Democracy and Civil Society in Latin America and the Caribbean in a Time of Change

Abstract

This paper examines managerial practices adopted by a sample of nonprofit corporations supported by United Way in Puerto Rico, including organizations that operate a social enterprise or are considering doing so. Aspects related to marketization such as motivations for, challenges of, and results from establishing a social venture as well as human resources strategies adopted are described and compared to those reported on the Social Enterprise: A Portrait of the Field study published in 2010. Findings reflect many similarities between local parent organizations and their social enterprises and their counterparts in the US and Canada. Also, while marketization practices are seen by some as a threat that may lead to mission breach, from the perspective of local practitioners it is quite the opposite. A majority of practitioners view the adoption of market practices as an opportunity to garner the resources to assure the continuity of operations and achievement of the social mission. On the other hand, human resources related issues such as volunteer and board of directors' engagement seem to pose challenges or concerns for nonprofit administrators in their process of rethinking themselves for achieving financial sustainability.