The California Institute for Social Business at CSU Channel Islands has received its first gift, a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

The institute was founded earlier this year with the help of Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the inventor of the microcredit model of social businesses. “Social business” is a term for a for-profit operation that aims to solve social problems that have traditionally been tackled by nonprofits.

Steven M. Hilton, the president and CEO of the Hilton Foundation, is a long-time supporter of Yunus and his work, CSUCI said in an Oct. 19 news release announcing the gift. The foundation’s grant will be used to start hiring staff, building curriculum and defining research for the new institute, the university said. The institute plans to start offering classes in the fall of 2011.