12 Best Business Ideas for Social Workers

Social work is a noble pursuit, though not terribly lucrative. If you want to help people but would rather make a better living, many alternative businesses might be right up your alley. Some fall into the category of social entrepreneurship – a business that makes money while serving a social purpose.

This handy guide highlights 12 great business ideas for social workers that can boost your income while making the world a better place. Now that’s a win-win! 

1. Consultancy

You can use your knowledge, skills, and experience to provide guidance and insight to nonprofits and social service agencies. If you have business knowledge, even better, as you can provide financial advice as well. Either way, you can charge a decent hourly rate and turn it into a profitable consulting business. 

2. Blog

If you have writing skills, you could start a blog, perhaps aimed at supporting social workers or a certain cause. You can make money with ads or affiliate marketing, which means making deals with companies to earn a commission if a sale of their product is generated from a link on your site.

3. Speaking 

Many organizations hire speakers to educate their members and employees about social problems and potential solutions. If you’re a great public speaker, you could choose a topic that fits your experience and speak at conferences and meetings. You could do the same at schools as well, and build up a nice public speaking business. 

4. Corporate Social Work

Companies these days are more focused on employee well-being and diversity and building a positive culture. You could work with companies to develop programs to advance those goals. It takes special skills to create a positive workplace, and your social work experience could be a great fit.

5. Online Social Work Courses

Millions of people are ready to learn online, which is why global e-learning is expected to be worth a trillion dollars by 2027. You can start an online social work courses business, spread some quality knowledge, and grab a sliver of this vast market. To get started, hop on a platform like Udemy, SkillShare, or MasterClass and start bringing in revenue right away. 

6. Life Coach

Business executives have long used life coaches to elevate their performance, but now people of all ages and backgrounds are seeking them out to boost personal and professional performance. You could launch a life coaching business from the comfort of your own home and help people lead more fulfilling lives while making a good living. 

7. Microlending

Microlending provides small, low-interest loans to those that lack access to funding to help them start their own businesses and become financially self-sufficient. Often, organizations like Kiva solicit the loan funds from individuals, who then receive payments from the recipients. The business earns revenue from the interest paid on each loan. 

8. Socially Conscious Products

Consumers are increasingly seeking socially conscious products, which come in many forms. You could produce sustainably made clothing or source products from people in developing countries, pay them for their work, and sell the items for a profit. 

9. Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable packaging is also gaining ground, as it’s less harmful to the environment. You could start a business creating sustainable packaging for small businesses, which you could start on a small scale and grow it into a big operation with its own facility. 

10. Thrift Store

Thrift stores are a great idea, providing places for people to donate their unwanted goods, which others then snap up at affordable prices. The revenue thrift stores earn sustains the business and pays the employees and could even  make a profit. You could start an online thrift store, where people send in their unwanted items to be offered for sale online.

11. Buy One Give One

Companies like Tom’s Shoes have popularized the buy-one give-one model, and you could do the same by giving one of item X to an underserved community for every one you sell. Maybe it’s coats, or textbooks, or T-shirts? Choose a product that can really make a difference. 

12. Mental Health Facility

Private mental health facilities, whether for people with disorders or those suffering from addiction, make good money. Many insurance companies and sometimes Medicaid will pay for client stays in these facilities, so you wouldn’t have to turn away people who lack the funds. You could make a huge difference in your community and use your skills by opening your own mental health facility.

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

A social entrepreneur is someone who “pursues novel applications that have the potential to solve community-based problems,” according to Investopedia. Essentially, a social entrepreneur’s ventures are focused on solving social issues, such as providing heat or water for a community, funding low-income families, or ending animal testing. 

Any profits a social entrepreneurial venture makes are secondary to the business’s impact on society. The venture uses its revenues to support activities that further a specific social agenda or objective. The company can still make money and pay profits to owners, but the business must fund the social purpose.

Some define social entrepreneurship more narrowly. Mohammed Yunus, founder of Yunus Social Business, actually coined the term social business. For him it’s a business with a social cause that’s financially self-sustaining and pays no dividends to shareholders. For the most part, all revenues beyond cost are used to advance the social cause. 

History

If you view social entrepreneurship as a new and trendy business idea, you’d be mostly right. Social entrepreneurship has been around for about 40 years, so it’s still developing and evolving. 

The term was coined in 1980 by Bill Drayton, founder and CEO of Ashoka. In an interview, he explained that after visiting India and seeing the kindness and persistence of the locals, he hoped to help bridge the income gap between India and America. 

In his own words, “a very small investment will allow a great social entrepreneur to quit her job and work full time to launch her idea and organization.” Rather than intruding upon communities he didn’t know, Drayton founded Ashoka to empower the locals best positioned to change their society and connect them to like-minded individuals. These people became known as social entrepreneurs.

Most shoe and glasses companies that promote a “buy one give one” model, like Toms Shoes, are social entrepreneurial ventures. And as consumers become more conscious about social and civic issues, social entrepreneurship has gained traction among investors and consumers.

How is Social Entrepreneurship Different from…

Entrepreneurship?

Social entrepreneurship is a subcategory of entrepreneurship focused on doing good. Legally, there’s no distinction between the two. A social entrepreneur is just as creative, independent, and determined as any other entrepreneur, if not more so, but also seeks to fix some social problem. 

Philanthropy?

Philanthropists also contribute to social welfare, but generally do so by donating to a nonprofit or creating their own organization, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A social entrepreneur, meanwhile, focuses their entire business on a charitable or social cause from the get-go. Aid is embedded within their business practices, which do not prioritize profit and revenue.

A Nonprofit?

Though both focus on providing social benefits, a nonprofit usually relies on sponsor donations and volunteers to accomplish charitable tasks and must recycle all of its profits back into its business. A social entrepreneurial venture generates revenue via sales, like any other business. 

Some social business ventures are nonprofits, while some social entrepreneurs aim to help society while generating a profit.

Examples of Social Entrepreneurship

Patagonia

Patagonia’s core values are to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to protect nature, and not be bound by convention. They closely study their own apparel business to identify sources of environmental harm, adapt their business practices, and share their knowledge with other retailers.

Ashoka

Ashoka is a nonprofit organization that connects and supports social entrepreneurs. They believe that everyone can positively change the world and use their network to organize funding and support for other social entrepreneurs.

Lush

Lush cosmetics champions ethical consumerism through organic, cruelty-free, and packaging-free products. They also invest and donate to support human and animal rights, ethical agriculture, and grassroots organizations.

Grameen Bank

Grameen Bank, founded by Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh, is a bank established to make microloans without requiring collateral. The bank, as Yunus’s social business definition requires, is self-sustaining with no profits. 

These are popular international examples, but many social entrepreneurs work only within their community. Next time you drive around your neighborhood, look for local organizations like daycare centers and microfinancing institutions to find social entrepreneurs near you.

How Can I Become a Social Entrepreneur?

If there’s a social issue close to your heart, you can step up and drive change by starting your own business with a social agenda. Again, there’s no legal distinction between a social entrepreneurial venture and a normal business, so all you have to do is keep your goal in mind as you organize and launch.

As your business grows, just be sure your actions maintain the core vision of your brand — if you lose sight of your social goals and act inauthentically, you’ll likely drive away your customers.