Welcome to Academies for Social Entrepreneurship

Academies for Social Entrepreneurship (ASE) helps develop innovative solutions to social problems by providing training and mentoring for social entrepreneurs.  ASE is the convener and catalyst, focusing on equipping entrepreneurs with the resources they need to  create and sustain high-performing social enterprises.

Our Core Program

...the Social Enterprise Academy, empowers participants to develop and launch a social enterprise: a for-profit business that helps to solve a social or environmental problem.  The program, which consists of a series of workshops, mentoring and a venture capital competition, has been especially effective with leaders of nonprofit organizations who want to diversify their revenue sources.
To read graduate testimonials and an evaluation study of three separate Academy programs, CLICK HERE. The progress reports clearly demonstrated our model is fulfilling its 3 core objectives:
  • building overall organizational capacity enabling not-for-profit organizations to increase their ability to serve clients and address pressing social problems;
  • enabling not-for-profit organizations to develop the skill sets and resources that will allow them to attract growth capital and increase revenue from earned, rather than donated income;
  • creating community-based change in the broader marketplace by promoting convergence between the best practices of business and philanthropy.

Maternal Mental Health Now Wins $20,000 at UCLA SE Academy Showcase

n enthusiastic audience watched three teams representing local community organizations pitch their business ventures. The runner-ups- Seque Career Mentors and Cardborigami, were each awarded $5,000 by the panel of investors who judged this year's pitches. The $3500 audience favorite prize went to 2nd Cal from among seven other aspiring social enterprises.

The event finale was an inspiring talk by Sam Polk, Founder, EveryTable & GroceryShips.
Sam Polk, gained fame as a hedge fund trader who walked away from multi-million dollar earnings. His book, For the Love of Money, chronicles his disillusionment with the Wall Street fast track. In 2013, he founded Groceryships, a nonprofit social enterprise to address food-related health problems in South LA. A year later, based on feedback from Groceryships participants, he co-founded a for-profit “B corp” social enterprise called EveryTable. Sam's  “tales from the front” about he is actualizing his commitment to bring healthy, affordable food to every table in the country gave everyone ideas for action. 

UCLA Academy Showcase Video  Highlights 


Apply Now to the UCLA  January 2019 program!  

Selected not-for-profit organizations work with students to select the best enterprise idea, conduct market research AND create a business plan. Each organization will also be matched with experienced private sector entrepreneurs who will coach them in preparing for the business plan competition. Cash prizes in excess of $30,000 will be awarded at the end of the program.   
Click Here to Apply

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​SOCIAL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

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Thanks to Our Sponsors & Lead Partners

  • Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs, our fiscal sponsor, was instrumental in our developing a new Academy for use with a global cohort of organizations that are working on sustainable fisheries. This Academy was funded by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation.
  • The California Community Foundation, Pacific Western Bank, Goodwill of Orange County and the Southern California Slow Money Network  joined with lead presenter Saddleback College to sponsor the Southern California Social Entrepreneurship Venture Challenge (SocEnt Challenge).
  • With key support from the California Community Foundation, the Nicholas Endowment and the Simon Foundation, UCLA’s Department of Economics is continuing its commitment to experiential learning for its students by underwriting annual Social Enterprise Academies. 
  • Academies for Social Entrepreneurship partnered with the Delhi Center of Santa Ana to produce the 2013-2014 Orange County Social Enterprise Academy. Many thanks to the Annenberg Foundation for being our lead funder for this important collaboration and for a second grant to support the Soc Ent Challenge.
  • A general operating support grant  from the Orange County Community Foundation Next Gen Donors Circle enabled us to expand our  outreach efforts with website improvements and a series of media placements.
  • Funding from The California Endowment enabled nearly two dozen 
organizations to participate in Social Enterprise Academies and many more to benefit from educational programs focusing on the power of social entrepreneurship in building healthy communities.


  • ASE acknowledges Wells Fargo Bank for their multi-year support of our Orange County programming.
  • Thanks to REDF (also known as The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund) for their partnership and financial support in supporting an Academy  and other programs focused on social enterprises that create jobs and employment opportunities.