This research aims to understand how the tensions between social and financial objectives that can occur in social businesses that operate in the financial environment are configured. To reach the intended objective, a qualitative research was carried out using the methodology of multiple case studies to analyze two social businesses that work in the financial environment. In order to collect the evidence used in the analysis of the cases, interviews with the entrepreneurs and survey research were carried out with the employees of the organizations, as well as direct observations and document analysis. The first part of this research brings a review of the literature on social affairs, also briefly addressing social entrepreneurship. The deepening in the field of social affairs has allowed to identify that this organizational model faces challenges when trying to combine in a structure financial, social and sometimes also environmental objectives. The characteristic of social business of maintaining distinct logics within the same organization favors the emergence of tensions. In order to organize these tensions, Smith, Gonin and Besharov (2013) developed a theoretical model that divides in four dimensions the existing tensions in social businesses: (i) performance; (ii) organization; (iii) membership; (iv) learning. This theoretical model was used in this research to organize the tensions found in the two cases studied. The results found in the research bring contributions to the field of study of social affairs, as they help to enrich understanding about the tensions existing in social business, as well as to provide contributions on social businesses that work in the financial environment. This research has as main discovery the perception of a possible relation between the stage of maturity of the social business and its propensity to the occurrence of tensions.

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