Camarillo, CA. – CSU Channel Islands (CI) has received a three year $300,000 grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for the new California Institute for Social Business (CISB). This is the first gift to CISB and will be used to begin laying the foundation for staff building, curriculum development, and defining research.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of Grameen Bank, was the originator of the concept of microcredit and social business as a means to eliminate poverty among the poorest of the poor. He will participate in the strategic direction of the Institute, the first of its kind in the nation.

Steven M. Hilton, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, has a long-standing relationship with Yunus and is very supportive of his groundbreaking work in microcredit and social business. Yunus has served as a juror for the foundation’s annual humanitarian prize, the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. CI awarded the first Yunus Social Innovation Medal to Hilton, presented by Yunus, last March at a ceremony launching CISB.

Social businesses are set up to solve a social problem, such as malnutrition or poverty, and, once the business is running, the investors may stay in the business or request the return of their original investment, but they do not take dividends. All profits are reinvested in the business to sustain its work. Sustainability is the difference between a social business and philanthropy which solves social problems through grants that are not repaid and generally only last for a specified time.

CISB is scheduled to begin in fall 2011 offering core classes to both undergraduate and graduate students. CISB’s new Faculty Director, Dr. Andrea Grove, Associate Professor of Political Science at CI, stated, “Our mandate is to find ways to get students and faculty into the field to study local, national and international social businesses.” She indicated that, “There is no model for this institute. We will establish the prototype.”

Grove said she is excited by the potential the institute has to have impact on all levels, locally, nationally and internationally. She mentioned The End of Poverty, authored by Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University. “In the foreword of the book, Bono writes about Sachs, saying, ‘We get crushed by problems like global poverty and he gets creative.’ I think that’s what CISB is all about.” The Hilton Foundation grant is the first to help to endow the institute. The build-out plans include curriculum for undergraduate and graduate level studies, field research of existing social businesses, and an international social business competition.

CSU Channel Islands is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

CI Mission Statement
Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.

About the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by international business pioneer Conrad N. Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels and left his fortune to help the world’s disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded nearly $900 million in grants and distributed $80 million in 2009. The Foundation's current assets are nearly $2 billion. For more information, please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org.