Draft Business Plan, Theory of Change Model, & Executive Summary for a Social Enterprise or Nonprofit (Draft Grant Application Packet or GAP) (5 – 10 pp., single- or double-spaced, 10-12 size font). Under this assignment, you’ll be asked to propose a new social enterprise or nonprofit and to enter a hypothetical grant competition to secure some funding for your organization. These critically important items will help you put together a Grant Application Packet (GAP) as part of a hypothetical grant funding competition that you’ll enter. The type of plan, model, and summary you are asked to develop, as well as the GAP exercise, are guided by some of the course’s research-based content and entrepreneurship business-related best practices. The details of the assignment are outlined below.
For this draft assignment, write your thoughts under an outline format or using complete sentences under the appropriate sections. Yes, you can use bullets or a formal outline format. Ideally, you should address all areas as best you can with preliminary ideas (at minimum, address half of the sections). To separate the five parts of this assignment, use page dividers and note the section titles. It is preferred that you submit all sections under one document (you may submit the parts as separate documents). Cite your references using an APA, ASA, MLA, or another appropriate format (include a references section). An appendix or appendices section is optional.
Description: This is the general background to keep in mind for this assignment
Here are some examples of the many concerning issues in America and around the world: poverty, malnutrition, homelessness, affordable housing, unemployment, illiteracy, lacking access to adequate educational preparation, environmental concerns, plant and animal extinctions, various human illness and life-threatening diseases, lacking access to healthcare, human trafficking, domestic violence, child abuse, teenage pregnancies, gun violence, alcohol and drug addiction, school-to-prison pipeline, income inequities and wage gaps, and racism and discrimination, just to to name a few. In the U.S. and in other countries, the government, nonprofit sector, private business, and other segments of a society have attempted, either independently or collaboratively, to address many of these problems. While some progress has been made, there is still much room for addressing many of these challenges and to help improve the lives of people who continue to suffer under these areas.
Through social entrepreneurship, both social enterprises and nonprofits continue to play a critical role in addressing many of today’s most pressing social problems. Under this assignment, you have the opportunity to think like and to implement the steps of a social entrepreneur. You are asked to propose a new social enterprise or nonprofit that seeks to address a social issue you are concerned about. First, identify an issue to address from your local community, city, or state. You can also address an issue at the national level in the U.S. or internationally. Second, determine if you will propose a social enterprise or a nonprofit. A social enterprise is a business that seeks to generate revenue/profits while simultaneously addressing a serious social problem (the social side, however, is at the center of operations and often more important than the revenue/profits side). Through this type of organization, the profits are usually the primary funding sources for addressing the social problem and running the business. Fundraising, donations, and grant sources are also streams of funding for social enterprises. On the other hand, a pure nonprofit is focused strictly on addressing a social problem and its goals are not focused on generating revenue/profits (the social side is the primary and all-encompassing issue focused on). Under a pure nonprofit, philanthropy, namely through donations, fundraising, and grant-writing, forms the core of the primary funding sources for addressing the social problem and running the organization.
Grant Packet Packet GAP: These are the parts of the assignment that you need to submit (submit under this sequence) FORMAT FOR ASSIGNMENT:
- One-page to three-page Executive Summary (ES) for the Proposed Social Enterprise or Nonprofit (Address: Organizational Overview, Market Analysis, Marketing Plan, Partnerships, Objectives and Assessment, Finances and Budgeting, etc.).
- One-page to three-page Theory Of Change (ToC) Model for the Social Enterprise or Nonprofit (Address: Inputs, Activities/Processes, Outputs, Outcomes & Impact)
- One-page to three-page Business Plan (BP) for the Social Enterprise or Nonprofit (Address: Organization Description/Overview, Need/Problem Addressed, Goals/Objectives, Targeted Market/Constituents, Services & Products, Marketing, Competitors, Evaluation, Management/Operations, Finances/Budgets, etc.)
- One paragraph to one-page statement using a Sociological Perspective (SP) to describe the social problem the Social Enterprise or Nonprofit seeks to address (Address: From sociological perspective, what exactly is the problem? What are some micro-levels and macro-level sociological dynamics of the problem? Which sociological theory(ies) can help contextualize the problem?)
- One-page Reference Section (at least 1 to 2 references) and include if necessary an Appendix/Appendices Section (optional)
Remember this is a draft, so it only needs to be 5 pages containing an overview of what is listed above. Make sure to include titles for each page.
I came up with a good Nonprofit called “One Bite at a Time” to help the issue of world hunger, seeking homeless families to provide food for. You can use this idea and build off of it with the format above.
