This case examines major challenges faced by Ten Thousand Villages Canada in 2013, in the aftermath of the 2007-08 global financial crisis. Ten Thousand Villages is one of the oldest fair trade organizations in North America, its history stretching back to the sale of crafts from overseas in 1946. The case narrative begins with an overview of Ten Thousand Villages (history, producer partnerships, Canadian operations), then introduces the financial challenges facing the organization in 2013. Told from the perspective of a senior manager who must develop a plan to save the organization from impending bankruptcy by reaching the break-even point within twelve months, the case lends itself to a discussion of how the company can be saved and whether the steps taken by Ten Thousand Villages (as explained in the teaching notes) will ensure its survival. By studying this case, students are expected to gain an in-depth understanding of the real-life challenges faced by social enterprises seeking to balance the pursuit of their social missions with long-term financial sustainability.

Describes the collaboration between Junior Achievement Argentina and Coca-Cola Argentina and the development and implementation process of a customized educational program focused on environmental issues implemented at schools by Junior Achievement Argentina. Junior Achievement Argentina is exploring the possibility of exporting the program to other countries to generate additional revenues, but there is an exclusivity agreement with Coca-Cola Argentina for program delivery. Allows for the analysis of collaborations between NGOs and private companies, where "customized" educational projects help to meet the companies' strategic needs. Also, describes the joint work process involved, while tackling the "ownership" issues that crop up in programs developed and financed by a single company, and explores how to balance the needs and interests of private companies and NGOs.

McKinsey is an international consulting company that operates in 43 countries. Fundacion Compromiso is an nonprofit entity that provides training, counseling, and technical assistance to improve the management and impact of other nonprofit entities of Argentina. A third organization, Ashoka Association, supports social entrepreneurs and has a global alliance with McKinsey. Ashoka's intermediation is responsible for a cooperation program through which McKinsey applies its central skills to provide technical assistance to Fundacion Compromiso. The objectives of this activity are to evaluate one of Fundacion Compromiso's most important programs and establish a long-term growth strategy for this nonprofit entity. However, following the technical assistance work developed by McKinsey is a dramatic change in Argentina's social, political, and economic situations, which limit the agreed-on strategic plan, forcing Fundacion Compromiso to reconsider its growth strategy.

Autopistas del Sol (AUSOL) was a company that had originated in a partnership constituted in 1994, when it was selected, through a public bidding process, to build and manage two of the main highways in the city of Buenos Aires. The SES Foundation was a nonprofit organization informally founded in 1998 and created by a group of professionals focused on developing informal educational programs for the social integration of poor youngsters. One of its outstanding programs was Community Study Groups (CSG), an initiative it carried out with AUSOL to boost schooling in two of the neighborhoods surrounding one AUSOL-managed highway. The case takes place in late 2001, a few months before the onset of the crisis that impacted Argentina. Focuses on the potential changes and risks entailed for the CSG program by AUSOL's decision to try to look for other sponsoring companies for the program. Although this strategy aimed to ensure program continuity, it also brought about a series of dilemmas for both organizations.

La Nacion was one of the oldest and most prestigious newspapers in Argentina. The Red Solidaria (Solidarity Network) was a volunteer organization founded in 1995 that had succeeded in using mass media to raise funds for various institutions and individuals who needed high-cost medical treatments abroad. Describes the relationship of a news reporting company, traditionally responsive to public welfare and community issues, and a volunteer organization that had engineered new community awareness mechanisms to respond to urgent family or individual needs. The founder of Red Solidaria gradually built ties with various sectors at La Nacion to develop several news "products," which eventually led to a joint venture: the solidarity ads, published daily on the back of the newspaper's classified ads section. NGOs used the new ads to request donations, and individuals used them to offer volunteer work.