How can a Portuguese not-for-profit organization make a successful transition to the social enterprise model, becoming less dependent on donations and grants in order to fulfill its social mission: the case of RECLUSA

• Autor(a) principal: Batista, Ana a Carolina
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/38768
• topic: Social enterprise; Rebranding; RECLUSA; Not-for-profit organizations sustainability; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Not-for-profit organizations have become increasingly aware of the need to become selfsufficient in order to guarantee the success of their social mission. The transition to a Social Enterprise approach – self-sustainable not-for-profit organizations providing goods or services directly related to their explicit goal of benefitting the community - can represent a great opportunity for them to achieve a more sustainable future and increase their social impact. This transition was undertook by the Portuguese brand RECLUSA. As part of the Associação Projeto Reklusa, RECLUSA is a social enterprise that aims to support inmates and former inmates, during prison time and subsequent reintegration process in society, through the production and commercialization of bags and accessories. Having shown a great dependence on external financial aid since its creation in 2010, finding a new business strategy that could provide financial sustainability was a crucial factor for its survival. Unfortunately, the business model shift made in the beginning of 2016 has proved insufficient to achieve that goal. In order to understand which factors might be preventing the success of the organization, we undertook a Profit and Loss Account Analysis for the last collection sold, and recommendations were made considering the results obtained.