Social entrepreneurship movement growing throughout The School of Business

Nettie Tiso will graduate in Spring 2022 from Portland State University with a Graduate Certificate of Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship and a Masters from the Nonprofit Leadership program.

Tiso comes from a long line of seamstresses. As a child, she taught herself how to sew and made her own clothes. Her interest in sewing brought her to fashion school in New York City, jobs with designers and garment manufacturers.

“Sewing is a real passion of mine,” said Tiso. “Simultaneously, I’ve also always volunteered and worked in the nonprofit world. It just kind of happened naturally. It feels good.”

Tiso moved to Portland from Michigan in 2020 to attend PSU. She had heard about the award-winning social entrepreneurship certificate program at PSU and its reputation as being one of the best in the nation.

Having witnessed poor work conditions in the garment industry, Tiso plans to use her education to improve them by either working for a labor union or starting a nonprofit organization. She credits The School of Business for giving her the skills and self-awareness to do so.

“I feel like I have gotten exactly what I thought I was going to get out of it,” she said. “I know my personal mission a lot better because of it. There is so much hands-on learning. For a creative person like myself, I feel I upgraded my skills at PSU. And I can apply them right away.”

From a single class first taught in 2008 to the creation of an entire program and a certificate, social entrepreneurship has grown and spread throughout The School of Business at PSU.

Defining social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is when someone uses their business skills to create an operation that is not only financially sustainable and potentially scalable, but also has a positive impact on a community and/or the environment. This type of person is sometimes called an “impact entrepreneur.”

“Portland State was one of the first public universities with a program in social entrepreneurship,” said Abby Chroman, program manager of social innovation and entrepreneurship at The School of Business. “Now it’s integrated deeply into institutions around the world.”

The concept gained so much traction that an international nonprofit called Ashoka launched Ashoka U to help foster the growth of social entrepreneurship in higher education. Since 2008 Ashoka U has selected 51 “Changemaker Campuses” globally, including PSU, to recognize their social entrepreneurship education efforts.

Growing at PSU

Social entrepreneurship did not spread overnight at PSU. It was initially catalyzed in 2008-2009 by a small group of dedicated faculty members who taught the first Social Entrepreneurship classes at PSU.

With support of Interim School of Business Dean Scott Marshall, faculty members Cindy Cooper and Carolyn McKnight built on the momentum. They created a conference, a field study, publications, clubs and new classes all focused on social entrepreneurship. Under their leadership, the discipline evolved from a single class to become its own program, called Impact Entrepreneurs, within the university, complete with self-generated funding for staff and programs.

While it used to be just one focused program, the concept now is part of practically all business classes, said The School of Business Dean Cliff Allen.

“Because we no longer operate like a small organization within PSU, hire staff or do consultations, I get questions like, ‘What happened to social entrepreneurship within The School of Business?’,” said Chroman. “It’s grown. It’s now diffused throughout our business programs. It’s a model for organizational change.”

When Allen talks about the spread of social entrepreneurship at The School of Business, he compares it to how quality assurance developed in industry. At first, one department would specialize in ensuring quality for an entire company. It’s evolved to the point where every department in a typical firm makes quality assurance part of its focus.

“Social entrepreneurship is still a certificate a student can specialize in, but when we talk about entrepreneurship in The School of Business, we tend to talk about social entrepreneurship. It fits our mission,” said Allen.

Fits the student

Social entrepreneurship also fits the typical student who enrolls at The School of Business, Allen added.

“When I talk to MBA students, they put a company’s mission before its bottom-line revenue. That’s pretty unusual, but that’s often the type of students who come to PSU, and it’s also what a lot of companies, our stakeholders, expect of us,” he said.

Many PSU students are from communities historically underrepresented in higher education, the first in their family to attend university and pay their own tuition, said Allen. From their personal experience, they realize the importance of improving their community – and the world.

Evident in many ways

Social entrepreneurship has influenced and given birth to several unique initiatives at The School of Business.

For instance, four PSU students launched the Impact Ventures investment fund in 2019. It is the first student-led impact investing fund in the Pacific Northwest. PSU students manage the fund in collaboration with five investment partners.

Participants in a three-term impact investing course study investing and meet with angel investors. They assess pitches from startups that have the potential to deliver a triple bottom line: social, environmental and economic impact, said Julie Hackett, academic director for the Master of Science in Finance and Master of Taxation programs.

The students then recommend opportunities to the fund’s investment committee composed of community members.

“The course offers students experiential learning and networking opportunities in the startup community,” Hackett said. “We are really proud of this. It’s a differentiator for our programs and very appealing to students.”

The committee made its first investments in 2020. The typical investment is $25,000, said Hackett, adding that the goal is to invest even larger amounts in the future.

Students can also elect to take a social innovation trip as part of their studies. They work with local organizations in foreign countries that strive to use business principles to address social issues.

“This really aligns with our values,” said Tichelle Sorensen, academic director of The Portland MBA.

Sorensen added that students also have started helping companies get “B Corp” certified, meaning they have been recognized by the international nonprofit B Lab as being “a force for good” beyond just maximizing shareholder value.

“The interest in B Corps now, which is a way to measure social impact, is higher than it’s ever been among the students,” said Sorensen.

Social entrepreneurship has become so embedded at PSU that it has also been named a “gold chapter” of Net Impact, she added. Now in its 28th year, Net Impact is a “grassroots, global movement of students and emerging impact leaders who want to use their skills to make a positive impact for people and planet,” according to its website.

Allen also pointed out that the undergraduate and graduate business capstone programs at PSU provide consulting advice to many social entrepreneurs, thus exposing students to the concept in a real-world manner.

Impacting a graduate

Rebecca Goldcrump was a certified public accountant when she moved to Portland. She enrolled in the MBA program at PSU because she wanted to use business skills to make a positive impact on the world. Goldcrump graduated in 2018 with her MBA and a Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship.

“I’m so grateful I was introduced to what was basically a new way of thinking about business for me. There is a new way of going about it that could have a more positive impact in the world,” she said.

Using her accounting and finance skills — and the connections she made at PSU — Goldcrump founded Good Cause Consulting in 2019. Her mission is to teach nonprofit groups to use business skills to increase revenue, and to teach for-profit firms how to do more good in the world.

Goldcrump’s first client was a nonprofit group she connected with while still studying at PSU.

“I built my business from there through referrals and a lot of connections I formed through the program,” she said, adding she still feels connected to PSU even almost four years after graduating.

Last year Goldcrump started a new initiative: The Impact Collective. She’s teamed with three other like-minded consultants she met at PSU. The group, among other social entrepreneurship services, offers advice to firms seeking B Corp certification.

“I have more resources. I have a team of people with whom I can work. I’m excited about the future.”

Goldcrump is now also offering personal coaching to corporate executives who want to have more of a sense of purpose in life.

“I’ve been on this journey from numbers to humans,” she said. “I feel coaching is like the last bridge.”

The future

When asked what the future of social entrepreneurship looks like at The School of Business, Allen predicted there might come a time when there won’t be a need for specialized credentials.

“It’s embedded in almost everything we do here, but there’s still room to grow,” he said.