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Entrepreneurship

The growth of our firm has been motivated by entrepreneurial spirit of the founding partners. The business has grown from a small enterprise to the current 200 employees company due to the entrepreneurship skills of business leaders. The company should therefore engage in philanthropic projects that support entrepreneurship both locally and even abroad especially in the developing world where entrepreneurial skills are highly in demand to the need accelerated economic growth (A World of Philanthropy, p7).

Every employee in our company knows that if it were not for the hard work and dedication from the top management, the company could not be here. With this in mind I believe that most of our employees would like to engage in causes that will create for somebody else employment opportunity. Our company should donate to Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI). This is a program of Santa Clara University’s Centre for Science, Technology and Society (CSTS) where young entrepreneurs are empowered to overcome barriers in their initial business stages (Santa Clara University, para2).

In this program social entrepreneurs are involved in a capacity building program that provides them with the skills and knowledge to develop and carry out strategies to achieve sustainable development at scale.  This program I believe appeals even to our company since it is about supporting the efforts of indigenous social entrepreneurs.  These passionate entrepreneurs are strongly attached to the beneficiaries they provide their services and recognize the needs and issues of their local community.  Through supporting GSIB capacity building programs we can support and help them accomplish their goals and design working solutions; not only locally but globally, as well. The employees of our company can be engaged to share their experiences at our company with the young entrepreneurs. This will help them transfer the skills and knowledge to those entrepreneurs. For example, our marketing staff can share their marketing experience with them and teach them on how to deal with marketing challenges.

Our company could also participate in other programs of GSIB like social entrepreneurship through encouraging sustainability and social impact among the young entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs work with seasoned mentors and our company can produce some mentors from our staff pool (Ming, para3).

This program involves online training and mentoring, a two-week in-residence course at Santa Clara University every August, and continuous support. Our company can sponsor this year’s two-week training at the University. By supporting this noble cause we shall be encouraging sustainable development and our customers perception shall be shaped positively as their loyalty is strengthened (Fulton & Blau, p6).

Transparency and accountability is something that every donor would like to be sure of before committing any money to a charity organization. After doing my research from the GSBU website and other websites with related information, I discovered that GSBI carries out a thorough screening program to make sure that the candidates who benefit with the program are the most qualified. The program starts with an open application process that engages three business planning exercises. The process is mentored where the applicants receive responses from others on the exercise. GSBI receives hundred of applicants interested but it is only 100 complete the whole exercise. 30 are interviewed and around 20 are finally selected to join the two week-residence program which is valued at $25000. The program is supported by Social Edge Network and the Skoll Foundation has pledged financial support. However, the program requires more funding and we can join our hands to support this noble course in improving global economy (Ming, para4).

In conclusion, if we undertake this charity project we are going to benefit in the following ways:

The company will be bale to declare up to 10 percent of pretax profits as tax-deductible contributions at the end of the financial year.

Employees who volunteer will develop a stronger sense of loyalty to the company; this is likely to improve productivity, enhance recruitment, and reduce employee turnover.

Customers are often more loyal to socially responsible companies and we might benefit too.

Companies that support causes that link to the core business and social issues create synergy with core competencies and customers.

Strategic philanthropy generally improves a company’s reputation and eases relations with the government and the community.

Works Cited

A World of Philanthropy. Defining Success and Attaining It. (2010). Web. 28th October,

2010.

Ahttp://www2.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/philanthropy/publications-and-resources/other-publications/maximizing-impact-primer-on-strategic-philanthropy.pdf

Fulton, Katherine & Blau, Andrew. Choosing Your Path: Principles for Seizing the

Opportunity Ahead. (2005). Web. 28th October,

2010.

http://www.futureofphilanthropy.org/files/yourChoices_1ChoosingYourPath.pdf

Ming, Yao. Global Social Business Incubator: Supporting Social Entrepreneurs. 2008.

Web. 28th October, 2010.

http://www.asianphilanthropyforum.org/2008/09/global-social-b.html

Santa Clara University, Global Social Benefit Incubator. 2010. Web. 28th October,

2010.

http://www.scu.edu/sts/gsbi/ (Accessed on 28th October, 2010).