Clownselors: The Serious Business of Spreading Smiles

Papiya De, Soni Sharma, Satyendra C Pandey

Product #:W51934

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Strategy

Setting:India, India, India, India, 2025

Details:Case (PDF) • 9 pages • 2026-10-14

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In February 2025, Clownselors Foundation, a volunteer-led medical clowning initiative based in Delhi, India, faced a critical strategic decision. Its founder had received an offer from a multinational corporation proposing a multiyear partnership that promised financial stability and national scale. However, it came with clear expectations: rapid organizational formalization, measurable outcomes, and significant expansion beyond current capacity. The founder had three options: accept and scale quickly, risking strain on existing systems; decline and strengthen internal capabilities at the cost of immediate funding; or negotiate a phased partnership to balance growth and readiness. With only six weeks to respond, she had to determine which path to take in order to grow her organization without sacrificing its ethos.

Learning Objectives

This case is suitable for introductory courses in strategic management, non-profit management, social entrepreneurship, and leadership of social purpose organizations in undergraduate, graduate, and senior executive programs that address founder-level decision making. The case is also appropriate for use in short-duration management development programs focused on building and institutionalizing strategic partnerships. At the undergraduate level, the case can be used in modules on leadership within social entrepreneurship courses.

After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

Analyze the strategic and operational challenges of scaling a volunteer-driven social enterprise while preserving service quality and stakeholder impact.
Evaluate alternative responses to a significant external funding opportunity and develop a recommendation based on organizational readiness and contextual evidence.
Assess the trade-offs between resource acquisition and mission preservation in mission-driven organizations.
Examine how founders and social enterprise leaders navigate tensions between organizational identity, culture, and growth.

Clownselors: The Serious Business of Spreading Smiles

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Learning Objectives