The Hybrid Ideal: Combining Nonprofit and For-Profit Models
Hybrid organizational models can be a fountain of innovation, but hybrid organizations also face distinct challenges that may prevent them from thriving. When organizations combine social mission with commercial activities, they create unfamiliar combinations of activities that require a supportive environment. Hybrids also must strike a delicate balance between social and economic objectives to avoid a focus on profits to the detriment of the social good. To better understand hybrids, a team from Harvard Business School and Echoing Green reviewed more than 3,500 Echoing Green Fellowship applications. Join Battilana, Walker, and Lee as they report the key findings of the Harvard-Echoing Green study on hybrid organizations, featured in the Summer 2012 Stanford Social Innovation Review, and examine the specific challenges hybrids face in terms of legal recognition, funding, pricing of goods and services, and creating a balanced organizational culture. The webinar also will explore solutions to these challenges.
