Profit or Mission?

The focus for this week is the topic of Venture Development and Growth. The articles talk about a few examples of Social Enterprises that have a social mission but have chosen to implement it as a business solution rather than a non-profit one. This was an interesting topic for me since I come from a primarily private industry background (architecture/engineering firms and consulting) but find myself these days working for a local non-profit social enterprise. The differences are many, but most definitive is now I am doing what I have a passion to do and the flexibility to do it many different ways, always trying to do it better. My bottom line – GTECH Strategies’ bottom line – is about the mission, the people and places we serve, not the profit. It’s liberating, but also constricting at the same time – we have the chance to do something great but often find the funds are limited, in turn limiting our effectiveness.

So this week, I find myself asking – why do we have to choose between one and the other?

I have recently been granted the opportunity to be introduced to the brains behind a very unique social enterprise model. It is a model that addresses the issue of product acceptability, affordability, availability and awareness as discussed in the Global Business article.

http://evergreencooperatives.com/
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-new-economy/clevelands-worker-owned-boom
http://www.community-wealth.org/about/about-us.html

The Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio was launched by a working group of institutions including foundations, hospitals, universities and municipal government.  It is a connected group of worker-owned cooperatives – Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, Ohio Cooperative Solar and Green City Growers Cooperative – all of which fall under a non-profit umbrella called the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative. These businesses were chosen based on the needs in the Cleveland area and after a business plan that showed potential for profit (affordability and availability). This structure allows for the pursuit and receipt of grant and subsidy dollars while still providing a model that encourages new businesses to grow. Even better, by using the cooperative model (where the employees are also partial owners) you provide a willing workforce the motivation to do their job well and continue to make it better (acceptability).

This is a really exciting time for this unique model. What’s more, the Democracy Collaborative (one of the main forces behind this initiative) are spending some time here in Pittsburgh, looking at the Hill District as one of many potential places to replicate the “Cleveland model” (awareness) in order to prove effectiveness. But even if that doesn’t happen, our local organizations are taking notice and we may see a similar structure pop-up here and there. I know my organization is thinking about it.

So again I ask –do we really have to choose between profit and mission?