Making a Difference As A ‘Social Entrepreneur’

We hear a lot these days about "the new retirement," a stage in life when older Americans embrace new careers and challenges or satisfy passions they’ve neglected for years. Some start a business, explore the globe, or hit all the golf courses.

But think about this: For some, the phrase means striving to better the world around them.

Civic Ventures, a San Francisco think tank, identifies these ambitious and resourceful folks as being among a new breed of "social entrepreneurs."

"They may have been business entrepreneurs in their middle years," says Marc Freedman, the organization’s president. "Now they’re worshiping a different bottom line — a better society, enhancing the common good. If you create wealth, it’s OK, but it isn’t enough."

For many of these people, what they’re doing is like starting a small business: They see a need for a service, form an organization, seek financing, and aim for an expanding venture that can help to support and perpetuate itself. You don’t have to be a Bill Gates to join this club.

Last fall, in an effort to recognize and encourage this growing phenomenon, Civic Ventures introduced the Purpose Prize — an award of $100,000 to go to each of five social entrepreneurs age 60 or older. Funds for the first three years of the annual judging are to come from $9 million donated by Bermuda-based Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation, in West Conshohocken, Pa

By SCOTT R. SCHMEDEL
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal.

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