Week 6

Summary:

This week I learned why and how businesses can help solve social problems as well as a model of how the social venture not only can solve social problems but in a sustainable way.  I learned about raising capital and what those capital sources are.  Lastly, I learned about a successful social entrepreneur in Vera Cordeiro and how grit, determination, and help from others can make an organization not just work but thrive. 

Response to a reading:

I loved reading about Vera Cordeiro and how Renascer came to be.  Being able to put together her upbringing, her need to help others and empathy in doing so made sense in how Renascer not only was formed but has grown throughout the years.  I also loved having another example of how great ideas are formed everyday but it’s the ones doing the actual work that get it done.  Cordeiro could not do it alone.  She had to have volunteers, donations, and later the help of McKinsey in being able to get Renascer out to more recovering children and their families.  Renascer’s mission was limited in ways but with its measurable, time-bound goals it was able to help in the making of long-term changes for these children and their families. 

Weekly prompt:  Does money buy happiness?  Can money change the world? 

I think a lot of us are taught to say that money does not buy happiness, yet it can, right?  Maybe we should say that it does not buy joy.  I think happiness can be found in money sometimes and it certainly can change the world.  When people come up with ideas for social change, they need volunteers but they also need money to provide the services they intend to give.  Volunteering goods can only go so far before money is needed.  And being the donor that provides that money wants to feel that happiness that, in this case, money can buy.  They want to see their donations produce results.  This leads to their happiness, the organization’s happiness as well as the recipient’s happiness.