strong relationships with their alumni by using them as mentors, too. Though our own outreach began only a few months ago, we've been overwhelmed by the response from alumni, who are more than happy to serve on a selection committee, mentor a fellowship applicant or entrepreneur, or provide pro-bono or very low cost services to pre-launch and early stage organizations. We plan to build capacity to develop this network and further facilitate such connections -- ultimately fostering a more vital and active professional alumni network.

2) Create a platform for recent alumni entrepreneurs to share resources and expertise

For student entrepreneurs, a key challenge is graduation, when they have to factor in personal financial needs as part of their project's cost for the first time. This transition often can disrupt or destroy a nascent organization. For example, one organization I've known employed four full-time employees with a total annual budget of $70,000 -- but when the two co-founders graduated, the organization suddenly needed to increase its budget by more than 70% to afford salary and health benefits. This is a common story, and one that often leads entrepreneurs to abandon promising efforts.

To address this problem, a shared network can be formed to continue supporting these entrepreneurs, allowing organizations to find synergy by sharing space, ideas and resources. Early stage organizations, for example, can pool resources, thereby accessing talent and infrastructure that wouldn't be available individually. For example, in Providence, RI, one such group is currently forming a cooperative to pool resources and also hire a seasoned professional that can build capacity, structure and accountability for their organizations. Doing so will help them avoid rookie mistakes that otherwise could be catastrophic to their efforts. The cooperative's founding entrepreneurs, in turn, plan to invite all RI entrepreneurs to join the incubator group. That way, the group can not only forge stronger ties between Brown and other universities, but the community at large, as well.

Photo Credit: josedeluna