- Impact Models
9 Business Model Examples for Social Enterprises
- By Adam G. Force
- In Impact Models
A business model is a structure, design or framework that a business follows to bring value to its customers and clients. However, there are at least three measures of the success of a business model—its ability to generate profit for its owners, its ability to generate positive change in the world , and its ability to achieve a balance of profit and positive change . The first approach applies to traditional for-profit companies; the second approach applies to traditional charities; and the third approach (a balance between profit and positive change) applies to social enterprises.
Given the definition above, a social business model is a structure, design or framework that a social business follows in order to bring about a positive change while maintaining healthy financial returns. Yet despite sharing this basic framework, social entrepreneurs have a wide spectrum of viable social business models to choose from.
To help shed light on that spectrum, in 2012 Wolfgang Grassi (aka W. Grassi) identified nine types of social business models . He began his analysis with three factors guiding any social business: the mission, the type of integration, and the target population. He then explored the way in which these three factors intersected with the three traditional categories of business ( for-profit, not-for-profit and hybrids ) to generate the nine specific types of social business models that any social enterprise could adopt.
Let’s have a look at them:
1. The Entrepreneur Support Model
This model of social enterprise (SE) sells business support services directly to the entrepreneurs in its target population. In other words, this type of SE helps entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground. Support can come in the form of consulting services, training, microfinancing or technical support. Organizations that belong to this category may include economic development organizations, business development service organizations and microfinancers.
Examples to Inspire:
- Interview with Rick Alexander: Everything You Need to Know About Benefit Corporations and Legal Structures
- Interview with Kelly Campbell: How She Sold Her Second Company and Created a New Meaningful Business She Loves
- 10 Business Lessons from the Head of Legal Policy at B Lab
- Interview with Ryan Foland: How Mastering Communication Can Change Your Life
2. The Market Intermediary Model
This type of SE generally helps their clients by marketing or selling their clients’ products or services for them. For example, an organization that helps struggling small farmers by marketing and to sell their crops for them would belong to this category.
Want to dig in right now and figure out your impact model ? We love this book: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers which is a great tool, resource and guide to get you started!
3. The Employment Model
This type of SE provides their clients with job opportunities and job training. Revenue generated by those jobs pays for the SEs expenses and flows back into the services provided for those in need. Many youth and disabilities organizations adopt this model.
Examples to inspire you:
- Nasreen Sheikh: From Child Slave to Powerful Social Entrepreneur Helping Women Escape Poverty
- Sydney Sherman: How to Build an Online Marketplace that Combats Poverty Through the Things We Buy
- How These 4 Social Entrepreneurs Are Hacking Away at Poverty
- If You Like Flip Flops Than Here’s How You Can Change a Life Buying a Pair
- Top 7 Socially Aware Clothing Companies to Watch Out For
- Miscoots: How this Hip Clothing Brand is Disrupting Homelessness
4. The Fee-for-Service Model
The fee-for-service model is one of the most commonly adopted SE business models. The SE charges the customer directly for the socially beneficial services it provides. Many hospitals, schools, museums and membership organizations use the fee-for-service model to a greater or less degree.
Examples to Inspire You:
- University of the Future: The Sustainable Education Model
- 3 Social Entrepreneurs Blazing New Trails Toward Sustainability
5. The Low-income Client Model
SEs in this category generally offer social services directly (as in the fee-for-service model) while focusing on low-income clients. Hospitals and healthcare programs that offer their healthcare services to low-income patients often adopt this model.
6. The Cooperative Model
This is one of the most widely recognized categories of SE. The cooperative is generally a fee-based membership organization that provides member services to a group that shares a common need or goal. The cooperative is owned and operated by its members, who both run the cooperative and receive the benefits of its success. Two of the most well-known types of cooperative include credit unions and employee-owned businesses (“co-ops”).
7. The Market Linkage Model
SEs that serve as brokers for their clients often adopt this model. These SEs focus on building relationships and otherwise connecting their clients with markets for their clients’ products and services. However, unlike SEs adopting the market intermediary model, these SEs generally do not market or sell their clients’ products and services for them. Many trade associations adopt the market linkage model.
8. The Service Subsidization Model
This type of SE funds social programs by selling products or services in the marketplace. Service subsidization is one of the most common SE models, as almost any SE can adopt it. In contrast to organizational support SEs (see below), service subsidization SEs integrate their internal business with external social programs. For example, a law firm may use the revenue generated from the firm’s regular law practice to fund a social program that provides free law services to those in need. The firm may run the program out of their own offices and may provide the free law services themselves.
If you want an easy, scaled-down book to read, why not try Business Models for Dummies ? It’s got a lot of info that is easy to digest! You might just want to spend a few afternoons getting into that one.
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9. The Organizational Support Model
This type of SE, like a service subsidization organization, sells products or services to fund social programs. However, the social programs they fund are part of a separate, parent organization. In other words, an organizational support SE raises funds for a parent non-profit that, in turn, runs the social programs the SE wishes to support.
Although most social enterprises may fall naturally into one of W. Grassi’s nine categories above, there is always room for new and combined models to emerge. If your social enterprise cannot achieve its goals through one of these business models, you may choose to explore entirely new ones.
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Here are some great resources about the Business Model Canvas:
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Here you’ll not only discover how to create your personal business model canvas, but you’ll also do the hard work of reinventing yourself — something we can totally get behind here at Change Creator!
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Anyone that wants to grow a business must first read The Lean Startup . That’s just a fact. If you haven’t gotten a hold of it yet, what have you been doing with your life? But seriously. You can find the latest edition here!
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I was fired from my first job and after 10 years working at WebMD I had an epiphany while in Costa Rica. I started my second business, Change Creator, to help early-stage social entrepreneurs grow a profitable impact business through our signature program, Captivate, magazine and podcast. To date, I've had the privilege of talking with people such as Jay Shetty, Seth Godin, Muhammad Yunus, Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington and so many great minds.
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9 Business Model Examples For Social Enterprises
Home Cases, Trends & Blog 9 Business Model Examples For Social Enterprises
Source: Adam G. Force In Impact Models
A business model is a structure, design or framework that a business follows to bring value to its customers and clients. However, there are at least three measures of the success of a business model—its ability to generate profit for its owners, its ability to generate positive change in the world , and its ability to achieve a balance of profit and positive change . The first approach applies to traditional for-profit companies; the second approach applies to traditional charities; and the third approach (a balance between profit and positive change) applies to social enterprises.
Given the definition above, a social business model is a structure, design or framework that a social business follows in order to bring about a positive change while maintaining healthy financial returns. Yet despite sharing this basic framework, social entrepreneurs have a wide spectrum of viable social business models to choose from.
To help shed light on that spectrum, in 2012 Wolfgang Grassi (aka W. Grassi) identified nine types of social business models . He began his analysis with three factors guiding any social business: the mission, the type of integration, and the target population. He then explored the way in which these three factors intersected with the three traditional categories of business ( for-profit, not-for-profit and hybrids ) to generate the nine specific types of social business models that any social enterprise could adopt.
Let’s have a look at them:
- The Entrepreneur Support Model
This model of social enterprise (SE) sells business support services directly to the entrepreneurs in its target population. In other words, this type of SE helps entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground. Support can come in the form of consulting services, training, microfinancing or technical support. Organizations that belong to this category may include economic development organizations, business development service organizations and microfinancers.
Examples to Inspire:
- Interview with Rick Alexander: Everything You Need to Know About Benefit Corporations and Legal Structures
- Interview with Kelly Campbell: How She Sold Her Second Company and Created a New Meaningful Business She Loves
- 10 Business Lessons from the Head of Legal Policy at B Lab
- Interview with Ryan Foland: How Mastering Communication Can Change Your Life
- The Market Intermediary Model
This type of SE generally helps their clients by marketing or selling their clients’ products or services for them. For example, an organization that helps struggling small farmers by marketing and to sell their crops for them would belong to this category.
Want to dig in right now and figure out your impact model ? We love this book: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers which is a great tool, resource and guide to get you started!
- The Employment Model
This type of SE provides their clients with job opportunities and job training. Revenue generated by those jobs pays for the SEs expenses and flows back into the services provided for those in need. Many youth and disabilities organizations adopt this model.
Examples to inspire you:
- Nasreen Sheikh: From Child Slave to Powerful Social Entrepreneur Helping Women Escape Poverty
- Sydney Sherman: How to Build an Online Marketplace that Combats Poverty Through the Things We Buy
- How These 4 Social Entrepreneurs Are Hacking Away at Poverty
- If You Like Flip Flops Than Here’s How You Can Change a Life Buying a Pair
- Top 7 Socially Aware Clothing Companies to Watch Out For
- Miscoots: How this Hip Clothing Brand is Disrupting Homelessness
- The Fee-for-Service Model
The fee-for-service model is one of the most commonly adopted SE business models. The SE charges the customer directly for the socially beneficial services it provides. Many hospitals, schools, museums and membership organizations use the fee-for-service model to a greater or less degree.
Examples to Inspire You:
- University of the Future: The Sustainable Education Model
- 3 Social Entrepreneurs Blazing New Trails Toward Sustainability
- The Low-income Client Model
SEs in this category generally offer social services directly (as in the fee-for-service model) while focusing on low-income clients. Hospitals and healthcare programs that offer their healthcare services to low-income patients often adopt this model.
- The Cooperative Model
This is one of the most widely recognized categories of SE. The cooperative is generally a fee-based membership organization that provides member services to a group that shares a common need or goal. The cooperative is owned and operated by its members, who both run the cooperative and receive the benefits of its success. Two of the most well-known types of cooperative include credit unions and employee-owned businesses (“co-ops”).
- The Market Linkage Model
SEs that serve as brokers for their clients often adopt this model. These SEs focus on building relationships and otherwise connecting their clients with markets for their clients’ products and services. However, unlike SEs adopting the market intermediary model, these SEs generally do not market or sell their clients’ products and services for them. Many trade associations adopt the market linkage model.
- The Service Subsidization Model
This type of SE funds social programs by selling products or services in the marketplace. Service subsidization is one of the most common SE models, as almost any SE can adopt it. In contrast to organizational support SEs (see below), service subsidization SEs integrate their internal business with external social programs. For example, a law firm may use the revenue generated from the firm’s regular law practice to fund a social program that provides free law services to those in need. The firm may run the program out of their own offices and may provide the free law services themselves.
9. The Organizational Support Model
This type of SE, like a service subsidization organization, sells products or services to fund social programs. However, the social programs they fund are part of a separate, parent organization. In other words, an organizational support SE raises funds for a parent non-profit that, in turn, runs the social programs the SE wishes to support. Although most social enterprises may fall naturally into one of W. Grassi’s nine categories above, there is always room for new and combined models to emerge. If your social enterprise cannot achieve its goals through one of these business models, you may choose to explore entirely new ones.
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Surplus Solutions
Social enterprise business models
Social enterprises apply business solutions to social problems. The ultimate goal is to achieve sustainability by enabling non-profits to support themselves financially in innovative ways instead of relying solely on grants and donations. Since there are no shareholders in a non-profit organization, the profits from the related social enterprise are completely re-invested in the work of the organization.
The emergence of revenue-generating activities for non-profits has created a new operating model where business principles, market characteristics and values (competition, diversification, entrepreneurship, innovation, and a focus on the bottom line) co-exist and work with traditional public sector values like responsiveness to community and serving the public interest. Essential to the success of a social enterprise is an effective business model.
A business model includes two key elements:
- an operating strategy that includes internal organizational structure and external partnerships that are crucial for creating the organization’s intended impact; and,
- a resource strategy that defines where and on what terms the organization will acquire the resources (financial and human) it needs to do its work.
The business model for a social enterprise is the channel that the social entrepreneur converts inputs into outcomes; the generation of both social value (measurable impact) and economic value (revenue).
A social enterprise can be integrated with the non-profit organization in one of several ways:
- The enterprise and the social program are one and the same
- The business is created to serve clients (central to the mission)
Integrated:
- The business activities overlap with the social programs
- The business is created as a funding mechanism and to expand/enhance the mission of the organization
- Social and business activities are separate and may or may not be related to the mission of the organization
- The business is created mainly as a funding mechanism to support social activities
Virtue Ventures provides an excellent summary of the various types of business models that are summarized in the table below. These social enterprise business models can be applied equally to institutions, programs, or service delivery. These models are designed in accordance with the social enterprises’ financial and social objectives, mission, marketplace dynamics, client needs or capabilities and legal environment. Most of the business models are embedded within the organization.
If you want to launch a social enterprise you should ensure that:
- It is a good fit with the agency
- You know your industry
- You treat your enterprise as a business
- You hire the right people
- You set realistic expectations
- You improve your financial literacy
Source: Doing Well While Doing Good: How to Launch a Successful Social Purpose Enterprise. www.torontoenterprisefund.ca
You should also consider the following questions:
- How can you tell if your group is ready to embark on a social enterprise?
- What are the steps in a social enterprise planning process?
- How do you identify and assess enterprise opportunities?
- How do you plan for a social enterprise?
- How can you measure social returns in a business setting?
- What do you need to know about the legal context?
Source: www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca , The Canadian Social Enterprise Guide
For more information about developing a business model, download the MaRS workbook, Business model design . The information and exercises will help you design a business model by working through the key variables in executing a market strategy— competition , partnership , distribution , pricing and positioning .
Read next: Legal structures for social ventures: Social enterprise, social business and cooperatives in Canada
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Social Entrepreneurship 101: Business Models and Examples To Inspire You
- by Braveen Kumar
- Find an Idea
- Sep 14, 2022
- 12 minute read
The word “commerce” leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, since it often gets lumped in with the ills of capitalism. But commerce is a natural feature of humanity, neither good nor bad.
When channeled through social entrepreneurship , commerce can become a force of good to build a business that helps create a better world.
Social entrepreneurship takes many forms, but if you’re interested in starting a business with a cause, here’s where to start.
What is social entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is the organization of a business around specific social and environmental causes, and can include both nonprofit organizations and charities and for-profit social enterprises.
Social entrepreneurs differ from traditional entrepreneurs in that their main drive is to make a difference in the world or in their communities. They often have personal experience with the causes they support, which inspires their business’s mission.
While traditional businesses might measure success in terms of market share or year-over-year revenue growth, social entrepreneurs are more likely to focus on metrics like jobs created, trees planted, or donations made to a charitable arm that solves the problem they’ve invested in.
What’s a social enterprise?
A social enterprise is a business designed around a core altruistic mission, which in turn influences how it’s managed, from product development to branding, from supply chain management to financial planning.
Instead of a single bottom line focused on earnings, many social enterprises measure success based on a triple bottom line :
- People. The human impact of your business, and your ability to affect social change, improve lives, and develop a community in a sustainable way.
- Planet. Your environmental impact—how you contribute to a sustainable planet or reduce the carbon footprint (CO2 emissions) of your business and customers.
- Profit. Like traditional businesses, social enterprises need to make money in order to sustain themselves, pay workers, and grow as an enterprise.
Unlike a traditional business where profit is reinvested into the business for the sake of its own growth, a social enterprise allocates a large portion of its profits to create positive change in the world.
Social enterprises are not necessarily the same as companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. “Doing good” isn’t a value-add for social enterprises. It’s the core value prop and the mission they organize themselves around.
While social enterprises can be for profit or not for profit, there are also hybrid organizations that combine elements of both models, such as Merit Goodness , a clothing brand that helps fund scholarships for underprivileged youth in Detroit, Michigan.
The traditional retail business model also has a registered charity arm called Give Merit , which runs a cohort-based program to nurture leadership and career skills in ambitious youth.
What are the different types of social entrepreneurship
Just as there are near-infinite expressions of entrepreneurship, there are countless forms social entrepreneurship can take. You could start a nonprofit that provides funding for underserved entrepreneurs. Or you could launch a for-profit business that manufactures eco-friendly products.
No matter what type of social entrepreneurship you choose, you’ll need to be passionate about your cause and have a strong commitment to making a difference. With hard work and dedication, you can make a real impact on the world.
The different models you can adopt as a social entrepreneur include:
- Nonprofit. A tax-exempt, non-business entity that invests excess funds back into the mission.
- Co-operative. A business organized by and for its members. Credit unions and community grocery stores are some examples of co-ops.
- Social purpose business. These businesses start on the foundation of addressing a social mission.
- Social firm. Social firms employ those in the community who need jobs, such as at-risk youth.
- Socially responsible business . These companies support social missions as a part of their day-to-day business operations.
- For-profit. Perhaps the vaguest category, these businesses are profit-first but donate funds, raise awareness, or otherwise support causes.
Arguably the most common social enterprise model is donating a portion of profits to a charity, but that’s not all there is to building an effective social enterprise.
"It’s not just saying, ‘Hey, we have a social mission as an organization, and X percent of our sales goes to nonprofit X, Y, and Z.’ I think it needs to be deeper and more authentic than that.” Stephan Jacob, co-founder of Cotopaxi
- Creating jobs within the communities they care about, such as hiring local ex-convicts or ethically outsourcing production to communities in need of fair work and career development opportunities
- Reducing their carbon footprint by planting trees or offsetting carbon emissions throughout their entire supply chain and educating customers about the topic
- Hosting workshops and people-development initiatives to teach skills and empower others to build better lives for themselves and their communities
- Advocating for diversity and inclusion on behalf of underrepresented groups and becoming an engine of inspiration, such as GoldieBlox does by making content and toys that expose young girls to the joys of engineering
Do social entrepreneurs make money?
Social entrepreneurs do indeed make money.
While most social entrepreneurs start out with modest goals to prioritize their mission first, many are eventually able to achieve financial success similar to traditional entrepreneurs. Even founders of nonprofit organizations can eventually pay themselves a salary with certain limitations.
The pursuit of profit and purpose are not mutually exclusive in business, but for the social entrepreneur, it’s important that the former never cannibalizes the latter.
Shiza Shahid is one example of a financially successful serial social entrepreneur who co-founded the Malala Fund , which works toward a world where girls can have greater access to education in communities where they might be excluded from it, as well as Our Place , an ethical kitchenware company.
The benefits of building a social enterprise
A social enterprise’s mission is a competitive advantage that can help it stand out in a crowded market—if they can communicate their motivation and impact.
Building a social enterprise comes with its own unique benefits for the entrepreneur that are worth getting excited about if you plan to start your own:
- Alignment between your business’s mission and your personal one , fuelling you to show up every day and push through any obstacles
- Mission-based branding with a cause at its core that makes consumers feel good about every purchase they make.
- Access to more partnership opportunities as an altruistic business, such as other nonprofit organizations, influencers, and for-profit companies to leverage existing audiences and established reputations to create a presence in their market.
- More press coverage —publications and journalists love to cover social innovation and change-makers and share the stories of their impact to help social enterprises evangelize their efforts.
- “In kind” resources, sponsorships, and vendor discounts are often available to social enterprises, especially nonprofit charities, which may also be considered for tax-exempt status. NPOs can also access great rates and special features on the Shopify for nonprofits plan.
- Certifications and support systems. Social enterprises can be eligible for grants, “impact investing” opportunities that focus on job creation and sustainability, and special certifications such as a B Corporation status that make it easier to establish credibility, commit to transparency, and attract customers , employees, volunteers, and investors.
Transparency and sustainable impact are essential for a successful social enterprise. And these things are easier to achieve if your cause is close to your heart with impact you can measure.
David Meritt, founder of Give Merit , shares annual reports about the performance of the students who enroll in the FATE program for nurturing leadership skills among the youth in his community.
Depending on your mission, you can directly implement your plans for change as a social entrepreneur and expand your contributions as you grow. But if you choose to partner with nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to help execute the “social” part of your social enterprise (as many do), be sure to do your homework before you reach out. Ask questions like:
- What am I ultimately giving back to?
- How will my contributions actually be used and what are the organization’s operating costs?
- How does the organization measure its success?
- Is its impact sustainable or will it only end up doing more harm in the long run?
- Does this organization have an ethical history as a nonprofit?
This is all part of your founding story—the tale of why you started your business—and will likely come up again and again in your elevator pitch , About page , PR efforts, and more. So refine your story with your mission and your action plan for creating change in mind and let it become your edge.
Social entrepreneurship examples that balance purpose and profit
Let’s take a closer look at some for-profit social enterprise examples and their missions that prove creating positive change and being profitable as a business don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Cotopaxi is a social enterprise that sells durable gear for the outdoor explorer, while also contributing to initiatives to fight global poverty. Sustainability is built into its product development and carbon neutral supply chain, which has earned the business its B Corp status as a social enterprise.
Mission: “Create sustainably designed outdoor gear that fuels both adventure and global change, by dedicating a percentage of our revenues to nonprofits working to improve the human condition.”
Impact : Aided 1,255,490 people directly through poverty alleviation programs, provided 67,000 malaria treatments benefitting 403,416 families, and more in 2021.
Blueland is a social enterprise that sells plastic-free alternatives to home essentials, such as cleaning sprays and paper towels. Sustainability is at the heart of its mission and is woven into its content marketing that educates readers about sustainability and single-use plastics.
Mission : “Make it easy to be eco with innovative products in reusable packaging that are convenient, effective and affordable.”
Impact : Its products helped eliminate one billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans since 2019.
LSTN Sound Co. sells premium wooden headphones and provides access to hearing aids to people in need through the Starkey Hearing Foundation . It reflects the founders’ love for music and wanting to share that experience with others, especially those with hearing loss who cannot afford hearing aids.
Mission: “After seeing a viral video of someone hearing her own voice for the first time, co-founders Bridget Hilton and Joe Huff decided to focus their efforts on creating change through the power of sound & music, and make this incredible moment a reality for others around the globe.”
Impact : The company has helped provide hearing aids to more than 50,000 people who would not have had access to them otherwise.
Finding a product to sell and a mission to lead
The mission might come first for social entrepreneurs, but that doesn’t eclipse the importance of choosing the right things to make and sell . When all is said and done, a for-profit social enterprise needs to make money to survive, just like any other business idea.
You could start a social enterprise selling physical or digital products, even services.
The one caveat is your product development process must align with your mission. The common trait among successful social enterprises is a “product-cause fit” that aligns their mission with what they sell.
Start by asking yourself:
- What social or environmental problems do you see in the world that you’re passionate about solving? The world is no doubt filled with many problems, but pick one you truly care about.
- Is there a way you can uplift your local community? You don’t need to change the world. You can change someone’s world in your own city.
- Is there a specific market you can sell to authentically? Authenticity is at the heart of social enterprises and that goes beyond the cause and applies to what you sell to customers too.
- Can you draw any connections between the causes and product categories you’re passionate about? You’ll likely be marketing the product first to your customer, not the cause, but it helps if customers can draw a clear line between the two.
From there, you can work backward to find specific product ideas you can develop.
Social enterprise ideas you can start today
If you’re looking for specific directions to go in for your own social enterprise, here are some creative ideas you can explore.
1. Upcycle a product that could easily be repurposed or repaired
One way to build sustainability into your business is taking an existing product that often goes to waste unnecessarily and upcycle it. You can intake what others may consider “garbage” and use that material in the production of your own products, such as food or clothing that would’ve gone to waste.
Learn more : The Charitable Bike Brand That’s on Track to 7-Figure Sales
2. Find an existing product responsible for a lot of waste and create a sustainable alternative
Think about the things we use daily that create the most waste—paper towels, cotton swabs, plastic straws, coffee pods—and consider how you might not just eliminate that waste with your own product, but potentially save consumers money too.
Learn more: 18 Sustainable Stores to Inspire Your Business
3. Start a homemade goods business, and hire and train people from your community who have trouble securing employment
Homemade goods, as the name implies, whether food, accessories, or skin care products, are something you can easily teach others how to produce. That can allow you to hire people who have difficulty securing employment for whatever reason and help them develop new skills in the process.
Learn more : 10 Crafts to Make and Sell
Create positive change through social entrepreneurship
Our connected world has brought about a new era of awareness, where we can find problems to solve and lives to improve across the street or across the world if we choose.
People from all over are deciding to make change in whatever way they can, whether it’s by being more conscious of what they buy as consumers or building an engine for social and environmental good by becoming entrepreneurs.
With a single website, you can reach a world of consumers who want to help you make a difference. Shopify is a flexible platform to build your site, share your mission, and generate sales to fund that mission . It’s all about figuring out your cause and what to sell to support it
Social entrepreneurship FAQ
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What is a Social Business Model? 8 Companies Doing it Right
Corporations, Community Strategy // From Glossier to Netflix, see how 8 different companies are tapping into the social business model to improve the customer experience (and their success).
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Once upon a time, during the initial rise of social media platforms and online communities , people were aflutter about what these new developments would mean for their business. The term “social” seemed to compound every business buzzword, making it difficult to understand what a social business really looks like.
In today’s world, the social business model has become an expectation, rather than a new idea.
Here’s our formal definition:
What is a Social Business Model? The social business model is a framework utilized by companies to improve their customers’ experiences, using online channels to prioritize customer success and customer engagement.
Now that we (and the social business model) are older and wiser, we can reflect on what the impact of the introduction of these platforms. To help illustrate the concept better, we’ve compiled a list of eight companies we think are using the social business model well. Spoiler alert: Netflix is one of them.
Across all types of consumer-facing businesses (B2B and B2C), customers expect to be able to reach a company using various channels – whether it’s through a customer portal , Twitter, an online community , support tickets, an Instagram direct message, other social media platforms, a call center, an email , you get the idea.
Furthermore, t hey’re expecting a personalized, relevant experience across all these channels. Seeing the connection? The channels of communication have expanded – the customer-company relationship is now social.
Curious to learn more about branded communities? Check out The State of Community Management Report for industry trends, below.
8 Examples of Companies Thriving with t he S ocial Business Model
Pursuing a social business model generally looks like using online engagement tools to promote customer success , crowdsource product innovation, and create a stable support network for customers, but everyone’s use case is different , and it can help to see different ways companies apply the framework.
1. Glossier
Glossier, a B2C makeup sensation, entered the scene when its founder started a beauty blog. The blog has grown into a beauty brand valued at 1.2 million – and to what does the founder attribute their success? Listening and responding to online customer feedback.
Throughout its growth, the company has actively sought customer feedback on their blog and other social channels . For example, the company’s Instagram account receives five direct messages per minute . But all this feedback is harnessed to make the product better . At one point, c ustomers expressed that Glossier wasn’t producing enough makeup to meet the needs of women of color, which led to Glossier’s expansion of its product line to include more shades.
Why we like it:
Glossier’s obvious attention to customer feedback has led to huge success for the company. The company achieved the status of “unicorn” (a privately-held startup valued at over one billion) in 2019. And how did Glossier get here? The founder built the brand on engaging with customers online to improve their experience, and the company hasn’t veered from that path yet.
Read the full story on Glossier here.
2. Netflix
If you’ve ever watched something on Netflix, you know that they’re all about personalization. As soon as you click “play” on that movie or TV show, your dashboard immediately suggests related content. (Why yes, I WOULD like to watch A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding , how did you know? ! )
Netflix uses the data that customers provide through their clicks, time spent watching, day and time of viewing, all to create the personalization powerhouse.
Like any consumer, we like it because it makes our streaming experience richer and easier. This is a perfect example of the social business model. Netflix is making the customer experience relevant by harnessing data that customers submit and improving customer satisfaction, experience, and retention. (Plus, viewers love it so much that Netflix can keep raising prices with confidence that most customers will stay.)
Read more about Netflix’s approach .
3. Jama Software
Jama Software, a B2B software company, offers a product development software that allows companies developing software to keep critical records of actions and processes. It introduced an online community to its customers to improve the customer experience and make its customers more successful.
For one, it makes customer support a lot easier for the customer by creating a network of customers and providing a resource library for support self-service . Jama is also able to crowdsource product improvements and improve customer intelligence, using community data to get a clear picture of their customers’ needs and interests.
Why we like it:
Jama Software’s approach prioritizes the customer through engagement and online connection . Not only is the company improving its approach to customer support, but it’s using online community to gather the data it needs to improve its product and the customer experience.
Read more about Jama Software’s initiative .
4. Harley Davidson
Online a utomobile/motorcycle communities have popped up to unite buyers in the past few years. Mini Cooper has one, and Harley Davidson similarly connects riders through a community that helps them connect and discuss all things Harley. The business uses this as a chance to unite customers behind their bra nd, strengthening the bonds of their advocates.
When you’re connected to a community of like-minded people around a product or cause, you’re more likely to become engaged, invested, and stick around. Harley Davidson knows this. By uniting customers through this community, they’re harnessing the power of social business to connect customers to their brand and drive sustainable value.
Read more about Harley Davidson’s c ommunity .
5. Zenoss
Zenoss , a B2B company, develops software that supports IT services and applications of large organizations, working to keep them up and running 24/7. The company has had a user group community for more than 10 years but recently moved toward a full private online community for its customers. Zenoss’s community allows its customers to collaborate, enjoy an improved user experience, and allows Zenoss to scale its membership base rapidly.
Zenoss’s use case shows how a software company can adapt to the social business model use over time, continuously improving how customers can connect with the company and each other online. The company has opened the door to even greater collaboration and crowdsourcing of ideas.
Read more about Zenoss’s community-based model .
6. Wargaming
Wargaming, a Belarusian video game company, uses customer feedback to improve game updates in real time. When the company released an update to a popular game, World of Tanks, they gathered audience feedback to identify positive and negative feedback and its location, and shared feedback across teams to improve performance.
Why we like it:
Multi-player online games are inherently social – so it makes sense that any company hoping to succeed in the business have adopted a social business model. Monitoring customer data during their launch allowed Wargaming to improve its product and meet customers’ needs.
Learn more about Wargaming’s strategy here.
7. Discovery Education
Discovery Education provides teaching resources for educators across the globe . Its customers were originally disparate and disconnected groups, until the company introduced an online community. Now, the group of active members calls this online space home, and use the community to support their professional goals, access resources, and build relationships.
Through the online community, Discovery Education has been able to support its customers and make them successful. The company can provide immediate access to resources and a valuable network of other customers. This application of the social business model points to the success of companies that can find ways to make their customers central.
Read Discovery Educat ion’s full story .
8. Starbucks
Starbucks seeks customer feedback from in a modified online community. The coffee company’s forum asks customers to contribute ideas and suggestions, and Starbucks will review and possibly implement suggestions, if it i s on brand. It has made changes to its menu like adding coconut milk and almond milk to the menu, per customer request, which was praised highly by customers.
Starbucks created a dedicated online space that it owns , rather than relying on an existing social network to gather feedback. This gives the company a unique look at customer data that its competitors can’t see. Starbucks has been responsive to its customers ’ feedback , which is a “must” when you seek customer feedback out. It’s using the suggestions and feedback it receives to improve every customer’s Starbucks’ experience.
Read up on Starbucks’ social business model .
Keys to Perfecting the Social Business Model
Did you notice this list didn’t cover just one industry or type of business? T h at’s because, regardless of industry, th e social business model is one that’s rapidly becoming a customer expectation (so expect to deliver on it).
How can you take your company further toward improving customer success and experience? Try these takeaways:
- Gather activity data on customers’ preferences (behaviors, needs, likes, dislikes, etc. )
- Use that data to improve and personalize their experience
- Listen to your customers
- Respond to their feedback
It’s all about making your customer s the focus of your business , because without them, you wouldn’t have one.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published by Joshua Paul in April 2012 and has since been refreshed to make sure we’re bringing you the latest and greatest.
Content Marketing Manager
Elizabeth Bell is the Content Marketing Manager at Higher Logic. She’s passionate about communities, tech, and communicating about both effectively. When she’s not writing, you’ll probably find her cooking, reading, gardening, or playing volleyball.
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Business Models for Social Enterprises
Pathways for social change.
Navigating through social entrepreneurship can become quite a challenge, especially for those approaching it for the first time.
As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of social businesses worldwide generating positive impact in different ways. If interested, this section of our website discusses few of them!
Now, as you might guess, every social enterprise has its own mission, a specific value proposition to offer, and most importantly, a solid business model . But it isn’t always easy to understand how each one of these companies manage to create, deliver and capture value . You don’t know where to start, it all gets confusing, time consuming.. we’ve been through that before.
So, in order to help aspiring changemakers getting more familiar with the topic, we put together a list of business models for social enterprises and social businesses . As you will see, they all are abstract, conceptual structures, so to say. Nevertheless, they might help you get more acquainted with business modeling and eventually help you choose the best pathway for your project.
Business models for social enterprises
Let’s be clear: we are not the first ones digging into this topic. Actually, quite the opposite. Business modeling has been extensively researched in recent years. And that is why the Internet is filled with a ton of insightful content on the subject.
Among all these works, we decided to build on the research done by Business Model Zoo , a project developed by Cass Business School. In fact, Dr. Baden-Fuller and his team identified four main business model pathways for developing a business: product , solution , matchmaking and multi-sided . Any startup and organization, including social ones, usually falls into one (or a combination) of these categories.
In the following sections, for each of these categories we provide a brief explanation as well as few examples of social enterprise model types .
1. Product Model
Product model is definitely the easiest category to understand. Organizations using a product model sell (or rent) standardized products/services to a customer segment, getting paid in return. Those customers might be individuals (B2C) or other businesses (B2B): still, the logic doesn’t change.
When it comes to social entrepreneurship, businesses choosing a product model sell/rent directly to their beneficiaries. In other words, customers and beneficiaries are one and the same. Because of that, this model is also often called “ beneficiary as customer model “. In this scenario, beneficiaries either buy/rent a product, purchase a one-time service, or subscribe to repeatedly access an ongoing service.
2. Solution Model
To a certain extent, a Solution model might look similar to the previous model we discussed, even though it radically differs from it. As a matter of fact, the company still sells directly to the end customers. However, it does it by offering tailored products/services , instead of standardized ones.
You can put it in this way: in a solution model, a company develops a product/service with and for each customer . Something that obviously requires to engage with customers first, to collect their needs and unmet desires. From there, the value proposition design process then follows.
Solution models can be found in social entrepreneurship too. The “ cooperative model ” (beneficiaries own the firm) and the “ beneficiary as business owner model ” (beneficiaries receive consulting and financial support from the firm) are indeed typical examples of solution models. Here, once again, beneficiaries and customers tend to overlap.
3. Matchmaking Model
In a matchmaking model , the firm typically connects complementary groups: customers and sellers. In other words, it helps matching demand and supply. When adopting this model, the value provided by the firm is therefore transactional .
Facilitating such matches is not always easy. As a matter of fact, the company has to create a physical or digital platform (namely, the “ marketplace “) and to make sure that both segments meet there at the same time. Then, it usually capitalizes on the value created by charging a fee on each transaction.
When applied to the social sector, matchmaking models can get a little more tricky. For ease of understanding, we identified two main sub-categories within this cluster. On one hand there is the “ market intermediary model “, in which the enterprise physically connects beneficiaries with markets interested in their products/services, acting either as an intermediary or as a re-seller. On the other hand, you have the “ platform as intermediary model “, with online platforms connecting two complementary segments (i.e. buyers and sellers, fundraisers and donors, etc.).
4. Multi-sided Model
Last but not least: the multi-sided model . In a multi-sided model, the enterprise provides diverse value propositions (products, services, solutions) to different segments. Even though the value created for one target is different from the other one, one of the two sides usually receives additional benefits from the other group’s transactions.
Multi-sided model can take various forms in social entrepreneurship. Below we list the most common ones:
– “ customer segment cross-subsidization model ” = the firm delivers pretty much the exact same product/service to two targets (customers and beneficiaries). The first one pays, the other one then receives it for free or at a discounted rate. “ One buy, give one ” models fall into this sub-category.
– “ product line cross-subsidization model ” = here, the firm delivers two different products/services to two targets (customers and beneficiaries). Once again, the first segment pays, the other one receives it for free or at a discounted rate. “ Freemium ” models tend to be considered part of this cluster.
– “ cross-subsidization with parent company model ” = in this case, the social enterprise solely acts as a funding mechanism for its parent company. Eventually, the profits generated by the enterprise are later used by the parent organization to serve beneficiaries and fulfill its social impact mission.
– “ donation model ” = to some extent, this model is quite similar to the previous one. Yet, the social enterprise donates its profit not to a parent company, but to a distinct social organization . This organization then uses the funds received to generate positive social change.
– “ employment model ” = the firm trains and employs beneficiaries, and later sells products/services to conscious customers (at times, willing to pay premium prices to contribute generating impact).
What’s next?
This is just a first taste of what business models for social enterprises might look like. In order to further help aspiring changemakers getting more confident with the topic, we decided to collect data through different case studies.
In our “ Social Business Case Studies ” section, we indeed discuss how different social enterprises and social businesses are creating, delivering and capturing value. Beside that, for each organization we also investigate what’s the business model framework behind it. So, don’t forget to keep browsing and check this section! 🙂
Any business model you would like us to discuss?
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9 Social Enterprise Business Models
Change Creator™ has identified 9 working social enterprise business models that bring value to customers. As they state, there are 3 measures that define if a business model in generalis successful or not: the model’s ability to generate profit for its owners, its ability to generate positive change in the world, and its ability to achieve a balance of profit and positive change. The latter is applied to social enterprises. A social business model is therefore a structure, design or framework that a social business follows in order to bring about a positive change while maintaining healthy financial returns.
According to a study by Wolfgang Grassi , there are 9 types of social enterprises.
- The entrepreneur support model that sells business support services directly to the entrepreneurs in its target population
- The market intermediary model that helps their clients by marketing or selling their clients’ products or services for them
- The employment model , in which a social enterprise provides their clients with job opportunities and job training
- The fee-for-service -model where a social enterprise charges the customer directly for the socially beneficial services it provides
- The low-income client model where a social enterprise generally offers social services directly (as in the fee-for-service model) while focusing on low-income clients
- The cooperative model , a fee-based membership organization that provides member services to a group that shares a common need or goal
- The market linkage model that focus on building relationships and otherwise connecting their clients with markets for their clients’ products and services
- The service subsidization model that funds social programs by selling products or services in the marketplace.
- The organization support model also sells products or services to fund social programs (as the service subsidization model). However, the social programs they fund are part of a separate, parent organization
As there are many variations of these models, they can provide ideas on to how to create sustainable benefit to society while balancing your finances. Read more on the 9 business models from the original research or the story by Change Creator™
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About the author: aino elina muhonen.
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22 Awesome Social Enterprise Ideas and Examples
There are several ways you can go about searching for social enterprise ideas. Seeing examples of social enterprise in action is one of these best ways to get inspired for what you might want to create!
Social enterprise ideas, unlike conventional business ideas, typically result from a desire to solve a social need; similar to how many non-profit and charity organizations find their beginning.
As the message of merging business acumen and innovation with the task of building lasting social change spreads, and along with increasing numbers of powerful examples of positive change manifesting around the world, the social enterprise movement continues to gain traction. With this entrepreneurial approach to diversifying funding streams, an organization can be freed from “strings-attached” grant funding and often unreliable corporate or individual donations.
Before sharing a list of social entrepreneurship examples in action, let’s address a few of the most commonly asked questions about social enterprise:
How is a social enterprise different from a business?
Traditional business ideas can also come from identifying a social need but the difference between a social enterprise and a traditional business is the motivation of the entrepreneur. The primary motivation for a traditional entrepreneur is more-often-than-not a desire to make money whereas a social entrepreneur is driven fist and foremost by a passion to solve a social problem. Setting up as a business or using market principles (i.e. selling products or services) is used as a mechanism to solve the social or environmental problems they seek to impact.
What are the main objectives of a social enterprise?
Because of the different motivations that drive the two types of entrepreneurs, we must consider that their businesses will function a bit differently. We often hear the business world talk about focusing on the bottom line business practices that lead to increased monetary profitability. In comparison, social businesses focus on double – or triple – bottom line business practices that lead to social, environmental AND economic profitability. Acumen defines social enterprise as: “Any enterprise that prioritizes transformative social impact while striving for financial sustainability.”
What qualifies as a social enterprise?
Social Enterprise is the practice of using market-based, entrepreneurial strategies for the purpose of progressing an organization’s social or environmental impact. Social Enterprises can take many forms and are not restricted to one particular legal structure or business model design. “Social Entrepreneurship uses business models – selling products or services – to solve social problems.” – Trico Foundation “ Organizations that address a basic unmet need or solve a social problem through a market-driven approach.” – Social Business Alliance
How does a social enterprise work?
With goals to achieve both social impact and financial sustainability, social enterprises look to a unique set of business models to achieve their goals. Some of the most common business model frameworks social enterprises use are: 1. Cross-Compensation – One group of customers pays for the service. Profits from this group are used to subsidize the service for another, underserved group. 2. Fee for Service – Beneficiaries pay directly for the goods or services provided by the social enterprise. 3. Employment and skills training – The core purpose is to provide living wages, skills development, and job training to the beneficiaries: the employees. 4. Market Intermediary – The social enterprise acts as an intermediary, or distributor, to an expanded market. The beneficiaries are the suppliers of the product and/or service that is being distributed to an international market. 5. Market Connector – The social enterprise facilitates trade relationships between beneficiaries and new markets. 6. Independent Support – The social enterprise delivers a product or service to an external market that is separate from the beneficiary and social impact generated. Funds are used to support social programs to the beneficiary. 7. Cooperative – A for-profit or nonprofit business that is owned by its members who also use its services, providing virtually any type of goods or services.
Can a social enterprise be for profit?
Yes, social enterprises can take on any legal structure! A social enterprise approach is only a means to an end: the profit-making strategies are not in place for profit maximization but are in place as an essential component to bring about social or environmental change in a meaningful and long term way.
What is an example of social enterprise?
Aravind Eye Care is one of the earliest examples of a social enterprise model at work. This renowned Indian organization is designed to let people pay what they can. Aravind provides cataract surgery and other eye care services to any one who comes for it regardless of their ability to pay. Those who can afford to pay market price, do, and those who can’t, don’t. Amazingly, the number of patients who chose to pay covers the cost of providing care to the entire client base, allowing for wholistic care for all who need it.
Now let’s look at our list of 22 Awesome Social Enterprise Examples!
Social supermarket.
(Business Model: Fee for Service. Example: Community Shop ) – Create a food market that sells food to low-income communities at a discounted price. Discounted food is donated (or purchased very cheaply) from food suppliers and other supermarkets, who cannot sell the food themselves for a variety of reasons such as approaching expiry dates, dented cans, and product mislabeling.
Used Textbooks for Social Change
(Business Model: Cross-compensation and Independent Support. Example: Textbooks for Change ) – Partner with student groups/clubs to collect used textbooks at the end of each semester. Students donate their used textbooks. Some of the textbooks are re-sold to students at the college/university of their collection source; some of the textbooks are donated to students in need at underserved universities in the developing world. The profits are split between the student groups/clubs, program administration costs, and any remaining funds are used to support social programs in developing communities.
Online Socially Conscious Marketplace
(Business Model: Market Connector. Examples: ArtZoco and eBatuta ) – Help underserved artisans sell their products to the world by building a platform that makes it easy for them. Artisans can either manage their online store directly, or the platform can act merely as a listing service that connects the artisans face-to-face with buyers. Revenue is created by either charging listing fees directly to the artisan, via a commission on goods sold, or built-in as a premium fee to the buyer. Profit generated can be used to fund social services that directly affect the artisan communities.
Sustainable Water
(Business Model: Fee for Service. Example: Water Health International ) – Build small water purification stations in communities in developing countries using off-the-shelf products. Initial funds to build it can come from traditional charitable methods, or through debt/equity financing; the communities can be partial owners (or full owners, if using cooperative business model). Ongoing costs to maintain and staff the water station come from the sale of purified water to its beneficiaries, but at near break-even levels, costing almost nothing for the beneficiaries.
Micro Lending
(Business Model: Market Connector. Example: Kiva) – Create a platform for individuals and organizations to lend money directly to entrepreneurs who would otherwise not get funding, such as those in the developing world. Charge a small fee to cover the operational costs.
Social Crowdfunding
(Business Model: Market Connector. Example: Start Some Good ) – Build a platform for social entrepreneurs to find groups of funders. Similar to the Micro Lending platform, but lenders take a promise of something in the future in return for ‘donating’ a bit of money to the Social Entrepreneur’s project now. Charge a small fee to cover the operational costs of the platform.
Baking/Cooking for a Social Cause
(Business Model: Employment and Skills Training. Example: Edgar and Joe’s ) – Open a bakery/restaurant or another food-providing establishment that focuses on building employment skills for underemployed groups, such as at-risk youth or former drug addicts. The profit from sales of food and beverage go to wages, training, and social betterment programs for the staff-beneficiaries.
Efficient Wood Stoves for Developing World
(Business Model: Cross-Compensation. Example: Bio Lite ) – Millions of women in developing countries suffer from cardiopulmonary diseases as a direct result of breathing in wood smoke on a daily basis. Build a more efficient stove to solve this problem. Sell the stoves at or above market rate to those who can afford it, and use the money from the sale of the stoves to partly subsidize the cost for those who cannot afford it.
Innovative Information Product
(Business model: Cross-Compensation. Example: Information Blanket ) – Create a baby blanket with information about how to take care of a baby, such as when to immunize, how big a baby should be at a specific age, and how often to feed the baby. The regions where baby education is scarce are the same regions where income tends to be low. Therefore, these blankets could be given freely to new mothers in low-income areas, while they could be sold to new mothers in wealthier areas. Proceeds from sales would fund blankets and education for new mothers in poor areas.
Micro Power Generation
(Business Model: Fee for Service. Examples: Husk Power ) – Provide micro-electric solutions for remote applications in the developing world. Two ways you could do this are to create a stand-alone power system from used, rechargeable batteries to power classrooms. Or, you could create a mini power plant that uses biomass produced by the humans, plants, and animals of an off-grid village. These types of systems are very cheap to build and implement and can be paid for on a fee-for-usage basis. This idea might also lend itself well as a cooperative.
Socially Conscious Consumer Electronics
(Business Model: Fee for Service and Market Intermediary. Examples: Fair Phone .) Build a new kind of consumer electronic device; one that is built with conflict-free materials, provides fair wages to the workers who build it, offers a fair and transparent price for the end consumer, and does not engage in unfair consumer practices (such as locking smartphones, or creating proprietary software/hardware interfaces).
Education Books on a Social Topic
(Business Model: Fee for Service and independent support. Example: Chef’s Collaborative Network ) Create a book or other educational publication, whose benefit is easily understood and salable. Learning about the topic of the social education book should benefit the reader, such as a recipe book that focuses on recipes that promote sustainable food culture. The proceeds from the book are used to support education initiatives along with the same topic and to group who will have the most impact and benefit. In the case of sustainable food preparation practices, the target education group would-be chefs.
Ultra-Modern Technology to Attract Economic Development
(Business Model: Fee for Service. Cooperative. Example: O-Net ) A small community normally doesn’t have much to offer a business, unless you make it a place that has the best business service in one area. For instance, you could create an internet service that is owned by the community and provides internet access at ten-times the bandwidth for the same price as those in another community would have to pay. The cost could be subsidized by the community, but it would attract high-tech businesses to locate in the community, fueling the local economy and benefiting everyone in it.
Beauty Products to Support a Social Mission
(Business Model: Independent Support. Example: Bottle 4 Bottle .) Partner with major beauty brands to sell their products as an online retailer. Convince them to provide their products to you at a favorable wholesale rate, and divert the profits to purchasing milk and baby bottles for distribution in the developing world.
A Virtual Factory of Computer Workers
(Business Model: Employment and Skills Training. Example: Cloud Factory .) Build an online community of computer workers, hired from underemployed communities. Train each of them to do one computer-related thing well (ie. writing functions in a particular programming language, translating code for a specific and common API, etc.) Combine dozens of them to complete a product, such as a website, for a client that would normally only require 1 or 2 people. Because each person is highly micro-specialized, the larger team forms as a virtual ‘assembly line’ to finish the project faster, cheaper, and with a higher quality standard than the traditional method of locally hiring or outsourcing a broad-range knowledge worker. Virtual assembly line workers enjoy employment with higher wages than they would normally receive doing menial work.
A marketplace for social good
(Business Model: Market Intermediary. Example: Do Good Buy Us and Ten Thousand Villages .) Sell socially and ethically conscious products in a virtual or real environment. By purchasing these products from the producers, the social good flows-down the logistics chain to the beneficiaries, and consumers are able to find a bunch of the products they want in a convenient shopping format.
Exercise equipment for social outreach
(Business Model: Fee for Service and Cross-Compensation. Example: Rubber Banditz .) Sell a piece of exercise equipment that is simple to use and affordable. Promote the equipment as an alternative to full gym access for those who can’t afford it. Use profits and product to subsidize outreach programs that promote healthy living, thus promoting healthy living to two underserved groups: direct customers and outreach participants.
Educational travel company
(Business Model: Fee for Service. Examples: Think Impact and Evoluzion .) Start a company that brings together travelers with experiences that provide an intercultural learning experience and a positive social impact on a local community. Profits are recycled back into the communities they affect.
Food for Philanthropy
(Business Model: Independent support. Examples: Newman’s Own and Late .) Create a food company that provides an already needed/wanted product and use the profits to support philanthropic work. The company is easily scalable and can focus on just one product line/charity, or can be easily scaled to provide multiple food products and support a variety of charities.
Social products and employment for the underserved
(Business Model: Employment and Skills Training, Fee for Service. Example: Livelyhoods .) Source one or several social good products (clean cookstoves, affordable power solutions for the developing world), and hire an underemployed group to sell these products to their community on a commision basis. It’s both a distribution/marketing method and a way to employ underemployed populations.
Water for everyone!
(Business model: Cross-compensation. Example: Soma Water .) Create a home water filtration solution that you sell to the first world, and use the proceeds of these sales to provide the same (or similar) solution to the developing world. As a bonus, use environmentally friendly materials and processes in the creation of the product.
Micro-Giving for easy philanthropy
(Business Model: Cross-compensation or independent support. Example: B1G1 .) Partner with businesses and have them donate micro amounts of products/money to a social cause for every transaction they enter. For example, set up a relationship with a baker. And for every loaf of bread they sell, have them donate a handful of flour (or monetary equivalent) to a food-aid organization in the developing world.
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Social Entrepreneurship: What It Is and Why Everyone's Talking About It
Published: July 28, 2022
Entrepreneurs used to be enterprising, savvy founders who started businesses for one reason: to make money. But times have changed — and with the emergence of something known as social entrepreneurship, several founders' motivations have shifted from profit margins to social responsibility.
Here, we'll review the concept of social entrepreneurship, get some perspective on what a socialpreneur is, take a look at some examples of successful social entrepreneurship ventures, go over some social entrepreneurship ideas, see how to pick a social entrepreneurship idea of your own, and check out some key statistics on the subject.
Let's dive in.
What is social entrepreneurship?
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The phrase 'social entrepreneurship' refers to a brand of entrepreneurship rooted in funding or implementing solutions to cultural, social, or environmental problems. The term is something of a catch-all that covers virtually any type of private organization that uses business as a means to socially conscious ends.
Social entrepreneurship is a relatively fluid concept that covers a broad variety of organizations. There's no definitive mold that says, "A socially entrepreneurial business generates X amount of revenue within the confines of a Y organizational structure for a Z type of cause."
For instance, both a mutual aid fund dedicated to assisting small businesses in marginalized communities and a corporation that uses its proceeds to support education for women in third-world countries could both be considered socially entrepreneurial outlets.
Some social enterprises might not follow any sort of typical organizational structure — they can be run entirely by volunteers who do not receive a paycheck or individual contributors that participate of their own accord.
A socialpreneur is a person that sets out on an entrepreneurial venture with the intention of addressing social issues and contributing to the social good. These businesses can have a for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid model, but funds are typically used to support operational costs and develop programs to support target markets.
While socialpreneurs still abide by most core tenets as conventional entrepreneurs, there are key differences between the two groups.
Socialpreneur vs. Entrepreneur
The most significant difference between a socialpreneur and an entrepreneur is the end goal. The former is less interested in defining their successes through high profit margins. Instead, they're guided by how their operations benefit their causes and communities of interest.
While social entrepreneurs typically engage in standalone ventures, entrepreneurs can start for-profit businesses that fund programs to support social issues.
Let’s go over some real-life examples of small business social entrepreneurship, as well as larger enterprise businesses that engage in social ventures.
- Books to Prisoners
- Tranquiliti
- Surfrider Foundation
- Ben & Jerry's
- Warby Parker
- Uncommon Goods
- Pipeline Angels
- United By Blue
- Shea Radiance
- LSTN Sound Co.
- Love Your Melon
- Better World Books
Some businesses are founded for and dedicated to contributing to social good, and we’ll discuss some of them below.
1. TranSanta
TranSanta is a unique, community-led social entrepreneurship venture. It runs an Instagram account that features and highlights stories from transgender youth in need.
These individuals create Target wish lists of items that they need — and interested community members can anonymously purchase and send them what they need.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by @transanta
2. Books to Prisoners
Books to Prisoners is a traditional non-profit organization — operating out of Seattle, Washington — that helps tackle the issue of prison recidivism in the United States.
The organization accepts book donations from both community members and established bookstores to be repackaged and sent to incarcerated individuals — promoting education and literacy in the interest of making prisoners' transitions back into society simpler and more seamless after they're released.
The program also accepts monetary donations to support operational costs — including rent for office space, packaging for books, and shipping costs.
3. Cracked It
This London-based smartphone repair service is staffed by "at risk" and formerly incarcerated youth. The organization teaches life skills and provides income and employment opportunities for these disadvantaged and typically discriminated-against community members.
🚀LAUNCHING REPAIR RESCUE! 📱 Same-day phone and tablet repairs without having to move a muscle! 📦We collect 🔧We fix 🚚We return 💙We support young people Book now: https://t.co/WpQOSwUNfD #blackownedbusinesses pic.twitter.com/J4WxOvuhmY — Cracked It (@CrackedIt) June 11, 2020
4. 734 Coffee
734 Coffee is a social venture dedicated to supporting Sudanese refugees. The business works with local co-op farms in Gambella to grow and harvest coffee. It then sells its products to U.S. retailers and allocates a portion of its profits to fund scholarships for Sudanese refugees.
Belu is a British, environmentally conscious organization that sources and provides water to hotels, restaurants, and catering businesses with a minimal carbon footprint. 100% of its net profits are donated to WaterAid — a business that provides clean water solutions to underserved communities.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Belu (@beluwater)
6. Tranquiliti
Tranquiliti is an organization dedicated to improving, supporting, and promoting the mental well-being of young people in The United Kingdom. Since 2018, the organization has worked with teachers, students, and mental health professionals to provide mental health services in schools.
The organization aims to improve students' psychological well-being and educational performance by creating positive, supportive learning environments.
7. Surfrider Foundation
Surfrider Foundation is a volunteer and activist-driven organization dedicated to environmental stewardship — backed by chapters and communities across the United States. The program supports campaigns to raise awareness for issues like pollution, marine life protection, clean water, and coastal preservation.
Sustainable, Organic, Integrated Livelihoods (or SOIL) is a nonprofit research and development organization that works to implement sustainable, low-cost solutions to the sanitation crisis in Haiti.
The organization supports community employment by staffing locally, and it donates 92% of every dollar it receives to support and enact its environmental improvement efforts.
TOMS might be the world's preeminent social entrepreneurial outlet — in a lot of ways, it put the concept on the map. The company started on a one-for-one model: A consumer would buy a pair of shoes, and TOMS would give a pair to a child in need.
But the business has evolved since its inception. Now, buying a pair of TOMS shoes or sunglasses helps provide shoes, sight, water, safe birth, and bullying prevention services to people around the world.
#WellnessWednesday Samuel Woo, 66, has had borderline glaucoma for years & was unable to get new glasses. He discovered that if he got glasses from Venice Family Clinic, the frames would be free, thanks to a donation last year of 3,700 pairs from @TOMS . 😎👏 #HealthVisionMonth pic.twitter.com/PZXhRyARy7 — Venice Family Clinic (@VeniceFamClinic) May 26, 2021
10. Ben & Jerry’s
Most people know Ben & Jerry's for its elaborate ice cream, but there's much more to the organization than its product. The business is also dedicated to using profits for good.
The company's stated mission is "to create linked prosperity for everyone who's connected to our business — suppliers, employees, farmers, franchises, customers, and neighbors alike."
The business proactively promotes social progress — whether that be by supporting environmentally friendly farming and manufacturing, racial justice, LGBTQ+ issues, or a host of other causes.
For example, Ben & Jerry's ice cream is priced significantly higher than other brands, but that model isn't strictly for increasing profit margins — that extra revenue supports the company's ability to pay its workers a livable wage.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys)
11. Warby Parker
Warby Parker is an American prescription glasses, sunglass, and contact lens retailer. The business employed a "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program — similar to TOMS' model. By 2019, the company had donated over 5 million pairs of glasses to underserved communities.
12. Good Eggs
Good Eggs is an online grocery and meal kit delivery service that sets itself apart by stocking its kits with fresh, local produce. Its mission is to ensure that over 70% of its food, wine, and spirits are locally sourced — and every item must meet a strict list of sourcing standards.
All employees also have a stake in the business — promoting transparent business practices and reinforcing the company's commitment to the health and safety of the businesses and communities it works with.
Lush, a socially conscious British cosmetics retailer, cites environmental awareness and ethical consumerism as its priorities. Those principles are the bedrocks for how it operates — from its packaging to its charitable endeavors.
All Lush cosmetics are free of packaging, and the company gives millions to environmental causes each year.
14. Uncommon Goods
Uncommon Goods offers creatives a marketplace to independently sell products — all while considering the implications it might have on people and the planet.
The company makes a conscious effort to minimize its environmental impact and works with the artists who populate its marketplace to use sustainable or recycled materials when possible.
15. GoldieBlox
GoldieBlox is a multimedia company committed to disrupting what it refers to as "the pink aisle in toy stores" by using storytelling to make the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field fun and engaging for young women — a demographic that is systematically underrepresented and underserved in the industry.
They create toys, books, apps, videos, animations, and other merchandise to empower girls to build confident, empowered futures.
16. Pipeline Angels
In 2017, only 30% of U.S. angel investors were women and only 12% were minorities. Pipeline Angels aims to disrupt that statistic and commits to creating capital and investment opportunities for trans women, cis women, nonbinary, two-spirit, agender, and gender-nonconforming founders.
The organization runs a signature boot camp that educates investors, offers mentoring opportunities, and even hosts a pitch summit for entrepreneurs seeking funding.
The warmest, most joyous welcome to the spring graduates of our angel investing program, and, our VC-in-Residence program. This photo includes forty-five more reasons why we're so passionate about our mission--forty-five more sparks of inspiration that energise this work. pic.twitter.com/k3cCCP1O8J — Pipeline Angels (@PipelineAngels) March 23, 2021
17. United By Blue
This is not your ordinary outdoor apparel store, as United By Blue commits to removing one pound of trash from the world’s oceans and waterways per every product purchased. At the time of publication, they’ve removed over four million pounds of trash.
18. Shea Radiance
Co-founder Funlayo Alabi and her husband started making soap to solve their family’s dry skin problems. What started as an experiment to heal their sons’ eczema-prone skin morphed into a clean and effective product line for hair, skin, and body.
Alabi sources all Shea Butter directly from women-run cooperatives in West Africa, which ensures revenue ends up "in the hands of the women who have earned it."
Werk believes the future of work is not unchangeable, it’s adaptive to each employee’s skills, motivations, and needs. By helping people find their Flextype, Werk believes they can make work flexible for everyone.
Did you know? Take a look the #ageism report done by @werk_labs here: https://t.co/GM1ou03jDZ pic.twitter.com/29hfzAAx90 — The Mom Project (@The_Mom_Project) June 28, 2021
20. Olibert é
In 2013, Oliberté became the world’s first Fair Trade Certified™ footwear manufacturing factory. The company is a sustainable brand supporting workers’ rights in sub-Saharan Africa.
It launched its own factory in 2012 and makes every pair of Oliberté shoes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — creating jobs and bolstering the local economy.
21. LSTN Sound Co.
LSTN Sound Co. is a speaker and headphone manufacturer that takes an approach to social entrepreneurship that fits its industry — the company has partnered with The Starkey Hearing Foundation and uses its proceeds from its sales to provide hearing aids to those in need.
FIGS produces comfortable, high-quality, ethically sourced scrubs for healthcare professionals. The company also donates hundreds of thousands of scrubs to providers across more than 35 countries.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by FIGS (@wearfigs)
23. Love Your Melon
Apparel brand Love Your Melon supports and donates to nonprofit organizations dedicated to battling pediatric cancer. 50% of net profits from all products help to create therapeutic experiences and create charitable programming initiatives for families affected by childhood cancer.
Helpsy is an American textile collection company dedicated to addressing and minimizing the environmental implications of clothing waste. 95% of the clothing the company collects is reused, upcycled, or recycled — and ultimately distributed to thrift shops and second-hand markets around the world. Since the organization's inception, it has eliminated 320 million pounds of CO₂ emissions and saved 20 billion gallons of water.
25. Cape Clasp
Cape Clasp is a Massachusetts-based, mission-driven, affordable jewelry retailer that donates 15% of its profits to support marine life organizations. Since it was founded in 2013, the business has raised over $200,000 for the non-profit organizations it works with.
26. Better World Books
Better World Books is an online secondhand bookstore. Shoppers can purchase books at a significant discount, and a portion of the company's profit goes towards initiatives that promote equitable literacy.
So, you want to do some good, but you’re not quite sure where to start? Here are a few social entrepreneurship ideas and some guidelines for how to develop an idea that's all your own:
1. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a way for businesses to raise money for a cause, usually for equitable and socially conscious organizations, like non-profits. Small businesses can launch crowdfunding ventures independently, donate money afterward, or partner with specific groups before creating a campaign.
2. Baking for a cause
The idea behind "baking for a cause" is pretty self-explanatory — it means raising money to support socially responsible causes by selling baked goods.
This idea has a pretty low barrier of entry. You don't have to be a skilled baker to do it — if you can follow a recipe on the back of a box, you can bake for a cause.
All you have to do is pick your cause, communicate with a relevant organization, and start baking. While it might not move mountains, it's still a fun venture for young entrepreneurs to get some valuable charitable experience.
3. Conflict-Free or Fair Trade Goods
Selling conflict-free or fair-trade goods is a considerably less accessible, more complex venture than the previous one. It requires extensive business acumen and connections to relevant organizations to help with every stage of the process.
Still, all of that intricacy generally translates to a much wider-reaching impact than a lot of the other ideas listed here. If your business has the capacity to manufacture its product ethically and sustainably, you should at least consider trying this avenue.
4. Educational Travel
Educational travel involves having hands-on learning experiences that broaden perspectives and help people understand different world views. If you’re a social entrepreneur, educational travel is worth considering.
Understanding the various environmental, economic, and social circumstances in countries that contribute to your business allows you to create genuine connections and ethically structure your operations.
5. Employment Services
Assisting with employment services provides a solid avenue for aspiring socialpreneurs to give back. Providing help with resume writing, job training, mock interviews, or finding career opportunities allows you to impact meaningful, practical change in disadvantaged or marginalized communities.
6. Crafting for a Cause
Crafting for a cause is fundamentally similar to baking for a cause — it involves taking on creative DIY projects and selling the products that stem from them.
It involves very little overhead and doesn't necessarily have to be some massive-scale effort. You just have to put together unique crafts, distribute them through forums like Etsy , and donate the proceeds to a charity of your choice.
7. Microlending
Microlending is giving small loans to people or businesses that don’t have access to typical lending sources — individuals and outlets that might not have the credit, background, or resources to reliably procure loans.
This kind of social enterprise can impact meaningful systemic change by opening up economic opportunities for promising businesses and entrepreneurs to expand their operations, find their footing in their competitive landscapes, and ultimately give back to the communities they come from.
8. Sustainable Housing and Development
Sustainable housing and development rests on real estate developers' ability and commitment to using environmentally sound practices and materials to construct eco-friendly buildings.
While this social entrepreneurship idea can be more impactful than most, it's also tougher to breach than virtually all of the concepts listed here — as you probably have to have a significant industry footing, extensive resources, and considerable experience to pull it off.
Still, if you're involved with housing and development, you should at least consider making your efforts more sustainable — you have the potential to do a lot of good by making this kind of commitment.
9. Mentorship or Funding for Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries
A sound sales mentorship program can go a long way in supporting economic progress in developing countries. By working with aspiring entrepreneurs in parts of the world that lack the resources and guidance to support their learning and development, you can aid their individual career development and ability to ultimately give back to their communities.
Those contributions to both personal well-being and broader societal change make this social entrepreneurship idea particularly impactful.
10. Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in the Classroom
Diversity and inclusion initiatives in the classroom use resources that represent all groups of people, helping students learn about people that may be different from them. This is a socially conscious venture as it helps people understand everyone for who they are and give people the respect they deserve.
11. A Cooperative Marketplace
Creating a cooperative marketplace can involve selling products crafted in a socially conscious and ethical manner in an attempt to not contribute to fast fashion, unethical working conditions, or environmentalism.
Although not an exhaustive list, the ideas above are worth considering. If you’re unsure what to pick, read on to discover how to decide on a venture that works best for your business.
Define your passions and areas of interest.
Do you firmly believe every child in America should have a pillow? Do you volunteer at a food pantry on the weekends? Are you an activist for certain local charities? Define what you’re passionate about and proceed to step two...
Identify existing market the gaps.
Once you know what you’re passionate about, it’s time to decide what the gaps are in existing products or services and determine how you can fill them.
If the food pantry you volunteer at can’t distribute fresh, donated fruits and vegetables before they spoil, think about how you could provide a service that makes it faster and easier to get fresh produce to the underserved communities in your area.
Identify your key strengths and skills.
Are you an excellent writer or a salesperson extraordinaire? List your strengths and skills, and define how they can serve your mission. This is also an excellent time to identify your weaknesses — so you know who to call upon for help.
Decide on a business model.
Being a social entrepreneur is not always the same as starting a nonprofit. Determine whether and how you’ll monetize your idea — and design a fitting business model.
Whether you’re interested in a cross-compensation model like TOMS and Warby Parker or complete stewardship like Books to Prisoners, it’s important to understand how your business will be structured.
If you’re still feeling stumped, don’t worry. Starting a business is a tedious, involved process, but there are various, successful social entrepreneurs that you can refer to as inspiration.
1. Jazzmine Raine
Raine is the founder of Hara House , the first zero waste guest house in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. The area is a tourist destination with a vibrant environmental scene.
Of the house’s profits, 20% go to helping local youth get involved in economic opportunities, social justice, and environmental education. The youth help run the guest house, tours, and a community center.
2. Muhammad Yunus
Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank . This Bangladesh-based institution provides small loans to those living in poverty. 97% of their borrowers are women — and 97% of those women have paid back their loans.
The bank manages a net income of over $10 million, has 2,568 branches, and covers 93% of all villages in Bangladesh. Yunus' work has also earned him a Nobel Prize. See his Talks at Google session on “The New Economics of Zero Poverty” below.
3. Scott Harrison
Charity: water CEO and INBOUND speaker Scott Harrison founded his nonprofit to bring clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries.
It tracks every dollar raised to the project it funds, and private donors cover its operating costs — so 100% of the money it raises can fund their water projects.
To date , it has funded 91,414 water projects, helped almost 15 million people get clean water, and work with local partners in 29 countries. Check out Harrison’s INBOUND 2018 keynote below.
4. Vava Angwenyi
Kenyan coffee entrepreneur Vava Angwenyi started with one small coffee bar in her town, but she was soon helping farmers improve the quality of their coffee, their brand, and their sales.
Soon, Vava Coffee was born. Angwenyi’s company now serves as an exporter, roaster, and consultative partner working with more than 30,000 smallholder farmers who earn 18% more by working with Vava.
Angwenyi’s first company has been so successful, it inspired her to start Gente Del Futuro , a cross-cultural coffee training program in Tanzania, Kenya, and Columbia. Hear more about Vava’s work in her recent presentation at the Re:co Symposium.
5. Durell Coleman
Coleman is the founder and CEO of DC Design , a social impact design firm putting design thinking to use, solving some of the world’s biggest problems. His firm has addressed challenges in the criminal justice and foster care systems in the United States.
It has also designed solutions for refugee camps, and the organization has worked with executives at global enterprise organizations like Sony, Oracle, and Santander.
6. Emily Kirsch
Kirsch started Powerhouse after working with solar startup Mosaic to put solar panels on houses in Oakland, California. Today, Powerhouse supports clean energy entrepreneurship through a network of energy-focused co-working spaces.
It also offers venture backing for early-stage energy startups. Powerhouse also facilitates a series of signature events, from the Suncode hackathon to Powerhouse Circle and even a monthly podcast called " Watt it Takes. "
7. Tony Weaver Jr.
Weaver is the founder and CEO of Weird Enough Productions , a media company focused on creating stories that inspire positive media images of black men and other minority groups.
With every piece of content they create, they also produce a lesson plan for teachers to introduce media literacy to their students. Check out Weaver’s recent TEDx Talk below.
Now that we're well acquainted with the subject of social entrepreneurship, let's take a look at some key statistics that could shape how the concept evolves, going forward.
Social Entrepreneurship Statistics
According to a survey — conducted by HubSpot — of over 1,000 consumers:
- 45% say brands should do more when it comes to advocating for social issues
- Racial justice (52%), climate change (50%), and income inequality (43%) are the most important issues respondents want to see companies take a stance on.
- Ages 18-35 are more likely to purchase based on social issues and identity than older groups.
- All age groups are similarly more likely to purchase from companies reducing their environmental impact, making corporate donations, treating employees well, and to support small businesses.
- 56% say companies should donate a portion of their profits to charity
- 66% say they are more likely to purchase from a company that donates a portion of its profits to charity.
- 66% say companies should actively try to reduce their environmental impact
- 46% say they are more likely to purchase from a company that actively tries to reduce its environmental impact
Social Entrepreneurship Is Here To Stay
When we were researching our book, Inbound Organization: How to Build and Strengthen Your Company's Future Using Inbound Principles , my co-author Todd Hockenberry and I called out several examples of how social responsibility is an important component of having a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.
In the age of heightened competition, social responsibility is a differentiating factor that allows many companies to appeal to specific buyer demographics. The idea of “Conscious Capitalism” gained mainstream attention when Whole Foods founder John Mackey published a book by the same name.
In addition, consumers — now more than ever — put their trust in brands that they believe are committed to taking action. For example, consumers are 80% more likely to trust a business that they believe is committed to solving societal issues, especially when it comes to racial justice.
So, if you’re still interested in becoming a social entrepreneur — you couldn’t pick a better time. Formulate your plan today and make the world a better place.
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Social Enterprise Business Plan
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A social enterprise is an activity of a nonprofit that employs entrepreneurial, market-driven strategies for earned income in support of its mission. This outline for a social enterprise business plan is a guide for research, planning, and writing a business plan for nonprofit social enterprises.
A social enterprise is an activity of a nonprofit that employs entrepreneurial, market-driven strategies for earned income in support of their mission. Business plans are a common tool for entrepreneurs when starting or growing a business enterprise. For nonprofits that are starting or growing a social enterprise as a part of their program activities, developing a business plan is an essential step. While social enterprise business plans address all of the questions needed for any business, nonprofits also need to consider the alignment with mission, organizational background and structure, and evaluation of both financial and social impact.
This outline for a business plan is a guide for research, planning, and writing a business plan for nonprofit social enterprises. The sections below are provided as a roadmap for the plan. Most business plans include each of these sections, though the length and amount of detail will vary depending on the nature of the enterprise, the complexity of the organization, and the purpose and audience for the plan.
Executive Summary
The Executive Summary provides the most important information for readers that need to understand and support the concept but not necessarily know the detailed plans. This is usually written last.
- Organizational description
- Business concept
- Market description
- Value proposition, or competitive advantage
- Key success factors
- Financial highlights and capital requirements
A social enterprise of a nonprofit organization may contribute directly to achieving mission; may be complementary or supportive of mission; or may be unrelated to mission (with primarily financial goals). The alignment to mission is a critical question.
- Organization mission and/or vision statement
- Relationship of social enterprise to organizational mission, or separate mission for the enterprise
Background and Structure
This section summarizes the organization’s history and programs and how the enterprise will fit in to the larger organization.
Most social enterprises operate as an activity or program within the nonprofit, though some are legally structured as a separate nonprofit, a for-profit subsidiary, or an independent organization.
Form should follow function and the legal structure should support the purpose and activities of the enterprise. Advice from an expert attorney may be needed.
- Brief description of the nonprofit, including context and programs
- How the business venture will be structured in the organization
- Legal structure and governance (Boards, advisory committees, reporting)
Market Analysis
The market analysis is the heart of the business plan and is too often inadequately explored when planning a social enterprise. Solid research is necessary to understand the target customers and how the enterprise will meet a gap and demand in the market. No amount of mission or commitment will overcome a deficiency in market knowledge and a bona fide demand for the product or service.
- Summary of current market situation
- Target market and customers
- Customer characteristics, unmet demands and buying factors
Competitive Analysis
This section describes the competitors, both nonprofit and for-profit, and the value proposition, or market advantage, of the proposed business.
- Primary competitors
- Competitive products/services
- Risks and opportunities in competitive market
- Recent or emerging changes in the industry
- Specific description of competitive advantage/value of proposed product or service
Products/Services
This section is a summary of the product or service that will meet the demand in the market. It does not need to include detailed descriptions, price lists or other materials.
- Product/service description
- Positioning of products/services
- Future products/services
Marketing and Sales
This section will describe how the organization will reach the target market and turn those prospects into paying customer.
- Marketing strategy
- Sales tactics
- Advertising, public relation, and promotions
- Summary of sales forecasts
This is the “how to” section, describing the creation and delivery of the business’ product or service.
- Management structure
- Staffing plan and key personnel – if this includes programmatic elements related to the mission, expand this section
- Production plan or service delivery, including summary of costs of materials and production
- Customer service/support strategy and plan
- Facilities required, including specialized equipment or improvements. If the business is retail, discuss location characteristics
Evaluation and Assessment
Most for-profit businesses measure their success by the financial results. Social enterprises have a double bottom line (or a triple bottom line.) This section describes the factors that will be evaluated to assess the success of each aspect of the enterprise.
- Quantifiable financial goals
- Quantifiable mission goals
- Monitoring and evaluation strategy
Financial Plan and Projections
The financial section includes projections for revenue and expenses for at least three years with a summary narrative of the key assumptions. This section also details the start up costs for capital equipment, inventory, initial marketing and staffing, and subsidy needed to cover losses during the start up period. These capital requirements may be funded from a combination of contribution from the nonprofit, grants for the enterprise, and/or debt financing.
- Start up costs and investments in equipment, technology, or one time costs
- Capital requirements and sources
- Income and expense projection
- Pro forma balance sheet for start up
- Cash flow summary or projection
- Assumptions and comments
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The social model of health is a model of health promotion that takes into consideration a person’s social, environmental and economic condition. This model has been in use by health care workers since the 1970s.
Social stratification is a termed used to describe the separation of classes of people within a particular society. Stratification can be based on multiple factors. Common Differentiators in Social Stratification Defining social stratificat...
A business justification is a justification for a proposed business venture or expense. Usually in written form, the document is often included in business plans created as part of a loan application.
9 Business Model Examples for Social Enterprises · 1. The Entrepreneur Support Model · 2. The Market Intermediary Model · 3. The Employment Model · 4. The Fee-for-
9 Business Model Examples For Social Enterprises · The Entrepreneur Support Model · The Market Intermediary Model · The Employment Model · The Fee-
Social enterprise business models ; Entrepreneur support, Sells business support to its target population. Microfinance organizations, consulting, or tech
Some examples of social enterprises include LSTN, Blueland, Our Place, and Merit Goodness. How do you become a social entrepreneur? You can
Creating a Social Business Model ; Entrepreneur Support · Entrepreneur Support · Microfinance organizations, consulting, or tech support ; Market Intermediary
8 Examples of Companies Thriving with the Social Business Model · 1. Glossier · 2. Netflix · 3. Jama Software · 4. Harley Davidson · 5. Zenoss · 6.
Solution models can be found in social entrepreneurship too. The “cooperative model” (beneficiaries own the firm) and the “beneficiary as business owner model”
9 Social Enterprise Business Models · The entrepreneur support model that sells business support services directly to the entrepreneurs in its
Aravind Eye Care is one of the earliest examples of a social enterprise model at work. This renowned Indian organization is designed to let people pay what
social entrepreneur planing creating a business plan ... Social Entrepreneurship Examples; Social Entrepreneurship Ideas; How to Pick a
A social enterprise is an activity of a nonprofit that employs entrepreneurial, market-driven strategies for earned income in support of their mission. Business