The Entrepreneur as Venture Philanthropist

As entrepreneurs address the need for resources to fund new ideas they often turn to the available and expensive world of venture capital. Whether angels or late investors, the cost both in dollars and control is steep. What if there were other avenues for funding based not so much on competition as on collaboration; not driven solely by profit but equally or more so by purpose. The arenas of philanthropy and social business have always been available to the entrepreneur, but the tools and training to engage these sectors have not been self-evident, well-developed, and accessible. This is a world where money is transformed into meaning and profit shares the stage with social good. This article, based on the authors’ combined decades of experience working with medical innovators, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, seeks to shed light on the make-up and motivations of entrepreneurs as well as to present the case for academic medical center leaders, as well as physician entrepreneurs to turn their gazes toward the philanthropreneurs of the world for a myriad of resources that go far beyond the mere money.

Philanthropy is often described by entrepreneurs as “investments” rather than as charitable gifts. The very thought of philanthropy as charity has long since left the philanthropic scene and has been replaced by the notion of the engaged philanthropist, the person who is not seen as a philanthropic ATM, but rather as a complex individual whose experiences, connections, ideas and skill sets are as valuable their financial net worth. In this brave new world, the innovators and organizations that shift their focus from pitch and sell to inspire and compel will attract the philanthropreneurs in their academic orbits and innovation ecosystems.