In week 1 Professor Greenblatt talked about the 8 traits of social ventures. It got me to thinking about entrepreneurial non-profits that have a local focus. I looked at three firms, Mama's Hot Tamales (LA), Homeboy Industries (LA) and Harlem Children's Zone (New York). All earn most of their revenue from earned income and each focuses on a specific geographic area. From my estimation they qualify for 6 of the 8 criteria (see table). The founder's are not business people and each is the face of their organization. They also have no ambition to expand out of their geographic area. How should we define these firms? If they are not social ventures, then what are they? Social enterprises? Earned income driven non profits? I understand how Method and Wild Planet Toys fit the mold, but are we cutting out other ventures by the definition we are using?
| 8 Traits of Social Ventures | Homeboy Industries | Harlem Children's Zone | Mama's Hot Tamales |
| Product is Socially Responsible | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Driven by real business people | No | No | No |
| Informed by history of activism | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Focused on double/triple bottom line | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Execute plans of smart, slow growth | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Live principles inside/outside company | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exhibit transparency | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Strong leaders but not cult of personality | No | No | No |
1 comment:
That's a really good question. These agencies are unquestionably aimed at a social good, but I guess it depends on how their finances are designed. With the case of Homeboy industries, I would guess it would be an earned income driven non-profit b/c of the number of foundations providing support to the organization - http://www.homeboy-industries.org/donations.php.
I'm not sure about the other two though because I couldn't find donation information on the web. That would be a good place to look for help with a definition.
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