From Human Services to “Justice Enterprises”: Reframing the Market-Mission Tension in U.S. Organizations Serving Survivors of Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Abstract

Nonprofits must navigate a unique tension—meeting the financial demands of the market while pursuing a social mission. As a result, market and mission concerns are often framed in a competitive, dualistic relationship. However, organizational communication scholars argue that the mission-market tension is a natural, even ontologically defining feature of nonprofits. Thus, rather than seek to resolve these tensions, scholars should examine how organizational members construct the market-mission relationship, as these understandings are essential to strategically navigating market-mission concerns. This study examines how organizational members construct the market-mission relationship at 18 organizations that serve survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, 15 of which operate social enterprises. The findings indicate that organizations frame “the market is the mission but much more,” positioning mission and market in a synergistic relationship that births creative possibility and organizational third space. This article charts the local-level tensions organizational members experience, identifying how they are discursively framed and pragmatically navigated.