Venture philanthropy, or philanthrocapitalism, is a young field that was borne out of the successes the venture capital industry saw in the 1990s. Newly wealthy entrepreneurs and investors wanted to donate but needed accountability and a better understanding of how their dollars were having impact. So they started applying some of the metrics and business practices from traditional investing to their charitable work. Returns in this area are not meant to be competitive with private equity- or venture capital-sized returns. Instead, social venture capital is a more disciplined form of charity that requires a self-sustaining business model and some of the listening mechanisms built into a market-based approach.

It’s good to see the investor side of the social capital field growing thoughtfully alongside the entrepreneurial social ventures themselves.
-Jay