The Right Recipe For Venture Development and Growth

When I was reading A Social Solution, Without Going the Nonprofit Route, I found myself grappling with the question of whether businesses are required to make social innovation effective and sustainable, or if charities are able to fulfill social missions alone. On the one hand, I’ve studied academics like David Bornstein, who emphasizes the importance of interaction with the problem at the ground level and trial and error over profitability.  On the other hand, it seems like most successful social ventures today require an established financial plan, significant monetary means, and entrepreneurial skills to even be remotely effective.

I took a course called Sustainable Social Change in undergrad and studied the concept of “blended value,” which refers to a mix of complementary social and economic objectives. This CSR approach seems more beneficial than solely philanthropy work because social organizations are able to thrive more based on solid, proven, and lasting entrepreneurial strategies.

After I read the assigned article, I came across the NYT piece: Success of Crowdfunding Puts Pressure on Entrepreneurs, which discusses the increasing popularity of crowdfunding sites, and how they can turn social project ideas into corporations. This article discusses the situation in which despite efficient financial support, social projects often still experience unexpected issues that money cannot fix. I was pretty shocked when I read the statistic that “75 percent of design- and technology-related projects on Kickstarter, most of which involve physical products, failed to meet their promised deadlines.” After learning about things like Plumpy’nut and the Aqueduct, I have been starting to feel that effectively designing and distributing “physical products” as opposed to emotional/mental strength services is more effective and essential at this time. For my group project, College Kick, my team and I have been trying to figure out the right balance between requiring a baseline of business/strategy/entrepreneurial skills before having the participant’s social project be considered. Despite my lasting value that passion is all that is required for success, as I continue to take quantitative and project development courses, I recognize and appreciate the importance of establishing entrepreneurial skills before acting solely on social urges.

After learning about various successful and failed social ventures, I wonder what the right mix of financial support, educational background, and on the ground experience is necessary for developing effective and sustainable social innovations. While ideally organizations will have plenty of each of these aspects, is one of these aspects more important than the others?