Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

PETER C. BRINCKERHOFF is an internationally acclaimed consultant, author, and lecturer. He is President of Corporate Alternatives, inc., the consulting firm that he founded in 1982. He is a former staff member, executive director, board member, and volunteer for local, state, and national not-for-profit organizations. He lives in Springfield, Illinois.

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Until very recently, popular belief held that business skills were not needed at charitable organizations. No longer. Far from interfering with an organization?s ability to provide needed services, techniques such as marketing, cash flow analysis, property management, and good use of technology all contribute to a charitable organization?s mission capability. Unlike a not-for-profit that thinks of itself as a charity, the successful not-for-profit is really a mission-based business. In an era of rapid change, increasing competition, and the need for more accountability to governments, foundations, insurers, and donors, knowing how to innovate, compete, and take reasonable risks on behalf of the mission is critical. It is, in short, the era of the social entrepreneur.

The skilled social entrepreneur has the ability to get the most mission out of the resources at hand?including traditional business techniques. Finally, here is a book that will help you learn their techniques. In Social Entrepreneurship, you will learn how successful social entrepreneurs:

• Focus on community wants and needs
• Match those with core competencies to provide the quality services
• Assess risk and gauge opportunity
• Develop new project ideas and test their feasibility
• Write a business plan
• Project finances in the plan
• Tap into new sources of funding
• Develop the idea of social entrepreneurship throughout the organization
• Make sure that mission, not money, is the bottom line

Also included are the seven essential steps of the not-for-profit business development process, real-world case studies, sample business plans, and a self-assessment process to determine if your organization is ready for social entrepreneurism. In addition to entrepreneurs, middle managers, policy setters, volunteers, and a host of other important staff members will get value from the mission-beneficial information in this book. Most important, Social Entrepreneurship will help you to help your organization succeed and thrive?and make your job more interesting and productive.

Praise for Social Entrepreneurship
The Art of Mission-Based Venture Development

"A great read . . . contains both the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications that those of us in nonprofit leadership badly need. I will share it with my management team and board."?Joseph M. Hafey, President and CEO, Public Health Institute

"A sound, practical guide for developing social entrepreneurs. Brinckerhoff makes taking mission-related business risks on behalf of the people served less risky with the step-by-step application of business ideas and techniques. Warnings, real-world examples, and hands-on advice keep the reader on track to sensible risk taking."?Connie Kirk, President and CEO, Tommy Nobis Center

"Peter C. Brinckerhoff?s new and masterfully written book has a lot of practical information in it for any organization that wants to learn how to become and stay entrepreneurial. Brinckerhoff provides the right kind of information to any organization interested in succeeding in a highly competitive and service-oriented environment . . . [and] stresses the importance of an organization?s encouraging innovation and risk only if it does not lose sight of its core values, its strengths, and its mission. That is excellent advice for any organization and for anyone who ventures into entrepreneurial waters."?Andrew H. Souerwine, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Management and Organization The School of Business Administration, University of Connecticut

Aus dem Klappentext

Until very recently, popular belief held that business skills were not needed at charitable organizations. No longer. Far from interfering with an organization s ability to provide needed services, techniques such as marketing, cash flow analysis, property management, and good use of technology all contribute to a charitable organization s mission capability. Unlike a not-for-profit that thinks of itself as a charity, the successful not-for-profit is really a mission-based business. In an era of rapid change, increasing competition, and the need for more accountability to governments, foundations, insurers, and donors, knowing how to innovate, compete, and take reasonable risks on behalf of the mission is critical. It is, in short, the era of the social entrepreneur. Skilled social entrepreneurs have the ability to get the most mission out of the resources at hand including traditional business techniques. Finally, here is a book that will help you learn their techniques. In Social Entrepreneurship, you will learn how successful social entrepreneurs:

• Focus on community wants and needs
• Match those with core competencies to provide the highest quality services
• Assess risk and gauge opportunity
• Develop new project ideas and test their feasibility
• Write a business plan
• Project finances in the plan
• Tap into new sources of funding
• Develop the idea of social entrepreneurship throughout the organization
• Make sure that mission, not money, is the bottom line

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Social Entrepreneurship

Jossey-Bass

Chapter One

OVERVIEW

In this chapter you will learn about the following:

* The Need for Social Entrepreneurs in a Mission-Based Organization

* The Intended Audience for This Book

* The Benefits of Reading This Book

* Chapter-by-Chapter Overview

* How to Get the Most from This Book

A. THE NEED FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS IN A MISSION-BASED ORGANIZATION

Social entrepreneurs are different, and every not-for-profit organization needs them. Social entrepreneurs are people who take risk on behalf of the people their organization serves. Traditional entrepreneurs take risk on their own behalf, or on the behalf of their company's stockholders. In not-for-profits the risks are taken on behalf of the stakeholders. That difference is significant, and it all comes back to mission. The reason you, your staff, and board take entrepreneurial risks is to get more mission out the door, sooner, better, and in a more focused manner.

Social entrepreneurship is one of the essential characteristics of successful not-for-profits. Social entrepreneurs have the following characteristics that we will discuss at great length in Chapter 2, The Benefits of the Social Entrepreneurism Model.

They are constantly looking for new ways to serve their constituencies and to add value to existing services.

They are willing to take reasonable risk on behalf of the people that their organization serves.

They understand the difference between needs and wants.

They understand that all resource allocations are really stewardship investments.

They weigh the social and financial return of each of these investments.

They always keep mission first, but know that without money, there is no mission output.

Being a social entrepreneur is increasingly important as the environment for the charitable sector becomes more and more competitive for donated dollars, traditional grants and contracts, and even for quality staff and volunteers.

While social entrepreneurs can and should take risks, as stewards of their not-for-profits, they should make sure that those risks are reasonable. Thus the need for the business-planning and development skills and techniques that will be covered in the following chapters. The use of for-profit business techniques in the not-for-profit environment is an accelerating reality in most parts of the philanthropic sector. It probably is in your area of service as well, and that may be why you have chosen to read this book.

But being "businesslike" is still controversial in a mission-based organization. Does your organization really need business development skills, even though it is a not-for-profit? Absolutely. For far too long, mission-based organizations have suffered under the illusion that they, as charitable organizations, don't need anything from the business world. "We're different," I've heard a thousand, perhaps 10,000, times, "We are about our mission, not about money. Using business techniques is totally inappropriate. I wouldn't even consider it."

Let me count the ways that this perception is inaccurate, outdated, and harmful to your organization's ability to do your mission more effectively in increasingly competitive times.

First, your organization already is a mission-based business. You need to think of your entire organization as a business "with a heart," as one client of mine puts it, but one that is businesslike, uses business techniques to pursue its mission, and worries about the bottom line, both in terms of finance and mission. You are in the business of doing mission, not solely making money, but you are not a charity. Later in the book we'll discuss return on investment-a very businesslike concept-but one that we will focus on in terms of mission return. You see, you can use business ideas, business concepts, and business techniques to further your mission. Being businesslike can and should increase your capacity to do excellent mission, it should not in any way reduce your capacity to care, your concern for your community, or your humanity as an individual or an organization.

Second, you are a steward. Whether you are a paid staff member or a volunteer, you are a steward of the resources of your organization. You are charged with getting the most mission you can out of the resources at hand, and, as I pointed out earlier, some of those resources are business techniques. Wouldn't you use a grant from a foundation to do something needed in your community (if you could do it well)? Of course you would! Then why wouldn't you adopt good marketing practices to do more mission? Or do good cash flow analysis, or practice good property management, good human resources techniques, inventory management, investment strategies, or any of the hundreds of other business practices that are available to you for the asking? If you turn away from these resources, you are simply not doing your job as a steward.

Third, the world has changed. Businesses, at least the successful ones, know how to compete. They figure out who their target markets are, ask those markets what they want, and give it to them as best they can. They focus on their core competencies and cast off what they cannot do well. They focus on customer satisfaction, not just on customer service. They improve 1 percent a day, every single day of the year. Everyone in their organization is on the marketing team. They know who their competition is in every single arena, and they pay attention to what their competition does. They know every one of their costs and work to contain them. You and your organization are in an era that is more competitive, and less forgiving, and to survive and thrive, business techniques are essential. You are competing much more actively for donated dollars, quality staff and volunteers, and, in many cases, people to serve. You are expected to quantify your outcomes and be more accountable to the governments, foundations, insurers, and donors that provide you with the funds you need to provide your mission.

Now what about you? Are you still thinking of yourself as a charity? If so, you are way, way behind the curve. You need to discard the old ways of thinking (as I suspect you probably have because you are reading this) and adapt to the changing environment, the new reality.

If the preceding description of the successful organization sounds like your organization, great! You've made a good start and will hone your skills by going through these pages. If it doesn't, perhaps there are some ideas you can garner from the remainder of the book.

In the following pages, I'll show you the skills you need to become a social entrepreneur and help your organization survive and thrive in this new and increasingly hectic environment. I'll show you how to use business development skills to focus on what your community wants and needs, how to match those wants with your core competencies, how to develop new project ideas, test their feasibility, and then write a business plan. We'll cover how to find money for your business and how to project finances in the plan. And, we'll go over some very technical issues as well, such as the Unrelated Business Income Tax and the myriad of...