The founder of Ebay, Pierre Omidyar, is on stage right now talking about a new fund he has created called The Omidyar Network. He’s started the fund with over $400 million of his own money with the goal of fostering business that “does good” in the world. He wants to fund businesses and non-profit and policy enterprises that have as a direct result of their business model the direct empowerment of individuals. This could be in terms of economic empowerment (a la Ebay), social empowerment, or anything else.

It’s an interesting idea. While I’ve been turned off by the whole VC frenzy around here, this one makes me smile. Business can do good, business does do good, and anything that can encourage businesses that do actually do good, well, I’m all for that. It’s a very progressive thing. :)

They do want to actually make a return on their investment and it’s not a charity in the traditional sense (though I’m not sure how it can’t be for “policy efforts” or non-profits). It will be interesting to watch this grow and proceed. I hope it works…