Growing Knowledge Together: Finding A Balance Between Purpose and Profit

Guest blog by Dr. Julia Fursova, Assistant Professor, School of Leadership Studies, Interdisciplinary Leadership Studies Program, UNB

An existential question for social enterprises (SEs) is how to keep the balance between ‘purpose’ and ‘profit’. In conversations with our participants, this theme was discussed at a greater length by founders of for-profit SEs.

Figure 1: Holding Balance Between Purpose and Profit

For founders of non-profit social enterprises (SEs), the enterprising arm typically complements a non-profit or charitable component, which often provides limited core funding. In contrast, for-profit SEs must rely entirely on their commercial activities for financial sustainability. This reliance makes balancing profit and purpose even more challenging.

To navigate the tension between profit and purpose, two broad categories of strategies have emerged: individual and organizational strategies.

Individual Strategies

These focus on the personal approaches founders use to manage the demands of their work. Key sub-themes include:

• Finding work-life balance despite irregular schedules.
• Accepting personal limitations et recognizing the boundaries of what one can achieve.

Figure 2: Balance Between Purpose and Profit: Key Themes

Organizational Strategies: A Complex Balancing Act

The theme of organizational strategies emerged as particularly complex, especially for for-profit social enterprises (SEs). Two key sub-themes were identified:

• Strategies for achieving financial viability
• Strategies for nurturing social purpose

The second theme—nurturing social purpose—was especially prominent among for-profit SEs. Without deliberate attention to their mission, these enterprises risk mission drift, where the pursuit of financially sustaining contracts leads them away from their core values and purpose.

To avoid this, founders described a range of granular strategies for staying true to their social commitments. They emphasized the importance of remaining focused on their mission by intentionally selecting contracts and activities that align with their values, and declining those that do not—even when those opportunities are financially attractive.

This often means making difficult decisions. Turning down a lucrative contract or high-profile opportunity can be daunting, especially when the next paycheck is uncertain. Yet, founders recognize that frantic pursuit of revenue can blur their focus on social purpose. To stay aligned, they engage in ongoing reflection to ensure their actions remain consistent with their mission and values.

To maintain financial viability while staying true to their purpose, founders rely on several key strategies:

• Building a core, trusted client base
• Focusing on relational marketing rather than cold outreach
• Taking on “vanilla projects”—contracts that cover operational costs but don’t necessarily advance their systems-change goals

The term “vanilla projects” captures the tension between financial necessity and social ambition. These projects are practical and necessary, but they don’t push the boundaries of innovation or impact.

This tension is summed up by one research participant who described their experience as “persevering with a terrible business model.” For more radically oriented for-profit SEs, the ultimate goal is not growth, but sustainability—or even to eliminate the need for their services altogether. This stands in stark contrast to conventional business models, which aim to sustain demand to ensure profitability.

Such a mindset makes these “disruptive social enterprises” (Lionais, 2015) less attractive to traditional investors and less likely to generate significant financial returns—hence the label of a “terrible business model.”

A powerful metaphor for this balancing act comes from yoga: maintaining a balancing pose requires alignment, a strong core, and continuous, intentional adjustments. Social enterprise founders engage in a similar practice—staying aligned with their mission, making thoughtful decisions, and strengthening the “core muscles” of their organization: their values. These values are essential to sustaining the delicate balance between purpose and profit.

Figure 3: Core Values

Data Party #2 Research Poetry Writing with Project Participants

During our second data party session, we came together with research participants to collectively review emerging themes. We had 8 participants joining us. Focusing on data sets coded to ‘Motivations’ et ‘Finding Balance Between Purpose and Profit’ we collectively reviewed the emerging themes and even wrote some research poetry!

The themes related to the tricky balancing act between profit and purpose resonated deeply:

Challenging the Norm: Identity and Validation in Social Entrepreneurship

Participants shared how validating it was to see a shared recognition of how poorly conventional entrepreneurship training serves social entrepreneurs. The constant struggle to balance two often conflicting goals—profit and purpose—is closely tied to the identity struggles many SE founders experience.

One of the questions that surfaced was:

“Am I really an entrepreneur if I’m not motivated by profit?”

This question reflects the internal conflict many SE founders face. However, reviewing the data collectively reassured participants that it’s not only acceptable—but necessary—to carve their own path. What sets SEs apart is a unique blend of perseverance and purpose, as one participant put it:

“If I see a need, I can find a way.”

A quote that resonated deeply during the data party was:

“It’s a terrible business model…”

This statement captures the tension SE founders feel when trying to fit into a conventional “business as usual” framework. Within the current system, the SE model is often seen as “bad” because its ultimate goal is to minimize or eliminate the very need it addresses. Unlike traditional businesses that sustain or create demand, SEs aim to build capacity and reduce dependency.

Staying true to this so-called “terrible business model” comes with real financial consequences. It demands constant attention to existential questions like:

“How do we remain a social enterprise without becoming just an enterprise?”

“How do we uphold our social commitments without compromising financial viability?”

These questions are especially painful for for-profit SE founders, who often feel pressured to compete with non-profits for funding rather than collaborate with them on shared goals. In contrast, non-profit SEs may benefit from making conversations about revenue generation more acceptable and normalized.

Importantly, SE founders do not reject the lessons of conventional business models. Instead, they set firm boundaries as they grow in confidence and deepen their knowledge—choosing what to adopt and what to resist in order to stay aligned with their mission.

Founders know that, despite their struggles, they are legitimate entrepreneurs. They emphasize that there’s a lot to be learned from the business community, but they will use this knowledge in a way that aligns with, and honours SE core values, capacities, and commitments. Despite not fitting the conventional mold, SE founders know: they represent sustainable futures!

Our conversation reached its peak on the shared agreement that it is important to have spaces that bring founders together based on the shared ideas and values, rather than organizational structures.

Research Poetry

To inspire social enterprise (SE) founders and their allies into action, we share a selection of research poetry crafted during our Data Party. Also known as poetic transcription, this approach represents an artistic engagement with qualitative data. It involves arranging direct quotes from interview transcripts into poetic form, with attention to repetition, rhythm, and emotional resonance, to amplify the voices and lived experiences of participants.

For this activity, participants were provided with fully anonymized transcript excerpts, organized by sub-themes within the broader theme of “Nurturing Social Purpose.”

Each participant was invited to focus on one sub-theme and create a poetic response. These responses took one of two forms:

• Poems composed entirely of direct quotes from the transcripts
• Free-form poetry inspired by and responding to the quotes

This creative process allowed participants to engage deeply with the data—gaining a sense of intimacy, validation, and solidarity with the experiences shared by fellow SE founders.

Below are selected poems that incorporate direct quotes from anonymized transcripts:

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Research Team:

• Dr. Julia Fursova, Research Lead, School of Leadership Studies, UNB
• Ryca McCullough, BPhil., Data Collection
• Ellie Petersen, BPhil., Data Collection and Analysis
• Hillary Russell, BPhil., Knowledge Mobilization