Elevating fast food
It’s about 1 o’clock on a Monday afternoon, and the Elevation Burger in Falls Church, Va., is packed with a hungry lunch crowd.Every few minutes, an employee bearing a tray full of food emerges from...
View ArticleElevation Burger: How do you change a flawed institution?
When Hans and April Hess founded Elevation Burger in 2005, they approached the fast-food model in a new way. They incorporated the best parts of that institution -- affordability, widespread...
View ArticleOrphan diseases find a champion
The parents of the little boy in a wheelchair had driven from upstate New York to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., hoping they would finally get a diagnosis. Or at least find a way to make...
View ArticleNonprofit puts people back on the road of hope
Gloria Scott, 51, of Chapel Hill, N.C., cranked the engine of the 2003 black Mercury Sable and, for the first time in years, saw a world of possibilities on the road ahead.
View ArticlePaul Sansone: The triple bottom line of people, planet and profit
Better World Books came into being in 2002 when three Notre Dame students were disappointed by the pittance they were offered when they tried to sell their used textbooks back to the bookstore. They...
View ArticleResources on Christian social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship is the process of pursuing innovative solutions to social problems. For Christian leaders, this blending of a business model with Christian mission can be a valuable tool to...
View ArticleDavid Scobey: Let's do together what we can't do separately
Across the nation, universities are placing a renewed emphasis on civic or public engagement, helping to solve problems in their local communities. And churches and other religious institutions are...
View ArticleMike Baughman: The wetlands where church and social ventures meet
Sometimes, the best way to learn about the church may be to get as far away from it as possible, to attend a meeting or conference that has nothing to do with the church at all. That’s what I did this...
View ArticleMetanoia Community Development Corporation and its activities
After-school program for young leadersIn 2002, the Chicora-Cherokee community had the highest per-capita rate of child poverty in South Carolina. This prompted Metanoia’s founders, the Revs. Bill...
View ArticleMichael Faye and Paul Niehaus: Trust the poor to make decisions
GiveDirectly’s mission is summed up in its name. Using cutting-edge technology, American donors can transfer cash to people in Kenya and Uganda who are living in extreme poverty.It’s a simple idea, but...
View ArticleMaya Ajmera: Luck, timing, strategy and hard work
Maya Ajmera founded the Global Fund for Children in 1993 with the “hallucinogenic optimism” and youthful naiveté that she could create an organization that would help children -- including street...
View ArticleCharlie Hale: Building a movement of young leaders in global health
Global Health Corps, a nonprofit that recruits young professionals to work in the field of global health, is based on two simple ideas, says Charlie Hale.The first is that health care is more complex...
View ArticleCarol R. Naughton: How willing are you to cause disruptive change?
When Purpose Built Communities, an Atlanta nonprofit that works to revitalize troubled neighborhoods across the nation, is trying to recruit community leaders, it asks them a clear but tough question:...
View ArticleAn NYC nonprofit is a perfect catalyst, rallying communities to address...
Twenty-four years ago, Rosanne Haggerty transformed the way homelessness is addressed in New York City. She founded a nonprofit that renovated run-down buildings and converted them into housing for...
View ArticleRosanne Haggerty: These problems are solvable
Rosanne Haggerty has worked on the issue of homelessness for 30 years, and in that time she’s come to realize that, contrary to public belief, even the most complex problems can be solved.The key, she...
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