Scaling Your Social Venture

Book excerpt: The field of social entrepreneurship continues to grow by leaps and bounds as innovative entrepreneurs find new ways to create a positive social impact on their community. More often than not these ventures find it difficult to expand their initial concepts into new environments. As funding for social programs on a government level tightens, the ability for social programs to broaden and deepen their impact while maintaining financial stability has never been more important. This goal is only achievable when good intentions are combined with comprehensive analysis and planning that takes all aspects of a venture's ecosystem into consideration. Paul N. Bloom, a professor of social entrepreneurship at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, explores the key components that any social entrepreneur needs to consider when approaching the challenge of scaling. Here Bloom explains the SCALERS model, which stresses that successful scaling requires organizational capabilities in seven areas: staffing, communicating, alliance-building, lobbying, earningsgeneration, replicating, and stimulating market forces. Rich with numerous examples of social entities that have developed these capabilities, Scaling Your Social Venture provides the tools to help social entrepreneurs take their venture to the next level.