The article in the url below is an interesting commentary on social entrepreneurs and describes how more of them are pursuing their goals within a for-profit, rather than non-profit, framework (Issues: Profit, p200):
“The process is being pushed forward by a new breed of social entrepreneurs who are administering increasing doses of bottom-line thinking to traditional philanthropy in order to make charity more effective.”
What I found most interesting about the article, however, was a short paragraph that highlights the value of scale in promoting notable social change:
“Very few nonprofits get big. Only 144 of the more than 200,000 nonprofits established since 1970 had grown to $50 million or more in revenue by 2003, according to a study published last year by the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting firm that advises philanthropies.”
This is where the limitations of philanthropy, non-profit organizations, and even social entrepreneurs begin to emerge, and where the power of for-profit business to effect social change becomes apparent. It is only when large firms adopt a stakeholder perspective driven by the goal of maximizing long term value that society as a whole will be better off. Not to diminish the value of the non-profit sector, but scale is crucial for broad social change.
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
A Capitalist Jolt for Charity
By STEVE LOHR
2119 words
24 February 2008
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
1
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/business/24social.html
