Using the Business Model Canvas as a Social Enterprise

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Mark Horoszowski

Mark Horoszowski is the co-founder and CEO of MovingWorlds.org.

on September 1, 2020 / Mark Horoszowski

Since its introduction ten years ago, the business model canvas has been rapidly adopted as a strategic management tool by investors, entrepreneurs, and even corporate leaders. And for good reason: It’s a great way to align a team on the revenue and operational assumptions that a business operates with. 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

However, many social entrepreneurs struggle with its use. In our MovingWorlds S-GRID program , one of the most common questions participants have is HOW to highlight social impact as part of the business model canvas. This is an important question, and one without a straightforward answer. We’ve seen many new initiatives grapple with this, some of which have even launched variations of the tool to incorporate social impact as an additional building block. However, we don’t think these variations are a good idea. In fact, the whole idea of social enterprise is to integrate social impact into all aspects of your business, and so adding it as a separate building block detracts from the very idea of social enterprise . 

What is the Business Model Canvas (BMC)?

The business model canvas (BMC) is the simplest way to document the key building blocks of your business, share them with your team, and highlight the assumptions that go into your business model. The 9 building blocks are:

  • Customer Segments – The target audience(s) that you plan to create value for.
  • Value Propositions – A summary of the value you provide to the customer.
  • Channels – How you deliver value to your customer segments.
  • Customer Relationships – How you build and manage relationships with your consumer segments.
  • Revenue Stream s – How you generate revenue from each customer segment, and how much.
  • Key Resources – The assets available to the business that allow you to create value for your customer segments.
  • Key Activities – The processes and activities that utilize all your resources to create value.
  • Key Partnerships – Other entities that turn resources and activities into value more efficiently, and your working relationship with them.
  • Cost Structure – All of the costs associated with the business.

As one of the founders of the Lean Startup movement, Steven Blank said, “ Unless you have tested the assumptions in your business model first, outside the building, your business plan is just creative writing. ” The most important thing that the BMC does is guide you and your team to document your different assumptions so you can figure out what you know to be true vs. what you hope to be true. 

Why is the Business Model Canvas a Good Idea for Social Enterprises? 

“The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.” -Eric Ries

The ultimate benefit of the BMC is that it helps you learn more about your customers so that you can solve their problems, help them reach their goals, and generate revenue in the process so that you can continue to invest in delivering value. To make this more real, let’s learn a little more about the Business Model Canvas. This video explainer from Steven Blank is one of the better ones:

In the MovingWorlds S-GRID program , as well as in our professional development Institute , one of the most important things that we teach is that the business model canvas is tied to a specific product, service, or program – not the business at large. So, at MovingWorlds for example, we have a different BMC for each of our revenue+impact producing programs: the MovingWorlds Institute, S-GRID, Experteering Network, Capacity Building Programs, and Corporate Social Impact Programs. The reason for this is simple: Each group has a different target customer, value proposition, revenue model, impact model, and cost structure, and is therefore built upon different assumptions. By creating a unique BMC for each, we can more effectively operate and innovate each program for greater impact as a purpose-driven company. 

For social enterprises looking to identify their best scale-up business model and create new revenue partnerships with the corporate sector, step one should be identifying different possible customer segments, and then creating a new BMC for each. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it

Regardless of how many BMCs you use, the value of going through the exercise is that it forces you to identify what you know about your customers, and what you don’t know. It’s also a great tool for aligning your team to understand the business, the most important next steps, as well as the most important learnings.

As the author of the Lean Startup said, “ Let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek. ”

How Should Social Enterprises Use the Business Model Canvas to Ensure Growth and Impact?

Social enterprises should use the BMC just like any other startup entrepreneur would: as a tool to help you build, measure, and learn! That said, there is one really important addition for social enterprises: every single one of the 9 building blocks should be evaluated independently to ensure that they are:

  • Not creating harm
  • Ensuring equity
  • Achieving their social mission
  • Making the systems around them better

business model canvas for social enterprise design

There are many ways to do this, but we recommend starting simply: Once your BMC is completed, go through every line-item, and highlight in green those acting as an impact accelerator. For every item that might detract from your mission and/or cause unintended consequences, highlight those red.

Remember, the foundation of the BMC is that it is a collection of assumptions that should be tested and validated, starting with the most risky hypothesis . So this means that your theories about something creating social good or harm is also an assumption. By highlighting the potential risks to realizing social impact as you go, your team will be able to focus on your impact hypotheses as you progress.

When Should Social Enterprises Use the Business Model Canvas?

One of the biggest mistakes we see from leaders is that social enterprises create a BMC and then never revisit it again. The reality is that the BMC should be a living model that documents your assumptions and guides you on what to test next. 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

In order words, as you are trying to find your scale-up approach, planning a pivot, expanding into a new market, and/or targeting a new customer segment, you’ll want to keep your business model canvas front and center. Organizing a weekly or monthly review with your key team members to work through it and ensure it’s still accurate is a great idea.

Using the Business Model Canvas to Create More Impact

Your social enterprise will get the most out of the BMC when used as a framework to help you document and validate assumptions you have about both your business potential and your social impact potential. Remember these tips:

  • Social impact should be generated through the core work of your business, and you don’t need a separate tool or plan – your impact should be integrated into your BMC for each building block
  • Develop a BMC for each of your core business lines and keep it current
  • Highlight impact accelerators and detractors so you and your team keep impact front and center
  • Revisit it often and keep testing assumptions!

Need help building and validating your canvas? Apply to join the S-GRID Social Enterprise Accelerator for the know-how, connections, and support to realize your vision!

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How to Master the Business Model Canvas for Social Entrepreneurs

To succeed, you need to understand how your business creates, delivers and captures value..

business model canvas for social enterprise design

With the wave of the Lean Startup Method, the business model canvas has become a regular in our startup vocabulary. You’ve maybe even tossed the term around yourself, but what does it actually mean and how do you actually implement it?

Originally crowdsourced, the book “Business Model Generation” by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur at Strategyzer has sold over one million copies in 30 languages. The canvas allows you to frame a hypotheses which you then test with customers until you get to the point in the validation process where you have enough to go on to build a minimum viable product. In simple terms, a good and conclusive canvas lays the groundwork for your business and changes with every iteration you go through. It describes how you create, deliver and capture value.

The aim of this article is not to reinvent the wheel or summarize the extensive literature on the topic. It is a guide covering the basics and hopefully sparking your interest with lots of extra reading to dive into the deep end of the business model canvas pool for social entrepreneurs.

The Why and the How

Now I realize the term ‘business model’ has a corporate ring to it - not a language that the social sector historically has been friendly with, let alone fond of. But if you think about it, creating, delivering and capturing value is precisely what social entrepreneurs do. Let’s face it, a business model - the engine for sustained earned revenue - is what any social entrepreneur needs if (s)he doesn’t want to be stuck in the endless cycle of writing grant proposals and worrying about next month’s payroll. Besides, approaching your social enterprise through the lens of a business-model seeker will put your venture on an entrepreneurial path of seeking beneficiary-centered solutions, validated by their willingness to pay for the product or service you provide. 

The business model canvas is a business’ blueprint once you strip away all the fine-tuned details and impossible-to-make business predictions found in a traditional business plan. It sketches out what you are trying to do for whom and how you think it’s going to work. The original canvas is made up of nine blocks that easy to grasp.. 

Business Model Canvas for Social Entrepreneurs

The Business Model Canvas in 3 (Big) Steps 

Creating Value 

Start with customer segments specifying who your customer is and what his/her specific characteristics and circumstances are. What can you find out about their socio-economic situation? Their income? Their preferences, needs, behaviors, attitudes? You may be serving different segments of one population. Start with one. 

As a social entrepreneur, you may have to segment customers from beneficiaries. The ones paying for your product or service are not always the ones using it exclusively (think Ruby Cup ’s one-for-one model). Consider both customer segments and develop personas for each. 

The value proposition is the key to your business. Is the value you are creating - providing education to underserved communities or improving healthcare access - something that your beneficiaries appreciate as much as you think? The value proposition explains what problem you are solving for your beneficiaries and how. Figuring out whether or not your product or service meets customer needs may be my favorite part of the whole canvas exercise. If forces you to develop an in-depth understanding of customers needs, desires, and their reasons for not being able to overcome the issue themselves. The product or service you develop should address these factors to ensure you are meeting a real need under your beneficiaries’ limited condition. Use the Value Proposition Canvas to drill down on the specific details of what problem your customer is facing and how exactly you are addressing it. Getting this part right is crucial. 

A social enterprise’s value proposition includes the value created for both the individual and society at large - the enterprise’s social impact. If your customers and beneficiaries are not identical, ensure it specifies how you create value for both.

Channels describe how you are going to deliver that value to your customers. Will you have your own storefront, partner with existing stores, or sell your goods and services online? 

Depending on the beneficiaries you are trying to reach, you may have to get creative in reaching them. Identify channels that are easy - or at least possible - for them to access. Consider whether they are literate, use mobile technology, have reliable access to electricity or public transport. Access limitations are easily overlooked so consider these from the start.

Customer relationships outline how you interact with your customers. Are you offering personal assistance or will they be able to get their hands on your product through self-service? Will you offer service through community relations or will customers go through an automated system?

Trust and respect are key when working with underserved communities. Relationships with your customers should reflect this in every aspect of communications.

Delivering Value  

Key resources are a breakdown of what inputs you will need to deliver your product or service. If you make a product, your key resources may include costly machinery and manufacturing facilities. If you are in the service industry, your key resources may be technology or some specific intellectual property. Think of them in terms of physical, human, intellectual, financial.

Speaking of activities: What is your main job to run this business successfully? Are you developing a technological solution? Are you selling fair-trade goods, training ex-convicts in job skills? These are your key activities . Make sure they all drive your intended social impact. It is easy to be overwhelmed with all the opportunities you can potentially pursue to make the world a better a place. Stick to your guns and focus on your KEY activities. For now. If you are successful with your first set, you can always expand. One step at a time.

Often, especially in the social sector, you rely on partners to make your solution work. Key partnerships highlight the relationships that are crucial to your business’ success. 

As a social entrepreneur you pursue at least a double- if not triple-bottom line. This means you are - by definition - accountable to a wider spectrum of stakeholders. The best way to nurture and manage these relationships is by building partnerships with key stakeholders in sectors relevant to your venture. Who else is trying to solve the issue you are working on? Who are your allies? Especially if you work in emerging economies it is crucial to forge trust and strong relationships with partners in your value chain. 

Capturing Value 

How are you going to pay for all this? Revenue streams indicate how you make money. Ideally, you are selling your product to generate revenue. If that’s not an option, can you sell one version to customers who can afford it in order to subsidize sales to less affluent customers? Your revenue streams may be based on the direct sale of your product or service, a subscription fee, or renting, lending or leasing. Be creative. This also brings us back to customer segments and value proposition. 

Every social entrepreneur I’ve worked with has heard this piece of advice early on: Don’t give your product away for free. Don’t make your beneficiaries dependent on free handouts, give them the dignity to pay for what you offer, even if it is a very small amount. We all appreciate the things we pay for more than for the ones we get for free. Charge SOMETHING for your product or service, and find other ways to generate revenue to at least break even. Is there a secondary customer base for your product or service? Can you partner with third parties to bring your product to market (development agencies, insurance companies)? Generating multiple revenue streams makes you less dependent and more resilient in case one stream dries up.

In order to define your price points for revenue streams, you need to have a very clear idea of your cost structure . Cheap airlines operate on a low-cost structure while your social business - hopefully - runs on a value-driven one, which may include high quality (think Cartier) and high ethical value. Ideally you manage to combine elements of both. Don’t sacrifice quality to save on cost. Think of your cost structure in terms of fix versus variable costs, and whether you capitalize on economies of scale (cost per unit decreases with more units produced) or scope (can you produce similar products or services while banking on shared machines, packaging, etc.?). 

Depending on how you’re structured and what partnerships you have in place, consider whether you can outsource any costs to partners, and which elements you may be able to receive at a discount or through philanthropic giving. Which types of market capital do you have access to?

There are many (many!) variations on the business model canvas, specifically for social entrepreneurs and mission-driven businesses. I have used the Social Lean Canvas for teaching before, and I recently came across the Mission Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder. These are great resources and I highly recommend playing around with them to see which language works best for you. At the end of the day, you should be able to fill in any version of the canvas and arrive at the same conclusions. 

The business model canvas is a great tool to help you sketch out your social enterprise idea. It evolves along with every round of testing and iteration your idea goes through - make sure to keep it up to date (post-its go along way!).

With that said, remember that it’s also only that. A tool. It does not focus on analyzing your competition, nor does it guide you in terms of marketing and communicating your product or service - all of which inform your strategy. The canvas captures the key factors of your potential business; it’s up to you to complement elements that are crucial to YOUR business’ success. 

Further Reading

If you’re intrigued and want to learn more about the business model canvas, I recommend the following:

  • Osterwalder, Alexander and Pigneur, Yves (2010). Business Model Generation. 
  • Osterwalder, Alexander; Pigneur, Yves; Bernarda, Greg and Smith, Allen (2014).  Value Proposition Design. 

Specific to Social Entrepreneurs

  • Acumen. Business Models for Social Enterprise ( MOOC ). 
  • Osterwalder, Alexander (2016). This Mission Model Canvas: An Adapted Business Model Canvas for Mission-Driven Organizations (Strategyzer Blog ).
  • Social Lean Canvas (Website featuring the social business model canvas in different languages and examples of existing social enterprises)
  • Young Foundation . The Social Business Model Canvas 
  • Social Entrepreneurs Resource Hub at Stanford: Social Business Model Canvas (download here ).
  • Dohrman, Susanne; Raith, Matthias; Siebold, Nicole (2015). Monetizing Social Value Creation : A Business Model Approach. Entrepreneurship Research Journal.

About the Author 

Anika Horn

Anika Horn has devoted her career to working social entrepreneurs from around the world building mission-driven businesses. As a mentor and coach at Social Ventures Australia, Social Impact Lab Hamburg and the DO School, Anika recently moved to the United States where she builds ecosystems for social entrepreneurs in mid-tier cities. On an international level, Anika researches best practices and common challenges in social enterprise support around the world. Her research is published under  www.socialventurers.com .

Learn more about her work:  www.anikahorn.com

This article was originally published in April 2016.  

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Social Business Canvas

The well known Business Model Canvas (BMC) has been used by thousands of business startups across the world to capture and articulate the key elements of the enterprise business model. However, for social enterprises, the BMC fails to articulate a key driving factor for the enterprise – its Social Purpose – which is so often at the heart of a social enterprise. This tool helps the team to develop their social enterprise business plan focused around their deeply held social purpose.

The Social Business Canvas is a visual map of the key stakeholders and the value propositions that a particular design solution or concept offers to them.

why is it important

A strong business model is key to writing good business model, promoting the business concept, and pitching to investors for raising funds. Doing this together deepens shared understanding and ideas for inclusion. Placing social purpose at the heart of the model focuses attention on what is really important from a social perspective.

how to do it

  • Position the Social Business Canvas on a wall space where the team can gather around it.
  • Using the materials developed earlier in the project start by completing the Key Customer Issue that has been the focus of the ideation and prototyping phases of the project. Try to encapsulate it in one sentence.
  • Complete the Social Purpose section in the heart of the canvas. What is it that motivates you in this social enterprise? What do you hope to achieve/deliver in the short, medium, and longer term?
  • Work together or split into smaller teams to work on completing the other sections of the Social Business Canvas. If it is the latter takes time to share and discuss the outcomes of each section with the wider team for agreement and further ideas and comments.
  • Write any key questions or discussion points on post-it notes, one per note, and post them in a separate area for later reference.
  • Capture the completed Social Business Canvas with photos as a record.

Links for further reading

  • designing sustainable business models
  • Business Model Canvas

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business model canvas for social enterprise design

Business model design process for social enterprises

Steps and activities to get your bm right.

Whether you are running a social enterprise or planning to launch a new one, coming up with a solid business model (BM) is never an easy task. Even more difficult is turning a first, rough business model idea into something practical and tangible. So, to help you navigate through these uncertainties, we will discuss the different steps of the business model design process for social enterprises.

Business model design process: an overview

Probably you’ve heard before about the “ design squiggle “. This illustration is indeed often used to capture the complexity of design processes of all kinds.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

As you might guess, BM design is a messy, iterative process too. As a matter of fact, practitioners usually face the same degree of uncertainty, ambiguity and unpredictability when designing new or innovative business models. In 2010, Osterwalder and Pigneur identified the key stages of a typical BM design process . Ever since then, other authors and scholars provided alternative interpretations that are all equally valuable.

At Social Business Design , we combined their different views and came up with a 6-phase design process , specifically meant for social enterprises. Even thought the phases are described in a linear way, please remember that the whole process is actually iterative by nature. Let’s now dig into it a bit more!

1. “Mobilize” Phase

The first phase is all about setting up the stage for a successful design process. It’s indeed crucial to create the right pre-conditions to do it right. And by “ pre-condition ” we mean key elements such as common understanding of the design process, agreed tools/languages to use, clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the team, etc. If all these elements are not properly set up, the process might immediately turn into a long, uphill journey.

2. “Research” Phase

During this step, team’s members usually immerse themselves in the field and collect information to gain deeper understanding of the market. For instance, this is the moment to further investigate the social problem tackled, or to analyze dominant business models in the industry. Also, it is the right time to study benchmarks, competitors, as well as the most relevant trends that may impact the business. Of course these are just few examples, as the list could go on and on from time to time.

business model design process for social enterprises

3. “Ideation” Phase

Often called the “ creativity ” phase, this is when the true magic begins to happen. In fact, once collectively defined a social impact mission to pursue, the team brainstorms over key insights, information and feedback collected in order to turn first, rough ideas into business model prototypes . Here, the goal should be to identify different possible business models to operate. Thus, coming up with several BM prototypes might help not running short of alternatives. Notice that the most commonly used tool for this purpose is the Social Business Model Canvas , which you’ve probably already heard about.

4. “Testing” Phase

“ Designing an innovative BM is one thing, testing if it’s going to work out is a radically different one “. During this phase, the team indeed uncovers underlying assumptions of the prototypes previously designed and runs experiments to test them. The assumptions might relate to any aspect of the BM, including value proposition , revenue model, but also growth engines . Once conducted stress-tests and experiments to validate/reject the assumptions, the team then evaluates the results. Eventually, the business model prototypes could get redefined accordingly, in order to end up selecting the most promising one.

5. “Implementation” Phase

At this stage, the team brings the desired business model to the field. In other words, there is a shift from abstract strategy to concrete actions . Tools like the BM Roadmap might be used to plan ahead the actions needed to implement a new business model.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

6. “Management” Phase

Once implemented the BM, the team ultimately sets up the management structures to continuously monitor/evaluate it . As a matter of fact, it’s important to analyze how the business (and new BM) is performing and how the market is reacting to it. From there, further improvements or adjustments get implemented coherently, until new, radical business model innovations might become necessary once again!

In this article, we introduced you to the business model design process for social enterprises. As seen, the process is comprised of 6 different stages: (1) mobilization , (2) research , (3) ideation , (4) testing , (5) implementation and finally (6) management .

We believe aspiring changemakers can hugely benefit from having a clear understanding of this framework. In fact, they’ll need to master every single one of those steps in order for their social enterprises to become (and remain) successful.

But what about you? Do you think you have all it takes to run a BM design process effectively? Drop us a message in the comment section and let us know what stage you’re in! 🙂

Did you like this article?

If so, then don’t forget to check out for more at Social Business Design .

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A new Social Business Model Canvas online

Welcome to the new social business model canvas, a digital collaborative template on mural. the sbmc on mural allows you to work with your team to easily map out your social mission and social business building blocks to maximize your overall social impact goals..

This is picture of the Social Business Model Canvas.

Welcome to the New Social Business Model Canvas

The new Social Business Model Canvas (SBMC) online is based on Strategyzer’s original Business Model Canvas and consists of 14 boxes. The boxes range from understanding the complex systems in which your social issue exists to understanding the needs of the communities experiencing those issues, planning out your social mission and social value proposition offerings to beneficiaries, customers, and key funders, and identifying the building blocks for your sustainable business that puts achieving the social mission as the central goal.

Below you will find some additional support resources, such as short readings, links, videos, and pdf files of the blank SBMC, and a mock-up SBMC example that you can download. If you’d like to discuss the SBMC or have someone walk you through it, you will find contact details at the bottom of this page. We want to hear from you!

Access the Social Business Model Canvas on MURAL – instructions

The button below will take you to the app.MURAL.co website to access the Social Business Model Canvas. To collaborate with others using the template, you will be asked to create a free trial (no credit card details required). If you are working in an educational institution and have a .edu email address or are a nonprofit organization, you can request to use MURAL for free by  applying for the education plan or checking your nonprofit eligibility .

Pre-Work: Systems Thinking & Impact Gap Analysis

To be most effective with your business, we recommend you complete some pre-work before you start filling out the Social Business Model Canvas. This includes doing an impact gap analysis and understanding systems thinking. Click on the button below to get started.

How to fill out the Social Business Model Canvas 

There are 14 boxes on the Social Business Model Canvas. Each box is discussed below with some additional information and open-sourced online resources to get you started.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Key Stakeholders

Key Stakeholders are those people and organizations that closely interact with your social enterprise.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Social Impact Measurement Strategy

Why do you do what you do?  How will you know when you have achieved it?  For Social Entrepreneurs, it’s important that these two questions are asked regularly.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Key Delivery Partners

In this section, you should focus on those key delivery partners that you will need to help you either deliver your social programs, or products or services.  

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Competition / Coopetition

Competitors are those other organizations who are offering similar programs, products, or services to you, to either of your segment groups.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

social programs, social business’ products & services, fundraising, etc.

Estimate the costs associated with key activities and resource requirements for the social business, to get an overview of costs. 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Social Mission

Write your Social Mission statement in less than 8 words, stating the group(s) you will serve, the action(s) you will take, and the change(s) you want to see happen.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

How will you deliver your social value propositions/interventions to your Beneficiaries and Customers? Depending on your offering, you may need to think about developing mechanisms, or channels, that cater to your beneficiaries and customers.  

business model canvas for social enterprise design

What are the critical activities that you need to do, for your social programs, social products, and services, in order to achieve your social mission?  

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Macro-Environment / PESTEL

Just as with commercial business, social enterprises need to be aware of changes that are going on around them in the macro-environment. 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

reinvestment, donations, etc.

Deciding how you will redistribute any surplus profits you generate in one of the cornerstone goals of social business.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Social Value Proposition

What Social Value Proposition will you offer for your Beneficiaries, Consumers/Customers, and primary funding stakeholders?

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Relationships

What mechanisms will you use to build and maintain relationships with your Beneficiaries, Consumers/Customers, and Funding Stakeholders?

business model canvas for social enterprise design

What key resources will you need to be able to deliver your social programs, products, and services successfully? 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

funding, grants, donations, awards & tradable income, etc.

Typically, social businesses have multiple sources of income to ensure the viability of the enterprise. 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Social Business Model Canvas Template & Example

Access the PDF version of the Social Business Model Canvas, as well as a completed Canvas for an example social enterprise named “Need, Bake, Serve Café” (11.17.2020).

NOTE: This example is not based on a real social business. Any similarities are unintentional. Download to desktop if you wish to zoom in/read the file in detail.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Using the Business Model Canvas in a Social Entrepreneurial Context

Introduction.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, entrepreneurs are increasingly recognizing the importance of incorporating social and environmental goals into their ventures. Social entrepreneurship, a growing field that focuses on creating sustainable solutions to societal problems, requires a unique approach to business planning — the Business Model Canvas.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Since we here at SteepConsult are supportive of social entrepreneurs everywhere, we decided to put our heads together and use our own experience in this field to see what knowledge we could share with all current and prospective social entrepreneurs who are out there looking for knowledge to improve their chances at success.  

Today, we shall be writing about a tool that is very useful for any social entrepreneur who wants to launch a new initiative or find ways to explain their social enterprise in a straightforward and striking visual manner to lay people. 

This tool has already gained widespread popularity in a normal for-profit context, as it is an extremely effective representation of business ontology. We are talking of course about the popular Business Model Canvas (BMC).  

This particular tool is so popular because it allows entrepreneurs to effectively summarize their business and present it in a visually appealing manner to people without much understanding of their specific business. This is important because as another popular fake Einstein quote – as we did to introduce you to the concept of what is a VRIO analysis – so aptly states: 

“’If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself” 1 Most probably not Einstein

While the veracity of this claim is something you should take with more than a grain of salt, it does reflect an important tenet of human psychology. People will not invest in you, nor will they buy your product or else be interested in working with or for you if you cannot clearly explain to them what your business is all about. 

To help clarify your business idea and ensure that you are able to pitch it properly to third parties, the BMC is an ideal tool to help you focus. Important to know for social entrepreneurs in particular is that the BMC that is used in a social entrepreneurial setting does however sport a few slight differences to the classic format designed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur in 2005. We shall highlight these in the sections to come and show you how to make proper use of the differences. 

This article will study the application of the BMC in a social entrepreneurial context, highlight its benefits and provide practical insights for professionals in this space who are aiming to create impactful ventures. 

Understanding the Business Model Canvas 

The Business Model Canvas, developed by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, is a strategic management tool that helps entrepreneurs visually depict and analyse the key components of their business model. It consists of the following nine building blocks, each of which we have clarified with a small explanation:

Customer Segments

You can not be everything to everyone. The key to success is focus. By zooming in on the nexus of unique pain points, demographics, buyer behaviour, and other relevant characteristics, you should be able to segment your potential audience and identify those segments where the chance of success is the greatest. 

Value proposition

As with the customer segments, your value proposition should also focus on the key decision-making features in your industry. On these key features, you should be able to define why your product or service is better than its competitors (e.g., it’s cheaper, more user-friendly, higher in quality, more robust, more sustainable, etc.). 

Which distribution channels are you going to use to bring your product/service to your customers. This can be a network of brick-and-mortar locations, a webstore, social media, etc.

Customer Relationships

This aspect of the BMC is focussed on the interaction with customers and is highly contingent on the exact type of business you are. 

Revenue streams

In this aspect of the BMC, an entrepreneur is asked to detail how their business is going to make money. This seems a rather straightforward question at first glance, but it can soon start to become quite complex. A prime example on this front is Amazon.  

If we simplify Amazon’s business model, it is a web shop and it makes its money through the buying and selling of goods. However, Amazon generates massive reams of data due to the popularity of its product. This data is also monetized through online advertisement options that are fed by the data it gathers on its customers.  

On top of that, to host all the data produced by their web platform, Amazon became an early investor in cloud computing which led to the rise of AWS, which monetizes the expertise Amazon has built in cloud computing.

Key Activities

Here, we have to return to our value proposition and ask how we plan to achieve it. It is in other words a question of toolkits. Will you offer superior service by hiring more people? Will you offer cheaper services by investing heavily in automation?

Key resources

This section lists every resource that enables you to organize your key activities and thus make good on your value proposition. This could be staff members with specific expertise, IP, brand value, material assets such as factories, capital, etc.

Key Partnerships

This section of the BMC lists those stakeholders (e.g., your suppliers, customers, mentors, trade associations, etc.) which might enable you to succeed. 

Cost structure

This section should be completed with an overview of all the key cost drivers, as well as try to categorize them (fixed v. variable, emphasis on capital or labour expenditures, etc.). 

Filling the business model canvas

Below we have included a rather valuable schematic overview of the various aspects of the BMC. We like this view primarily because it does a great job in mapping the dynamism of this framework:

business model canvas for social enterprise design

A common mistake when completing out the BMC is that not enough attention is paid to the interplay between the nine key components. It is however a fact that you cannot really look at one part of the BMC in isolation if you truly want to fulfil its promise. The sign of mastery lies in the fact that you can explain how the cost structures allows you to hire/maintain key resources, which allow you to organize your key activities and thus deliver on your value proposition.  

While we will see in just a bit that the BMC is preferably filled out from right to left, which allows you to move from the questions that are most visible to your clients to the back-end processes which support it, once it is completed you should be able to jump from one section of the BMC to the other and see the logical connections in between the different areas. 

As mentioned before, the BMC was initially designed for traditional businesses. However, its adaptability and flexibility make it highly relevant for social entrepreneurs as well. Naturally, the structural set up of a traditional BMC is completely geared towards the ontological components of a traditional for-profit business structure and all the peculiarities that this entails.  

As we shall examine in the next chapter, the traditional BMC structure has been slightly tweaked at various points to capture the reality as experienced by social entrepreneurial ventures.

Adapting the Business Model Canvas for Social Entrepreneurship 

When applying the BMC to a social entrepreneurial context, certain modifications and considerations are necessary. Let’s explore how each building block can be approached in the context of social entrepreneurship: 

In the social entrepreneurship realm, the “customer segments” portion of the BMC becomes a little bit more complicated. For these types of ventures, a split is often introduced between clients on the one hand and beneficiaries on the other hand (although not always). 

This split is particularly necessary in cases of cross-financing, where a service or product is sold to for-profit customers to finance the service or product offered to beneficiaries. Roughly speaking, we might say that the beneficiaries are the reason for the social project, while the clients are more impacted by the core entrepreneurial drive. 

In any case, identifying the needs, preferences, and challenges of both beneficiaries and targets is crucial to create a relevant value proposition.

Value proposition of offer

Social entrepreneurs must articulate their unique value proposition, which addresses both social and economic or traditional benefits. We prefer to describe this as the “Offer” to differentiate it from the more limited scope of a value proposition in the for-profit BMC. To bring a good “Offer” description to the table, you need to identify the social problem that your venture addresses, the solution being offered, and the value it creates for beneficiaries, partners, and funders. 

Effective communication and distribution channels are also vital for social entrepreneurs. They need to consider the most appropriate methods to reach their target audience, ensuring the delivery of their products, services, or interventions effectively. 

In social entrepreneurship, building strong relationships with beneficiaries, partners, and stakeholders is fundamental. This often requires a deep understanding of community dynamics and an empathetic approach to foster trust and collaboration.

Revenue Streams

Generating revenue is a crucial aspect of any sustainable venture. Social entrepreneurs need to consider diverse revenue models that align with their mission, such as impact investments, grants, cross-subsidization, or earned income strategies.

Key activities

Social entrepreneurs engage in a range of activities to create social impact. This includes research, product or service development, community engagement, advocacy, and policy work. Identifying and prioritizing key activities is essential for efficient resource allocation.

Key Resources

In addition to financial and human resources, social entrepreneurs must consider the intellectual, social, and natural resources required to deliver their intended impact. Leveraging partnerships, volunteer networks, and shared resources can enhance their operational capacity.

Collaboration is often vital for social entrepreneurs, who often work with diverse stakeholders, such as non-profits, governments, corporations, and community organizations. Forming strategic alliances can broaden the reach, expertise, and impact of a social enterprise.

Analysing the cost structure helps social entrepreneurs ensure financial sustainability. They must consider direct costs, overheads, and investments required to deliver their impact while maintaining a balance between social objectives and economic viability. 

Benefits of Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Entrepreneurs 

The adoption of the BMC by social entrepreneurs offers several advantages, we have already introduced a few of these in our introduction, but we shall quickly reiterate all the arguments in favour of using the BMC below: 

Visual Clarity:

The BMC provides a clear and visual overview of the entire business model. This allows social entrepreneurs to:

  • Identify potential gaps, synergies, and areas for improvement. 
  • Pitch their business in convincing and authoritative manner to customers, investors, and other potential partners 

Iterative Approach:

The BMC allows for easy experimentation and iteration, enabling social entrepreneurs to refine their model over time. As a living document, it is great to expose to successive generations of employees/partners/beneficiaries/other stakeholders so that it can be constantly refined. In this manner, the BMC is a low-effort way of engaging in Open Innovation (on which we have quite coincidentally written the definitive guide, available here).

Applying the Business Model Canvas to a real-life Use Case 

As we here at SteepConsult like to get our hands dirty, we thought it would be a good idea to put our knowledge into practice and apply the social entrepreneurial BMC to a social venture that we ourselves greatly admire for its results. 

Aravind Eye Care System is a pioneering healthcare organization in India that focuses on providing high-quality, affordable eye care services. Founded by Dr. G. Venkataswamy in 1976, Aravind Eye Care System aims to eliminate needless blindness by making eye care accessible to all sections of society, particularly the underprivileged.

Aravind’s innovative approach includes a unique cross-subsidy model, where revenue from paying patients is utilized to offer free or subsidized services to those who cannot afford them. This model enables the organization to reach a diverse range of patients and ensure that quality eye care is available to all, regardless of their socio-economic background.  

With this model, Aravind has been able to expand tremendously. Not only has it performed about 7.8 million operations over the course of its operations, but its impact has also expanded from its original Indian heartlands to countries all over the developing world due to its training programmes and manufacturing prowess (with a focus on creating low-cost and affordable eye care tools for Low-and Middle-Income countries around the world).  

We have completed a BMC for Aravind Eye Care System and included it here for teaching purposes below. We have tried to make it as simple as possible, using post-it like visuals as a call back to the way it is ideally filled in during a collective exercise with an experienced facilitator like those, we have at SteepConsult. The logos are there to make it visually a bit more striking and the arrows are there for the benefit of the reader to showcase the relationship between the various aspects of the BMC: 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Now let us go through this BMC example in a step-by-step approach. As mentioned earlier, when starting from an empty canvas, it is generally recommended to begin with the client-facing parts of the BMC first. 

We would recommend beginning with the ‘Offer’ first, as your value proposition is what drives everything else in your project. As stated before, in a social entrepreneurial venture, the question of the offer is rather more complicated than in a normal for-profit context in the sense that you can have both a traditional and a social offer. 

In case of Aravind, the division is relatively uncomplicated, since it offers the same type of services (i.e., high-quality eye care) to both its paying clients and its subsidized beneficiaries. The difference is that the former have to pay market rates for the therapies they consume, while the beneficiaries are helped at rates that are far below standard market prices. Note that such an uncomplicated division is not necessarily the standard.  

It is perfectly possible for a social enterprise to offer one type of service or product to paying clients and do something completely different to help its beneficiaries. The benefits of the Aravind approach, however, are quite attractive since offering the same service/product in the traditional and social offer allows you to realize economies of scale that would not be present otherwise. 

In the case of Aravind in particular, this is vital as a lot of eye surgery is (perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively) rather sensitive to scale. Thus, Aravind’s surgeons get a lot of practice from working on their poor patients, which ups the standard of care they can offer to their paying customers. Since the quality of their offering is higher, Aravind’s paying customers are prepared to lay out greater sums for their treatment at Aravind’s facilities. Thus, the paying patients cross-subsidize Aravind’s offer to its beneficiaries.  

On top of that, further savings are achieved by combining the two patient flows, lowering the costs per treatment. Due to the lower cost per treatment, Aravind’s profit margins on its paying customers are higher and the expenses for offering treatments to poor beneficiaries are lowered. The interplay between all these various advantages thus creates a virtuous circle that benefits everyone serviced by Aravind. 

Customer Segment 

Our explanation of the Offer above already does quite a bit to explain the customer segmentation in place at Aravind. Like with the Offer, there is a division between the clients (i.e., the same group of people who would be present in a for-profit BMC) and the beneficiaries (i.e., the newly introduced group of people who benefit from the ‘social’ side of the project). 

In this section, we shall therefore just restrict ourselves to adding a bit more context. For starters, we wrote in our previous section that eye care surgeries lend themselves to scale quite well. This is primarily visible in the high number of people Aravind treats for avoidable blindness. The most common cause of which are age-related cataracts.  Since blindness has such a tremendous impact on the daily life of patients in developing countries (e.g., by preventing them to work or take care of their families, despite being otherwise healthy), it is hugely cost-effective to prevent/cure any cases of blindness that are as easy to fix as cataracts. Since this old age disease affects both the rich and the poor similarly, it is easy to go and hunt for the economies of scale Aravind’s model requires. 

As to paying clients, here we would like to stress the fact that people who could afford this type of treatment in the past would often have to go abroad to seek treatment. Despite the fact that for many of these richer patients, the additional expense this caused was not necessarily a dealbreaker, the benefits of finding proper care close to home are self-evident. It is therefore easy to see why richer patients would have a strong incentive to make use of Aravind’s local services. 

Customer relationships 

On the relationship front, there is relatively little difference between the traditional and social offer at Aravind. As this is a medical relationship in both cases, it is important that interactions with beneficiaries/clients are professional. 

As we shall see in the next section of distribution channels, Aravind has also built out an expansive infrastructure of primary care facilities. These focus on preventative treatments and aftercare for the people who had to undergo a surgical intervention. To ensure that people come in regularly, it is important for Aravind’s staff members to strive for a personal and close relationship with both groups serviced by themselves. 

Distribution channels 

To facilitate the type of care that is necessary to fulfil its mission, Aravind has to be present in close proximity to the final users. That is why they have built an extensive network of over a hundred primary eye care treatment centres embedded in local communities and these centres in turn serve as a funnel to bring the patients who need surgery to the network of 14 hospitals which Aravind has set up to bring this type of capital-intensive surgery to the masses it serves. 

Key Activities 

As to Aravind’s key activities, we can also be rather brief. The original idea that animated Aravind was to bring affordable eye care to the masses. In the beginning, its sole focus was on carrying out the actual treatments. 

Once they had optimized their model and were able to benefit from the economies of scale we have described in our section on their Offer, Aravind started to have room to broaden its scope. It has thus started innovation activities in the broader field of eye care surgery with a focus on reducing costs.  

If you are interested in more information on expanding your core offering with exploratory activities which can over time become new drivers of business, feel free to reach out to SteepConsult. Our consultants are specialized in the use of StrategyTools diagrams, which allow for a structured and efficient estimation of future business opportunities. [To be added in a box, with a link to information on ST, to be checked with Quentin if there is already something on StrategyTools available on our website] 

This has led to training programmes to spread knowledge on the one hand, and innovation about the cost-effectiveness of eye care surgery equipment and treatment on the other hand. Since most of the leading providers of this type of equipment/medicine/treatment focus on western markets were the need to be cost-effective is less pronounced, Aravind’s focus on affordability has allowed it to emerge as one of the few providers of (relatively) low-cost treatment options, broadening its positive impact to include most of the developing world. 

The know-how that as a result of these activities has accrued to Aravind has furthermore strengthened their position, as it has allowed them to recoup the costs of its innovations by bringing them to an even wider audience than the one Aravind traditionally services in India alone.  

Key Resources 

On Aravind’s key resources, we can again be brief. The biggest advantage it currently has is its scale, this has allowed it to build up deep know-how through the employment of skilled staff. This has allowed it to further improve its brand profile and has led to a virtuous circle of partnerships.  

Partner Network 

Aravind, as a successful social venture of considerable scale, has over the years been able to set up wide-ranging partnerships with various international organisations, multi-national enterprises, and government agencies (see logos on the BMC for some examples). 

A successful social enterprise can be an attractive partner for all three groups, since association with the social venture will lend a halo-effect to the organisations it partners with. A particular strength of an organization that is as big as Aravind is that it can be a more logical counterpart for the colossal type of organizations like the UN or a company like Google who seek to use some of their resources for the benefit of all. For these organizations, a social venture that is of a sufficient scale has a gravitational pull all of its own as it unburdens for example Google from having to keep track of many different ventures individually. 

Revenue Streams 

From the partner networks, we seamlessly flow into the revenue streams. In the case of Aravind, it is very clearly an example of hybrid financing. Hybrid financing means that the organisations is not dependent on donations and grants only. 

Aravind does receive some financial supports from its wide partner network (explaining the red arrow that runs from partner networks to revenue streams), but most of the income comes from two other sources, namely its core service offering and its ancillary services. 

The income from its core activities is the revenue generated by Aravind’s core offering to its paying clients. The income from ancillary services is all the income they derive from their training programmes, R&D activities and the manufacturing of core surgical tools, medicine and other equipment needed to provide high-quality eye care and surgery. 

Cost Structure 

The cost structure of Aravind is relatively uncomplicated. It primarily boils down to three major blocks. First, there are the costs related to staffing. To maintain a large and expansive network, Aravind needs good employees (mostly highly trained doctors and nurses). This of course requires competitive salaries and other benefits, which given the size of the workforce does amount to a pretty number. 

Secondly, there are the costs related to maintaining its facilities. Both the primary eye care centres and the hospitals are expensive to maintain, so that also soaks up a lot of costs. Finally, there are all the costs associated to the ancillary activities of Aravind. Production facilities and the development of courses all require expenditure and together this is the third block of the cost structure.

Conclusion 

In the realm of social entrepreneurship, where the pursuit of social and environmental impact is paramount, the Business Model Canvas (BMC) serves as a valuable tool for planning and strategizing. By adapting the BMC to suit the unique needs of social entrepreneurs, professionals in this field can effectively design and execute ventures that address pressing societal challenges. 

Furthermore, the BMC’s visual nature offers a clear and concise representation of the entire business model, allowing social entrepreneurs to identify areas for improvement, innovation, and collaboration.  

By utilizing the BMC, social entrepreneurs can effectively communicate their ideas, attract stakeholders, secure funding, and measure their progress towards achieving their social mission. Moreover, the canvas facilitates strategic decision-making, resource allocation, and the identification of key partnerships necessary for maximizing impact. 

It is important to note that the BMC is not a static tool but a dynamic one that should be revisited and adapted as the social enterprise evolves. Social entrepreneurs must remain agile, open to feedback, and willing to iterate their business models to stay relevant and effective in the future.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

After having amassed a wealth of experience in Innovation & Change Management, Arjan joined SteepConsult to support our transition towards an innovative, solution-oriented, and sustainable future. As our in-house intellectual, he enjoys sharing his knowledge with customers and colleagues alike.

Reference List 

Hoos, F. (2017). Social Entrepreneurship and Changemaking: From Traditional to Social Entrepreneurial Business Model Development [Course Presentation]. Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship University Certificate, HEC Paris.  

Marbaise, M. (2017). The Business Model Canvas Let Your Business Thrive with this Simple Model . AA 50Minutes. 

Orgler, M. (2021, May 18). How to Fill in the Business Model Canvas? – Business to the Moon – Medium. Medium . Retrieved from https://medium.com/business-to-the-moon/how-to-fill-in-the-business-model-canvas-590e200a13da   

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Donncha Hughes, Business Trainer, Advisor & Mentor

Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise

Start a Social Enterprise Ballybane Feb March 2016

The Business Model Canvas is a well-recognised tool for business planning for both Startups and established businesses. This article discusses the tool with specific reference to Social Enterprise citing examples of Irish businesses for each of the nine building blocks.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Completing a Business Model Canvas – my FREE online training programme

BMC for Social Enterprise

As I explained in this LinkedIn Pulse article entitled “Inspiring: Social Enterprise in Galway 2016”, I was involved in delivering a ‘Start a Social Enterprise’ programme on behalf of SCCUL Enterprises and Galway City Partnership in the first quarter of 2016.

Before the programme commenced, I was wondering whether the ‘Business Model Canvas’ was an appropriate tool for Social Enterprises. I am happy to report that the answer is a resounding Yes, according to the feedback from participants. I hope this post will now assist you to complete your Business Model Canvas whether or not you are a social enterprise or a more traditional for-profit organisation.

To introduce the tool at the workshop I played this two minute YouTube overview of the Business Model Canvas as created by  Strategyzer.  They are the organisation that developed the Canvas.

I proceeded to explain each of the 9 building blocks so that participants could complete them for their own businesses.

business model canvas 9 blocks

I used examples of businesses in Ireland who are recognised as Social Enterprises or who have a strong social impact element to their story:

#.1 Customer Segments – an organisation serves one or more customer segments

CoderDojo seems to be a brilliant example of an organisation that has defined its niche to deliver a social benefit on a mass scale.

#.2 Value Propositions – a business seeks to solve customer problems and satisfy customer needs with value propositions.

Guest Speaker Anne Walsh of Allergy Lifestyle – y our source for EpiPen Case, Medical Jewellery, and Anaphylaxis Kits – explained how she used extensive market to validate the Unique Value Proposition (UVP) of their new product for storing EpiPens.

Business model generation

#.3 Channels – value propositions are delivered to customers through communication, distribution and sales channels.

Guest Speaker Siobhan Carroll of ACT for Meningitis – the awareness and support charity – explained how they built awareness of their brand. As part of one campaign they used a Beer Mat to communicate the Meningitis message to students in 3rd level.

#.4 Customer Relationships are established and maintained with each Customer Segment.

The business model configuration determines customer relationship choice. But, I used Sugru Therapy as an example to illustrate that several customer relationship types can be pursued as the business evolves its offering. Sugru specialises in psychological services. They have confidential one to one client engagements; group workshops where people share experiences; and they are now developing an online portal to bring benefits to a mass audience but without the direct personal touch.

#.5 Revenue Streams result from value propositions successfully offered to customers

Many Social Enterprises, such as Vantastic, will have a mix of contributions from Service Users in exchange for specific services allied to contracts from Local Authorities or other public bodies which are often secured following tender.

#.6 Key Resources are internal resources required to consistently deliver the Value Proposition?

Types of resources include: physical, intellectual (brand, patents, copyright and data), Human, and Financial. SCCUL Award Winner Play Therapy Galway explain on their website that founder Linsey McNelis is an Accredited Play Therapist with years of experience working with children in both educational and therapeutic settings. {A Human Resource}

#.7 Key Activities are the most important things a company must do to make its business model work

Types of key business activities include: production in manufacturing firms; problem-solving in service organisations; and maintaining a Platform in network businesses. I think that Clean Cut Meals in Galway is a brilliant example of how to secure the resources needed to get started followed by brilliant execution – consistent delivery as the business is based on repeat custom.

#.8 Key Partnerships – is a network of suppliers and partners who make the business model work

Guest Speaker Lochlann Scott of Helplink – provider of counselling, career coaching and conflict resolution services – explains how partners were critical to scaling their business nationwide.

#.9 Cost Structures – all costs incurred to operate a business model

Most Social Enterprises will be value-driven with a focus on value creation.

You will find other examples of Social Enterprise in Ireland – role models in one sense in my SlideShare presentation entitled ‘What is Social Enterprise: An Irish Perspective’.

Hope this post encourages you to complete a Business Model Canvas.  Click here to download the editable MS Word version of the Business Model Canvas . It is a great tool to structure (and test) your business thinking.

Update: Further reading

In this medium article, the author Ingrid Burkett of The Yunus Centre at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia discusses the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design and the accompanying 30-page resource guide . The medium post explains that the revised Canvas is a tool to assist social enterprises to get clear on how they’re creating revenue, how they’re creating impact, for who, and how both sides interact.

Best regards

Donncha (@donnchadhh)

p.s  I also recommend the newer sister tool, ‘The Value Proposition Canvas’ which I wrote about in this blogpost for New Frontiers entitled ‘ Goals and Milestones for Growth Focused Businesses ‘

Startup Milestone Mix by Donncha Hughes, Business Advisor

Donncha Hughes is a mentor, trainer and business advisor. He delivers group and one to one training on Start Your Own Business, Lean Startup, Marketing, Sales and has a particular interest in Business Plans. My other website is www.startupwebtraining.com which i use to promote my Website Creation services.

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Social business model canvas template

Plan your business for social impact.

business model canvas for social enterprise design

The new Social Business Model Canvas online allows you to work with your team to map out easily and plan your social mission and social business building blocks to maximize your overall social impact goals.

The Social Business Model Canvas (SBMC) is based on Strategyzer’s original Business Model Canvas and consists of 15 boxes. The SBMC boxes range from understanding the complex systems in which your social issue exists, understanding the needs of the communities experiencing those issues, and then planning out your social mission and social value propositions.  The SBMC allows you to identify the action steps you need to plan for your sustainable business, helping you keep the social mission at the center of your organization’s goal.

How to create a Social business model canvas template

This template was designed by Denise Crossan, Eugene Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change. Previously Dr. Crossan was an Assistant Professor in Social Entrepreneurship at Trinity College Dublin’s Business School, and she remains an Adjunct Visiting Professor for TCD.

Learn more about the Social Business Model Canvas and the Social Innovation Lab @ the Lang Center .

Social Innovation Lab :: Swarthmore College

Get started with this template right now.

Social business model canvas template frequently asked questions

Denise Crossan

Template by Denise Crossan

Dr. Denise Crossan, Eugene Lang Visiting Professor, Social Innovation Lab at the Lang Center, Swarthmore College PA, specializing in social impact education.

Mural and LUMA System Logo Lockup

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  • Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design

Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design

Using the Business Model Canvas for social enterprise design

Ingrid Burkett Knode

1 The story of this publication:

I have been using, testing, learning about the Business Model Canvas for a number of years now. I’ve attended a master class in the use of the Canvas, presented by one of the authors of the BMC book, Alex Osterwalder. My interest in BMC grew out the realisation that many social enterprises found it difficult to explain their business models, and that many started work on their business plans before understanding their business models thoroughly, which seemed like a topsy-turvy The photo on the cover was taken at the Haley process to me! House Bakery Cafe in Roxbury Massachusetts when I visited there in 2008. I don’t know who When I first discovered the BMC and tried to apply it to social enterprises the artist is who painted this picture which hung in their front room, but it impressed me as a I believed, like many others, that social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations wonderful summary of the intention of many needed their own ‘special’ canvas. As I worked with the BMC in and around the social enterprises - to nourish community and social enterprise sector I came to realise that this was not the case - however, build economic independence. In their own words, I also realised that there were some ‘special’ things about social enterprises that “a model of social enterprise, Haley House Bakery could easily be reflected in the BMC using a few simple adaptations. As I shared Café promotes the physical, economic and social my learnings with others in the sector there were numbers of requests for me well-being of the community. Our programs to provide some written materials. So, this is my attempt at documenting my provide on-the-job training for those seeking to become financially independent and introduce learnings. I would welcome any comments or discussions about what I am sharing young people to the power of cooking from scratch here! Please contact me: [email protected] and making other healthy life-style decisions”. I was very impressed with their programs and This paper is not a substitute for deeper materials on the Business Model Canvas their food - delicious! Check them out at: nor for the Business Model Generation book written by Alex Osterwalder and http://www.haleyhouse.org/ Yves Pigneur and I would urge anyone using BMC in social enterprises to also access the book and web resources at www.businessmodelgeneration.com

Ingrid Burkett [email protected] 2 2 What is a social enterprise? Social Enterprises are organisations that1:

Have an economic, social, cultural or environmental Derive a substantial mission aligned to public or Trade to fulfill portion of their Reinvest the majority community benefit. their mission. income from trade. of their profit/surplus in the fulfillment of theirmission.

There are different ways in which social enterprises organise themselves in achieving these goals:

they may directly support, train and they may provide services or products to they may generate income for a employ people who are experiencing directly meet a social need or achieve a charitable or social purpose (for example, some form of exclusion and disadvantage social impact (for example, a community an op shop may generate income to (for example, a social enterprise cafe may supported agriculture enterprise may support a larger charity deliver other employ people who have been homeless make fresh, local produce available whilst social purpose programs). and unemployed); also supporting smaller, local farmers); or

This booklet focusses particularly on the first two types of social enterprises, where the financial and social value coexist inside the same enterprise.

1 This definition comes from FASES (2010), see: www.socialtraders.com.au 3 3 What is a business model? A business plan is a much If we boiled down the idea of an more detailed, enterprise or a business to its essence, lengthier we could say that it is all about the A business model clearly document that exchange of value. I create something articulates “the rationale sets out in inside my business that is of value to of how an organisation detail the goals others, so they seek this out, and in creates, delivers and of the business, exchange they give me something that how they will captures value” I value (usually money!). (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2009;p14). be attained and what evidence there is that the methods employed will attain those goals. Business plans outline our mission, vision, goals, strategies , our financial assumptions and projections, and our marketing strategies. Business plans have dominated the The differences between a business plan and a business business strategy landscape. However, increasingly there are model lie in purpose and substance. suggestions in both practice and research that business plans is to help are too static and cumbersome to help businesses survive The purpose of a business model complex and constantly changing environments. They may stakeholders understand and clearly articulate still be helpful in setting directions, or to access some forms how a business is configured so that it creates, of finance and investment , but they won’t necessarily help delivers and capture value. In the case of a social us design and test business ideas, nor to innovate within a enterprise this would ultimately be about how constantly changing environment. the enterprise will generate both financial and social value, and what the relationship is between the two types of value in the enterprise. The business model should be able to be articulated

in one page, and its substance focusses on how A business an organisation does business, how that business model helps generates revenue, what value a business offers us to design and A business plan is a detailed document to whom, who the customers are, and why articulate how a setting out the goals of a business and how customers would keep coming back to us. It can business could work, they are to be achieved. help us understand how and why our business and how we can works, and it can help us to design and innovate innovate inside the business. our business. 4 4 Business models for social enterprise

Social enterprises are often started by people who are passionate about making Over the last decade I have met many social enterprise managers and a difference. Often it is not the actual ‘business’ that captures their imagination, stakeholders, and have helped to start up a number of social enterprises but the impact it will have for the social or environmental issues they are myself. Working with social enterprises I have come to appreciate the value seeking to address. of clear business models. I believe that if more social enterprises learnt to use and develop their business models, many of their challenges could be more Understanding the business model of a social enterprise can have two key easily identified early on in their evolution, and we would then have greater benefits: opportunities to work to design solutions to these challenges. It is sad to see 1. It can help us to understand, design, articulate and discuss the ‘nuts and social enterprises close down or fail - because in this case it is not only the bolts’ of our business concept; business that we lose, but its potential or actual social impact. 2. It can help us to test, and develop prototypes so that we can see if what we passionately believe about our impact and our business actually Understanding business models and their potential in terms of designing ‘stacks up’ in practice. social enterprises could help us to avoid some of the pitfalls and increase the likelihood that more social enterprises become viable and sustainable both financially and in terms of their social impact. 5 5 What is the Business Model Canvas? Social Business Objectives Objectives The Business Model Canvas (BMC) was developed by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, and co-created with an array of 470 practitioners from around the world. It offers a simple, visual, one-page canvas on which we can design, innovate and dialogue about our business models. It is not the only framework that has been developed to articulate business models. Like many of the frameworks this one was built out of careful research, but unlike many others, it has also been tested and enhanced through the input of many practitioners. In addition, the BMC itself sits inside a very innovative business model, including licencing under Creative Commons and a commitment to co-creative innovation within the methods around the BMC (see www.businessmodelgeneration.com). Furthermore, addressing a social impact inside a business operation I have used the BMC to work in the social enterprise sector and have found is not necessarily cost neutral - so both the skills needed to deliver the canvas to be very helpful, particularly in early exploratory stages of on a social impact and the costs involved in doing so need to be development and in relation to growth and innovation stages. In using the considered in designing a viable and sustainable business model. So, BMC inside social enterprises I have found a few additions and adaptions for example, if you are focussed on employment outcomes amongst helpful, and it is these that I want to focus on in the remainder of this paper. people who have previously experienced long-term unemployment, then you need to be fully aware of the business model implications of supporting and training people who may not have worked for some time. There may be cost implications, in addition to challenges in relation to key activities, customer relationships and key resources. What’s special about Further, you may need to explore options for accessing non-trade income to pay for additional supports that are needed to ensure that social enterprise? employees can sustainably participate in the workforce over time. Profits from the business may not actually cover the wages needed to pay for support workers. However that doesn’t mean that a viable Managing a social enterprise is not about just adding business skills to the business model cannot be developed! It is just that we need to realm of social impact and stirring! Balancing a social (or environmental, recognise that social enterprises have business models that can be a cultural or economic) mission WITH an intention to trade and manage a little different from an ordinary business - indeed social enterprises business requires a blending of skills which is greater than the sum of each set are EXTRAORDINARY BUSINESSES! of skills alone. 6 6 It is not that we need totally different business model canvasses nor immensely helpful to social enterprises and can lead to a greater that there are wildly more complex business characteristics. It is just capacity to effectively manage for viability and sustainability. that somehow we need to build into the canvas a clear picture of the The reality for social enterprises is that they cannot work if social objectives (or the mission) of the enterprise, in addition to all the the business model does not work financially (then there is no vanilla dimensions of the actual business of the social enterprise. business). But they also cannot work if the social objectives are not realised within the business (then there is no social For social enterprises, the business model canvas should provide an enterprise, just a business). Business models that achieve both a opportunity to see not just the business, but also to identify the social and financial value are by no means impossible - they are social impact they are trying to achieve. And importantly, to very possible and they are very special! see clearly how the two interact - how they are symbiotic, how they compete, what opportunities there are to bring them into alignment It can be helpful to see this separation between ‘commerce’ and and what tensions exist in between them. Understanding this can be ‘impact’ as a variation of what is called a ‘double-sided platform’ in business modelling. This is where a business services two different customer groups, and in the case of a commercial business, the aim is to facilitate interaction between these different customer segments. In social enterprises, the aim may not be to facilitate interaction between these groups, but rather, to facilitate a connection that enables the delivery of sustainable social impact within a viable business model. In this way the social enterprise becomes an intermediary between impact and commerce.

The way to represent this on the Business Model Canvas is to differentiate between that side (or sides) of the social enterprise that is directed to impact, and that side directed to commerce. By separating and visualising both sides on the canvas we can begin to see how they interact and what the story of the social enterprise is in relation to both commerce and impact. In a social enterprise neither the commercial nor the impact story is sufficient in and of itself - the important part of telling a business model story is for there to be a coherent and sensible relationship between commerce and impact.

7 7 Commerce

The key to using the BMC in Being able to visually and concisely tell the story of how meaningless, using the canvas will help all involved to social enterprise is to separate commerce and impact are linked inside a social enterprise develop a shared understanding of this and potentially out our commercial and impact business model is a critical part of designing an effective open dialogue to deepen and strengthen the impact models, but then to integrate and sustainable enterprise. If a social enterprise manager through business model innovation. them inside the story of the is expecting to be able to fund a significant and complex business model. social issue using a flimsy and unrealistic commercial Mapping both impact and commerce models on the model, this will be obvious to an astute observer as soon one canvas helps us to understand and innovate around as the elements and the relationships are mapped out not just each element alone, but about how they interact on a business model canvas. If, on the other hand, the and support each other. This is an essential part of social commercial model is robust, but the impact is weak or enterprise design. 8 8 Key Key Value Customer Customer Parnerships Activities Proposition Relationships Segments

The The products and The types of Thedifferent network of Themost important and services that create relationships an groups of people suppliers partners things that need to that value for specific customer enterprise establishes or organisations an make the be done to make the segments - with specific customer enterprise aims to enterprise work enterprise work what keeps reach customers returning segments and serve to your enterprise. Key Resources Channels

The most important assets and resources (physical, intellectual, human, financial)required to make an enterprise How an enterprise communicates with and work. reaches its customer segments to deliver a value proposition .

Cost Structure Revenue Streams

All the costs incurred to The cash anenterprise generates operate an enterprise from each customer segment (subtracting costs from revenues to create earnings)

9 9 How are ‘social impact’ and ‘commerce’ related?

One of the first decisions that need to be made when you establish a When social impact is paramount social enterprise and you start to look at the potential business models is the decision about what your social mission means for you (and the For some social enterprises, the social mission is paramount, and the stakeholders) and for the business of the enterprise. How often have we business something of a sideline - it’s great as a source of revenue, but heard of the ‘great idea’ of starting a social enterprise cafe that employs there are bigger things at stake than the bottom line. For these social people who have experienced long-term unemployment? Unless there is enterprises the business model needs to ensure that revenue flows from some remarkable business model design innovation it is unlikely that such sources other than trade so that if push comes to shove, the enterprise can a business will generate the sorts of profits needed to ensure that trade continue to operate even if costs exceed revenue generated from trade. alone will be able to subsidise the costs of generating the social impact. It may be, for example, that a not-for-profit organisation sets up a social HOWEVER, this does not mean that an effective business model for enterprise to offer employment to its constituents. They are fully aware this sort of a social enterprise cannot be generated - it just means that that the cost of operations for the business exceeds the trade revenue it we need to go into the business model design process with our eyes wide generates, but the social impact of maintaining the business is so great open that we can actually make it work on both a commercial and an that they are able to find grant revenue to subsidise the costs. There is impact basis! nothing wrong with this as a business model, except that it requires focussed attention on ensuring that the impact generated is, in turn, able High levels of social impact to generate ongoing revenue. The big challenge in this type of model, however, is not to let the impact focus result in commercial complacency and commerce can be balanced - even if the social impact is paramount, this should not be an excuse for poor commercial management ! This is a dream business model design for a social enterprise! It does, however need some careful thought at the design stage! It means that we are looking for a business model that can generate sufficient revenue from operations to ensure viability for an enterprise (more likely if the business itself is one that has potential for viability even before the ‘social’ impact dimension...many social enterprises begin with a business that is marginal at best and then when you add the intention to generate social impact, becomes financially non-viable without other types of support such as funding). Business model design can still be valuable for a social enterprise such as this because it can help aid discussion about potential innovations and opportunities for growth. 10 high

How can we How can innovate to we continue increase the to build social impact? sustainability When it seems the and innovate to deepen ‘social’ is diminished impact? The BMC can help to explore the potential for strengthening the social How impact dimension of a social enterprise. could we It can help to generate honest and open Are we really a social conversations about the links between enterprise? grow or financial viability and impact, and it can scale? help us to make some design decisions as financial to how we could strengthen impact. viability How can When it is time to we generate Should we rethink this whole sustained rethink and redesign thing or innovate / redesign the income from enterprise the impact we Finally, the BMC can help us to visualise and understand when it’s time to reassess are creating? whether there will ever be real social impact or opportunities for financial viability, and to either decide to redesign or to walk away. What is the focus on trade adding? low social impact high

11 11 Value Proposition At the early stages of designing a social enterprise in particular it can help to separate out the commercial value proposition and impact value proposition. When exploring the business model of social enterprises we start with the They are ultimately linked, but separating them out for discussion can help us question, ‘what value are we creating?’. When we use the BMC in commercial to see how each relates to our different customer segments. businesses we often start with the customers - because ultimately they are at the heart of the business. Of course this is the case for social enterprises It is likely that the commercial and impact value propositions will be inter- as well, however, most social enterprises begin with a quest to generate dependent, but one may be more important to particular customer groups some kind of ‘social value’ alongside or indeed through a commercial value than the other. If government funders or philanthropists are our customers, proposition. Social value is defined as the social outcomes and benefits that then they may be much more interested in our impact value proposition than are generated through the enterprise - it’s what makes the enterprise a ‘social in our commercial value proposition. On the other hand, if we are operating enterprise’! a retail business, our retail customers may or may not be interested in our impact value proposition. Ultimately, if the business of the social enterprise Articulating the social value that we are seeking to generate inside our social is to be successful from a financial perspective, then our commercial value enterprises is a critical first step in designing a social enterprise. However, a proposition has to hold up whether or not we have a parallel impact value social enterprise cannot exist through generating social value alone! As an proposition. Doing good will not suffice if the service or product is done badly. ‘enterprise’ it also needs to generate ‘commercial value’ - the goods or services that you are wanting to sell in the marketplace. So, a social enterprise often has two value propositions - the impact value proposition (the social value you are seeking to deliver, and what makes it attractive to customers) and the commercial value proposition (the goods and services you are producing and selling, and what makes these attractive to customers).

12 12 Questions to ask about the value proposition of a social enterprise Commercial Value Impact Value Proposition Proposition Examples Examples - What value do you provide your customers? Why would they keep coming back? Catering What is the relationship between your Quality, affordable -  Employment commercial value proposition and your catering using local produce Sustainable and meaningful jobs for impact value proposition? people with disabilities - How visible or prominent is your impact value proposition? Who values and would pay for your impact value proposition? Who understands it? Garden maintenance Careful, chemical free and Local Economic Development - How do you account for / measure your knowledgeable garden maintenance value proposition (both commercial and just the way you want it. Revitalising the local economy of this impact)? rural town

Retail Fair Trade Clothes with a difference, flair and style Quality coffee that ensures made in Australia quality of life for producers 13 For some social enterprises the commercial value proposition is taken sustainable employment options for people who have experienced long- for granted - we imagine that because we are ‘doing good’ that our term joblessness, then articulating your impact value proposition to customers will automatically be lining up for our products and services. customers may involve sharing some employment success stories. However, Unfortunately this is a misguided assumption. There are only so many sometimes customers want more detail about the impact before they ‘buy’ times I will buy a bad coffee or pay for a badly mown lawn - no matter your impact value proposition. This may mean that you need to think how much good you are doing. And there’s only so many times I’ll believe through how to present the impact to customers - how will you measure that you’re doing good if I can’t see any evidence that that’s the case. the impact and how will you share the data on the impact with actual or potential customers. Many social enterprises in Australia are presenting For example, I run a small business. I try to purchase from social information in the form of ‘Social Returns on Investment’ (SROI) enterprises whenever possible. However, if the social enterprise I measures, but there are many other ways in which such information purchase from consistently delivers products that are sub-standard, or the can be shared with customers. timeframes always blow out, or they are radically more expensive than other options, then it won’t be long before I have to seriously reconsider Making decisions about what and how to share impact measures with the arrangement. I am a supporter of social enterprise, so I may give them customers can be an important part of making sure that your impact value one or two chances. Others are not so generous - it’s often one strike and proposition is a part of purchasing decisions by your customers. Do you you’re out. share stories that illustrate your impact as part of your marketing? Do you share impact evaluation reports? Do you rely only on your In other words, no matter how laudable and ethical your impact value commercial value proposition to promote your enterprise, leaving the proposition, if the business value proposition doesn’t add up for your impact value proposition implicit? customers then you may as well be running a not-for-profit organisation! A social enterprise can’t run on an impact value proposition alone! Value Proposition It is also important for social enterprises to work out how they will present their value propositions to customers. For some it may be the case that the only visible part of the enterprise is the ‘business value proposition’ - the impact value proposition is inherent inside the enterprise but it is not what is visible to customers and it is not the reason Impact Value why customers engage with the enterprise. For others the impact value proposition may be very visible, and it may be important to present it in a Commercial Value Proposition (IVP) way that will draw customers in. Proposition (CVP) Sustainable employment The way a social enterprise communicates its impact value proposition is an important design decision, and requires a deep understanding of Great coffee, fresh for people who have been customers and of the nature of the impact itself. food, personal service long-term unemployed If your impact value proposition is centred, for example, on generating 14 Customer Segments

Given that social enterprises are in the business of trading for Product/Service the purpose of generating social impact, they can have at least two Customers Impact different (though potentially overlapping) categories of customers - the customers who are wanting to purchase their goods and services (ie. the commercial customers) and the ‘customers’ who are wanting to support the social impact that they generate and/or potentially benefit from this impact (ie. the impact customers). Understanding these two key customer segments (which could potentially be segmented down further within these categories) is critical to understanding a social enterprise business model. When social enterprises use the BMC for discussion and design purposes it can be helpful to distinguish business and impact customers for number of key reasons. 1 Some social enterprises don’t see their ‘impact’ as potentially having ‘customers’, or don’t see the full range of possibilities that could occur under this scenario. So, for example, some social enterprises might see funders as ‘partners’ rather than through a contract )? Or if you have regular corporate customers purchasing customers (and that’s fine!). But this may make invisible the potential that there your services, are they also interested in exploring potential opportunities may actually be people/organisations/ corporations out there who are willing to in relation to the impacts that you generate (eg. could they encourage their ‘pay’ for your impact services. If you are having a significant impact, for example, employees to give to your enterprise through an internal gifting program)? on crime rates in a local area, are there potential ‘customers’ who may benefit from this (eg. insurance companies) and who may indeed see a logic in paying for this Operating a social enterprise involves a few more complexities than operating service in some way? a traditional commercial business because social impacts are not necessarily cost-neutral, and sometimes our customers don’t necessarily understand 2 Sometimes social enterprises can make assumptions about how important exactly what they are buying (ie. that their purchase of the service/product their ‘social impact’ is in the eyes of their customers. Exploring how much our results in the impact). Of course in some instances it is not necessary for customers value our impact and our products/services can yield some interesting customers to understand or even know about the impact (especially if the design insights for social enterprises. product/service speaks for itself). But in other social enterprises it can be 3 Understanding the different customer segments and whether they value your important to ‘sell’ the impact and thereby ensure that the impact costs can products/services and/or impact can help business design innovation. For be covered by revenue beyond the earnings from trade. Understanding the example, if your ‘impact customers’ are currently all government and philanthropic customer segments and their connection to and valuing of products/services funders, can you explore additional opportunities for growing the interest of these and impact can provide some great food for thought in using the business ‘customers’ in your products and services (eg. procuring your cleaning services model canvas for enterprise design. 15 For social enterprises, understanding your customer segments is critical. In Growing repeat customers addition, it is vitally important to understand the balance within the customer In both customer segments (commercial and impact) we need to look segments. If an enterprise is consistently disappointing its core business at ways to convert one-off customers to repeat customers. If we need customers and is increasingly relying on ‘selling’ its impact, then work needs to impact customers to support our impact in an ongoing way, then be done to understand the implications of this. we want these customers to commit to more than a one-off grant. Effectively we need to frame our value proposition to them in ways Constituents as ‘customers’ that help them to commit to becoming repeat impact customers, For some social enterprises it is important that ‘clients’, ‘beneficiaries’ or and more than this, help them to explore opportunities to join our ‘constituents’ are co-creators of solutions. In this case it is important to think commercial customer base. through whether it is helpful for ‘constituents’ to be seen as a distinct customer segment, and whether a value proposition needs to be co-created between the social enterprise and the ‘constituent’. Customer Segments In some instances, particularly when ‘constituents’ have individualised support packages of funding, they are actually key customer in the business. For social enterprises exploring their way into the Disability Care (NDIS) environment, for example, having a clear value proposition for constituent customers is critical. It is also going to be important that this value proposition is co-created with ‘constituents’ to ensure that support packages and services are actually Commercial Impact meeting their needs. - Walk-by commuters - Ethical consumers

When are ‘funders’ really ‘customers’? - Local businesses, - Not-for-Profits, other social enterprises Understanding where government funders and philanthropists fit into the offices, services - social procurement business model of a social enterprise can help us to understand their role in (retail and catering) relation to our business model. If they are customers then we will need to be customers (catering) clear about the value proposition we are putting forward to them, and to build a - Regulars - Government - purchasing relationship with them that ensures their ongoing custom. If they are partners, jobs for people with then we may want to find ways to rely less on them as a source of revenue but to disabilities, and training explore what other value they could add to our business model.

16 16 Questions to ask about customer segments in a social enterprise

- For whom are we creating value - and what kind of value are we creating for them? - Who are our commercial customers and why will they continue to be our customers? Who are our impact customers and what value are they seeking from us (and how much are they willing to pay for this)? - How important is the linkage between our products / services and our impact to our customers? Are they prepared to pay more for the impact? Who else would / could pay for the impact? - Are our constituents customers? co-creators? partners? - Are our funders customers or partners, or both? - What kind of value proposition will keep customers coming back over the long term?

17 17 Channels

Working out how to reach and customers may also need to understand Impact communicate with customers and help our impact value proposition. Commercial - Social enterprise them to evaluate a value proposition Osterwalder and Pigneur (2009) outline - Retail - high traffic networks and is a key part of opening business five phases that are important in designing near public transport directories opportunities in social enterprises. and nurturing effective channels inside station -  For social enterprises it may not only Social procurement businesses. They are equally important for - Word of mouth be about helping customers to evaluate directories social enterprises, and a few other - www business value propositions - some questions are raised in the process!

Awareness Evaluation Purchase Delivery After Sales

Questions raised by How do we raise awareness about How do we help customers How do we enable customers to How do we deliver a Value How do we provide post-purchase Osterwalder and Pigneur our company’s products and evaluate our organisation’s Value purchase specific products and Proposition to customers? customer support? (2009;p.27) services? Proposition? services?

How do we help our customers How does this social enterprise evaluate our organisation’s impact How do customers find and access Can we extend our range of delivery Do we follow-up our customers stand out in a crowded market? value proposition? What evidence us? Are direct sales through retail mechanisms? Are there more to ensure that they will be repeat Do we raise awareness of products/ and stories can we / should we outlets the only way customers can efficient, effective or innovative customers? What after sales support services AND impact? If so, how? Additional questions for share? Why should customers purchase from us? How can we ways we can deliver our goods/ or information do they need or Particularly if we are wanting to social enterprises buy from us as a social enterprise? extend the ways customers can find services and/or impact? How can want about our products/services raise awareness of our impact, Do we compete directly with and purchase our goods/services? we connect our customers more and/or impact? How can we ensure how do we do this in a way which mainstream businesses? If so, why Who can we partner with to extend effectively through our delivery that they will champion social highlights our business, not just our would customers choose to buy our sales reach? mechanisms? enterprise? cause? from us?

There is a growing interest in Many corporate and government Dissatisfaction can have a flow-on It can be difficult to build financial Some social enterprises turn their social procurement - but many customers are interested in the value effect not just for repeat custom in Examples of where this sustainability into retail focussed ‘customers’ into their ‘communities’. procurement officers are not aware proposition of social enterprises but this enterprise, but for purchasing can be important social enterprises. How could you How could you connect your of social enterprises. How could this are looking for evidence. How could from other social enterprises. How address this challenge? customers more directly? change? this happen? 18 do we ensure satisfaction? 18 Customer Relationships

In social enterprises customer relationships are critical. Customers For social enterprises it can be interesting to push out what we would may be attracted to our value proposition just from a purely business consider ‘traditional’ customer relationships with a business, and perspective, and we should aim to retain their custom on this basis. explore how customers could become our ‘community’ or how they However, some may ‘fall in love’ with us as social enterprises once they could co-create or co-produce the business with us. For example, Food learn of the ‘added value’ our social impact brings to the exchange. Connect has established a network of customers referred to as ‘City Cousins’ who are willing to take on a role of distribution hub in their On a recent overseas trip I stayed in a hotel that is a social enterprise. local communities (see: www.foodconnect.com.au). When customers They did not advertise it as such and there was no mention of it become active in your social enterprise they can also take on roles during my stay. In their relationship with me as their customer their associated with deepening or scaling your social impact. They can primary concern was that I was happy with their service. They chose become champions of your cause; they could volunteer; donate; become not to use their impact value proposition or their ‘mission’ in any of your network or your partners. There is so much more to customer the information or advertising of the business and so most customers relationships than consumption in a social enterprise! did not know of this when they chose to stay there or chose to come back on the next trip. This decision related partly to their commitment Another interesting way to approach customer relationships from to offer their employees a job that did not stereotype or identify their the perspective of social enterprises centres on the idea of building personal circumstances. This meant that they embedded in to their customer loyalty, and in turn, exploring what customer loyalty can build business model a high degree of confidence in their employees and a in terms of social impact. For many social enterprises, growing their belief that that the ‘business’ would speak for itself. However, knowing customer base means that they also grow their potential to deliver on that they were a social enterprise employing people with mental illness their social mission. So ‘customer loyalty programs’ may look different meant that I was prepared to pay slightly more than I would usually pay in social enterprises...they may focus on what can be co-created or what for a hotel stay. difference can be made together rather than what rewards individual customers could receive. Loyalty programs in social enterprises could This story illustrates the importance of thinking through what role your thus be seen as potentially the base for an impact movement. There’s ‘impact’ should play in the relationship you have with your customers. exciting design possibilities up for exploration here and opportunities to Sometimes it is important for the impact to be very present in the reposition customers as change agents for your cause! relationship (your customers may LOVE you for it!) and in other circumstances it would be inappropriate for your mission to form any part of the relationship. As I have mentioned before, if ‘mission’ is the only thing you are offering to your customers, and if the products/ services you offer are inferior, exaggerate the value proposition, or if they are not delivered on time and on budget, then it is likely that no matter how much your customers love your mission, they will eventually decide that, unfortunately, they are not able to continue as your customers. 19 Customer Relationships

Impact Commercial - personalised service, - personalised service, repeat custom, loyalty repeat custom, loyalty - long-term impact - long term customers customers

Of course it may well be the case that your customers only love you for the value you can produce for them and in that case we need to accept this or at least see it as the foundation for our business. As in any relationship, it takes two to tango, and there is no point trying to force an impact value proposition based on love into a relationship that is plutonic and focussed on commerce! In designing social enterprise business models it is all about what is appropriate for the particular circumstance, and what will drive the business engine so that ultimately you are able to achieve your social mission. Questions to ask about customer relationships in a social enterprise - What kind of relationships do our customers want? Are they - Are the relationships with ‘impact customers’ different? or could they be interested in our social impact? - What do they expect when they ‘purchase’ impact from us? - What could happen if customers fell in love with our impact? How can we ensure that they fall in love with our products/ What other roles would they be willing to play if they did? services too? - What do we need to be mindful of to ensure that we retain our customers? 20 20 Revenue Streams

wants to generate profits and IN ADDITION, deliver impacts. For just about all social enterprises I have worked or talked with, revenue If a commercial business in a streams are top of mind most of the time. Revenue streams are what enables particular sector and location has social enterprises both to run the business and generate the impact - but they little potential to deliver profit, can also be the source of much debate and tension. The contention comes then a social enterprise operating predominantly from different interpretations of the mix of revenue that flows in that sector and location will into social enterprises. Sometimes the contentions stem from ideology rather have no chance of generating a than practical reality. Some people argue that social enterprises should avoid any profit sufficient to cover its impact revenue other than trade or earned revenue. In an ideal world this would be great! costs! It is a never-ending source However in reality, this assumes that there is no difference between running a of fascination to me that social social enterprise and running a commercial business, and we know this is not the enterprises continue to pop up in case. If we cut out the ideology and adopt a completely pragmatic perspective, business sectors or industries that struggle or are marginal in a purely commercial we would see that the source of revenue is only part of the picture - and to context. Expecting to operate a successful social enterprise in such a sector make sense of a social enterprise the source of revenue needs to be linked to: its without significant non-trade revenue sources or substantially innovative business purpose and application inside the enterprise, the social benefits it can generate; models is living in fantasy worlds. and its contribution towards building viability and sustainability over time. Equally fantastical, however, is assuming that all social enterprises can get to By definition, a social enterprise derives a majority of its revenue from trade. a position where the impact they deliver can either be cost neutral, or that it This is what makes it a social ENTERPRISE. However, it also needs to deliver can be cross subsidised from within commercial operations. As we will explore a social impact, which is what makes it a SOCIAL enterprise. In many ways, in the ‘cost structure’ section, impact is never or only very rarely, cost neutral. understanding revenue inside a social enterprise requires some consideration of And given this, not only do we need to know the potential revenues that can the costs of mixing together social purpose and commercial realities - ingredients be generated by any given business (to know if cross subsidy is even possible), that are sometimes like oil and water. but more importantly still, the costs need to be assessed in relation to the social value that is generated. It is ideological tom-foolery to assume that we can have If we look at the revenues that are generated from trade. In designing social a raft of completely commercial social enterprises across all impact fields that are enterprises it is critical that we explore the business models of analogous independent of any kind of funding or donation revenue. commercial businesses. So, if we are wanting to set up a social enterprise cafe, then what do we know about the commercial realities of running a cafe? How much revenue is possible from operating a single, independent cafe? How much profit can we expect to generate? Understanding the commercial realities of a business can be very helpful if we are designing a social enterprise that 21 21 terms that it can attract revenue in its own right, then a social enterprise may get to a point where there could be independent revenue streams Different revenue streams can have different functions in a social flowing into the enterprise around the impact value proposition. However, enterprise. The trick is to find the best fit between form and function it may not be ‘saleable’ - in which case, the costs of generating this impact of revenue in the model, and this will vary according to the impact, either need to be covered internally, or you could look at the ‘key partners’ the industry, and the business model itself. But as a broad proposition, part of the business model and develop partnerships around the social value

using grant or philanthropic funding to cover up an inherently in order to ensure that even if there are no direct revenue streams, the costs inefficient or failing business is not effective use of such monies, incurred in the process of generating the impact will be covered. and neither is it helpful, in the long run, to delivering sustainable social impact. Problems arise when the symbiotic relationship between the two systems is not being worked on. When, for example, an unviable commercial model In some ways it is important to understand the impact and commerce is being propped up by a temporarily funded impact system. Or, when an inside a social enterprise as two separate but symbiotic systems. The impact model is designed that doesn’t deliver real or needed impacts, even commercial business around which a social enterprise is structured needs when the commercial model is powering along! to operate as such - it needs to be able to get to a stage where it is viable, and hopefully sustainable, generating sufficient revenue from its trading What is important in a social enterprise is that there is a focus on RIGHT activities to not only cover operating costs, but to generate a profit. REVENUE - that is, a mix of revenue that is appropriate for the particular impact being delivered, and where there is a real probability that the At the same time, the impact system needs to be understood in terms business of the enterprise will generate profits and become commercially of the social value it is generating. We need to be able to honestly and viable. openly assess whether this social value is actually ‘saleable’ - whether our commercial customers, or impact customers will pay for this social value and thereby generate revenue. If the social value can be articulated in

22 22 Revenue Streams

Impact Questions to ask Commercial - Participation and about revenue - Retail sales support funding in a social enterprise - Training funding - Catering sales - Donations - can we unpack and unpick the revenues that are generated through the commercial activities of the business from the revenues generated through the impact? This effectively means knowing what revenue is derived from and driving what part of the business. - have we examined analogous commercial business models to explore potential revenue streams from our chosen business sector, which can help us to predict, to a certain extent, the potential for profits to cover impact costs; - What ongoing sources of revenue could be generated in relation to impact delivery, and how are we ‘valuing’ this?

23 23 Key Resources

Key resources are the assets, tangible and intangible, that make your business Of course when social enterprises start-up they, like many start-up businesses, model work - and in the case of social enterprise, this refers to the resources that may not have all the resources in place to scale up their businesses or their impact. drive your commercial model AND the resources that drive your impacts. The This can be a work in progress. However, for social enterprises it is imperative to table below outlines both the commercial resources that may be needed by social understand how critical it is to ensure access to the key resources needed to drive enterprises (based on Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2009) and the impact resources. both the commercial business and the impact, and to plan ahead for how such Decisions need to be made within social enterprises about whether these resources can be developed and maintained. Further, it is important to think resources are needed inside the enterprise, or whether key partnerships can be through the best ways to access the necessary resources and the sorts of capital developed to ensure that these resources are accessible to the enterprise. and networks that may be needed in the process.

Commercial Impact

Physical Resources Facilities, infrastructure , buildings, Special equipment and infrastructure, vehicles, systems, distribution networks + systems, accessible buildings.

Intellectual Resources Brands , knowledge, contact management systems, Impact knowledge and skills, pro-bono partners, business knowledge and skills + support partners

Champions, support staff, brokers, Human Resources People, staff, partners + powerful allies, support networks

Financial Resources Cash, lines of credit, access to finance + Access to funds to cover impact costs

Impact Resources Methods and networks to assess and evaluate impact, all other assets needed to ensure impact delivery 24 Questions to ask about resources in a social enterprise

For example, many new social enterprises are bootstrapped - they rely on whatever resources are readily available at the time. Sometimes these are - What physical, intellectual, human, and borrowed, or the founder’s personal resources are used. If you’re running financial resources are needed for your a gardening and landscaping social enterprise using the founders ute and lawnmower, it should be a priority to acquire commercial equipment as soon commercial operations? as possible. If you’re running a social enterprise restaurant with a three-burner stove, then the limitations of this resource will be reflected in your bottom - What physical, intellectual, human, financial line, which in turn will limit your potential impact. Resources are the tools for and impact resources are needed to ensure driving your business and delivering your impact. If the resources are lacking, you deliver on your impact objectives? then your business bottom line and your impact will suffer as a result. - How could lack of commercial resources impact on the achievement of impact Commercial objectives? And vice versa? - kitchen / coffee Impact equipment - Support expertise - Do all the resources need to be located - Shop (asset) - Support staff inside the social enterprise, or can some of - Location - Impact brand them be located with and accessed through - Brand partnerships? - Staff

25 25 Key Activities Activities needed to deliver Activities needed to commercial value deliver impact value The key activities of your social enterprise encompasses the things you must do to deliver value to your customers - so, to ensure both commercial and social value. Key activities across the commerce and impact of social enterprise may be: - complementary - that is, the business activities are complemented by and/or complement the impact activities. So, for example, in the cafe, having a range of activities in food preparation, customer service and cleaning, may offer an array of potential jobs suitable for staff needing support and having different interests. Complementary activities may be leveraged for greater efficiencies across the delivery of commercial and impact value. - opposing - there may be activities where it is difficult to balance commerce and impact value delivery. For example, if the cafe regularly has times when there are long queues and the pressure to serve customers quickly and efficiently is very Questions to ask about high, then these commercial imperatives and the activities needed to meet them may be in conflict with activities associated with supporting workers who may not activities in a social enterprise have experience or capacity to cope easily with high stress customer service. In this case problem solving is needed so that commercial and impact imperatives are - What are the key activities that we undertake balanced or at least can co-exist! to deliver our commercial value propositions to Being specific about what activities are critical to support and deliver your impacts customers? is helpful not only in understanding what needs to be done on a daily basis to maintain your impact focus, but also to costing your impact. Unpacking your impact What are the key activities that are needed to activities is an important part of understanding your business model as a social - enterprise. Your impact customers and partners may also benefit from understanding deliver our impact value proposition? just what it takes to achieve your impacts. - What overlaps are there between the two sets of activities? Impact Commercial - support and What are the complementary activities? Are - Baristaring - participation activities there ways we can build efficiencies into these cooking / catering -  complementary activities? - customer service - Front of shop and - What oppositional activities are there? How can we backroom management address these so that they are more balanced?

26 26 Key Partnerships Questions to ask about

Partnerships refer to the network of suppliers, allies, partnerships in a Commercial supporters, co-creators and champions that are needed to social enterprise - Coffee distributor ensure that a social enterprise can deliver on both impact and commercial objectives. - Drink distributor - What partnerships are critical to - Local chamber of Partnerships can support and enhance both the helping us achieve our commercial commerce commercial and the impact objectives of a social enterprise. The enterprise may have an active network of supporters objectives? who promote products and services or who are vital as a distribution network. Equally, the enterprise may have - What partnerships can help us deliver, a network of partners who offer value-adds to your strengthen or scale our impact objectives? Impact impact - they may support the participation of employees - Not-for-profit partner who have been unemployed, or they might help a social What motivations underpin our partnerships? enterprise to scale its impact through social franchising - supporting people with mechanisms. How do we structure our partnerships? a disability - - Social Enterprise There may be different motivations for engaging in How do we demonstrate the value of our partnerships according to whether the partnership is partnerships to each other and externally? Alliance centred on commerce, impact or both. - Social Investor

Potential Motivations for Partnerships in a Social Enterprise

Commercial Partnerships Impact Partnerships (drawn from Osterwalder, 2009) Optimisation and Scaling / Maximising economy of scale Impact Ensuring and Measuring Reduction of risk and uncertainty delivery of impact Acquisition of particular Optimising economies of depth and resources and activities scope (in relation to impact)

27 27 Cost Structure

Like other parts of a social enterprise business model, the cost structure are involved in achieving this impact by asking what costs you incur that most needs to take account of both the commercial operating and production commercial operators are not willing to incur? In other words, what costs are costs AND the costs involved in delivering an impact. For most social stopping commercial operators from purchasing from the local farms and enterprises this means understanding the costs involved in keeping the farmers that you are building your business around? ‘business’ going, and unpacking what extra costs are needed to actually deliver on the impact of the enterprise. Impact is rarely, if ever, cost Understanding and articulating your impact is critical to being able to unpack neutral - if it was, then every business would be a social enterprise! If you its cost structure. If your impact is vague or ill-defined, costing it will be are employing people who have experienced long-term unemployment, equally imprecise. this can cost you in terms of extra training, support, reduced productivity, poor performance. These are costs that are incurred above and beyond Next it is important to articulate what activities are undertaken and what the commercial costs of operating your business. And of course, they are resources are needed to deliver your social impact. This can be done visually costs you are willing to incur in order to achieve your impact objectives! by mapping the business process , all the activities that are undertaken in the course of delivering value to your customers, and then exploring the Similarly, if you are operating a social enterprise that aims to ensure the ‘impact costs’ associated with each of these activities. The resources needed to long-term survival of local farms and farmers by running a community undertake these activities can then be added to the map, alongside additional supported agriculture model, then you need to think about the costs that resources needed to deliver on the impact.

Impact Commercial - Support and participation - Inventory costs - Equipment - staff - Utilities - productivity - Staff - training - Insurance - work readiness cost - Compliance costs - Impact assessment costs

28 28 Typical Business Impact Operation Costs Costs

Inventory Support and participation costs (extra staff costs Premises for people to support workers) Wages/salaries + Work readiness costs (licences, permits, Equipment, machinery and tools uniforms etc. for disadvantaged workers) Utilities Communication and postage Provision costs (for non-attendance, extra sick leave etc) Insurances Impact training (eg. training for support staff) Printing and Stationary Opportunity costs (eg. reduced productivity, Advertising /marketing costs of recruiting and training new staff Bank charges and interest constantly if you are an intermediate Vehicles / transport labour market social enterprise) Accountancy and other professional fees Tax Fundraising costs Depreciation Impact assessment costs License and compliance costs Ethics costs Training (eg. premiums for fair trade goods)

Three Critical Questions to ask about Costs in a Social Enterprise

What is the impact you are seeking What activities do you have to undertake to What resources are needed to achieve to achieve in the social enterprise achieve this impact? this impact? (and what is the difference between Which of these activities would not be undertaken Which of these resources would your ideal and real impact!)? if this was a typical commercial business? not be needed if this was a typical What costs do these activities incur? commercial business? What costs do these resources incur? 29 29 Key Activities Value Customer Customer Relationships Key Partnerships Propostion Segments Commercial - Baristaring - cooking / catering Commercial Commercial - customer service personalised service, -  - Walk-by commuters - Front of shop and repeat custom, loyalty - Local businesses, backroom management - long term customers Commercial Value offices, services (retail and catering) Commercial Impact Proposition (CVP) - Regulars - Coffee distributor - support and Impact Great coffee, fresh - Drink distributor participation - personalised service, food, personal service - Local chamber activities repeat custom, of commerce - support loyalty - long-term impact customers Key Resources

Commercial Channels Impact Impact - Ethical consumers - kitchen / coffee Commercial - Not-for-profit partner - Not-for-Profits, other equipment - Retail - high traffic social enterprises supporting people with - Shop (asset) near public transport - social procurement a disability Impact Value customers (catering) - Location station - Social Enterprise Proposition (IVP) Government - purchasing - Brand - Word of mouth jobs for people with Alliance - Staff Sustainable - www disabilities, and training - Social Investor Impact employment for people Impact - Support expertise who have been long- - Social enterprise - Support staff term unemployed networks and - Impact brand directories - Social procurement directories

Cost Structures Impact Revenue - Support and participation Commercial Impact Streams costs - Inventory - staff - Participation and - productivity Commercial - Equipment support funding - training - Retail sales - Utilities - work - Training funding - readiness cost - Catering sales - Staff Impact assessment costs - Donations - Insurance - Compliance costs 30

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Using the Business Model Canvas as a Socializing Enterprise

business model canvas for social enterprise design

Mark Horoszowski

Mark Horoszowski is the co-founder and CEO of MovingWorlds.org.

off August 1, 2020 / Mark Horoszowski

Since its introduction ten years ago, the business model canvas does been rapidly adopted as a strategic management tool by sponsors, entrepreneurs, and level corporate leaders. And for good reason: It’s a great way to align an team on one earnings also operational assumptions that ampere business operates with. 

business model canvas for social enterprise design

However, many social entrepreneurs struggle with his use. Include are MovingWorlds S-GRID program , one of the most common answer participants have is HOW to highlight social impact as part of the business model film. This is an important enter, and one without a straightforward answer. We’ve seen more modern business grapple with this, some concerning which possess even lancierung alterations von the tool to incorporate social affect as an additional making remove. However, we don’t think those deviations are a good feature. In fact, the whole idea of social enterprise is to include sociable impact into all aspects of your business, plus so counting it in a separate building blocks detracts from the super idea of social enterprise . 

What is the General Model Canvas (BMC)?

The business model painting (BMC) is the simplest way to register the key building blocks about your business, share them with your team, and highlight the conjecture that go into your business full. The 9 building blocks are:

  • Customer Chunks – The target audience(s) that you plan to create value on.
  • Value Propositions – A summary of one value you provide to the customer.
  • Channels – What you deliver value to your customer segments.
  • Customer Relationships – How him build and manage relationships with your use segments.
  • Revenue Stream s – How you generate proceeds from each customer segment, and methods much.
  • Key Resources – The assets available to the business that permit yours to created score for your customer segments.
  • Key Proceedings – The processes and activities this utilize all your resources to create value.
  • Key Partnerships – Other groups that change resources and activities into value more efficiently, and your working ratio equipped them.
  • What Structure – All of the costs associations include that business.

As one of the founders regarding the Lean Startup movement, Steven Void said, “ Unless them may validated the assumptions in your commercial model first, outside the building, your business plan is just genius writing. ” The most important cause that the BMC does are guide you and your your until documents your different assumptions so you canister frame out what you know to be true counter. what you hope to be true. 

Why is who Business Model Canvas a Done Idea for Socially Enterprises? 

“The only method to win is to discover faster than anytime else.” -Eric Ries

The ultimate advantages of the BMC your that it helps him know more about your customers so that she can solve their problems, help them touch to goals, and generate revenue in the print so that you can continue to invest in delivering value. To make to more real, let’s learn a little more via the Business Model Canvas. This video explainer von Stefan Blank is first of the best ones:

In the MovingWorlds S-GRID program , as now as in our business development Institute , one of the best important things that wee how is that that business model canvases is tied till a specific product, service, or program – not the business at large. So, at MovingWorlds for example, we have a differences BMC by each of ours revenue+impact producing programs: the MovingWorlds Institute, S-GRID, Experteering Network, Capacity Building Programs, also Corporate Social Shock Programs. The reason for such is simple: Each group must a different object patron, value offer, gross model, affect model, and cost set, and is therefore built upon different suppositions. By creating a unique BMC for each, we can more effectively operate and innovate jede program for greater impact as a purpose-driven company. 

For social company looking to identify their best scale-up business model furthermore form new revenue partnerships with the corporate section, step one should being identifying diverse possible customer segments, and then creating one new BMC for anyone. It’s a lot of your, although it’s worth it

Independent of how many BMCs you use, the value of going through the exercise is that it forces you to identify what i understand nearly your customers, and what you don’t know. It’s also an great utility for aligning autochthonous company to understand the company, the maximum important next steps, like well as the most important learnings. Insert guide to balancing impact and advertorial success

As the author the the Lean Startup said, “ Let this simple rule suffice: removing any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly until the education you seek. ”

As Should Sociable Enterprises Use the Business Models Canvas to Ensure Growth and Impact?

Social enterprises should use the BMC just like any other startup enterpriser would: as a tool to help you build, measure, and learn! That said, there be ne really important addition for social enterprises: every single one of the 9 building blocks require be evaluated independently to guarantee ensure they are:

  • Not build harm
  • Ensuring equity
  • Achieving their social mission
  • Manufacturing this systems around them better

business model canvas for social enterprise design

In are many ways till do this, but we recommend starting basic: Once your BMC is completed, go through every line-item, and highlight in green those acting as an impact accelerator. For every item that might detract from your mission and/or cause unintended consequences, highlight those yellow. Using the BUsiness Model Canvas for soCial enterprise design

Save, this foundation of the BMC is that itp is a collection on assumptions that supposed can tested and validated, starting with the of risky test . So this means that your theories about something making social goody or harm is also an assumption. To highlighting the potential risks to realizing sociable impact as you go, your team will be able until focus about your impact hypotheses as you progress.

When Should Social Enterprises Application the Business Full Canvas?

One of the biggest mistakes we see from chiefs shall that social businesses creating a BMC and then almost revisit it again. The reality belongs that the BMC need be a living model that docs your presumptions and guides you on whichever on test next.  The Case for a Socially Oriented Business Model Canvas: The Social Enterprise View Canvas

business model canvas for social enterprise design

With order words, as you are trying to find your scale-up approach, planend a pivot, expanding into a new market, and/or targeting a new customer operating, you’ll want to keep your business model canvas front furthermore center. Organizing a weekly or every read with their key team membership to work through it and ensure it’s still accurate is a great think. Social Store Model Canvas - Business Model Toolboxes

Utilizing the Shop Model Canvas for Create More Impact

Your social enterprise will get the most out of the BMC when pre-owned as ampere framework to help you document and verify assumptions you have about both your business potential and your social impact potential. Remember these tips:

  • Social impacting should be manufactured through the core work of your business, and you don’t need a separate tool with plan – your impact should can integrated into to BMC for each building pad
  • Create a BMC for each are your core business lines and keep it current
  • Highlight impact accelerators real detractors then you and your team keep impact front and media
  • Revisit it often and keep testing assumptions!

Need helps building and validating your projection? Apply to join the S-GRID Social Enterprise Accelerator by the know-how, connections, and support to realize your fantasy!

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business model canvas for social enterprise design

IMAGES

  1. The Social Business Model Canvas

    business model canvas for social enterprise design

  2. Social Business Model Canvas

    business model canvas for social enterprise design

  3. Using The Business Model Canvas For Social Enterprise Design

    business model canvas for social enterprise design

  4. Social Business Model Canvas Template

    business model canvas for social enterprise design

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  6. Social Business Model Canvas

    business model canvas for social enterprise design

VIDEO

  1. How Can I Use the Business Model Canvas for Startup Success?

  2. BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS AI HERAWATI 230201020004

  3. BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS (BMC) ENT300 AS1175D

  4. Business Model Canvas Tugas pengantar kewirausahaan

  5. BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS PRESENTATION ( ETR 2583 ) AISYA HAZRINI BT ABDULLAH ( DHI 4A )

  6. BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS

COMMENTS

  1. PDF Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design

    Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design Ingrid Burkett The Yunus Centre 2nd Edition 2 The story of this publication This is the second edition of a booklet that was first published in 2013, which outlined how I had used, tested and learnt about the Business Model Canvas in designing and growing social enterprises.

  2. PDF Using the BUsiness Model Canvas for soCial enterprise design

    1 This definition comes from FASES (2010), see: www.socialtraders.com.au 3 What is a business model? If we boiled down the idea of an enterprise or a business to its essence, A business...

  3. PDF Using the BUsiness Model Canvas for soCial enterprise design

    1 This definition comes from FASES (2010), see: www.socialtraders.com.au 3 What is a business model? If we boiled down the idea of an enterprise or a business to its essence, A business model clearly we could say that it is all about the articulates "the rationale exchange of value.

  4. Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design

    The Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design and accompanying booklet is a companion to your strategy and planning. It's a tool for you to get clear on how you're creating revenue, how...

  5. What is a Social Business Model Canvas?

    A Business Model Canvas is a visual representation of an organization's business model. As you may guess, it describes the way the company creates, delivers and captures value. Based on a visual language, the Canvas enables anyone to understand pillars and key components of a certain business model.

  6. The Case for a Socially Oriented Business Model Canvas: The Social

    The Case for a Socially Oriented Business Model Canvas: The Social Enterprise Model Canvas Sergio Sparviero Pages 232-251 | Published online: 31 Jan 2019 Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2018.1541011 In this article Abstract Introduction Business models, the canvas and the analysis of value

  7. Using the Business Model Canvas as a Social Enterprise

    The business model canvas (BMC) is the simplest way to document the key building blocks of your business, share them with your team, and highlight the assumptions that go into your business model. The 9 building blocks are: Customer Segments - The target audience (s) that you plan to create value for.

  8. How to Master the Business Model Canvas for Social Entrepreneurs

    Acumen. Business Models for Social Enterprise . Osterwalder, Alexander (2016). This Mission Model Canvas: An Adapted Business Model Canvas for Mission-Driven Organizations (Strategyzer Blog). Social Lean Canvas (Website featuring the social business model canvas in different languages and examples of existing social enterprises) Young ...

  9. The Social Enterprise Model Canvas

    The Canvas is designed to guide your thinking through each of the building blocks of your social enterprise's business model - how the functions, activities and processes interlink and interlock. It gets you to think in a more systematic and formal way, ensuring that each area is effectively covered to produce a more comprehensive and ...

  10. Social Business Canvas

    Social Business Canvas. The well known Business Model Canvas (BMC) has been used by thousands of business startups across the world to capture and articulate the key elements of the enterprise business model. However, for social enterprises, the BMC fails to articulate a key driving factor for the enterprise - its Social Purpose - which is ...

  11. (PDF) Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise

    PDF | On Aug 31, 2015, Annisa Rahmani Qastharin published Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

  12. Social Business Model Canvas

    1. With an idea: start with defining the value proposition for a specific customer segment. 2. With potential / existing customers: start with the customer segment and ask what value proposition you are delivering / could deliver to them and how. 3.

  13. PDF THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MODEL CANVAS

    In simple terms, the Social Enterprise Model Canvas ('Canvas') is a tool used to visualise all the building blocks of starting a social enterprise, including customers, route to market, value proposition and finance. The Canvas is inspired by the Business Model and Social Business Model Canvas. ADVANTAGES OF THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MODEL CANVAS

  14. Business model design process for social enterprises

    Conclusion. In this article, we introduced you to the business model design process for social enterprises. As seen, the process is comprised of 6 different stages: (1) mobilization, (2) research, (3) ideation, (4) testing, (5) implementation and finally (6) management. We believe aspiring changemakers can hugely benefit from having a clear ...

  15. Social Business Model Canvas

    The new Social Business Model Canvas (SBMC) online is based on Strategyzer's original Business Model Canvas and consists of 14 boxes. The boxes range from understanding the complex systems in which your social issue exists to understanding the needs of the communities experiencing those issues, planning out your social mission and social value proposition offerings to beneficiaries ...

  16. Using Business Model Canvas in a Social Entrepreneurship context

    Social entrepreneurship, a growing field that focuses on creating sustainable solutions to societal problems, requires a unique approach to business planning — the Business Model Canvas. 1. Alexander Osterwalder, one of the men behind the Business Model Canvas, now standing in front of it. Since we here at SteepConsult are supportive of ...

  17. Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise

    The Business Model Canvas is a well-recognised tool for business planning for both Startups and established businesses. This article discusses the tool with specific reference to Social Enterprise citing examples of Irish businesses for each of the nine building blocks. Completing a Business Model Canvas - my FREE online training programme

  18. Social business model canvas template

    The new Social Business Model Canvas online allows you to work with your team to map out easily and plan your social mission and social business building blocks to maximize your overall social impact goals. The Social Business Model Canvas (SBMC) is based on Strategyzer's original Business Model Canvas and consists of 15 boxes.

  19. Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design

    Ingrid Burkett provides her insights into how social enterprises can use the Business Model Canvas to understand and communicate their business models more effectively. "When I first discovered the Business Model Canvas (BMC) and tried to apply it to social enterprises I believed, like many others, that social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations needed their own […]

  20. Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design

    Using the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise Design. Using the Business Model Canvas for social enterprise design. Ingrid Burkett Knode. 1 The story of this publication: I have been using, testing, learning about the Business Model Canvas for a number of years now.

  21. Using the Business Model Canvas as a Social Enterprise

    Anyway, we don't think these varied are a good idea. Int fact, the whole idea of social enterprise is to integrate social impact into all issues of your business, and so adding it as a separate building obstruct detracts starting the very idea of social enterprise. Get is who General Model Canvas (BMC)? The business model canvas (BMC) is the ...

  22. PDF The Case for a Socially Oriented Business Model Canvas: The Social

    Enterprise Model Canvas (SEMC), a Business Model Canvas (BMC) conceived for designing the organizational settings of social enter- prises, for resolving the mission measurement paradox, and for

  23. Social Business Model Canvas

    Jumpstart your social enterprise and get the social business model canvas now!