Page 63 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

After World War II, the work of public benefit organizations evolved in response to shifting
economic and social conditions. Their focus moved beyond labor exploitation and poverty in

certain countries to broader issues such as food insecurity and the environmental consequences
of climate change, hereafter referred to as “global warming” or “a boiling planet.”

Today, private nonprofit organizations (NGOs) play an increasingly prominent role in advancing
the public good. For example, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), founded in 1961, focuses
on wildlife conservation in response to climate change. Greenpeace, founded in 1971 by activists
protesting nuclear weapons testing off the coast of Alaska, later redirected its mission toward
environmental advocacy. Notably, Greenpeace operates on public donations rather than
government funding. During this period, philanthropic foundations also began engaging in

activities that produced social development outcomes through a practice known as impact
investing. Leading examples include the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, which
not only supported developing countries through scholarships but also advanced science and
technology by funding research. By the late 1980s, the concept of social enterprise emerged,
rooted in the idea of social entrepreneurship. One of its early pioneers, Bill Drayton, founded
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that sought to identify and
support leading social entrepreneurs (see Chapter 4). Around the same time, academic debates
increasingly emphasized the notion that businesses should bear social responsibility.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern hemisphere, Muhammad Yunus, a university professor in Bangladesh,
launched a pilot program to empower the poor by creating a bank that offered microloans
managed by low-income individuals. This initiative gave rise to the concept of social business.
Over time, the model gained traction and received support from various governments, including
the United Kingdom’s legal recognition of Community Interest Companies (CICs) and the United
States’ designation of Public Benefit Corporations (PBCs) (see further details in the following
chapter).

As social-purpose organizations expanded their operations across borders, their numbers rose
1
significantly, from around 6,000 in 1990 to over 26,000 by 2002 (Yearbook of International
Organizations, cited in Davis 2002). To maintain financial stability and support their affiliated
branches, particularly those working with vulnerable populations lacking access to resources,
nonprofit and public benefit organizations in the West increasingly sought to generate their own
income. This shift aimed to improve liquidity and help these organizations evolve into sustainable
social enterprises.

1 According to the Yearbook of International Organizations, 59th edition, which compiled data in 2021 (B.E. 2564),
there were a total of 75,277 transnational social organizations, an increase from 26,000 organizations in 2002 (B.E.
2545).
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