Social enterprises use the power of the marketplace and technology for social justice. Under the leadership of those most impacted by inequity, they can transform structures of oppression into tools for liberation.
Since 1998, Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA) has connected the largest community of social enterprises and social entrepreneurs in North America, with a national network of over 1,000 members in 40 states, and a local footprint of 16 chapters and affiliates. Members include a diverse set of practitioners, leading thinkers, activists, investors, public policy leaders and a wide range of ecosystem-builders.
This has been a year of dramatic changes for us, as it has been for so many others around the world. Even before Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic, the Alliance was struggling. The funds to operate our National Office had dried up, and all of our 16 local chapters were in danger of being disbanded.
In the midst of the pandemic, a coalition of 40 social enterprise leaders from across the United States emerged in only a matter of weeks to foster greater and more impactful collaboration nationwide and with our global peers — with a firm intention of rescuing our Alliance.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that the world is crying out for all of us who inhabit it to do better. To be better. Social Enterprise Alliance is becoming whole again, and now has the chance to be better than ever. In this moment that calls for everyone to step up and build power in community, we have been quickly and thoughtfully re-organizing from the center-out, and grounding in connection and collaboration.
It feels like we’re being re-born together.
Photo by Jordan Wozniak on Unsplash
As a result of this nationwide organizing effort led by social impact leaders in local communities across the country, in May 2020, a group of seven directors representing local SEA Chapters from Virginia to Chicago to Texas to the San Francisco Bay Area was elected to serve as SEA’s new National Board.
The new Board is collaborating with a whole new generation of social enterprise leaders that are fired up to innovate together by elevating and augmenting each other’s impact, using Social Enterprise Alliance as a national collaboration platform for and by social entrepreneurs.
We are calling it SEA 3.0.
It is a new model of grassroots organizing with revenue streams to support our national platform, local movement-building, individuals and their enterprises for a new economy centered on justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and regenerative practices.
We need your help to get there.
We are raising $50,000 to kick off SEA 3.0 and ensure that our nonprofit Alliance has the resources necessary to support social enterprises to succeed.
We are catalyzing a broad community of supporters backing social entrepreneurs to achieve greater and more sustainable impact individually, collectively and for the greater good.
What we’re inviting you to do is so much more than to stand with us financially. If you can contribute $100 or more, you will automatically be invited to join as an active member of Social Enterprise Alliance, unleashing your opportunities to participate in our community and co-create SEA 3.0 with us. We are working on the foundation of an expansive movement of social entrepreneurs who share a vision for using the marketplace and technology for social justice, and we would love for you to join us.
Invest in Social Enterprise Alliance for a more just and equitable economy!
We appreciate and want to recognize our SEA Members who contributed rewards in support of this campaign! Please consider also investing directly in their efforts to build the next economy. You can learn about each of them by clicking on their logos below.
