Is my idea a social venture?

In order to be a social venture, an idea needs to be both innovative and have social impact - it must address a real social problem in a unique way. Your social venture can be structured as a for-profit or not-for-profit organization, so long as it has a measurable, positive social impact. Resolution does not consider as eligible purely for-profit businesses that donate a portion of their proceeds to other charities.  Businesses may be eligible if they have social impacts on underserved populations or major social challenges, and businesses may be eligible if they perform philanthropic work as part of their model (e.g., those that have an associated foundation that the leadership directly works on and is substantively involved in leading or implementing).

A key characteristic of a social venture is that it is sustainable, so identifying a revenue stream is very important to ensuring that the project can have a lasting effect. You can see how Resolution assesses social ventures under our Eligibility Rules and Judging Guidelines.