A New Take on Doing (and Funding) Good
Past SVP Investee, Groundwire is redefining the way they do (and fund) good. Hear how from Groundwire's Operations Director, Christine O'Connor.
After many months of planning, we here at Groundwire, the 16-year old nonprofit technology provider, have launched Groundwire Consulting, our new for-profit subsidiary.
First things first
We will continue to do the same work – develop elegant and robust custom Salesforce databases and engaging websites for organizations who share our mission: a worldwide community of people living sustainably on this planet.
Why we did it
We came to the simple conclusion that the best way for us to accomplish our mission was to bring the power of engagement and supporting technologies to people in all sectors who are trying to achieve the same thing. We feel that many different kinds of organizations – nonprofits, green businesses, city governments – will be involved in this work in order for it to be successful.
Our new Social Enterprise
We are mission-driven. That will never change. What’s changed is the scope of our potential impact. We can work through two legal entities: Groundwire, a 501(c)(3), which can deliver technology services at subsidized rates; and Groundwire Consulting, a for-profit corporation that will serve new sectors who are aligned with our mission.
Groundwire Consulting is also a certified “B Corp” or Benefit Corporation (www.bcorporation.net). We wholeheartedly support the B Corp approach of including business in solving social and environmental problems. Profits from Groundwire Consulting will flow back to the nonprofit as dividends; these funds can then be used to support our work with nonprofits that need financial assistance for their technology investments.
And we’ve noticed that lots of other people are questioning whether the current legal structures of for-profit and non-profit, with their 19th century roots, need revision in the face of the work that has to be done in the 21st century. Initially, tax exemptions were extended from churches to other social purpose organizations with the following rationale, as expressed by the House Ways and Means Committee writing in 1938:
“The exemption from taxation of money or property devoted to charitable and other purposes is based upon the theory that government is compensated for the loss of revenue by its relief from financial burden which would otherwise have to be met by appropriations from public funds, and by the benefits resulting from the promotion of the general welfare.”
Here’s a great post by Erica Mills of Claxon Marketing questioning why we define social purpose organizations by what they’re NOT, rather than by what they are. In some ways, our current legal and economic structures are under massive review and rethinking, which could mean we are at the threshold of needed innovation on the subject. We like to think of our organizational change as part of that innovation in the social purpose sector.
What changes?
Groundwire Consulting will now provide most of our strategy and technology consulting services to all types of mission-driven organizations including nonprofits, businesses, and government. That means most of our clients will work with us through our Groundwire Consulting arm.
What doesn’t change is our commitment to nonprofits: Groundwire will continue investing in engagement technology innovation, special engagement initiatives, and nonprofit projects supported by our philanthropic partners. Our nonprofit work is critical to achieving our vision so we will continue to fundraise to support that work as well.
Summary
This new structure will give us a flexible business model to support our work building the capacity of diverse organizations creating an environmentally sustainable infrastructure for 21st life on the planet.
Learn more about Groundwire Consulting >>
Your Thoughts?
What do you think of Groundwire's new model? What other changes are you seeing in the nonprofit (nay, "social purpose") sector? How else can we shake up doing (and funding) good?
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