article thumbnail

Funders Can Give More than Money

Harvard Business Review

Six years ago, David and Donna Allman approached Opportunity with an idea that fell outside our traditional microfinance model: to build a Community Economic Development (CED) program in Nicaragua. Twelve-year-old Roger Ruiz was expelled from his public school in rural Nicaragua.

article thumbnail

What Makes Social Entrepreneurs Different

Harvard Business Review

It is unthinkable, for instance, to imagine a social entrepreneur treating research on the health effects of tobacco use the way the tobacco industry, market analysts, and investors did in the 1960s and '70s. I read, among many others, the writings of researchers such as Roger Bate and Paul Newton. They can be more analytical.