The Weakest Critique of Social Entrepreneurship

The morning panel at the Clinton Global Initiative University is levying one of the weakest critiques of social entrepreneurship: that "we don't need more nonprofits."

Undergraduate students and social entrepreneurs broadly always hear this line from established nonprofit folks. Don't start an organization, there are so many. Why don't you just find an established group and become a part of them?

There are important points there: that issues of sustainability and capacity are real. Students shouldn't just naively jump into starting their own nonprofits. They need training and support to be succesful.

But the thing that drives me ABSOLUTELY NUTS about the "we don't need more nonprofits line" is that it contains an embedded argument that because the field is congested now, someone new entrants aren't welcome. Somehow now, because so many other orgs (many crappy - or more euphemistically "under-maximized") are here, good people with good ideas should be shut out?

This is nuts. There is NO kill mechanism in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits that aren't having a real impact don't "go out of business," they linger on forever because they can find people who are convinced their mission is important even if they can't show they're making a difference. Yet somehow, because of those actors, new young social entrepreneurs aren't allowed to find new creative approaches?

And the other thing: every leader started as a student entrepreneur. The set of insitutionalized opportunities on campus are (and have been) completely un-engaging for students. The major social change institutions tend to be leagues behind where the students in this room are when it comes to using their assets to create good in the world. We're not just going to "raise awareness" anymore. So yea, they're starting things. They're creating training programs, fundraising programs, and everything in between.

This is an important conversation because its an incredibly relevant issue where the discourse doesn't reflect the real point. The point ISN'T about "how many nonprofits there are." The point is determining are those nonprofits good, and how young people assess their opportunities to create long-term change. Period.