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Who and What We Fund

The Great Bay Foundation supports nonprofit social enterprise projects that are led by social entrepreneurs.

We define social entrepreneurs as those who:

• Have a commitment to the application of innovative methods to create social change
• Are committed to leading the project over the long-term, and are clearly accountable for success or failure of the project
• Possess an entrepreneurial vision, and are the driving force behind the project
• Are relentless in his/her pursuit of achieving measurable social goals and in changing the status quo.

We define social enterprises as those that:

• Are led by a social entrepreneur
• Are used, first and foremost, as a tool to achieve social impact, yet operate as a revenue-generating business with the goal of financial self-sustainability
• Work directly with, or on behalf of, disadvantaged individuals living at the margins of society to provide them with opportunities to increase their self-reliance
• Are committed to and capable of measuring and reporting business and social impacts
• Operate as a division or subsidiary of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; in some cases, when no division or subsidiary exists, the nonprofit itself is considered the social enterprise