The Cradle Dilemma: Investing in Adoption Learning Partners

Author(s):  
Marianne Woodward ◽  
Kathryn Bauer ◽  
Scott T. Whitaker

As CEO of not-for-profit adoption agency The Cradle, Julie Tye had taken the organization from the brink of dissolution in 1992 to a position of financial stability and health by 2007. One of the innovative steps Tye took in 2002 was to introduce an online learning venture that provided education for families preparing to adopt. The Cradle launched Adoption Learning Partners (ALP), using donated funds and government grants when possible and subsidizing the rest. The income generated by ALP grew from zero in 2002 to approximately $50,000 per month in 2007. But ALP's major market (parents preparing to adopt internationally) was forecasted to decline 50% over the next three years; the Web site was outdated; and new competitors were entering the market. ALP had built a reputation as a pioneer in adoption e-learning by providing high-quality, effective online courses. But without the infusion of at least $400,000, ALP risked losing its leadership position and, possibly, its viability. ALP needed a significant investment of time, talent, and funding. Tye had an MBA, a keen business sense, and fourteen years of experience in healthcare administration and the social services field. Even with her leadership, did The Cradle have the appetite to take on such a demanding strategy? In the end, would it be worth the investment?Students will: learn quantitative techniques for valuing a social enterprise, which includes both economic and social value; learn alternative legal structures available to social enterprises and evaluate which structures make sense relative to various capital structures; and identify sources of capital available to social enterprises and evaluate their appropriate usage.

Author(s):  
Ramon Bastida ◽  
Marta Mas-Machuca

Social enterprises (SEs) have an important role in the social services provision. Many of those enterprises provide services, such as care services to elderly people and young people at risk of exclusion, work integration services, mediation, etc. In European Union (EU) countries, public administrations are obliged to provide these services to the citizens, although they externalize the provision to SEs. In this chapter, the financial strategies of SEs are analyzed in order to assess if they have any impact on mission drift. The analysis is based on the experiences of three SEs that provide social services in Catalonia, Spain. Several interviews with managers and board members of SEs were done. The results indicate that there is an important financial dependency of these SEs on the public administration. Therefore, SEs have problems to remain mission-focused, and a mission drift into market positions has been observed.


Author(s):  
Catherine Needham ◽  
Kerry Allen ◽  
Kelly Hall

This chapter focuses on enterprise and care considering the contribution that new delivery models such as social enterprises make within public services more broadly and care in particular. The chapter also considers the ambiguity of the social enterprise label and its capacity to be claimed by a range of governance types, including the for-profit as well as the not-for-profit. The chapter then draws together the evidence on micro-enterprises into four research hypotheses that are tested in later chapters of the book, through qualitative and quantitative research. These are derived from the policy claims that are made by proponents of micro forms of service delivery: that micro-enterprises are more personalised, innovative, cost-effective and outcomes-oriented than larger organisations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-219
Author(s):  
B Elango ◽  
Stephen Chen ◽  
Jim Jones

The purpose of this article is to understand what drives social enterprises in bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets to stick to or drift away from their social mission. Based on an analysis of 192 microinsurance operators in 26 emerging markets, we find that (1) when donors are involved in the operations of the social enterprise, this leads to a greater commitment to the social mission and (2) social enterprises located in countries with poorly performing governments tend to have a lower commitment to their social mission. Given the need for social services in such countries, we offer some suggestions to increase the chances of social enterprises staying committed to their social mission.


Author(s):  
Victor A. Pestoff

The role of co-operatives as providers of goods and services, as in the industrial age, more recently became overshadowed by their potential as providers of social services. In the post-industrial or service society, co-operatives are found in a growing number of countries. Co-operative enterprises have a unique capacity to mobilize social capital and provide relational goods that neither public nor private for-profit providers demonstrate. This brings co-operative enterprises full-circle in terms of their historical political role as democratic pioneers, since they can now also contribute to reducing the growing democratic deficit. This chapter explores the political and social dimensions of co-operative enterprises that pursue multiple goals. It also introduces a dynamic model of co-operative development that can be fruitfully employed for analysing the social and political dilemmas faced by co-operative enterprises.


Author(s):  
Hillel Schmid ◽  
Yeheskel “Zeke” Hasenfeld

Contracting out of social services is defined as the purchase of services by government agencies from for-profit and nonprofit organizations. It has a long history beginning with the English Poor Law of 1723 and becoming a major policy during Reagan's administration. Both the advantages and shortcomings of contracting out are described and analyzed. The effects on providers' accountability to government and clients and the implications for social work practice and ethics are discussed. Special emphasis is given to the social workers' dilemma facing a dual loyalty to contractor–employer on the one hand and to clients on the other.


Author(s):  
Martyna Wronka-Pośpiech

Although research on social entrepreneurship has been expanding in recent years, the literature regarding business models in the context of social enterprises is still limited. This chapter explores the issues of business models in both profit and nonprofit contexts and discusses how value, being both the foundation and the overall outcome of the business model employed, is created. It begins with the background on the characteristics of social enterprises. This is followed by the conceptualization of business models and their components designed to account for their unique. Then a case to illustrate it is presented. The objective of the chapter is twofold. First, it is to analyse how nonprofit business models are different from its for profit counterparts (at the conceptual level) and to introduce relevant analytical framework. Secondly, the chapter aims at providing a case based on the particular model of a social enterprise in Poland (social co-operative) in order to investigate whatever the business models for profit firms could be applied in the social enterprises.


Author(s):  
Chen Liu

This chapter discusses funding and financing issues of small and micro social enterprises (SEs) following a systematic approach. It conducts a systematic review of the SE financing literature and proposes a systematic model to examine the SE financing ecosystem. Specifically, the chapter discusses some traditional financing sources of SEs, including internal money, donations, government grants, and conventional debt and equity and examines SEs' advantage and challenges in securing financing using these traditional ways. To address the challenges of SE financing, this chapter proposes a systematic approach of solution and discusses some new and innovative sources of financing for SEs, such as the social impact bonds and the social venture capital. It then discusses crowdfunding and its best use for various types and stages of SEs. The chapter also suggests a list of future research ideas.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Murphy ◽  
Artem Kornetskyy ◽  
Joseph T. Nixon

Purpose Social enterprises are defined in practice in terms of one operational model generating measurable value in more than one of the economic, social and natural/ecological value denomination categories. However, entrepreneurship theory does not generally or explicitly reflect this definition, which has generated confusion about the social enterprise concept. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to social enterprise theory by delineating novel aspects of this definition and their conceptual ramifications. Design/methodology/approach The authors review the social enterprise literature with a focus only on the most original contributions and most distinct research questions. The authors do not explicitly review research on traditional for-profit entrepreneurial ventures, not-for-profit/non-governmental organizations or mainstream social entrepreneurial ventures. Findings The authors offer several implications for social enterprise theory based on practices that are unique to the area but not amenable other areas of entrepreneurship. The contribution is instrumental to establishing social enterprise as a distinct theoretic area. Originality/value By focusing on novel aspects of social enterprise not easily explainable by mainstream theoretic traditions, the authors offer an original contribution to the development of social enterprise theory.


Author(s):  
Zanda Poruka

Social entrepreneurship in Latvia has been poorly researched, a new and innovative tool for solving various social problems affecting target groups such as the unemployed, people with disabilities, visual and auditory disabilities, young mothers, youth, persons following imprisonment, seniors, persons with moving disorders. Social entrepreneurship aims at providing social services, building inclusive civil society, promoting education, supporting science, environmental protection and preservation, animal protection or cultural diversity provision. Social enterprises work in areas such as crafts and handicraft production, the production of creative industry goods, social services, health services including preventive work, communication services, educational activities provision and counselling, charity shops. . The article aims to study the social entrepreneurship to draw conclusions and provide an on-account. Novelty is to identify typical social entrepreneurship features.


Author(s):  
Dong-Joo Kim ◽  
Yong-Seung Ji

The evaluation of social enterprises has been criticized for not being able to reflect the positive social aspects of the company through the financial evaluation. SROI (Social Return on Investment) is a social concept applied to the measurement of economic return on investment that aims to measure the social added value of social enterprises and reflect them in their performance. It is necessary to research for the provision of support and management for sustainable social enterprises, and to prepare a method for evaluating social enterprise by applying SROI. The Delphi 1st and 2nd surveys for the development of evaluation model for social enterprises using SROI were conducted by 50 social enterprise CEOs and experts. To produce the results of this study, the SPSS 20.0, AMOS 24 and Expert Choice 11 programs were used and the pairwise comparison analysis method was performed to analyze importance and priority. The results of the Delphi and AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) analysis showed that employment was the most important factor in social enterprises with the highest share of newly hired personnel. Employment-type social enterprises have the highest priority in terms of employment, income (income increase for vulnerable workers), and community contribution (affordable of social services), while the social service type was in order of employment, community contribution, and income (income increase for the vulnerable workers). On the other hand, the mixed type was employment (newly hired personnel), income (income increase of vulnerable workers), employment (social work participants’ switch to similar work after contract expiration), and community contribution (affordable of social services). This study makes efforts to form social capital by raising the public’s awareness of social value with efficient management through various evaluations of social enterprises and the emergence of various social enterprises. This study also emphasizes the need to better understand social enterprises as a multi-scholar and multi-dimensional organization that includes a multi-faced mechanism of social, economic, and environmental community development, away from understanding social enterprises as a specific business model.


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