Do Nonprofit and For-Profit Social Enterprises Differ in Financing?

This study is an empirical investigation of the survey data from 109 social enterprises, nonprofit and forprofit, in Illinois, the USA. We compare sources of startup funding and revenues of social enterprises by the organizational form. Findings reveal that nonprofit social enterprises do not significantly differ from their for-profit counterparts in sources of startup funding. But the types of revenues differ by the organizational form of social enterprises. Nonprofit social enterprises are more likely to rely on foundation grants and government grants as their primary sources of revenue, while for-profit social enterprises are more likely to rely on revenues through sales.