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Full-Text Articles in Business

Changing Donor-Ngo Relations Thorough Viable Alternatives To Conventional Grantmaking, Kio Okawa Oct 2018

Changing Donor-Ngo Relations Thorough Viable Alternatives To Conventional Grantmaking, Kio Okawa

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this research is to explore ways in which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can become more sustainable in light of a crucial challenge facing them today: that of financial instability. In the charitable sector in the U.S, NGOs, especially small-scale NGOs, have struggled with securing daily operating revenue rather than revenue for long-term program operations, in spite of the continuing needs of their beneficiaries (Janus, 2018; Le, 2017; Meehan & Jonker, 2017). Fundraising has come to involve relationships between NGOs and institutional donors such as foundations, government agencies and corporations. Competition among NGOs and rampant power asymmetry between donors …


Consumer Perceptions Of Social Business Practices In South Korea And Thailand, Emily Gaynor Apr 2018

Consumer Perceptions Of Social Business Practices In South Korea And Thailand, Emily Gaynor

Capstone Collection

The global economy is shifting from Western capitalism towards more inclusive alternatives. Leaders like Muhammed Yunus are normalizing global social enterprise opportunities and cross-sector collaboration. International certifications like B Corporations, Fair Trade, Cruelty Free (The Leaping Rabbit), 1% for the Planet, and the Rainforest Alliance are rapidly growing their networks. Universities, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and governments are incorporating social entrepreneurship into their best practices. In particular, Asia has seen significant growth in its social economy.

Notably, South Korea and Thailand (with six other Asian countries) are included in the world’s 30 best nations to be a social entrepreneur. Particular attention …


Increasing Equity Through B Corp Certification In The Coffee Commodity Supply Chain, Emily Hlavka May 2017

Increasing Equity Through B Corp Certification In The Coffee Commodity Supply Chain, Emily Hlavka

Capstone Collection

The coffee industry is a cornerstone of Nicaragua’s economy. Coffee production shapes communities and is a major factor in the development of the country. Coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua are often Fairtrade and Organic certified, yet their farmers continue to struggle to secure stable livelihoods. In this inquiry, I sought to understand whether becoming a Certified B Corp and interacting with the B Corp network could improve farmer livelihoods for production cooperatives. B Corp Certification seeks to redefine success in business with the unifying goal of creating a more inclusive economy. B Corps, for-profit businesses which have passed the rigorous B …


Culture, Inner-City Education And Improving Economic Growth In Birmingham, Alabama, Leroy Abrahams May 2017

Culture, Inner-City Education And Improving Economic Growth In Birmingham, Alabama, Leroy Abrahams

Capstone Collection

Perhaps the greatest reminder of the economic inequities in American society is the drastic deficiencies in educational outcomes, based on class and race. Birmingham, Alabama, vividly portrays this reality. Families with means send their children to private schools and/or concentrate in the suburbs, leaving largely poor, and oftentimes, predominantly minority in densely populated crime-ridden areas with suboptimal schooling. The schooling patterns are clearly reflected in the economic outcomes, though Black are a majority in the city they are vastly underrepresented in the middle to upper middle class, while grossly overrepresented among those in poverty. These inequities are often mirrored in …


Sustainable Tourism Study Through Solimar International, S Silongwengjia May 2017

Sustainable Tourism Study Through Solimar International, S Silongwengjia

Capstone Collection

This inquiry explores a pragmatic approach of sustainable tourism and its application as a transformative development instrument. It seeks a general understanding of the global tourism sector, looks specifically at an individual tourism enterprise, Solimar International, and examines rural tourism, and its proposed standards. It discusses the opportunities and threats to the culture, ecology, and livelihoods of the residents of destination tourism and the unique experience to geotravelers. It analyzes the theoretical development history of tourism and the integrated approach of Solimar International as a leading agency in the tourism industry sector. And it seeks to understand a new type …


Kickact: The Implementation & Evaluation Of A Youth Empowerment & Leadership Program, Crystal M. Denny Apr 2016

Kickact: The Implementation & Evaluation Of A Youth Empowerment & Leadership Program, Crystal M. Denny

Capstone Collection

KickAct is a program that combines martial arts and performing arts to empower youth and engage them in creative social change. Youth experience a lack of community engagement and partnership with the adult. Many youth face additional challenges, ranging from lack of support in school to violence at home, that can negatively impact their life. KickAct is designed to provide youth with the necessary skills and experience to thrive as active participants in their communities. Due to inconsistent attendance and participation, it was not possible to determine whether the workshop format was a successful method for youth empowerment. However, the …


A Systems Approach To Evaluation Metrics: A Case Study Of Salvation Farms, Julia D. Scheier Jan 2016

A Systems Approach To Evaluation Metrics: A Case Study Of Salvation Farms, Julia D. Scheier

Capstone Collection

This paper examines how integrating systems thinking into nonprofit work and evaluation metrics can help to advance an organization’s mission and clarify that mission to the public. The researcher will utilize her practicum site at Salvation Farms, a small nonprofit in northern Vermont, as a case study to observe the extent to which this organization utilizes systems thinking and how current evaluation metrics can be improved to more effectively inform and involve the community. Salvation Farms’ mission, after all, is to build greater resilience into Vermont’s food system through agricultural surplus management.

The researcher offers a literature review on systems …


Leading Happiness: Leadership And Happiness At Work In Certified B Corporations, A Qualitative Study Of Leaders And Employees To Understand The Influence Of Shared Leadership On Worker Happiness Within Certified Benefit Corporations, Travis Hellstrom Jul 2014

Leading Happiness: Leadership And Happiness At Work In Certified B Corporations, A Qualitative Study Of Leaders And Employees To Understand The Influence Of Shared Leadership On Worker Happiness Within Certified Benefit Corporations, Travis Hellstrom

Capstone Collection

The Certified B Corps movement is setting a new standard for businesses, committing to a multiple stakeholder orientation focused on community, environment and the workplace in addition to financial profit. More than 1,000 companies, including well-known companies like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, King Arthur Flour, and Etsy, have joined the ranks of Certified B Corps in over 30 countries.

The B Corps certification is understood to promote a set of organizational practices, which envision improved employee performance and well-being. An important element of that well-being is employee happiness. Previous research has shown that improved business leadership practices can have significant …


A Vision Of Capitalism, As It Was Meant To Be: A Social Purpose Business Plan For Foodshed Productions, August Miller Jan 2014

A Vision Of Capitalism, As It Was Meant To Be: A Social Purpose Business Plan For Foodshed Productions, August Miller

Capstone Collection

FoodShed Productions, a social enterprise is pursuing a mission: to raise the caring capacity of communities and resilience of our local environments through resident education in organic backyard farming. As a social enterprise, FoodShed Productions, a for-profit, earns its economic viability doing work more often associated with non-profits, measuring its worth by the social, environmental, and economic benefits of its operations. The communities in Boulder County, CO. are served by FoodShed Productions through a social process in which “We Build, We Coach, You Keep Growing,” toward the goal of self-reliance.

The topic of this CLC is a Social Purpose Business …


The Value Of Nongovernmental Free Vocational Training In Vietnam; The Opportunities And Barriers In Teaching Japanese Cooking Skills To Disadvantaged Vietnamese Youth, Koji Asada May 2013

The Value Of Nongovernmental Free Vocational Training In Vietnam; The Opportunities And Barriers In Teaching Japanese Cooking Skills To Disadvantaged Vietnamese Youth, Koji Asada

Capstone Collection

Nongovernmental free vocational training for disadvantaged youth has been provided by various organizations in the world and has had a positive impact on the learners. This is also true in Vietnam.

However, how is the training geared to employment opportunities, designed to overcome challenges to learning and employment, and with what potential impact on the learners and communities. These questions have not been well answered.

This study examines the value of nongovernmental free vocational training in Hanoi city, Vietnam, which is in the middle of rapid economic development. Specifically, this study researched the future prospects of skill training in Japanese …


Women Empowerment And Community Development Through Ecotourism, Katherine S. Barry Nov 2012

Women Empowerment And Community Development Through Ecotourism, Katherine S. Barry

Capstone Collection

Eco-tourism is generically and broadly considered to be a trendy topic for the privileged traveler to obtain an “authentic cultural experience”. This paper aims to disprove common misperceptions and present failures the system has created. Eco-tourism is an over-exploited and under-utilized tool in the field of sustainable development. Many resorts and “cultural” tours dominant, while local people suffer economically, social and environmentally. However, in the far-reaches of the Kakamega rainforest, there is group that is filling the environmental, social and economic gap in the field of sustainable tourism. They are the Isecheno Women’s Conservation Group, empowering and educating women to …


Social Entrepreneurship In Egypt: Turning Revolutionary Ambition Into Tangible Results, Chris C. Blackwood Jul 2012

Social Entrepreneurship In Egypt: Turning Revolutionary Ambition Into Tangible Results, Chris C. Blackwood

Capstone Collection

Social Entrepreneurship in Egypt: Turning Revolutionary Ambition into Tangible Results is a research paper that seeks to provide a model for sustainable social entrepreneurship (SE) development in Egypt and the surrounding Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The research consists of two primary areas: 1) the field of SE as a whole, along with traits shared by successful social enterprises, and 2) the modern Egyptian context, and the integration of best SE practices in the country and surrounding region during the modern revolutionary era. This is a paper that focuses on social change, and thus several social change theories …


A Teacher Training Program Focusing On Communicative Methodology For Brazilian Teachers Of English As A Foreign Language, Alberto De Paula Santos Jan 1986

A Teacher Training Program Focusing On Communicative Methodology For Brazilian Teachers Of English As A Foreign Language, Alberto De Paula Santos

MA TESOL Collection

This project is the result of efforts to set up a teacher­ training program for the Centro Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos de Curitiba in Brazil. It is especially designed for teachers who have been using teacher-centered classroom techniques and the traditionally structured approaches to teaching, and who are willing to change to a student-centered communicative approach to teaching English.

In chapter one, I give a general overview of the program Iset up and a short description of the Centro. I also state the reasons why I decided to set up this teacher-training program for the Centro.

In chapter two, I describe …


Beginning An Esl Program: Underlying Issues And Site-Specific Recommendations, Jonathan D. Reasoner Jan 1986

Beginning An Esl Program: Underlying Issues And Site-Specific Recommendations, Jonathan D. Reasoner

MA TESOL Collection

This paper examines the issues involved in starting up an English as Second Language program. The range of issues discussed is limited to three major areas: assessment of language needs in a community; curriculum considerations for the target student group; and teacher training. There are two separate parts within the paper: Part I, a consideration of underlying issues involved in beginning an ESL program in general; and Part II, potential plans for program start-up at an actual site--the First Baptist Church of Flushing, New York.

Planning for a new program at the specific site serves to focus the general discussion …