Why You Don’t Have To Be A Nonprofit To Do Social Good

If you were to take a peek into the boardroom of a well-run nonprofit organization, you’d probably mistake it for that of a Fortune 500 for-profit company.

Guided by purposeful leadership and careful management of threadbare resources, that nonprofit gets it done by crafting strategies that are true to the mission, thus helping them earn the respect and support of the community, donors, and influencers. And most importantly, they earn the trust of the clients they serve.

But you don’t have to be a nonprofit to elicit a nonprofit response from consumers. However, it’s clear that consumers are gravitating toward businesses that prioritize purpose over profit, and they’re willing to pay more for it.  In fact, studies suggest that 30% of consumers plan to increase their purchases from socially responsible companies in the years to come.

So if your goal for the next few months is to position your business for growth, look beyond dollars and cents. Create opportunities for your business to bespeak goodwill by doing social good.

To accomplish this, you may have to tweak your mission or take a look at your business structure.

Develop a Purpose Driven Mission

A purpose driven organization lives out a mission that serves a higher calling. Leveraging its strengths, the mission statement strategically maps out the impact the business will make on society – from a fiscal, experiential, and social standpoint – and creates a culture within that business to achieve those goals.

Consider Nashville-based pie bakery, Sweet Creations LLC, who’s been serving up slices of southern charm for over five years now. But what’s even more fulfilling than their homemade pecan pie is their purpose driven mission which pledges to provide employment opportunities through their bakery operations for residents of a surrounding underserved community.

Using the concept of shared value, purpose driven business leaders, like the owners of Sweet Creations, are able to find the perfect balance of creating economic value while addressing social needs and challenges.

Consider Social Enterprises, B-corps

If you want to do more than weave the intent to do social good into your mission statement, you should consider the pros and cons of forming a social enterprise.

A social enterprise is a for-profit company (or nonprofit) operating with two primary goals: to address social, community, and/or environmental concerns and to earn revenue.  While these types of companies function as you’d expect a business to, its commitment to doing social good is apparent, for profits are reinvested to support its social cause.

Public benefit corporations, a form of social enterprise, take it a step further allowing your business’ board of directors, if you have them, to take into account the stated public benefit of the company , be it poverty, education, and so on , when making decisions for that company.  While only available in about half of the United States right now, they’re gaining traction. States are slowly coming on board, like Tennessee, giving companies such as The Unlikely Company a platform to create change.

Finally, there’s b-corp. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not a business structure. It’s a certification and it’s hard to get, with only about 1,600 certified organizations across 42 countries. Popular lifestyle brand, The Honest Company is one of them.

You Have Options

As you can see, you have options. Entrepreneurs who desire to create something from the ground up and use it to make a positive imprint on the heart of humanity don’t have to form a nonprofit to do it.

So do your homework, search your heart, and do what works best for your business and the resources available to you.

And get ready to step out into a better tomorrow.