For some organizations, the social-conscience component of their business plans is treated more like a sideline than a core competency, but an Ottawa-based software company is trying to change that perception with the publication of its whitepaper on how to become a For Profit Social Enterprise (FOPSE).
So what is a FOPSE exactly? It’s an organization that singles out its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the organizational platform.
“For-profit companies are pretty good in managing and doing things because you obviously have a very well-defined objective and the fact that you want to make a profit, that’s your target; you become pretty good at that,” said Manuel Pietra, president and CEO of FreeBalance (
www.freebalance.com), the public financial software company that penned the report.
FOPSE takes what companies generally do best – strive for profit – and channel that capability into CSR. “If you take an organization that has all those disciplines in place and now you restructure the organization to realign themselves, working for the customer backwards, then you’re going to see that if it takes CSR as a core responsibility, they will be pretty good at executing on that,” Pietra said.
It’s a mandate that has been working for FreeBalance, which does business in 18 countries around the world, including developing countries like Kosovo, Afghanistan and Timor. “We’re concerned about effecting change and having an impact in each of the countries that we’re doing business,” said Matthew Olivier, director of global marketing and alliances and FreeBalance.
FreeBalance employs a triple bottom line reporting structure, assessing its productivity by looking at profit, people and its impact on the planet. This is an approach Olivier believes other organizations strive for, but find challenging to achieve. “I think many are trying… struggling with how to align their company and their business plan to match that objective,” Olivier explained.
