Unfortunately, I don't have any alternatives that are particularly brilliant.
I think that the burgeoning ranks of social entrepreneurs are challenging the status quo. Approaching the needs of society from a new point of view is putting pressure on "legacy" institutions and traditional methods of funding, service delivery and management to adapt. I like this.
Figuring out new ways of doing good things isn't easy. There is resistance from those who have long determined how things will go. There is fear from would-be supporters who don't want to waste their efforts and resources on an unproven approach. There is confusion from regulatory agencies about new business models.
A couple articles have brought this to my attention recently.
Dental spat may illustrate effect of required coverage. In Alabama, a nonprofit group is running a number of dental clinics that (according to their website: Sarrell Dental Center) serve low-income children on Medicare and anyone who doesn't speak English, among others. With new health laws coming into being, everyone is trying to figure out what is expected, what is legal and what areas are being missed. Dentists in the area are apparently concerned with the quality of care (and the competition) that these nonprofit dental centers are providing. I do not know anything about the quality of Sarrell Dental Centers, so I cannot speak to that at al. It does sound like the fight is getting ugly, though. And I would imagine we will see more of these situations crop up as nonprofits try to meet needs with a totally different approach than the established ones.
Bay Area Emerges as Center of Nonprofit Journalism And in my neck of the woods, another industry going through extreme changes is finding that nonprofits are stepping in to fill the gaps. With the closure of many news outlets and a general democratization of information transfer, local news is falling by the wayside. These groups are staying afloat by raising donor dollars, getting grants and selling their work. Traditionally news media have relied on advertising to pay the bills, so this is an interesting new twist. They credit a "convergence of forces" that make this new model possible: lots of journalists looking for work, very tech-savvy people looking for challenges, lots of donor dollars and a risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit. I think it is interesting that there are lots of donor dollars available for that. (Recession? What recession?)
All in all, two major industries, dentistry and news media, are in the midst of change. A nonprofit approach might shake things up but it also might challenge nonprofits (or socially-responsible companies) to find new ways of doing things. I'll be curious to see how they continue to be shaken up.
Photo credit.
