Abstract
Non-profit organizations pursuing social innovation need to collaborate with a diverse set of actors to mitigate grand challenges. However, they often struggle to simultaneously manage the complex relationships that emerge, which limits their ability to reach their expected impact. This paper applies an ecosystem lens in order to provide a systematic framework of the different types of cross-sector relationships that emerge in social innovation, as well as understand how non-profit organizations can simultaneously govern them. This is achieved through an in-depth single case study of Fritidsbanken, a Swedish non-profit organization that provides free access to sports and leisure equipment. The study findings indicate that the adoption of an “in-between” governance approach, which balances structure and flexibility by integrating hard rules, which must be followed, and soft rules, which encourage adaptation, can assist non-profit organizations in managing the heterogenous relationships that emerge in social innovation ecosystems, involving the state, local actors, and civil society. This paper contributes to both theory and practice by expanding our understanding of how social innovation ecosystems can be effectively governed to facilitate cross-sector collaboration to drive social change.