We propose that social entrepreneurs may act as altruistic brokers helping their beneficiaries patch the structural holes that separate the disenfranchised and marginalized individuals and groups from the opportunities, resources, and capabilities available to more privileged actors. We test our model on a database of social entrepreneurs that received funding from the Schwab Foundation and Ashoka. Our case analysis and frequency analysis performed in NVivo shows that social entrepreneurs’ institutional work comprises: (1) bridging: helping beneficiaries gain access to resources and opportunities; (2) enabling: helping beneficiaries develop capabilities; and (3) bonding: helping beneficiaries form cohesive networks. Furthermore, some of these key types of institutional work may take the lead depending on various contextual factors so that either bridging, enabling, or bonding may become dominant.

我们建议社会企业家可以充当无私的经纪人，帮助其受益人弥补结构性漏洞，这些漏洞将被剥夺权利和被边缘化的个人和群体与特权人士所能利用的机会，资源和能力区分开。我们在接受Schwab基金会和Ashoka资助的社会企业家数据库中测试了我们的模型。我们在NVivo中进行的案例分析和频率分析表明，社会企业家的机构工作包括：（1）衔接：帮助受益人获得资源和机会；（2）使能：帮助受益人发展能力；（3）联系：帮助受益人形成凝聚力网络。此外，