Impact work.
An Ethnographic Journey into the Craft of Impact Entrepreneurship.

This book provides a critical examination, of the hype surrounding social impact by investigating the work of those attempting to create impact enterprises. It builds on two years of fieldwork at a social impact accelerator training wannabe entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into organizations achieving societal goals. The book reveals the intricate behind-the-scenes socialization through which entrepreneurs learn the ropes of impact entrepreneurship. In doing so, it sheds light on the roles of some of the key players of this unique social world—impact investors, corporate executives, and mentors—whose work typically remains in the shadows to reproduce the myth of the lone impact entrepreneur.
Impact work challenges the view that impact is a given property of a social venture resulting from an intrinsic desire to change the world. Instead, I argue that impact emerges iteratively from a process of social engagement and negotiation among entrepreneurs, impact investors, corporate executives, and mentors, as they collaborate in the mundane processes of its production. Namely, “impact work.” This book is about what I like to think of as impact in the making. It is a story of hope and collaboration and unveils the social and cultural challenges and contradictions faced by those attempting to create alternative organizations.