Self-sustaining grassroots organizations: a real option? The case of Corporación Picacho con Futuro

Abstract

Subject area

Management fundamentals, public management, social responsibility, strategy.

Study level/applicability

This case may be used in undergraduate courses on management fundamentals, public management, social responsibility, or strategy. Also, it is useful for strategy courses in MBA level and MA in development practice.

Case overview

In 1997, Corporación Picacho con Futuro (Picacho), a second-tier community organization created with the support of Fundación Social (FS) at Medellín's Comuna 6, stands at a crossroads. After promoting community development in the area for over ten years, FS announces that it will be withdrawing its financial support in the following year. As a result, self-sustainability mechanisms and strategies must be sought and formulated in preparation for FS' departure. The Corporation's accomplishments over its collaboration with FS were noteworthy: 16 grassroots organizations working together in one of Medellín's most violent districts proved the social fabric woven by Picacho. The young people who engaged in its projects had become examples of cohesion and civil resistance to armed groups' and drug-dealing networks' recruitment efforts. The Corporation's communication projects safeguarded these youths, providing them with a means to escape conflict. Would that all go down the drain without FS' support?

Expected learning outcomes

The intended focus of the case is to help students to understand: third sector organizations' complexity and structure; the notion of social value (how this value is created and measured); sustainability challenges facing social ventures, and, particularly, how to manage tensions between social and economic value creation in social organizations; support ecosystems for social ventures, and management strategies associated with base-of-the-pyramid businesses, introducing the concept of inclusive business.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Citation

Schnarch, D. and Franco, N. (2013), "Self-sustaining grassroots organizations: a real option? The case of Corporación Picacho con Futuro", , Vol. 3 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-04-2013-0040