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Download five free books by Jerr Boschee

Institute Executive Director Jerr Boschee has been an advisor to social entrepreneurs in the United States and elsewhere for more than 40 years.  He has delivered keynote speeches or conducted master classes in 43 states and 21 countries.
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Chapters in The Social Enterprise Sourcebook

Jerr Boschee’s Sourcebook (published in 2001) contains journalistic profiles of 14 nonprofits that successfully started social enterprises, including candid comments by their senior managers about what they did wrong along the way.

To download free copies of each chapter, please click on the case.

Case 1: "We ran out of cash..."

Pillsbury United Communities, Minneapolis/St. Paul

How Tony Wagner survived the failure of two businesses -- but succeeded with a third

Case 2: The demilitarized zone

St. Vincent DePaul Rehabilitation Service, Inc. in Portland, Oregon

How Roy Soards survived the culture wars

Case 3: The readiness is all Road to Responsibility, Inc.

Marshfield, Massachusetts

How Rick Walker turned his stakeholders into risk-takers (and created seven small businesses, with more to come)

Case 4: Buyer beware

Bobby Dodd Industries
Atlanta

How Barbara Massey escaped from a franchising nightmare
-- and formed a partnership that works

Case 5: "$36 an hour!"

Skookum Abatement Services, Inc.
Port Townsend, Washington

How Jim Westall helps former welfare recipients earn annual salaries of $70,000 or more

Case 6: "Power comes from below..."

Esperanza Unida
Milwaukee

How Richard Oulahan put his trust in the people he serves
and started more than a dozen businesses

Case 7: "She was fiercely independent..."

Applied Industries, Inc.
Longview, Washington

How Dale Novotny's company grew without ever
taking any money from grantmakers or the government

Case 8: "We were sunk..."

UDAC Inc.
Duluth, Minnesota

How Bobbie Lenz and her team recovered when their anchor customer disappeared

Case 9: Culture clash

Chrysalis
Los Angeles

How everything changed when Dave McDonough started hiring people who knew what they were doing

Case 10: "Against all odds..."

Binding Together, Inc.
New York city

How Vince Poppiti runs a successful business despite losing all his employees every six months. Please note that Binding Together closed its doors because of financial difficulties in 2009. But the parent organization has since launched a new company, Workforce Enterprises, that uses the same training program model and partners with nonprofits and employers to train and place the same types of clients.

Case 11: Something had to be done...

Provident Counseling, Inc.
St. Louis

How Kathleen Buescher saved one business by starting another

Case 12: When Ben met Bernie...

Greyston Bakery
Yonkers, New York

How a Zen Buddhist priest married spirituality with social action and forged a partnership with a major corporation

Case 13: "One truck at a time..."

Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, Inc.
Durham, North Carolina

How Kevin McDonald built an interstate trucking company
by employing ex-cons and recovering drug addicts

Case 14: Farewell to the "client worker"

Gulf Coast Enterprises
Pensacola, Florida

How Rich Gilmartin converted a sheltered workshop into a $30 million business

The Institute for Social Entrepreneurs • 443 Ridgelawn Trail • Batavia, Illinois 60510 • United States of America Phone: +01-630-326-9527 • [email protected]