The scale of social issues demanding attention widens the way for a mix of organizations with targeted social missions to address them, says thought leader Rob Greenland. Included in that mix are organizations that distribute profits.
“To create change at the scale that we need, we need more businesses with a social mission — and it will be appropriate, and probably beneficial, for some to have structures where they distribute profits,” Greenland tells Axiom News.
“I just don't think we'll get enough scale if we think that the only businesses that can do good are not-for-profit ones.”
A resident of the U.K. and respected leader in the field of social enterprise, Greenland says he’s been intrigued to observe it becoming more acceptable for businesses to consider how they can make social impact a core business focus, not just a corporate social responsibility add-on.
“I think there’s a long way to go, but the global crisis has given new momentum, I think, in that people understand how businesses — such as the banks — which didn’t take their social impact seriously, have really messed things up for us, whilst we also recognize that the problems we face are so big that they can’t just be left to charities, the state or volunteer organizations.”
Greenland says social mission organizations trying to balance their social and financial objectives should expect “constant tension” in this regard. He suggests a first step in managing this is to acknowledge it as a potential source of difficulty and “keep working at it.”
“It’s not a black-and-white issue,” he says, noting one perspective that can help is to consider this balance in the medium term.
“Social business doesn’t suddenly stop being a social business if it takes a tactical decision which puts profit before social mission. It may have to make such a decision sometimes,” says Greenland. “But clearly if there is a long-term imbalance between profit making and effective achievement of mission, then that is a problem.”
He suggests social impact reporting may help in this respect, “although if it gets too complicated it can get in the way.”
Greenland adds he’s not a big fan of social return on investment as a solution, as he thinks it’s too complicated for most organizations and the calculations about the financial value created can be too vague.
He is engaged in an initiative aimed at finding more doable ways to report on the social impact of business.
— More to Come
Related Editorial:
Expanding the Definition of Social Business
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