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Academies for Social Entrepreneurship, a Fulcrum Impact program — home

About · Academy Cohorts

Who We Have Served

We customize our Social Enterprise Academies for cohorts of organizations seeking to be more impactful and sustainable. Each Academy is matched to the constituents and interests of its strategic partners.

Academy cohortsParticipating partners

University-based programming

Since 2011 we have annually partnered with the Economics Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to serve ten nonprofits seeking to start a social enterprise, pairing them with teams of students to accelerate market research and business planning. Academy staff have also taught courses at Pepperdine University and Golden West College, and worked with the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab at the University of Southern California.

Industry-focused incubator cohorts

Cohorts organized around a shared field of work, each designed with the funder or convening partner.

  • First 5-LA — three cohorts of agencies serving children under five in the Los Angeles area that wanted to generate earned income.
  • Community College Foundations — six foundations from throughout Southern California working on earned income ideas for revenue diversification.
  • Packard Foundation — an international cohort of marine fisheries organizations improving fishing practices and creating services and products for their sustainability.
  • Episcopal Enterprises (Los Angeles Diocese) — two cohorts of churches developing products or services for their neighborhoods and earned income for sustainability.

Geographic-based incubator cohorts

Regional cohorts built with community foundations and local partners so peers can learn alongside one another.

  • South LA — economic development and social service agencies serving the South LA community, creating earned income ventures from existing services and products.
  • Santa Cruz / Monterey — agencies identified by their local community foundation, focused on sustainability through earned income services and products.
  • Orange County — partnered with One OC for three academies and Coastline College for a fourth, serving nonprofits seeking to increase impact and income.

Scale-up support

Programs for organizations with an operating venture ready to grow its reach and revenue.

  • REDF workforce development social enterprises scaling existing job training and placement programs to employ more individuals and create additional earned income.
  • The SoCent Challenge, hosted by Saddleback College, identifying and supporting a nationwide cohort of social enterprises in expanding their businesses.
  • The Center for Nonprofit Management in Los Angeles, accelerating the growth of a regional cohort of social enterprises.
  • Three academies in partnership with Nonprofit Strategies & Nonprofit Management Solutions serving nonprofit organizations in the San Diego area.

Single-organization academies

Engagements built for one organization, working department by department across the enterprise.

  • National CORE — assisted the leadership team in planning earned income ventures in each of their departments.
  • Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) — assisted in evaluating earned income venture opportunities throughout the organization.

Workshop clients

Alongside our academies we offer introductory workshops and customized training programs. A sample of the organizations we have trained:

  • Ability One
  • Annenberg Foundation
  • Better Business Bureaus
  • California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA)
  • Executive Coaches of OC
  • Families in the Schools
  • Las Vegas Com Foundation
  • OCTANE-OC
  • SOKA University
  • Sun Foundation
  • Vistage