RurAL CAP: Developing a Social Enterprise to Support Housing Across Rural Alaska

It is March 2023 and Jasmine Boyle, chief development officer of Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP), has been tapped to lead the development of a new social enterprise. The board of RurAL CAP, a statewide non-profit organization focused on improving opportunities for Alaskans experiencing poverty, is keen to pilot this new enterprise as a novel approach to addressing inequities in safe housing and affordable energy in rural, indigenous communities. The new for-profit social enterprise would provide access to energy-efficient improvements and technologies for individual homes and businesses, including those owned by Alaska Natives in rural communities.

To successfully launch this new enterprise, Boyle recognized the importance of accounting for the uniqueness of Alaska’s geography, history, and culture. While she could leverage RurAL CAP’s expertise in weatherization and its experience with a for-profit enterprise, Boyle also realized that a fee-for-service model would require capabilities and skills that the organization did not possess.

• Assess the economic, social, environmental, and infrastructure opportunities and challenges in providing services to isolated and indigenous communities, such as in rural Alaska.
• Analyze and respond to challenges in achieving housing and energy equity, particularly in a context where income and access are constrained.
• Recognize and evaluate key strategic decisions for organizations seeking to create a new social enterprise, including the balance between leveraging existing skills and capabilities and creating new ones and the tension between business performance and social impact objectives.
• Assess the role of governmental- and nongovernmental-subsidized support in improving housing for disadvantaged communities, such as in low-income, indigenous rural Alaska.
• Apply the key themes and learnings from this case to other organizations, situations, and geographies.