The entrepreneurial spirit is often focused on creating a successful business and building a profitable enterprise. These days, some small businesses are focusing on using part of their profitability to benefit social ventures. In addition to using the profit generated by the firm to fund growth and expansion, or simply to benefit the founders, small companies are now integrating charitable giving into their business plan. One of the ideas behind this is that the company can generate employee and customer loyalty by engaging in charitable giving that those groups can get behind.

College Park - February 14, 2005 The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland announced today that it has invested $10,000 in start-up funding to Hook & Ladder Brewery, a student-run business founded by second-year Smith MBA student Matthew Fleischer. The investment is part of the seed stage funding the center makes available to student-run, start-up companies.