For this on-line conference and the positioning paper that prefaced the dialogue, Social Enterprise (SE) is defined as:

A nonprofit organization or socially-oriented venture that advances its social mission through entrepreneurial market-based approaches to increase its effectiveness and financial sustainability with the ultimate goal of creating social benefit or change.

From July 15 through July 31, 2008, the SEEP Network’s Social Enterprise Working Group conducted an online conference with more than 120 subscribers and 27 active participants in the discussions. The conference membership included a diverse array of traditional non-profits and microfinance institutions (MFI), innovative new hybrids, and individual field practitioners from around the world.