Red Oak Industries is a social enterprise. It is driven to fulfill a social mission. It does business for a social purpose. For Red Oak Industries, the business is commercial cleaning and the mission is creating jobs for people with disabilities.
Like many other social enterprises, Red Oak Industries strives to minimize environmental impact. This leads to what the business world calls a “triple bottom line”: profit, social mission, and environmental impact. This triple bottom line is reflected in our slogan:
A Different Kind of Company
- Kind to Our Customers
- Kind to Our Employees
- Kind to Our Environment
Like other social enterprises, Red Oak Industries is a not-for-profit (NFP) entity. There is a common misconception that an NFP business or agency cannot generate a profit. While it is true that many NFPs rely upon a combination of grants, donations, or subsidies, there is nothing that prevents them from showing a profit. Conversely, a for-profit (FP) business may not show a profit at all. The difference between an NFP and a FP business lies primarily in what they can do with their profits.
An FP business can reinvest profits in itself, but can also distribute profits to its stakeholders. Indeed, the primary purpose of a traditional FP business is to increase stakeholder wealth. An NFP business does not have any legal ownership (a board of directors can act as stewards of the business, but do not have actual ownership) and therefore cannot increase their wealth. Instead, net profits from an NFP business must go back in to the business.
Therefore, most social enterprises operate as competitive businesses, out in the marketplace, trading goods and services for the purpose of serving a social mission.
Spending money with a social enterprise that offers quality goods and services, protects the environment, AND performs a social good, seems like a vote well cast.
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