In the last year or so, "social franchising" has been the subject of study and discussion in academic circles. At the International Society of Franchising’s 27th Annual Conference, the subject of social franchising was discussed in two presentations, one by Elizabeth Crawford Spencer, an associate professor at Australia’s Bond University,1 and the other by Benjamin Litalien,2 an assistant adjunct professor at the University of Maryland.
Litalien’s presentation examined several situations where he and others have used what they call "social franchising" to achieve their clients’ goals, which are of an educational, religious, charitable, scientific, or literary nature, or otherwise intended to improve the world we live in. While the term social franchising is difficult to define, it applies to organizations and entities, such as nonprofits, in existence to achieve social benefits, not purely commercial profit. It is advantageous to nonprofits because it allows for a licensor-licensee relationship rather than creating a governance structure over local chapters that could expose it to third-party liability.
