logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

The Indigo Hippo: Resourcing Art from a Nonprofit Social Enterprise Base

Ruth McCambridge
December 21, 2016
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

paint-recycled-goods

December 17, 2016; WCPO (Cincinnati, OH)

Over the last five years or so, NPQ has written about various forms of community social enterprise that either started as nonprofits and built earned revenue business models for support, or started as for-profits but found they were more suited to some of the aspects of nonprofithood. Among them, we’ve seen a lot of independent bookstores, at least one video store, and a few legal services groups. Most shared the element of belonging to a community that longs for enrichment.

In Cincinnati, Ohio, for instance, a small storefront holds the innovative nonprofit Indigo Hippo shop, which recycles gently used or unused art supplies. Up until now, it has functioned as something of an art thrift shop, which in and of itself is a great idea. But going forward, it will take the idea one step further by initiating a pay-what-you-can policy.

This very small social enterprise strikes us as a particularly brilliant way to encourage and support young artists, and it provides yet another model for business that encourages both community well-being and environmental sustainability.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

When we see an effort like this, we think about the interview we did with Douglas Rushkoff early this year in which he said:

I think that the nonprofit sector in particular is perfectly situated to help us transition to a different economic landscape. You know, most nonprofits think of themselves as doing something good, but what I want to try to make them more aware of is that the nonprofit structure itself, the way the business is actually structured, may be doing more good than whatever their particular business is.

And that’s sort of my basic premise—while the public looks at nonprofits as do-gooders, I’m looking at the structure of nonprofits and not-for-profit corporations as business entities. Because they’re not for sale, because they’re not shareholder- or share value–maximizing companies, what they end up doing is promoting revenue and the exchange of value and the circulation of money, which revives a whole economy rather than enriching the few.

He goes on to suggest that with the use of technology such businesses could be horizontally linked to create scale in the creation of alternate and more pluralistically owned and less extractive “business” ventures.

—Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: environmental sustainabilityInnovationNonprofit NewsSocial Enterprise

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Want Effective Stakeholder Governance? Say Hello to Social Cooperatives
J. Howard Kucher
Rethinking Our Supply Chains for Greater Social Impact
Vicki Pozzebon
How to Think about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: A Primer
Etta Jackson
Building an Equitable Post-COVID World: Social Enterprise Lessons from Africa
Janelle A. Kerlin and Owen Dowsett
Impact Investing Is Ubiquitous, but Where’s the Impact?
Steve Dubb
Reconciling the Past May Be the Only Way to a Sustainable Future
Trisha Kehaulani Watson-Sproat

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Want Effective Stakeholder Governance? Say Hello to Social...
J. Howard Kucher
Rethinking Our Supply Chains for Greater Social Impact
Vicki Pozzebon
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.