interesting

Fakultäten

The business of giving Non-profit capitalism Sep 11th 2008 | NEW YORK From The Economist print edition An initial public offering with a difference “WE RUN a business here—but instead of selling cars or candy to kids, we’re selling hope and leadership,” says Nancy Lublin, the chief executive of Do Something, a non-profit group which promotes volunteerism by teenagers. On September 17th she is launching an initial public offering (IPO) to raise the $8m needed to double Do Something’s activities by 2011, by which time it plans to be engaging with around 21m of America’s 32m teenagers. The IPO prospectus, put together by Do Something’s board of chief executives and technology entrepreneurs, contains the usual market data, a description of the 15-year-old organisation’s activities, an overview of the competitive landscape and bold claims about its qualities (“Do Something is also one of the most efficient organisations in the United States”), all designed to convince investors that it c