The social enterprise trust deficit -- Prioritizing mission with a mission-protected hybrid (MPH) -- Evaluating the current menu of legal forms for social enterprise -- From form to finance -- The holy grail of retail investment -- The promise of metrics -- Social enterprise exits -- Conclusion

Social entrepreneurs and socially motivated investors share a belief in the power of social enterprise, ventures that pursue a “double bottom line” of profit and social good. Unfortunately, they also share a deep mutual suspicion. Recognizing that social ventures — just like traditional...

Over the past few years, jurisdictions across the country have enacted specialized organizational forms to house social enterprises. Social enterprises are entities dedicated to a blended mission of earning profits for owners and promoting social good. They are neither typical businesses,...

Many corporate governance reforms currently in vogue in the for-profit sector rely on the value of independent directors. It is not hard to imagine state or federal regulators applying the concept to cure perceived accountability and other failures in nonprofit corporations. Indeed, a few such...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, announced they would give 99% of their net worth to – in their words – “advance[e] human potential and promot[e] equal opportunity.” To make good on this promise, however, they did not set up a traditional nonprofit,...

Over the past few years, jurisdictions across the country have enacted specialized organizational forms to house social enterprises. Social enterprises are entities dedicated to a blended mission of earning profits for owners and promoting social good. They are neither typical businesses,...

This chapter summarizes the fundamentals of U.S. corporate law, including limited liability, corporate objectives, fiduciary duty, and shareholder information, voting, litigation, and exit rights. It also canvasses legal innovations (e.g., benefit corporations and sustainability disclosures) and...

Evidence of the tremendous rise in the significance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is coming from all quarters. Fund flows into ESG investment vehicles are growing at a sustained and sometimes exponential pace. Fund complexes are rushing to design products, creating and...

Concerns are often raised over whether international government organizations suffer from a democracy deficit, and sometimes the participation of NGOs in these entities is offered as a cure for this ill. However, to serve such an ameliorative role, perhaps NGOs need to themselves be composed and...

The boundary between charity and business has become a moving target. Social enterprises, philanthropy divisions of for-profit companies (most notably at Google), and legislation creating hybrid nonprofit/for-profit forms all use business models and practices to mold and pursue charitable...