The term social entrepreneur was first used in the literature on social change in the 1960 and 1970s. A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.

A business entrepreneur looks at “bottom line” performance measures related to money on at least an annual basis, e.g. profit, return on investment, cash flow. A social entrepreneur must also look at “bottom line” performance measures of social change.

Determining what the “social bottom line measures” are for a social enterprise can be challenging. The Flower Cart’s Social Snapshot communicates results on some of our “social bottom line measures”.

The Flower Cart’s Social Snapshot also includes results on some “leading indicators of social change”, i.e., by engaging in the process or activity that is measured we think social change is facilitated.