Making Waves

Making Waves

63

A Caribbean Social Innovation Guide

Choose Your Path Step 5 How should you move forward?

03 . The Caribbean Social Innovator’s Guide

Things to Consider Imagine that your idea is beginning to gain momentum. People are encouraging you to “make it official.” Choosing the right organisational path is about more than registration. It can influence how you raise funds, manage your finances, make decisions, manage risk and sustain your social mission over time.

Across most Caribbean countries, there is no single legal structure called a “social enterprise” (although Jamaica has taken important steps towards formally recognising social enterprises). Instead, you will need to choose the organisational model that best fits your purpose, how you plan to sustain your work and the type of support or funding you hope to access. Does your idea need to become an organisation? Could it remain a community initiative? Would a charity, cooperative, company or social enterprise model work best? There is no single correct path. Social innovators work in many different ways. Some volunteer their time. Some build businesses that create both social impact and income. Others work through charities, cooperatives, community groups or partnerships. You may even find that your approach evolves as your idea grows. The important thing is to choose a path that allows you to create the impact you want while remaining realistic about your time, resources and long-term goals.

Here are some options that you might explore:

Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) / Charity

PRIMARY REVENUE SOURCE Government subventions & contracts; Philanthropic trusts & endowments; International grants; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) donations; Public fundraising. PROS Tax-exempt status; high public trust; eligible for institutional subventions, major trust endowments, and international multilateral funding. CONS / CONSTRAINTS Legally prohibited from distributing profits to directors; vulnerable to “overhead starvation” if grants restrict administrative expenses.