Sometime in summer while surfing channels (for that is the only time I get to watch TV) I came across a CNN feature on Give Water. Each bottle has a colorful label, each donating the money to a cause (there are four in all).
Almost parallel thoughts ran through my head which look at it from another angle. Bottles made of plastic, thousands of them being sold for a cause. When I asked Sasha what he felt about the issue, he too echoed similar concerns saying that there’s no right answer.
Tree Hugger on the other hand had blogged a little more vociferously about another similar initiative called H to O where they say how getting water from the glaciers and then selling them in plastic bottles (even if 100% of it goes to feed hunger) isn’t very treehuggerly.
Coming to the point, social enterprises (especially) mostly come up as trying to find a solution to an existing problem and then deliver value to customers. That’s how they roll. A niche within this niche are enterprises that use charity as a business model, where the product isn’t really the thing that’s being marketed, rather its the cause, the story associated with it. Now when you’re thinking of a business model, will you take the impact your actions are having on the environment?
Another way of asking the question is, we all talk about sustainable growth, so where does this fit in? Yet another way of asking the question can be, is there any way to achieve pure sustainable growth (probably not), so in that case, how far are you willing to compromise?
(I would like to make a disclaimer that I did mail Give asking them about the material which they used to make their bottles and am awaiting their reply).
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hey Rishabh,
1) The feeling I got from your post is that you are looking at Sustainability purely from revenue/business model stand point. Sustainability as I see has relevance beyond it in terms of processes.
2) I think charity is as sustainable as any other business model. I feel it is up to the organization to decide what fits into their model and what expertise do they possess. I strongly reject the theory that for-profit/revenue generating ventures are only sustainable. There are umpteen number of organizations doing brilliant work on charity. So it's a strategic decision on which model to choose than an answer to sustainability. Both of them are sustainable
Cheers,
Keeki