April 16, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The turbulent economy doesn’t appear to be dampening interest in charity-run businesses, according to a new study released today at the Social Enterprise Summit in New Orleans.
A survey of 843 nonprofit organizations found that a little more than half run business ventures, and of the charities that do not run businesses, 57 percent said they were thinking about starting a social enterprise.
The survey was conducted in the middle of September by the Social Enterprise Alliance, Community Wealth Ventures, and Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship.
The organizations that conducted the survey were surprised by the large percentage of groups that said they were thinking about starting their first business ventures, says Heather Peeler, managing director of Community Wealth Ventures, a consulting company in Washington that focuses on social enterprise.
“It was this past fall, right when we got confirmation that we were in recession,” she says. “We thought that given the economic conditions that many nonprofit leaders might be thinking of taking more of a hunker-down approach.”
The most prevalent type of ventures run by charities in the survey were businesses that provide training opportunities, followed by retail and thrift shops, consulting businesses, and food-service ventures.
The survey also found that of the charities that run businesses, nearly half run more than one venture.
“What often happens is that those who launch social enterprises and are successful with it tend to launch more,” says Ms. Peeler. “There’s this whole concept of the serial entrepreneur. When organizations are able to capture the potential, in terms of the financial benefit as well as the mission benefits, they get the bug.”
