Tri-Value Organization as a Form of Social Enterprise

Abstract

Many depictions of social enterprises underemphasize the role of government in supporting their mission and operation. This article provides a conceptual framework and analysis of government’s financial role in one form of nonprofit social enterprise that we identify as a tri-value social enterprise. The main argument is that some forms of social enterprises are better characterized as tri-value social enterprises because their revenue sources explicitly derive from the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors. This analysis extends Moore’s (2000) three-part framework that distinguishes values-based differences in sources of revenue among for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental organizations. The case of the Seattle nonprofit FareStart provides an illustrative example of a tri-value social enterprise because both direct and indirect government-based revenues support FareStart’s operation as a social enterprise. The article discusses the implications for researchers and practitioners of identifying tri-value social enterprises.