A social enterprise is an organization driven by a social or environmental purpose that uses business principles to sustain and grow their operations.

Social enterprises lie at the intersection between traditional businesses and non-profit organizations. Like a non-profit organization, the social purpose is the organization's reason for being. Like a traditional business, social enterprises use market-based principles to recover the cost and strategically expand their operations.

A key characteristic of a social enterprise is that earnings are reinvested into the organization’s operations rather than distributed to shareholders. VisionSpring reinvests proceeds from the sale of its eyeglasses into scaling operations and refining the effectiveness of our business model.

Why does VisionSpring sell eyeglasses rather than give them away for free?

• Sustainability & Scale: Hundreds of millions of people in the developing world lack access to affordable eyeglasses, a market failure that dwarfs the availability of philanthropic dollars. By correcting the market failure at the heart of the problem, social enterprises like VisionSpring make change on a truly global scale — far beyond the capacity of traditional charity.
  
  The sale of our eyeglasses enables VisionSpring to recover a portion of the cost of our operations. The remaining portion of the budget is currently covered through the philanthropic support of individuals and foundations. As we continue to grow and refine our business model, we aim to gradually increase the cost-recovered portion, thus ensuring the sustainability of our operations regardless of the ebb and flow of philanthropic capital.
• Empowering the poor as consumers: Vanity is not monopolized by the rich. Like any consumer, consumers at the base of the pyramid prefer to select their own stylish glasses, which is often not possible with a collection of donated glasses. What's more, like any business VisionSpring is able to stay responsive to our customer's tastes and preferences, developing frames in line with the top trends in the region.
  > Learn more about our Customer Feedback loop
• Create opportunity for entrepreneurs: A Vision Entrepreneur earns $1-2 for every pair of glasses sold, creating an exciting income-generating opportunity for our growing network of entrepreneurs.
  > Learn more about the Business in a Bag our Vision Entrepreneurs carry