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Article 1 
Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in Silicon Valley: A Case Study on The Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.
Squazzoni, F., (2009)
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 38: 869-883.

Discussion Questions

• Provide a description of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network (JVSVN) nonprofit organization and discuss its work in Silicon Valley.
• Describe the “Workforce Development” initiative and discuss how it contributed to innovation in the area.
• Do social entrepreneurs contribute to social and economic development? Why or why not?
• How do social entrepreneurs generate social capital?

Article 2
The Role of Power in Nonprofit Innovation.
Dover, G., Lawrence, T. (2012)
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41: 991-1013.

Discussion Questions

• Define the term “innovation” and discuss how that may apply to nonprofit organizations.
• Select one of the dynamics of innovation and how a nonprofit might use it to innovate:
  • Understanding innovation as a cycle
  • Using political power to institutionalize innovation into the organization
  • Using nonprofit dynamics to facilitate innovation
• Discuss one of the four common nonprofit innovation pathologies and describe the kind of nonprofit organization that is most likely to be affected by it.
• What strategies might a nonprofit organization use to overcome power imbalances in innovation?

Article 3
Trivalue Organization as a Form of Social Enterprise: The Case of Seattle’s FareStart.
Herranz, J., Council, L., McKay, B. (2011)
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40: 829-849.

Discussion Questions

1. Define the term “social enterprise” and discuss its role in some nonprofit organizations.
2. What is UBIT and what is its role in social enterprise?
3. Discuss the concept of a “tri-value social enterprise.”
4. Describe the social enterprise nonprofit FareStart in Seattle, Washington and how it is an example of trivalue social enterprise.
5. What are some of the trade-offs FareStart has had to make by being a tri-value social enterprise nonprofit? Do those trade-offs outweigh the benefits?

Article 4
Effectual Processes in Nonprofit Start-Ups and Social Entrepreneurship: An Illustrated Discussion of a Novel Decision-Making Approach
Yusuf, J., Sloan, M. (2015)
American Review of Public Administration, 45(4): 417–435.

Discussion Questions

• How can social entrepreneurs apply effectual decision making be used applied during the planning stages of a nonprofit’s social venture?
• What are the differences between causal and effectual decision-making?
• How did the authors apply effectual decision making in one of the three example cases?

Article 5
The Institutional Digital Divide: Immigrant-Serving Nonprofit Organization Adoption of Social Media
Brown, H. (2015)
Social Science Computer Review, 33(6): 680–695.

Discussion Questions

• How have nonprofit organizations used social media to share political information?
• How have Hispanic and Asian American communities responded to the use of social media? Explain.
• According to the author, why is it important for more theoretical studies of social media usage by nonprofit organizations?