Giving Compass' Take:

• Stanford Social Innovation Review examines three business structures that let social enterprises scale without sacrificing purpose: perpetual purpose trusts, worker co-ops and benefit corporations.

• How are we working to support these models through investment and strategy? How can we best protect our missions while still seeking financial results?

• Here's why focusing on impact investing is the future of philanthropy.

Many a social enterprise leader has asked themselves: If I take on equity investors, will I have to fight to preserve my company’s mission? If I have to sell my company to a larger enterprise to provide an exit for investors, will I be selling out that mission? Do I have to stay small to stay loyal to my founding purpose? If I grow the company on my own, how can I ensure a mission-preserving succession?

For many growing, purpose-driven ventures, these questions are hardly theoretical: The choice between liquidity for the business or for owners on the one hand, and loyalty to a social or environmental mission on the other, is as real as it is problematic. And the stakes in addressing this conundrum go much deeper than the concerns of individual companies.

The current corporate code, particularly in the United States, dictates that directors act in the best interests of the company and all of its shareholders. This notion of maximizing shareholder value as the ultimate goal of a corporation has laid the groundwork for the immense growth of wealth over the past 150 years, but it comes at a steep cost. Today we find ourselves in an extractive global economy—one that is leading to ever-increasing inequality, rapid depletion of natural resources, potentially irreversible climate change, and enormous social challenges.

Read the full article about how mission and liquity can co-exist in social enterprises by Jasper van Brakel at Stanford Social Innovation Review.