Green and Sustainability Studies
Fall 2012 Schedule
Please read the payment and registration information carefully if you wish to register for any of these courses.
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CONT 550C-80: New Forms of Green Enterprise: Social Ventures for Environmental Nonprofits and Governments Course Call #: 12522 Fee: $275 Instructor: Karina Lutz, former Deputy Director of People's Power & Light Dates: 10 Thursdays; October 11 - December 20, 2012 Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Location: Rhode Island College – Rm. Craig –Lee 228 Credit: 3.0 CEU (30 contact hours) This class is for environmental nonprofit managers, "social entrepreneurs" looking to start organizations with green missions, government policymakers trying to discern the new trends, or anyone else interested in various models of green enterprises. Green-mission nonprofits are increasingly exploring alternatives to traditional fundraising to sustain their own operations, including providing services that generate revenue. What kind of an animal is a nonprofit that runs a business? Is it freer of funders' and political constraints so that it can pursue a more public-interested policy agenda? Or should these hybrid organizations be as suspect of self-interest as any business? State and municipal agencies, too, have fee-for-service income or enterprises that offset taxpayer revenues, such as wind turbines, municipal utilities, etc. How might different models best serve to leverage particular systemic problems to move us towards sustainability? What are the drawbacks of each model? |