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Is there a Fit Between Your Business Idea and Your Organization’s Mission?
An important step in the development of a social purpose business is determining
how it aligns with your organization’s mission and program activities. It is
also important to think about the needs and interests of the clients you
expect to serve through your social purpose business. The mission of your
organization and your clients are key factors in developing and assessing
your business idea.
One way to ensure that your business idea makes sense to your
stakeholders and clients is to include them in the development process.
Ask them for input before starting the social purpose business. The
following Strategic Questions provide a way for you to articulate your
initial social and financial goals.
- What is the mission of your organization?
- What is your social purpose business idea? What product or service do you
plan to offer and who are your target customers?
- What are the demographics and the needs of the clients that you expect to
benefit from this idea?
- How will the venture benefit your clients? What needs, interests and skills
sets do they bring to the venture?
- What programs do you have that currently serve the needs of
your clients?
- Have your clients expressed a special interest for new services?
What kinds of new services/programs are they interested in?
- What are your client's key skill sets in terms of what is needed
for the business venture? How would you rate their skill level
(low, medium, or high)?
- What assets will you use to create the business venture, e.g. building,
property, equipment, intellectual property, proprietary processes?
- What other ways might you use these assets, e.g. sell the building or
equipment, use the equipment for a new program?
- What are the anticipated benefits or outcomes for your clients and the
organization that will result from starting a social purpose business?
- What are the financial goals of the business (break-even, generate profits to
be used for additional training or spin off revenues for other programs)?
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Distribute the Strategic Questions Worksheet to a group of staff, managers and
Board members in order to evaluate the idea from
multiple perspectives within the organization.
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After completing the Strategic Questions and reviewing the responses
received from other stakeholders, you, your staff and Board members
should be better able to assess whether the business idea truly does
"extend" the mission of the organization.
- Is the business venture consistent with the overall mission of the
organization or is it a major shift from the work you do?
- Are the goals and outcomes of the business venture in line with the
organization's mission? Do they make sense?
- Does the business serve the needs, interests and abilities of your
clients?
- Will the business meet the needs of other stakeholders in
meaningful ways?
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An organization working with ex-offenders opened a thrift
store to provide job training and employment to its clients.
Despite writing a business plan and successfully capitalizing
the store, the business manager found that the shop had a
very low job retention rate. After talking with several
employees, the manager learned that most employees were
not interested in selling clothing at a thrift shop. For an
adult population, and particularly a male population, the
work opportunity did not fit their interests and long term
goals. The organization did not close the thrift shop, but it
has modified the training program to meet the needs of this
population: now, the men work in the thrift shop for 4-5
months. At that time, if they meet performance targets that
focus on attendance, punctuality and customer service, the
men are eligible to move to other job opportunities
including a new landscaping service and a print shop.
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