This paper will argue that key agents of change towards authentic sustainability are civil society organisations which are mostly driven by people who search for more meaningful work with social cause and purpose. This emerging phenomenon has been widely theorised as a form of social entrepreneurship, yet appears to be a fairly new field of interest in transitional economies. With illustration of a case study of one island in Croatia this paper will demonstrate how social entrepreneurial behaviour of NGOs raises consciousness amongst general population and often exercise key influence on local and regional authorities in the process of their strategic decision-making.