California Association of Nonprofits Needs to Advocate for Social Enterprise Corporate Structures
I find it frustrating when business and non-profit leaders cling to the misconception that the American economy is a zero-sum game. For each winner in the economy there must be a corresponding loser according to this line of thinking. Unfortunately, this view misses that a growing economy with expanding efficiencies arising from new innovations allows for a growing pie of opportunity. One reason I've been such a fan of social enterprise over the last 12 years is because this sector disproves each day the idea of a zero-sum economy with its innovative activities. But then interest group politics trots out the tired argument of the zero-sum pie once again. This time, the California Association of Nonprofits worries about legislative efforts to create new hybrid corporate structures that combine what social enterprise has always been about: social good with profitable enterprise. The nonprofit and for-profit sectors are already blending and a new corporate form would help governme...