A social venture is an undertaking by a firm or organization established by a social entrepreneur that seeks to provide systemic solutions to achieve a sustainable, social objective.

Social ventures may be structured in many forms, including sole proprietors, for-profit and not-for-profit firms, non-governmental organizations, youth groups, community organizations, and more. Typically, government organizations are not considered to be social ventures, yet even government organizations can adopt entrepreneurial practices, possibly partnering with independent organizations, to explore innovative methods for providing social services. Elkington and Hartigan define three models for social ventures: leveraged nonprofit, hybrid nonprofit, and social business.[1] In the leveraged nonprofit venture the entrepreneur uses external partners for financial support in providing a public good. On the other hand, the hybrid nonprofit venture recovers a portion of its costs through sales of its goods or services. The social business venture generates profits, but rather than return those profits to shareholders, like commercial ventures, it reinvests those profits to further the social venture and the resulting social benefits.