One of the most powerful means to strengthen an organization’s impact and sustainability is by engaging in a strategic alliance or combining with other organizations. There are a variety of ways this can be structured. Organizations face pressure from funders and investors to efficiently collaborate with other organizations. Mergers and acquisitions are a very prominent …

By Rolfe Larson, Joining Vision and Action What constitutes “true” social enterprises? Thousands of nonprofits that use the marketplace to accomplish their social goals call themselves social enterprises (SEs). Thousands of for-profit companies with social goals also use that term. Yet these two groups barely talk with each other. Why is that? Benefit corporations and …

Research shows that successful social enterprises often share common characteristics. There are many theories why some social enterprises flourish while others languish. Is it leadership, business planning, funding, market, or timing that makes a successful social enterprise? Joining Vision and Action is dedicated to providing social enterprises, nonprofits, and government agencies with the tools and …

By Rolfe Larson and Adam Brock, Joining Vision and Action Competitions are all the rage in the social enterprise world. From New York to San Francisco, organizations seeking to nurture emerging social entrepreneurs have decided to go all in on the pitch session, offering the winners startup funds and technical assistance. Good idea, right? Crowd …

Small museums face challenges attracting resources. Admission fees can discourage attendance and reduce gift shop sales. What to do? The following summarizes a discussion in the npEnterprise Forum, the 10,000-circulation online forum for all things social enterprise. The particular question posted by Jean Hardy Robinson was about a small history museum in a thriving tourist …

Compiled by Rolfe Larson and Janine Vanderburg With President Obama’s recent State of the Union address, this seems to be a good time to assess the State of Social Enterprise (SE). We decided to crowd-source this one primarily through the npEnterprise Forum (npE), the 10,000+ circulation, non-commercial, moderated online forum for all things SE. Structure …

When most people hear about social enterprises that provide training and employment to disadvantaged individuals, they think it’s a good idea. But when they ask what data we have on whether SE’s actually “work,” whether they improve the lives of the people they serve, over the long term, there’s been precious little of it. Fortunately, …

Many people will argue that social enterprises should be profitable or at least on a direct path to it. That they must eventually reach a point where all of their expenses are paid from revenues; otherwise they are judged “unsustainable.” But is profitability a reasonable goal for every social enterprise?

Recently I was struck by a comment from the St Louis County Police Department, that in predominately black communities such as Ferguson, the police practice a “zero tolerance” policy. So if you’re pulled over for almost anything, and they do that fairly often in these communities, and you have an outstanding warrant or even a …

Here a few inspiring social enterprise ideas discussed at the recent national Social Venture Network conference. (Source: Forbes article by Devin Thorpe) 1. Be Political. While 92% of Americans favor disclosure of genetically engineered ingredients in their food, objections from the powerful food industry are so strong that only through collective advocacy will this change.