Social enterprises sit between traditional business, nonprofits

In Business Organizations by Coolidge Wall

Broadly speaking, a business’ primary focus is on making money and expanding itself, instead of benefiting others. A nonprofit’s goal is to help the community in some way, but often struggles to find the money to make this happen. Somewhere in between these two stereotypical extremes is the social-enterprise business. As described recently by The Cleveland Plain Dealer, social-enterprise business focuses on some social problem, but is not the same as a traditional nonprofit. They provide a product or service to raise money for the owners’ particular cause. In Ohio, a few social-enterprise businesses have gotten off the ground, including …