Degree Name

MA in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

First Advisor

Aqeel Tirmizi

Abstract

Union Kitchen, a Certified B Corp and socially driven organization, is a cluster of integrated food businesses, connecting silos of the food system to create a profitable platform for local and regional businesses to thrive in Washington, D.C. Leslie Crutchfield and Heather Grant’s Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, suggests six practices, namely Advocate and Serve, Make Markets Work, Inspire Evangelists, Nurture Nonprofit Networks, Master the Art of Adaptation, and Share Leadership, as the keys to success of the most impactful nonprofits (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012). While Union Kitchen is not a nonprofit, as a Certified B Corp, there is a strong social sector emphasis in its work. The analysis below uses Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits as a measurement tool to analyze the success of Union Kitchen, as well as shine light on where the organization can stand for improvement.

The research conducted for this CLC Capstone will be tied to Aqeel Tirmizi’s Leading and Managing Social Sector Organizations course. Inquiry methods used to conduct this research include observations, organizational data, and the researcher’s institutional knowledge. Support for observations, analysis, critiques, and recommendations for Union Kitchen, will come from internet resources, periodicals, and articles. To provide comparisons and contrast, other businesses will be looked at as examples to support findings.

The results of this study suggest that, while Union Kitchen has been highly successful in its first four years in business due to an innovative model, willingness to take risks, and an impressive history of growth, it will need to continue to innovate, spend more time planning, and solidify a clear direction in which the organization is heading in, in order to not get crushed by the weight of scaling.

Disciplines

Benefits and Compensation | Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Business and Corporate Communications | Business Intelligence | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Human Resources Management | Performance Management | Training and Development

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