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Do Nonprofit and For-Profit Social Enterprises Differ in Financing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Baorong Guo and
Shuyang Peng
Baorong Guo*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63121, USA
Shuyang Peng*
Affiliation:
School of Public Administration, University of New Mexico, 1915 Roma Avenue, NE, Social Sciences Building, Room 3022, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
*
guob@umsl.edu
speng@unm.edu
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Abstract

This study is an empirical investigation of the survey data from 109 social enterprises, nonprofit and for-profit, in Illinois, the USA. We compare sources of startup funding and revenues of social enterprises by the organizational form. Findings reveal that nonprofit social enterprises do not significantly differ from their for-profit counterparts in sources of startup funding. But the types of revenues differ by the organizational form of social enterprises. Nonprofit social enterprises are more likely to rely on foundation grants and government grants as their primary sources of revenue, while for-profit social enterprises are more likely to rely on revenues through sales.

Keywords

Social enterpriseOrganizational formFinanceStartup fundingRevenue

Information

Type
Research Papers
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , June 2020, pp. 521 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research 2020

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