New Case Study of a Failed Social Enterprise

Seedco Policy Center's new report The Limits of Social Enterprise: A Field Study & Case Analysis presents an overview on nonprofit social enterprises and includes a case study of a failed venture (Seedco's Community Childcare Assistance program). It provides lessons learned as well as recommendations for nonprofit entrepreneurship. Here are two lessons from the study:

"When businesses are expected to meet for-profit goals while operating under nonprofit rules, the so-called double bottom line can easily become an impossible double bind."

"Nonprofit social-purpose businesses must resist the impulse to 'do more.' The more social responsibilities a venture assumes, the more difficult it is to succeed in the marketplace."

For more information on social entrepreneurship, I've created a canned search of the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature for you (click here).