Barbara Levin
314.935.6661
Washington University in Saint Louis
Alliance for Building Capacity, George Warren Brown School of Social Work
Campus Box 1196
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130


The history of the SEA-St. Louis Chapter begins in 2002, when our group of several non-profit executives in St. Louis first talked about how to promote social entrepreneurship in the community. For a number of years, we had been learning about the concept of social enterprise, attending national conferences, and watching developments in the field. The group at the table included practitioners, students and academics from Washington University, and an occasional "investor." We defined social entrepreneurship as "using entrepreneurial skills to craft innovative processes, approaches, and solutions to help resolve social issues." Our goals were the following:

• To increase awareness of social entrepreneurship benefits among leaders in business, education, government, nonprofits, and the investor community.
• To educate investors and practitioners about social entrepreneurship advantages and social outcomes, evaluation criteria, and methods.
• To facilitate matches between current and future social investors and entrepreneurs.
• To monitor the progress and nurture the development of the social enterprises once they are initiated.

Our group, called the Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship (ASE), hosted a gathering in June 2004 that featured an overview of social entrepreneurship from Andrew Wolk of Root Cause, and a panel of speakers including Tim Zak, from Pittsburgh's Social Innovation Accelerator, Nancy Carstedt of Chicago Children's Choir, and Kathleen Buescher of Provident in St. Louis. Topics discussed at the gathering included planning for a social enterprise, measuring social impact, identifying and leveraging assets, staff and board buy-in, and promoting an entrepreneurial mindset. We discussed the possibility of hosting a competition for social enterprises, along with the need to identify a champion and funder for the competition. Next steps included focusing on ASE as a virtual organization with volunteer staff support, and working with Washington University to explore educational needs and a possible competition.

Subsequently, the ASE worked with social enterprises in St. Louis to host a series of Community Exchanges. These were bimonthly events held on a Thursday morning from 7:30 - 9:00 am. The time allowed for networking, a presentation from the host enterprise, followed by a tour of the facility. Since 2004, these enterprises have hosted Community Exchanges.

In July 2005, the YouthBridge Association partnered with Washington University to found the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC). The goal of the partnership is to help social entrepreneurs develop and fund sustainable ventures that deliver valuable public goods and services. YouthBridge pledged $500,000 in seed funding for the competition over five years. In its first year, the Incarnate Word Foundation joined as a sponsor, returning the second year and joined by Deaconess Foundation. Read the press release about the partnership.

In September, 2005, the ASE hosted our second annual gathering, with support from A. G. Edwards. Presenters at the second gathering included representatives from the Social Enterprise Alliance, Former President and CEO Beth Bubis, and Vice President Jim McClurg. In addition, local presenters spoke on the topics of financial, legal, marketing, and organizational challenges of starting a social enterprise. Also in September 2005, the SEIC kicked off, hosting a nine-month long series of speaker and educational events with networking receptions. Over the first two years of the competition, speakers have included Joe Edwards, social entrepreneur in St. Louis's Loop district, Theresa Wilson, founder of the Blessing Basket Project, Tim Hanser of St. Louis Cardinals Care, and Leslie Michelson, former CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The YouthBridge Workshop Series has included sessions on the topics of Defining Social Entrepreneurship, Finding your Champion, Pricing your Offering, Funding Sources, Alliances and Collaborations, Building your Team, Legal Implications of a Social Enterprise, and Measuring Outcomes. Over the 2 years of the competition, over $250,000 has been awarded to winning community and student teams. Visit the Washington University News & Information site to read about the 2005 and 2006 winners, or the SEIC website for more information about the competition.

In March 2007, our group formally affiliated with the Social Enterprise Alliance, becoming the association’s first official chapter.