From existence to survival: evaluating sustainability factors in a new social entrepreneurship venture

It is uncommon to have a 'start-up' in entrepreneurship documented and critically evaluated while still a fledgling. This is even less likely to occur when a venture into social entrepreneurship has come into existence and is growing to the survival stage (Churchill and Lewis 1983). Such an occurrence and the associated transition forms the topic of this paper. Where people congregate together in a given community or community of interest, it is a truism that there is no shortage of good ideas. But the non-profit sector in Australia has traditionally paid scant attention to sustainability. It has also relied heavily upon a culture of fundraising to support whatever form a single good idea takes. Now that a model exists to give a more certain functional structure to a social entrepreneurship venture (Gillin, 2006), it is possible to identify a genuine social entrepreneur and goodwill support team, and cluster of support processes to grow a venture from its inception. The social venture of this study is a membership organization, raising the consciousness of diverse sectoral interests of change for the better which can occur at the grass roots in the community. It provides interactive information across a spectrum of usefulness; and sees itself in a secondary role to the primary role of existing social enterprises and future partnerships.