This research evaluates if there are significant differences in the business models and in the access to resources in the ecosystem, which allow to distinguish and classify the Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives (SEI). It also seeks to understand how these differences influence the social value creation. In the absence of theoretical definitions capable of representing these aspects, the social investment and awards criteria were researched, initially considering the four largest global social entrepreneurship support organizations and then Portuguese social investors. Online data and interviews went through content and patterm-macthing analysis to form models of resonance and participatory mobilization. These models highlight goals, motivations and the way solutions are proposed. Exploratory research helped to overcome theoretical limitations and to incorporate the diversity of points of view needed to understand social entrepreneurship. It also made it possible to propose a new way to address social value. The focus on social value is a consolidation strategy for the research field, due to the fact that this construct is common to most social entrepreneurship definitions. This thesis proposes that the value creation multi-dimensionality assumes an objective and subjective evaluation perspective, considering them as complementary. The objective perspective reflects results quantification, common in research that seeks to identify social value or SEI. The subjective perspective is related to the complexity of an essentially contested concept, it incorporates the beneficiary s point of view and the relationship with the context, seeking to isolate the SEI’s effects from others that strikes the social problem. A multi-method strategy was adopted to identify archetypes and classify SEI, proposing a taxonomy. The methodology is based on patterns identification through qualitative and quantitative analysis. The SEI studied represent 43.63 per cent of the population and an estimated public investment of 29,348,180.00 euros. Together they serve 268,533 beneficiaries, create 1078 paid jobs and have 5227 volunteers. Based on the factors such as innovative value proposal, capacity for innovation, availability of resources and access to investment, the archetypes Persistent, Bold and Innovative were identified. Taxonomy is supported by the literature and consistent with official Portuguese reports. Innovative SEI create more social value more efficiently. Persistent SEI are the majority of new SEI and have great potential to create subjective value. However, they are limited by their organizational structure. Bold SEI create greater objective value, with less efficiency in the resources use. Taxonomy made it possible to understand the dynamics of the Portuguese ecosystem, clarified issues related to the SEI’s structure and their influence on the social value creation. The results contest the binary division where traditional SEI have greater difficulty in combining social and economic goals than new SEI. However, it corroborates and highlights the innovation role in the complementary combination of these goals. The Portuguese ecosystem favors innovative SEI and tends to produce incremental innovations. The results point to progress in relation to weaknesses signaled in previous studies and suggest the dynamization of the ecosystem with an increase of 31.3 per cent in the emergence of new SEI.