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According to a 2019 point-in-time count, there are more than 612 unsheltered homeless individuals in the Coachella Valley. A Southern California company, Renova Energy, has handed out a few dozen cell phone solar chargers to homeless individuals living in Sunrise Park in downtown Palm Springs to power their phones while living unsheltered so they can reach public safety, caseworkers, family members, doctors and friends.
Renova Energy CEO Vincent Battaglia believes that any business no matter how large or small has the responsibility to give back. And he's not alone.
Companies around the country are doing more to tackle homelessness. Some companies, like Microsoft, are providing loans for affordable housing in Seattle. Others are small start-ups like The Giving Keys, an L.A. jewelry company that hires homeless individuals, or Detroit's Empowerment Plan, which hires homeless women to sew jackets for people on the streets.
According to experts, there are several ways businesses can work toward being socially responsible: philanthropy, volunteering, using company skills to create human-centered products or services, or providing innovative opportunities for community members.
For any business wanting to be sustainable and mission-based, it needs to be innovative. Abby Fifer Mandell, a University of Southern California business professor and the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab director, requires the need for business models that are "financially sustainable, which means they have to be clever, creative and innovative, and are also digging deep on pressing problems by addressing long-term solutions."
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Selected Foundation News
A customized collection of news from foundations from around the Web.
If you're an aspiring entrepreneur in Kuwait, you may want to check out Zain's accelerator program. The telecommunications company launched the program 14 years ago and has since helped hundreds...more
"Having a purposeful job actually does transform someone's life," says Edwin Walsh, who runs a social enterprise in Australia called Assembled Threads. "You actually are moving someone from...more
A new scholarship fund in Canada will help high school students who want to further their education, the CBC reports. The Westlock Community Foundation in Alberta received a $26,800 donation from...more
Foundation: Lancaster County Community Foundation
In 2024, Lancaster County, Pa., will celebrate the 100th anniversary of a group of "visionaries" who "came together to shape a better future for Lancaster County," says Sam Bressi, president and CEO...more
Foundation: Citi Foundation
"To the youth, I urge you to be proactive, resilient, and persistent on your entrepreneurial journey," says the UN's resident representative in the Philippines. "Make your voices heard, take up...more
Canada is putting its money where its mouth is, with a $2.5 million investment in five projects in India meant to help the country's poor, the Toronto Star reports. "Many of these novel projects...more
If you're looking for a good time while raising money for a good cause, try golf. The Salvation Army in Virginia Beach held its annual " Swings Fore Strings" fundraiser on Saturday, hoping to...more
If you've ever dreamed of owning your very own Miami mansion, you'll want to get in touch with Eric Spofford. The real estate mogul and Instagram star will be hosting a one-day business intensive...more
"Many of us, at some point in time, have been told in our lives that we are unloveable. By our parents, partners, husbands, children, friends, or society," says transgender activist Zainab...more
Two young women in Bangladesh have been named as finalists for the Global Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the social entrepreneurship category, the New York Times reports. Zarin Tasnim...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Calgary Social Enterprise Offers High-Tech Services by People with Autism
Meticulon, a project of Autism Calgary Association in partnership with the federal government and the Sinneave Family Foundation, operates as a social enterprise that renders high-tech services provided by people with autism, leveraging their natural abilities at requiring attention to detail, repetition, and sequencing.