How Social Profit Orientation Amplifies Our Impact
In recent years, the concept of social profit orientation (SPO) has emerged as a way for businesses and nonprofit organizations to better align their strategies for societal well being. Related to the ideas of creating shared value and maintaining strong ESG (Environmental, Governance and Social) practices, SGO emphasizes building value beyond financial gain by addressing social issues and generating long-term benefits for communities.
For Thompson, SPO resonates strongly with our mission of supporting children and families through education, mental health services, and partnerships. By prioritizing social impact, we can drive more meaningful, lasting change.
Why social profit orientation matters
Social profit orientation shifts the organizational mindset from focusing solely on financial metrics to prioritizing social outcomes. While it may seem obvious that a nonprofit adheres to such a mindset, the reality is that organizations such as ours must also practice fiscal responsibility in order to have the funding to complete the work that we do. Taking an SPO mindset facilitates striking the right balance between financials and community impact, in the same way forward-thinking for-profit enterprises balance profit with creating long-lasting positive effects on the world at large.
Thompson’s mission and social profit
Part of successfully engaging SPO is tying the core tenets of the mindset directly into our mission and vision statements.
Our Mission: Thompson is called to serve children and families through healing, teaching, worship, and play.
Our Vision: To ensure All Children Healthy, All Families Thriving, All Communities Strong.
Aligning SPO at the highest level helps us to engage in activities on a daily basis that actively address societal challenges, such as child abuse, neglect, and trauma, which lead to better life outcomes for vulnerable populations.
Our holistic, evidence-based approach to changing lives is a model for social profit orientation in action.
Collaboration and innovation drive SPO
A key aspect of successfully integrating social profit orientation into organizational outputs is to foster collaboration with adjacent entities. Thompson partners with schools and a variety of community bodies to amplify our reach and impact.
Working together is crucial for sustainable change, as combining expertise and resources is the fastest path to finding solutions to complex social issues.
Programs that embody social profit
Thompson delivers a wide range of services aimed at transforming the lives of our most vulnerable neighbors. A few examples of the comprehensive, evidence-based programs that promote social profit by increasing overall well-being and resilience in the communities we serve include:
- Foster care
- Mental health services
- Family support and stability
- Residential treatment and crisis stabilization
SPO and community trust
Social profit orientation builds trust within communities as it highlights how deeply invested organizations like Thompson are in seeking long-term welfare over short-term gains. For over 140 years, Thompson’s presence in the community has contributed to our trusted reputation.
Our commitment to transparency, measurable outcomes, and continuous improvement continues to reinforce this trust.
SPO is the future of nonprofit work
Taking a forward-thinking approach is vital for all nonprofits, as this keeps our focus on systemic change rather than temporary fixes. And given that SPO principles call for measurement of and accountability for outputs, Thompson is able to adapt our efforts to be even more effective, with the data to prove this impact and drive our funding efforts.
Thompson is committed to refining our services to ensure they provide the maximum social benefit. In this way, we are a model for other organizations to amplify their impact.
Our legacy of change depends on social profit orientation
Thompson exemplifies social profit orientation through our transformative programs, long-term community commitment, and partnerships. We hope our focus on social value leads other businesses and organizations to do the same, because together we can accomplish deeper, more meaningful change.