ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a particular development that has accompanied the growth of social enterprise in the United States and Europe: the creation of alternative organizational forms intended to be more hospitable to their dual aims than traditional for-profit or nonprofit ones. It begins by situating these efforts in the legal context of United States (US) and European law. The chapter compares several quite different new organizational forms launched in a variety of jurisdictions. It assesses how much support forms like these can provide to social enterprises and offers suggestions for reform. In the US, organizations pursuing a social mission are frequently established as nonprofits. The first specialized form for social enterprise developed in the United States was the low-profit limited liability company. Businesses pursue social and environmental goals in different ways, depending on their size, orientation and public exposure. European social cooperatives tend to be focused on traditional charitable work rather than innovating new business ideas.
