Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
ISSN
0161-6587
Publisher
Boston College Law School
Language
en-US
Abstract
Social entrepreneurs and socially motivated investors share a belief in the power of social enterprise: ventures that pursue a "double bottom line" of profit and social good. Unfortunately, they also share a deep mutual suspicion. Recognizing that social ventures-just like traditional for-profit and nonprofit enterprises-need capital to flourish, this Article offers a financing tool to transform that skepticism into commitment. Unlike the array of new entities that have emerged in recent years-including L3Cs, benefit corporations, and flexible purpose corporations-the hybrid financial instrument this Article describes provides a robust and transparent solution to the puzzle that lies at the heart of every social enterprise: how to blend a profit motive with a social mission. Recognizing their shared dilemma as an example of what economists call a stag hunt, FLY Paper strikes that elusive balance by allowing investors and entrepreneurs to signal credibly a reciprocal commitment to the pursuit of a double bottom line.
Recommended Citation
Dana Brakman Reiser & Steven Dean,
Hunting Stag with Fly Paper: A Hybrid Financial Instrument for Social Enterprise
,
in
54
Boston College Law Review
1495
(2013).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3408
