Last Friday, I attended the Social Enterprise Symposium hosted by the REDACTED. At the symposium, I attended “Reinventing the Economy: Value Creation & Capital Markets” as well as another event titled “Three Business Models for Social Impact.” While the first event focused on generating capital to fund social enterprises, the latter centered on new business models that attempt to drive social change. At the first event, “Value Creation and Capital Markets,” speakers discussed how socially responsible companies can still use traditional methods of financing. In particular, they tried to push five major points. These points were external options of financing, internal options of financing, crowd funding, appropriate sources for capital, and new financial mechanisms. Of the five, external financing is by far the most traditional method of financing. It includes equity, banks/credit unions, friends/family, and social investors. Social investors can be particularly helpful because they are typically the most interested in your cause. Additionally, philanthropic grants can be used, but often not a reliable means of funding. Government funding is more reliable, but requires more extensive obligations. Internal options can be another source of funding. For example, a company can collect accounts receivable as quickly as possible by offering discounts for timely payment or interest for late payment. On the other hand, they can also delay making payments on accounts payable for as long as possible. Crowd funding is another method of securing financing, and has become extremely popular in recent years. Crowd funding typically consists of an organization trying to pool cash and other resources through their online connections. Trust is a major factor in crowd funding, especially when donating to strangers who appear to share your concern about an issue.