ABSTRACT
Significant changes are occurring in academic institutions and funding agencies that necessitate the need for alternative models for funding psychosocial research. One alternative is to nest research inside fee-for-service clinical practices in a manner that allows for robust research productivity. This chapter outlines one such model, called the “clinical-research social business model”, that utilizes social enterprise concepts in order to support and fund psychosocial research inside a for-profit clinical setting. It also describes how one site has manifested this model, where profits from the income-generating activities of the business serve as a stable, internal funding source for in-house research endeavors. The chapter outlines the advantages of doing research inside a fee-for-service setting, what social enterprise is, and how social enterprise concepts can be implemented to overcome important barriers, and how this model has manifested at one site. Practical advice is provided on implementation as well as considerations provided on how to better organize a business to fund scientific research.
