Ghost of Midnight

Where do social enterprises fit on the spectrum of organizations?

Front Porch Forum is a mission-drive for-profit business located in Vermont.  Once a year, we ask our tens of thousands of member households to consider chipping in $10 to $100 as a contribution to help us maintain, improve and expand FPF.  This is strictly voluntary… FPF is a free service.  It’s also not a charitable contribution, nor is it tax deductible.

This puts FPF in a position unfamiliar to many… “is FPF a charity or a business?”  We’ve heard that more than once.  We know that the economy and world are more complex than that.  That’s why this graphic found today on Working Wikily appeals to me.  It’s from Canada’s Social Innovation Generation‘s Task Force on Social Finance report: Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good.

I’d say FPF is in the “social purpose business” to “socially responsible business” range.