Entrepreneurs have always had a history of giving back to society and other entrepreneurs. Step into any public library in America and there’s a good chance it was initiated by the entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie (2,509 libraries). Step into the Georgia Aquarium, the largest in the world, and know that it came from a $250 million donation via Bernie Marcus, the cofounder of Home Depot. Step into an entrepreneurship program and there’s a good chance it is from or influenced by the Kauffman Foundation, a multi-billion dollar foundation dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship.
With more societal focus on social entrepreneurship, initiatives like the Giving Pledge where billionaires give away at least half their fortune, and more focus on small businesses as the net new job creators in the country, we’re going to see even more entrepreneurs giving back to help others, especially other entrepreneurs.
Here are some examples I’ve seen of entrepreneurs giving back to help other entrepreneurs:
- At the ATDC and Flashpoint, there are always a number of volunteer entrepreneur mentors available
- The Nashville Entrepreneur Center is getting ready to open after raising $5 million from public and private groups, including many entrepreneurs
- The Greenville Next Innovation Center came about from a small group of entrepreneurs that wanted a facility to be around each other and to help future entrepreneurs
- Members of EO Accelerator are mentored by EO members and consistently say that’s one of the best parts of the program
I expect entrepreneurs giving back to help other entrepreneurs grow to increase and become more commonplace.
What else? What are some other examples of entrepreneurs giving back to help other entrepreneurs?
David Cummings on Startups 
I think entrepreneurs give back so much because they have so much help along the way. The neat thing about being an entrepreneur is the community ties you must foster in order to succeed.
It’s so important to give back weather if its time, money, or just lending a helping hand. Even if your are not an entrepreneur you should still give back.
Are you an entrepreneur?
I always think giving has to be done before receiving, but is also appropriate and essential to continued success to give afterwards too. You can never give enough.