Strategyzer’s Business Model Canvas is a popular tool for developing new business models, made up of nine ‘building blocks’ to be completed that together form the foundation of a business model. Within each of these building blocks there is scope to be creative, and changes in any one of these blocks can have a significant effect.

The Business Model Canvas is designed for the private sector, and this is reflected in the language. A key difference for the humanitarian sector is the need to identify different ‘customers’, which might include communities affected by crises, humanitarian practitioners and/or funders.

Tandemic’s Social Business Model Canvas is an attempt to recreate the Business Model Canvas for social enterprises, adding in boxes to disaggregate funders (customers) from users (termed beneficiaries). It then divides the value being created for both the funders and the users, as well as providing a place for the impact measures to be articulated.

We recommend that you first familiarise yourself with the original Business Model Canvas and how to use it as there are extensive instructions provided by Strategyzer. Once you have familiarised yourself with using this tool, you can use that knowledge to develop a Social Business Model Canvas if you feel it would be useful. The following video by Strategyzer is a good starting point:

It is vital that you don’t complete the canvas once and then keep is as a static resource. It should be used as a way to continually develop and explain your business model, using sticky notes and drawings to describe your ideas. You should also aim to understand and show how elements in each of the building blocks relate and drive each other.