Social Purpose Enterprises: Case Studies for Social Change presents case studies of twelve organizations that operate in a growing niche within the Canadian social economy: market-based entities supported by a nonprofit organization and operated for the benefit of a workforce who lives on the margins of society.

Using a variety of research methods, the contributors examine the work of social purpose enterprises in a range of businesses including food services, child care, furniture, courier services, and microfinance. Combining the experience of academics and practitioners, each chapter analyses the economic, social, and policy implications of the case.

Building on research published in Researching the Social Economy (2010) and Businesses with a Difference (2013), Social Purpose Enterprises provides a valuable resource for those involved in the growing push to encourage market-based solutions for those on the social margins.

Social Purpose Enterprises: Case Studies for Social Change presents case studies of twelve organizations which operate in a growing niche within the Canadian social economy.

  • Imprint: University of Toronto Press
  • Published: December 2014
  • Pages: 324

Jack Quarter is a professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the University of Toronto. He is a founding member of Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s Social Economy Centre.

Sherida Ryan is a post-doctoral fellow, co-director of the Social Economy Centre and faculty member with the Adult Education and Community Development Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Andrea Chan is a research associate at the Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering at the University of Toronto.

‘The book offers an excellent starting position for researchers and practioners dedicated to finding solutions for local social development in a rapidly growing field intended to serve people living and working at the social margins.’

Tobias B໲ger

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector quarterly vol 45:01:2016

‘This book does an excellent job at explaining the inner-workings of social purpose institutions.’

Caroline Shenaz Hossein

Voluntas May 2016

‘This book does an excellent job at explaining the inner workings of social purpose institutions.’

Caroline Shenaz Hossein

Voluntas vol 27:04:2016

Social Purpose Enterprises illustrates the great variety of fields in which we now find social purpose enterprises and presents a number of effective approaches that can be used to assess their impact. The case studies will resonate with a wide audience: university students, researchers, leaders of social economy organizations and social purpose enterprises, and funders of these initiatives.”

Luc Theriault, Department of Sociology, University of New Brunswick

Chapters

EPUB PDF

1: Social Purpose Enterprises: A Conceptual Framework

  • JACK QUARTER
  • SHERIDA RYAN
  • ANDREA CHAN
pp3–24

2: Common Ground Co-operative: Supporting Employment Options

  • FRANCES OWEN
  • ANNE READHEAD
  • COURTNEY BISHOP
  • JENNIFER HOPE
  • JEANNETTE CAMPBELL
  • Gillian MacKinnon
  • Daniel Angrignon
pp27–51

4: Miziwe Biik Case Study: Microloans in the Urban Aboriginal Community

  • MARY FOSTER
  • IDA BERGER
  • KENN ROSS
  • KRISTINE NEGLIA
pp75–97

5: Groupe Convex: Measuring Its Impact

  • USHNISH SENGUPTA
  • CAROLINE ARCAND
  • ANN ARMSTRONG
pp98–116

6: Inspirations Studio at Sistering: A Systems Analysis

  • AGNES MEINHARD
  • ANNIE LOK
  • PAULINE O’CONNOR
pp119–141

8: Canadian Immigrants and Their Access to Services: A Case Study of a Social Purpose Enterprise

  • MARLENE WALK
  • ITAY GREENSPAN
  • HONEY CROSSLEY
  • FEMIDA HANDY
pp162–187

9: Well-Being of Childcare Workers at The Learning Enrichment Foundation: A Toronto Community Economic Development Organization

  • ANDREA CHAN
  • ROBYN HOOGENDAM
  • PETER FRAMPTON
  • ANDREW HOLETON
  • EMILY POHL-WEARY
  • SHERIDA RYAN
  • JACK QUARTER
pp188–212

10: Doing Markets Differently: FoodShare’s Good Food Markets

  • MICHAEL CLASSENS
  • J.J. MCMURTRY
  • JENNIFER SUMNER
pp215–235

11: Stakeholders’ Stories of Impact: The Case of Furniture Bank

  • ANDREA CHAN
  • LAURIE MOOK
  • SUSANNA KISLENKO
pp236–260

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