Case Name :      Child in Need Institute: Non-Profit or Hybrid?

Authors :           Anjan Ghosh, Sougata Ray, Indranil Biswas

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W13228

Discipline :        General Management

Case Length :    20 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

In February 2009, the additional director at the Child In Need Institute (CINI) received the most challenging assignment that CINI’s board of governors had ever given him – to prepare a comprehensive proposal recommending whether the organization should continue as a non-government organization (NGO) driven primarily by donations and grants, or should venture into social business. He had a month to give his recommendations. CINI was a reputable 37-year-old NGO from Kolkata (Calcutta), India, with a mission of “sustainable development in education, protection, health and nutrition of child, adolescent and woman in need.” Over the years, CINI had fought child malnutrition through health clinics and educating mothers, and had provided shelters and a path to betterment for street children. Despite recognition at CINI that donor funding was becoming scarce, any proposed social business was controversial because it ran the risk of alienating existing donors and replacing CINI’s existing purpose with a profit motive. This case has global relevance, as the challenges that CINI met in 2009 are faced by thousands of social enterprises across the world.