ASE Social Enterprise Academies support not-for-profit executives in developing ventures that expand their social impact AND generate income. We have worked on all kinds of products and services, helping to launch some ventures (“start ups”) and grow others (“scale ups”). Here are a few examples:
Bikestation
The not-for-profit BikeStation reached a crossroads in late 2007. Founded in Long Beach, Calif., in 1996 to design, build, and manage bike transit centers, the 10-employee organization couldn't handle all the calls coming in on its $300,000 budget. CEO Andréa White-Kjoss used the Academy business planning process to create a plan for opening new bike stations in 5-10 cities in the near future, and to recruit “angel” investors to help fund it as a for-profit wholly owned subsidiary. Shares of Mobis Transportation Alternatives, the for-profit venture, are owned by BikeStation and by those who are investing $750,000 in seed capital. They are expanding beyond its traditional customers—cities and transit agencies—to market to universities, corporate campuses, and other developments. "We're able to do what we've wanted to do for a long time," says White-Kjoss.
Bienvenidos
The Supervised Visitation Program at L.A.-based Bienvenidos is a social enterprise venture that expanded a government funded program for low income families to offer services to those who can afford to pay. Bienvenidos used the Academy to create a structure and business plan. Within 3 months of start up, the program was working with more than 60 families, with additional sites and expanded visitation planned. Not only is the program furthering the agency's social mission, it is projecting revenues in excess of $200,000. Having recognized the potential for earned income, Bienvenidos is now exploring earned income opportunities. According to President & CEO, Ritchie Geisel, “The Academy jump-started this whole process of social enterprise formation.”
Council on Aging, Orange County
COA-OC offers a wide range of information and services to advocate for the rights and dignity of older and disabled adults. Historically reliant on government contracts, the Council concluded that it was time they identified mission-related programs that could generate earned income. As highly regarded industry experts, they hit on the idea of launching a training institute that would serve the continuing education needs of those who staff elder care facilities. The Institute has blossomed and they are now identifying other “market opportunities”. Says CEO Cheryl Meronk, “the revenue we are generating is helping to fill the gap created by losses in government funding.”
Center for the Partially Sighted
The Center for the Partially Sighted helps visually impaired people of all ages by enhancing their remaining sight and providing emotional support and independent living strategies. LaDonna Ringering, President and CEO of the Center for the Partially Sighted had explored ways to bring in more money to the not-for-profit organization and through a social venture. Using the workshops and counsel from her Academy mentor, the Center worked out a plan to to open an office in Beverly Hills. CEO LaDonna Ringering particularly acknowledged the coaching that she got in market research and financial modeling. “It taught us to lay out our books and costs so we could make sure we would generating revenue.”
Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz founded their social enterprises, the Melrose Trading Post and Greenway Court Theatre twelve years ago. The Melrose Trading Post, a flea market, is the most successful ongoing fundraiser in the history of LA Unified School District. It has raised over five million dollars for student activities, student resources, capital improvements, and salaries. They joined the LA Social Venture Academy to explore how to start another venture that trains others how to replicate their success. Says Whitney, “All the workshops made a lot of sense. It’s nice to sit in a room with other nonprofits and discuss these issues together. The branding workshop was particularly useful because branding it not something nonprofits usually think about, and it is important to us.”
The Infrastructure Academy—Generation Water
The Infrastructure Academy (aka Generation Water) enrolled its first students in January 2008 at Los Angeles Trade Tech College. In its first year of operation, the Infrastructure Academy has delivered instruction to over 200 students in technical areas such as water conservation, renewable energy, electricity, robotics, and construction. Their social enterprise is a job training program, which train the students while doing audits and other projects that build the infrastructure necessary to improve water efficiency in Los Angeles. Marcus Castain, CEO of Generation Water, jumped into the Venture Competition saying, “Iwas drawn to the idea of having a mentor to help build a business plan within a strict deadline.”
Illumination Foundation
The Illumination Foundation is a grassroots organization that provides integrated services to the homeless. The Foundation was struggling to secure grants and hit on the idea of creating a social enterprise, the Recuperative Care Program. The Recuperative Care program contracts with hospitals to who need to discharge its homeless patients to appropriate facilities. The Foundation takes care of the homeless patients and helps find them long term housing. The hospitals pay the Illumination Foundation a fee to assist the homeless through this process. The Illumination Foundation in-turn uses the profits for more services for their clients. “Even as a nonprofit, people have a misconception that nonprofits shouldn’t be making money,” said Paul Cho, Co-founder. “This Academy taught me that that is not true and we need to operate like a for-profit in order to be sustainable.”
Legal Aid Society of Orange County
LASOC promotes equal access to justice through advocacy, legal counseling, innovative self-help services, in-depth legal representation and community education. Originally created to provide free services to extremely poor individuals and families, LASOC has pioneered the use of technology to deliver legal services and information to the “working poor” that do not qualify for free services. The Legal Genie is an internet-based, on line product which was developed to serve any litigant that would like to represent themselves on a variety of consumer and family law issues. Based on conservative financial projections, they believe that they will eventually generate between $600,000 and $1 million dollars annually in new income. "Legal Genie makes the justice system accessible to those who otherwise simply could not afford legal services," said LASOC Executive Director Robert J. Cohen.
RARE Project
There are over 7,000 rare diseases in the world and many of them are commonly undiagnosed and untreated. The RARE Project creates greater public awareness for rare disease, while connecting, educating and empowering the millions of families and caregivers affected through an online community and collaborative portal. Their social enterprise targets sponsorships for their website, which enables those effected to to share and advance knowledge about rare diseases among medical professionals, researchers, patients, parents, advocates and the general public. “Through the Academy, I learned how to crystallize our message and pitch it in a precise manner that rallied people behind our cause. I had to learn how to give a 15-minute pitch even though I hated talking in front of people,” said Founder Nicole Boise.
The SMART Foundation
The SMART Foundation had been in existence for eight years when it found the Social Enterprise Academy. Already earning income by renting musical instruments to generate funds for music education programs, they were at full capacity. To provide instruments for other school districts, they needed to expand. Founder Chris Clark used the process to develop a business plan and sort through the best options for financing. As a result they they have obtained a $100,000 bank loan from First Bank and are now negotiating with an instrument manufacturer to get additional financing and/or credit on their instruments purchases. “The Academy has been an invaluable resource for us” says Chris. “Through our involvement, we have been provided professional advice, and guidance that we could not have gotten anywhere else."
WISE Place
WISE Place serves homeless women with affordable housing, vocational and life skills training, and physical and emotional support. The agency’s recognized that it could make more creative use of its extensive building (a former YWCA) and used the Academy process to develop the WISE Silver Center. The Silver Center is a much needed adult day program for some of Orange County’s often overlooked senior population. It will fulfill multiple objectives: to enhance the quality of life for seniors and others with limited access to social interaction and enrichment programs, to providing training opportunities for the current residents of WISE Place, and to generate discretionary income. Kathleen Bowman, Executive Director of WISE Place, says that the Academy “made the difference in what we are confident will be the very successful establishment and long term viability of the WISE Silver Center.”
Working Wardrobes
Working Wardrobes, which puts people back to work after a life crisis, wanted to grow their business so that they could serve more people but, as a not-for-profit organization, neither the staff nor the board had the business skills or orientation to foster such growth. Through the Academy, Working Wardrobes received training that enabled them to create a business advisory committee, revamp accounting and operational practices, and conduct market research to justify expansion. The resulting business plan enabled them to obtain a $300,000 bank loan, providing the seed capital for opening two new thrift stores and a career center. In three years Working Wardrobes has seen a 94% increase in revenues with 78 % of that coming from earned income. Perhaps most important, they have more than doubled number of clients served. Says Founder, Jerri Rosen, “Social Enterprise will change your life forever and that’s a good thing!”
YWCA of San Gabriel Valley
The YWCA of San Gabriel Valley is planning an upgraded gourmet home food delivery system. The project will expand on an existing Meals on Wheels program that currently delivers meals to senior citizens. This venture would give them the chance to create a more expansive menu, increase the price of each order and reach a larger and more affluent audience. Lisa Brabo, the Y’s Executive Director reported, “through the Social Enterprise Venture Competition, our small income generating project was transformed to an income venture of much greater potential. Thank you for such a positive push in the right direction.”
Us Too Center
When it first began, Us Too Center served disabled children and their families by providing a safe place to play and learn the art of gymnastics. Over time, the founders recognized a demand to become a full service center offering gymnastics, tap dance classes, a teen club, behavioral therapy, speech therapy and counseling services. Recognizing that the organization’s staff needed to build solid business skills to ensure their success, Founder Shaun Howell enrolled in the Social Enterprise Academy. The Academy not only enabled them to develop a successful and realistic business plan, it also taught them to focus on how they were marketing the Center. The small short-term changes they have made have already proven to be successful. Founder Shaun Howell reports, “Our referrals have increased, in fact doubled! Our Facebook page has doubled the amount of fans and our website is visited more often than ever. We have really learned how to market ourselves better.”
