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Small businesses can take advantage of the social entrepreneurship idea to help improve their local communities and differentiate their companies.
For example, Austin resident Laurie Lowe started Give Reality as the housing bubble was collapsing. Laurie was just getting started in real estate, and was struggling to find a way to differentiate her business. While dealing with a difficult divorce, she also realized that she was economically more fortunate than many women and decided that she should focus on giving something back rather than feeling sorry for herself.
So Laurie decided to give 25% of all her commissions to the charity that her clients chose. So far, this has resulted in over $100,000 being donated to 40 different charities on Ms. Lowe’s behalf. She notes that about three-quarters of her clients say they specifically chose to do business with her because of social entrepreneurship business model.
