Theorizing Forms for Social Enterprise

Abstract

Jurisdictions across the country and around the globe are enacting legislation enabling founders of social enterprises to adopt specialized forms to house their entities. These forms blend elements traditionally found in nonprofit organizational forms, like commitment to a social mission, with elements from for-profit business structures, like the ability to attract investors. These legal forms appear to offer founders and investors the ability to “do well by doing good” and consumers and employees access to “companies with a soul.” These aspirations, however, have not yet been fully realized by any of the specialized forms currently available. In other work, I have described and critiqued the specifics of the various new forms, both here and abroad. This article takes a step back, and examines the broader theoretical question of what specialized forms would have to provide in order to realize social enterprise’s claimed potential.