To Be or Not to Be (a Security): Funding For-Profit Social Enterprises
Regent University Law Review, Vol. 25, 2013
University of Tennessee Legal Studies Research Paper No. 211
30 Pages Posted: 26 Apr 2013 Last revised: 12 Jun 2013
Date Written: April 1, 2013
Abstract
This article explores the federal securities law status of financial interests in for-profit social enterprise entities. When analyzed through the lens of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, financial interests in social enterprise businesses raise both concerns and opportunities. Ultimately, the federal securities regulation status of interests in for-profit social enterprise ventures is important for choice-of-entity reasons (since the regulatory framework may impose different costs on interests in different structural business forms), for capital-structuring reasons within individual forms of entity, and for risk-management reasons at the entity level. In addition, an inquiry into the applicability of federal securities regulation to the funding of social enterprise serves as a catalyst for further thought on the optimal applicability of federal securities regulation to interests in business entities and projects.
Keywords: social enterprise, securities regulation, for-profit entity, corporate finance
JEL Classification: G10, G18, G30, G32, K22, L30, M10, M13, M14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation