For me, opening the New York Times lately has felt a lot like Christmas morning. Two weeks ago, the New York Times Magazine “Money Issue” focused entirely on philanthropy and the recent trends in social change. Today, “Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders,” an editorial by David Brooks, discusses social entrepreneurship and how these pioneers are on their way to forever changing the way we think about social service.

The article describes social entrepreneurship as a hybrid field; those involved have social change passions usually associated with the nonprofit sector, but they “dress like venture capitalists. They talk like them. They even think like them.” Brooks notes that these entrepreneurs are “data-driven and accountability-oriented,” motivated by “disappointments of the past decades.” Along the way, he mentions Teach For America, founded by 1991 Echoing Green Fellow Wendy Kopp, and College Summit, founded by 1997 Echoing Green Fellow J.B. Schramm, which are highly regarded as two of the quintessential organizations in the field.

Brooks’ article ends on a strong sentiment, with which I agree 100 percent. He writes, “we might as well take advantage of this explosion of social entrepreneurship. These are some of the smartest and most creative people in the country. Even if we don’t know how to reduce poverty, it’s probably worth investing in these people and letting them figure it out. They won’t stop bugging us until we do.” Nor should they! There are a multitude of people out there with innovative ideas about social change; ideas that are surely destined for success, if only people and governments would take the risk and support their work.

What do you think about the rising trend of social entrepreneurship? How will the field look in five or ten years? What must we as citizens do to help those who have ideas about social change?