{"id":3259,"date":"2015-01-22T16:28:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T21:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=3259"},"modified":"2015-01-22T16:28:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T21:28:11","slug":"social-enterprise-institute-established-at-elizabethtown-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2015\/01\/22\/social-enterprise-institute-established-at-elizabethtown-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Enterprise Institute established at Elizabethtown College"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"James<\/a><\/em>Rather than concentrate on profits, social enterprises focus on people and the community. Though revenue-generating\u2014nonprofit or for-profit\u2014these endeavors apply commercial strategies to improve human and environmental wellbeing. The bottom-line goal is social, cultural, economic or environmental outcomes. Though social enterprises might look like a traditional business on the surface, underlying are symbiotic relationships.<\/p>\n

Ten Thousand Villages. Tom\u2019s Shoes. Warby Parker. Newman\u2019s Own.<\/p>\n

Elizabethtown College?<\/p>\n

The social enterprise concept perfectly aligns with the College\u2019s belief that learning is most noble when used to benefit others and that students should be educated to lead rich lives of purpose and meaning while advancing independent thought, personal integrity and social responsibility. With that in mind, Elizabethtown has established the Social Enterprise Institute (SEI). The SEI\u2014Real Innovation. Real Solutions. Impacting Lives.\u2014gives back to the community\u2014domestically and internationally\u2014while utilizing the strengths of corporate and business partnerships, students, and faculty and staff members.<\/p>\n

\n

Social enterprise attempts to solve the riddle of pairing industrial science with social science and embedding it in a business model that enables a sustainable solution to a persistent social problem.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSocial enterprise attempts to solve the riddle of pairing industrial science with social science and embedding it in a business model that enables a sustainable solution to a persistent social problem,\u201d explained Jim Reeb, director of E-town\u2019s new Institute.<\/p>\n

Philanthropy and government programs attempt to solve persistent social problems but universally fail, Reeb said. Philanthropy, he noted, often traps those it intends to help by simply giving but not following through. \u201cThis is evident in Africa where there are rusting hulks of things donated that haven\u2019t been used.\u201d And, government programs are mostly inefficient and ineffective, he said, adding that \u201cneither approach has proven to be sustainable on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reeb, an impact banker, is a managing principal with York-based TAG Impact Partners. He has more than 30 years of experience in management consulting, supply chain, corporate real estate and manufacturing development advisory services, and he has worked with 85 of the Fortune 500.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Social enterprise) is the basis of my values,\u201d he said in a phone interview. \u201cMy background instilled in me to give back. Happiness comes from enhancing the lives of others.\u201d But Reeb said he learned that he was not meant to be on the front line in enhancing lives. \u201cMy strength is not to be a nurse, for instance, but to help those who help others to do it more efficiently. \u201cI was given the gift of \u2018provisioning\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sought out Elizabethtown as a home for the SEI because the College was a perfect mold waiting to be filled. \u201cWith the motto, stewardship, the focus on peace and enhancing the lives of others, focus on real-world learning and a culture that enables a cross-discipline team, plus collaboration between faculty and adjunct faculty, it was a perfect platform,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJim brought his idea to the Business Department,\u201d said Rick Basom, executive director of sponsored research in the College\u2019s Office of Sponsored Research and Programs. \u201cSylvester (Williams) saw potential, championed it and brought it to the school. It was a natural fit for the Office of Sponsored Research and Programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt expands our notion of sponsorship. With the federal government it was the same old approach. You submit a grant application and then you take something you care about and shape it to fit the available money.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEI, he said, takes a social good and finds impact investors who want the same thing. \u201cWe are tapping a new funding source.\u201d As a matter of fact, Basom said, Reeb\u2019s position at Elizabethtown and the Institute, itself, is totally sponsored by outside investors; no money comes from the college.<\/p>\n

The SEI, Basom said, really brings to life the mission of the College. \u201cI believe that the best real-world learning occurs when the results actually impact lives in positive ways,\u201d Basom said. \u201cThis is the mission of the SEI \u2013 to generate sponsored projects that impact lives through engagement with our students and faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reeb agrees. The understanding of the concept of social enterprise, he said, must begin in college. \u201cIt is imperative that it be a part of a multi-level education,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are looking to educate the leaders of tomorrow\u2019s social change. This needs to come from higher ed, at the formative stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have engineering in one building and social sciences in another. They don\u2019t often talk to each other. But a social scientist with an engineer can solve a problem in Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basom compared SEI to a pipeline. At one end, he said, is a basic idea for a solution to a social problem; at the other end is the solution. In between is conceptualizing, research and development, a prototype, an alpha test and beta test, the business plan and the launch\u2014all teaching and collaborative opportunities.<\/p>\n

In addition to Basom in oversight and Reeb as director, Bill Gordon, Elizabethtown College adjunct business and engineering faculty member, is project manager for the SEI.<\/p>\n

Thus far, the projects address \u201cthe health of truck drivers in the wealthiest country to the health of the people in the poorest country in the world,\u201d said Reeb. First up is the Trucker Wellness Centers Inc.\u2014the prototype is scheduled to be unveiled at the Mid\u2013American Truck Show<\/a> in March. Following that are the Farmacy, Empower Africa Inc. and Sierra Leone Health Organization.<\/p>\n

Corporate partners include P&G, Coventry Truck, NASCAR, Walmart, Travel Centers of America, Old English Trucking, Target, Hershey and Wilderwood Service Dogs. SEI also is seeking to team with NGOs and other higher ed organizations.<\/p>\n

A bit more on the director:<\/em><\/p>\n

James Reeb has been responsible for strategic planning, business platform design, location analysis, global investment strategies, capital market financing options and infrastructure and facility development. He earned dual bachelor\u2019s degrees, with honors, in business administration\/ accounting and civil\/industrial engineering and an MBA, with honors, in real estate and finance from Temple University. Post graduate, he was executive doctor of business administration from University of Glasgow, Scotland, and a Harvard Business School PMD executive fellowship in Strategic Leadership. Reeb is a certified public accountant, a counselor of real estate and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rather than concentrate on profits, social enterprises focus on people and the community. Though revenue-generating\u2014nonprofit or for-profit\u2014these endeavors apply commercial strategies to improve human and environmental wellbeing. The bottom-line goal is social, cultural, economic or environmental outcomes. Though social enterprises might look like a traditional business on the surface, underlying are symbiotic relationships. Ten Thousand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[804,144,197,807,806,799,802,300,801,808,800,803,805],"class_list":["post-3259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-real-world-learning","tag-bill-gordon","tag-e-a-harvey","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-empower-africa-inc","tag-farmacy","tag-james-reed","tag-jim-reeb","tag-rick-basom","tag-sei","tag-sierra-leone-health-organization","tag-social-enterprise-institute","tag-tag-impact-partners","tag-trucker-wellness-centers-inc","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3263,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions\/3263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}