This course offers an introduction to social impact strategy and social entrepreneurship, including key concepts, an overview of the field, and tools to get started as a changemaker. Students will learn how to innovate and design new ideas and new organizational forms to implement those ideas. Students who take this course will be better prepared to launch social impact
Social Impact Strategy: Tools for Entrepreneurs and Innovators
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Social Impact Strategy: Tools for Entrepreneurs and Innovators
Instructor: Peter Frumkin
51,677 already enrolled
Included with 
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
4.8
(1,348 reviews)
Beginner level
No prior experience required
Flexible schedule
Approx. 8 hours
Learn at your own pace
98%
Most learners liked this course
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Assessments
4 assignments
Taught in English
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There are 4 modules in this course
Learn about the key qualities of social innovation, social enterprise, and social entrepreneurs. How do social entrepreneurs approach problem solving? How might we identify social initiatives that are truly innovative in their approach to delivering on their mission, sustaining their venture, or scaling their impact? This module introduces the topic and offers examples of initiatives you might study as cases organizations throughout the course.
What's included
9 videos1 reading1 assignment2 discussion prompts
Learn the inputs and basic blueprints of a well-articulated vision. Develop an understanding of the design process, and learn to use an empathy map and a mind map for client-oriented innovation. Learn to build a logic model, which will help you articulate your innovation's theory of change from resources (inputs) to activities to impact. We encourage students to apply these tools immediately, to an active or idea-stage social initiative, that you are working directly on or that you admire.
What's included
13 videos1 reading1 assignment2 discussion prompts
We must test our ideas in the real world, early and often, to determine if they can truly deliver on either their social or financial mission. Learn to build and use the balanced scorecard, a key tool to assess the real-world performance of a social innovation. The scorecard will allow you to measure and articulate both the initiative's current reach and health, as well as the work that is left to be done. An innovation achieves the intended social impact in a way that is financially supportable may be a candidate for scale. Learn to assess whether and how to approach scale for your social innovation.
What's included
11 videos1 reading1 assignment2 discussion prompts
This course concludes with an exploration of the organizational forms and modes of delivering impact across the business model spectrum.
What's included
15 videos1 reading1 assignment2 discussion prompts
Instructor
Instructor ratings
4.8 (338 ratings)Offered by
Recommended if you're interested in Entrepreneurship
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Pennsylvania
Stanford University
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Frequently asked questions
This is the only Coursera class that invites students who complete the course to apply for an in-person educational experience, called the Global Social Impact House: http://socialimpactstrategy.org/residential/gsih.
The course is available on the following dates:
Oct 3 - Nov 7
Oct 31 - Dec 5
Nov 28 - Jan 2
Dec 26 - Jan 30
Jan 23 - Feb 27
Feb 20 - Mar 27
No, you do not have to pay for the certificate. You simply have to complete the course and apply for consideration. For more information on the Global Social Impact House, please visit: socialimpactstrategy.org/residential/gsih