BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN SOLIDARITY AND THE MERCANTILE: RISKS AND BENEFITS OF COLLABORATIVE WORK

Abstract

Sustainability is an urgent goal of not-for-profit organizations, a part of the Social Economy sector. The diminishing social intervention of the State and high inequalities in income and a weak civil society perpetuate intense poverty levels. To make sustainability an achievable organizational goal, and supported in a multiple case study, this article proposes that not-for-profits can position themselves as beneficiaries of assets made increasingly more available by mercantile entities, through programs of organizational citizenship. The potential benefits are, however, accompanied by risks that not-for-profits must be prepared to minimize or eliminate. Within this framework, this article seeks to deconstruct the traditional axiomatic schism between the for-profit and non-profit universes and proposes that partnerships between organizations so distinct at their core can be mutually beneficial.