Nonprofit organizations across Greater Hartford face increased demand for services, while they struggle to raise sufficient funds. Several local organizations are proactively meeting this challenge through social enterprise: selling a product or service that complements their mission and supports the financial sustainability of the organization. This self-supporting approach to revenue generation is new to many nonprofits in Greater Hartford. In response, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and its Nonprofit Support Program (NSP) launched the Social Enterprise Accelerator, designed to help organizations expand beyond traditional grants and donations. The Foundation has created a matching challenge: for every dollar of start-up capital raised by the nonprofits in the current group, the Foundation will match dollar for dollar, up to 50 percent of each organization’s goal, not to exceed $30,000.
