Strategic piggybacking--a self-subsidization strategy for nonprofit institutions

Nonprofit institutions often find that their socially worthwhile primary missions generate deficits. The author proposes a strategy for funding these shortfalls that is a synthesis of the specialization and diversified portfolio strategies. Following the method of strategic piggybacking, an organization should acquire or develop a business that is new for the institution and that may be unrelated to the institution's primary mission. The purpose of this new activity is to subsidize, at least in part, the deficit-producing primary mission.