Mission Meets Profit: Building a Social Enterprise

3 Credits.

This course offers an in depth, practice- centered examination of social enterprises—hybrid organizations that combine mission and values driven goals with market based strategies to achieve social or environmental outcomes. Students will explore the diverse landscape of social enterprise models across the U.S. and internationally, assessing their structural, legal, and operational complexities and how they challenge traditional nonprofit and for-profit paradigms.? Grounded in analytical frameworks, learners will conduct a nuanced assessment of an ambitious societal or environmental problem in a specific country context and develop a context aligned business model with a strong value proposition and minimal reliance on philanthropic funding. The course concludes with the creation of a sustainable financial model that incorporates diversified revenue streams, cashflow planning, and data informed growth projections. Students will also examine alternative ownership models, social procurement, and impact evaluation frameworks that best fit a given social enterprise’s impact measurement goals. By the end of the course, learners will be equipped with the analytical and strategic tools needed to conceptualize and design a viable- social enterprise addressing an audacious challenge in a setting of their choice.???