Social Venture Network (SVN) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1987 by Joshua Mailman,
Thomas H. Stoner Jr and Wayne Silby, SVN.
Events
Social Venture Network hosts two annual conferences, one on the West Coast in Spring and one on the East Coast in Fall, in addition to local gatherings held throughout the year.
Members
Some past and current members of Social Venture Network include:
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Thomas H. Stoner Jr. - Entelligent
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Ben Cohen -
Ben and Jerry's
Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin (name), Benjamin, Benedict (given name), Benedict, Bennett (name), Bennett, Benson (given name), Benson or Ebenezer (given name), Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its ...
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Amy Domini -
Domini Social Investments
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Eileen Fisher -
Eileen Fisher, Inc.
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Paul Hawken
Paul Gerard Hawken (born February 8, 1946) is an American environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, economist, and activist.
Biography
Hawken was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his father worked at ...
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Smith & Hawken
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Gary Hirshberg -
Stonyfield Farm
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Jeffrey Hollender -
Seventh Generation Inc.
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Adam Lowry -
Method
Method (, methodos, from μετά/meta "in pursuit or quest of" + ὁδός/hodos "a method, system; a way or manner" of doing, saying, etc.), literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In re ...
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Anita Roddick -
The Body Shop
Awards
SVN's Innovation Awards began in 2007 as a way to provide scholarships through its Bridge Project to emerging social entrepreneurs to help scale and expand their impact. Honorees have included
TerraCycle, Back to the Roots, Revolution Foods, World of Good, Root Capital, and
Green for All, among others. Several of the Innovation Awards winners have also been honored as Echoing Green Fellows,
Hitachi Foundation Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs, White House Champions of Change, and have been listed on the ''Forbes'' Impact 30.
Sister organizations
SVN has been identified as inspiration and catalyst by several other successful organizations in the
business ethics
Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business c ...
and
corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business industry self-regulation, self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropy, philanthropic, activist, or chari ...
spheres, including B Lab, Investors' Circle,
Net Impact, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA), Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and
Bainbridge Graduate Institute.
Resources
Book series
In 2004, SVN began a partnership with publishers Berrett-Koehler to create the SVN Book Series. The books are written by SVN members as practical guides to starting and growing a socially responsible business.
Social Venture Institutes
Founded in 1996 by Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO of
Stonyfield Farm, Social Venture Institutes are offered twice each year as a forum in which business and nonprofit leaders may receive expert advice and mentoring to overcome pressing challenges and to explore ways to succeed.
Esalen
The
Esalen Institute
The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American Retreat (spiritual), retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanism, humanistic alternative education. The institute played a ke ...
was founded in 1962 as an alternative educational center. In 2011, Social Venture Network began its partnership with Esalen to offer a series of workshops on business practices, designed to help business professionals lead with passion, insight and authenticity.
Sustainability
The Social Venture Network office is located in the Presidio of San Francisco, California in the
Thoreau Center for Sustainability and is a Certified Green Business. SVN publishes tools and best practices with B Corp Certification, as well as a Sustainable Shopping Guide.
References
External links
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SVN's YouTube Channel
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Business ethics organizations
Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco
Business organizations based in the United States
Environmental organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Social responsibility organizations
Social entrepreneurship
Human rights organizations based in the United States
Sustainability organizations