The Social Ventures Institute (SVI)
is a program of
the Social Ventures Foundation
The Foundation is non-profit organization
focused on changing the paradigm of poverty reduction,
by facilitating the development of market-based "franchisable" solutions
to poverty reduction challenges
that create jobs to deliver affordable social impact to those living in poverty.
Our mission is focused on creating "bottom up" circular economies
not "trickle down" income dividing economies.
About the SOCIAL VENTUREs foundation
The Social Ventures Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2017 by Marc Blumenthal, a commercial and social entrepreneur. Marc Blumenthal | LinkedIn Its Board of Directors consists of individuals from the worlds of investment, franchising, academia and social and commercial entrepreneurship. Its mission is to create a circular economy at the ”Base of the Pyramid” by facilitating the development and scaling of social franchise solutions to poverty reduction challenges that create jobs for the poor to deliver affordable social impact for the poor.
Marc is a social franchise visionary. Over 23 years ago, after volunteering for Mohammed Yunis of micro credit fame, he envisioned a model for the “flip side” of micro credit, which at the time he called “micro franchising”.
Micro Franchising realizes that the primary employment of the poor is that of “self-employment” not “employment”. Micro Franchising consists of a prepackaged social venture that provides a “self-employment” job to deliver a needed social impact at an affordable price. In 2001, Mr. Blumenthal was invited to present the model at the MIT Media Lab in Boston and then at MIT’s new Media Lab in New Delhi, India. In addition, he shared the model at an annual meeting of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and met Bill Rosenberg, the founder of both the IFA and Dunkin Donuts.
Mr. Rosenberg asked Mr. Blumenthal to facilitate the launching of his 1-million-dollar chair at the University of New Hampshire, which eventually led to the formation of the Rosenberg School at UNH. Today the school, together with the IFA’s Social Sector Sub Committee, is focused on supporting social franchising as a movement. Mr. Blumenthal is on the Boards of Advisors of both groups.
In addition, he leads the Foundation's EPIC Innovation Lab that is developing technologically innovative franchisable social ventures in medical diagnostics, sanitation, malaria prevention and small footprint agriculture, to provide jobs for people making under $4 a day to deliver affordable social impact for low-income communities globally.