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Surive in the Global Economic Erisis About one-third of Americans who qualify for public assistance haven’t signed up. That

admin2013-05-04  48
问题                     Surive in the Global Economic Erisis
    About one-third of Americans who qualify for public assistance haven’t signed up. That amounts to millions of people needlessly going without food stamps, low-income housing or health insurance.
    This predicament is what RealBenefits, a Boston-based software start-up, was created to solve. The five-person firm’s Web database avoids complicated government paperwork with easy-to-use screening and enrollment tools. So far RealBenefits has connected nearly 100,000 families to more than $ 37 1 million in government aid since 2000.
    Yet amid this success, RealBenefits, which began life as a nonprofit, faced the same dilemma that many social enterprises do: how to scale up without selling out. "No software firm is going to attract donors easily, even a nonprofit," says Sharon Oster, dean of the Yale School of Management and an expert on social entrepre-neurship. "And to grow, you need access to capital. "
    So in 2006, RealBenefits went commercial. Still tucked under the umbrella of founder Community Catalyst, the sales staff began slowly refocusing its energy on paying customers like hospital chains, governments and school districts rather than the community organizations and nonprofits that had previously peppered its client list. A subscription-based service, RealBenefits charges a fee that ranges from $ 10,000 for, say, a homeless-services group to six figures on the high end. " Our model was to find large health-care providers who’d be willing to pay because they were actually increasing reimbursements and minimizing uncompensated care by using our technology," says CEO Enrique Balaguer.
    Nonetheless, RealBenefits was still struggling to expand because of the difficulty of accessing capital. So the firm set out to find a buyer willing to continue its social mission. It eventually settled on TriHealix, a Connecticut-based health-care IT company. The June 2008 deal was worth $3 million to $ 4 million, Balaguer says.
    For RealBenefits, the transaction allowed it to tap into a larger sale and marketing force, The firm now aims to expand into at least 15 states over the next two to three years. "Our three core goals—to maximize benefits to families, effect policy change and to create additional capacity—remain in place," Balaguer says. "And being profitable is a major component of that." It’s a target that will most likely pay dividends to the whole community.
What happened to RealBenefits after it went commercial in 2006?
选项 A、The firm became independent of its founder and began to make profits.
B、It focused its energy on paying the community organizations and nonprofits.
C、RealBenefits charges a fee of $ 100,000 for a homeless-services group.
D、The firm was to find large health-care providers who’d be willing to pay.
答案D
解析 推理判断题。根据题干关键词went commercial in 2006定位到第4段，该段介绍了RealBenefits公司商业化后的发展措施，然后第5段Nonetheless话锋一转，RealBenefits was still struggling to expand because of the difficulty of accessing capital．可知，它要发展仍然面临资金问题。所以不得不寻找买家来继续其使命，最终与TriHealix合作。
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