From the SBN Policy Desk:
Recalibrating the Policy Ecosystem to a Values-Based Economy
Social entrepreneurship in Philadelphia is not for the faint-hearted. So discovering that there is a growing community of local social enterprises could be somewhat shocking. The rise in social entrepreneurship signals a transformation that holds significant promise for our challenged city. It brought me to speculate on the need to reshape the City’s policy ecosystem in a way that makes these businesses thrive.
Social entrepreneurship seeks a large-scale transformational benefit that accrues to a broader segment of society. During a recent visit, high-minded business ambition was certainly on display at Solutions for Progress, a 24-year-old Philadelphia-based civic technology company that has helped millions of low-income individuals connect to public benefits. Easily perceived was the overwhelming sense that everyone there possessed a deep commitment to not simply alleviating poverty but to eliminating it. Such audacity offers great promise to a city grappling with intractable social problems. From our cash-strapped education system to large segments of residents living in deep poverty, mission-driven businesses are a tremendous resource in efforts to rewrite the social narrative.
Philadelphia is ground zero for a place where investing in social enterprises makes incredible sense. City Council exercised excellent foresight in 2009 in becoming the first city in the nation to offer an incentive for triple-bottom-line businesses. The Sustainable Business Tax Credit is an annual $4,000 credit against the Business Income and Receipts Tax given to Certified B Corporations or those that satisfy criteria defined by the City. However, the promise embodied in the Sustainable Business Tax Credit has contributed little momentum toward the emergence of social enterprise as a mainstream market system.
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