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.. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP .. London (Capture Project & Lewisham) .

……………… toolbox.originofspaces.com ………… 2017 ……

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MODULE 1: WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

OVERVIEW Introduction:

Welcome to Social Entrepreneurship

In this module you will find lots of useful information to help you become a social entrepreneur including; What a social enterprise is, the people involved, the structures and legal requirements, how to get organised and find funding. We think the Case Studies in Step 5 cover this in detail.

Before that you might want to work through Steps 1-4 in order to familiarise yourself with the basics of definitions, how to set a social enterprise, who to talk to and watch our interviews with inspiring people in Lewisham and across London. Most of the detailed information about What is a social enterprise you can find under the Definition tab above.

British Council on Social Enterprise: https://youtu.be/BsoYJnm5gkU

You will have seen the opening film from the School of Social Entrepreneurs. They are based in London but started in Deptford Creekside in Lewisham.

DEFINITION

What is a Social Enterprise?

The European Commission itself, in the Social Business Initiative (2011-14) (PDF) defined a social enterprise as follows;

A social enterprise is an operator in the social economy whose main objective is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for their owners or shareholders. It operates by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion and uses its profits primarily to achieve social objectives. It is managed in an open and responsible manner and, in particular, involve employees, consumers and stakeholders affected by its commercial activities

As Wikipedia puts it

“A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being – this may include maximizing social impact rather than profits for external shareholders”

The Social Enterprise: https://vimeo.com/38023503



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However in the UK, with its long tradition of the Welfare State and the public provision of services, the definition is slightly different;

Social enterprises are businesses that trade to tackle social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances, or the environment. They make their money from selling goods and services in the open market, but they reinvest their profits back into the business or the local community. Make it #LocalGood – Local Stories of Social Enterprise –

Definitions used by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (Oxford University) and the Social Enterprise Coalition in the UK.

Social entrepreneurship is the product of individuals, organizations, and networks that challenge conventional structures by addressing failures – and identifying new opportunities – in the institutional arrangements that currently cause the inadequate provision or unequal distribution of social and environmental goods.

Social entrepreneurship has three key characteristics: sociality (in the public benefit), innovation and market orientation.

Social enterprises are businesses trading for social environmental purposes. Many commercial businesses would consider themselves to have social objectives, but social enterprises are distinctive because their social or environmental purpose is central to what they do. Rather than maximising shareholder value their main aim is to generate profit to further their social and environmental goals.

Social enterprise is a business model which contributes to a more sustainable society by offering the prospect of greater equity in economic participation

What is Social Investment (UK trade and investment): https://youtu.be/shbcHtvqHus

Societal Benefit

FAQs Good list on a range of issues, Social Enterprise UK

Ethical; Community-owned assets NZ resource

Rural; Developing Rural Economies; UK report on LEP development in rural communities. Has a useful benefits table at the end

Accreditation; Social Enterprise Mark UK – standards for a Social Enterprise to achieve

ZOP Space – Creating a place of belonging and well-being

People Republic of Stokes Croft CIC Bristol



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39% of Social Enterprises start in Deprived Communities

What it means to be a SE (from EMES)

EU Study on practices on Social Enterprises in Europe

There was a thorough and useful pan-European report on social enterprise across Europe published in 2007. This neatly reflects the current circumstances of economic transition and change, because no two countries treat social enterprise in quite the same way, nor is there a standard definition; indeed in France the term “social economy” is used.

Characteristics of a social enterprise

1. Fulfils social goals 2. Addresses a target population in need 3. May operate under various legal forms 4. Deals with voluntary Social work 5. Has a non-profit orientation or reinvests profits 6. May receive public funding

Economic criteria:

• Continuous activity of the production and/or sale of goods and services (rather than predominantly advisory or grant-giving functions).

• A high level of autonomy: social enterprises are created voluntarily by groups of citizens and are managed by them, and not directly or indirectly by public authorities or private companies, even if they may benefit from grants and donations. Their members have the right to participate (‘voice’) and to leave the organisation (‘exit’).

• A significant economic risk: the financial viability of social enterprises depends on the efforts of their members, who have the responsibility of ensuring adequate financial resources, unlike most public institutions.

• Social enterprises’ activities require a minimum number of paid workers, although, like traditional non-profit organisations, social enterprises may combine financial and non-financial resources, voluntary and paid work.

Social criteria:

• An explicit aim of community benefit: one of the principal aims of social enterprises is to serve the community or a specific group of people. To the same end, they also promote a sense of social responsibility at local level.

• Citizen initiative: social enterprises are the result of collective dynamics involving people belonging to a community or to a group that shares a certain need or aim. They must maintain this dimension in one form or another.



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• Decision making not based on capital ownership: this generally means the principle of ‘one member, one vote’, or at least a voting power not based on capital shares. Although capital owners in social enterprises play an important role, decision-making rights are shared with other stakeholders.

• Participatory character, involving those affected by the activity: the users of social enterprises’ services are represented and participate in their structures. In many cases one of the objectives is to strengthen democracy at local level through economic activity.

• Limited distribution of profit: social enterprises include organisations that totally prohibit profit distribution as well as organisations such as co-operatives, which may distribute their profit only to a limited degree, thus avoiding profit maximising behaviour.

What is a social enterprise? (SENS): https://youtu.be/1ecKK3S8DOE

ClearlySo – What is a social enterprise?

This potentially helpful infographic from ‘ClearlySo’ who claim that their vision is ‘of a world where the financial system is a powerful force for good and the impacts of businesses are considered in all investment decisions.’ The blog entry is discussing whether social enterprises should be considered on a spectrum alongside not for profit and profit based businesses.

The Telegraph – ‘What is a social enterprise?’

This article sums up with the following steps:

• They want to change the world

• They’re not in it for the money

• They’re mould breakers



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• They’re meeting a need

British Columbia Centre of Social Enterprise

Although focusing mainly on Canadian laws etc, this website is offering simple and concise definitions of what social enterprise is on a global and general scale.

• ‘Social enterprise applies an entrepreneurial approach to addressing social issues and creating positive community change.’

• A social enterprise is a business that uses entrepreneurial methods to accomplish social goals and/or feed profits to a parent charity or non-profit to enable it to fulfill more of its own social mission.

• A social enterprise is a revenue-generating business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to deliver profit to shareholders and owners.

CHANGE- How social enterprises have changed the world:

• Infographic on Current social enterprises that are changing vast parts of the world, with links to said businesses.

1. B) Interesting infographic about inspiring modern entrepreneurs (click to launch long infographic on 6 inspiring entrepreneurs)

1. C) Understanding social enterprise infographic (click to launch infographic)



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This is a very interesting infographic purely for the figures on the right hand side of the piece:-

• ‘63% of social enterprises around the world are profitable with a median earned annual revenue of $1,104,267 and a median of 18 employed staff per organisation.’

• ‘Globally woman play an active role in the social enterprise sector, even in the regions where women traditionally don’t have business leadership opportunities.’



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Getting Started

Top Tip! from Hamilton House, Bristol

“Don’t wait for the money!!!”

https://vimeo.com/161160452

9 key tips from Alistair Sloan of the living furniture project

Overview; It’s one of our advantages, as social entrepreneurs, that people tend to like what we’re doing. A few weeks ago, a friendly London taxi driver asked me what I did for a living as he took me home, and I explained that the company I’d just started employed homeless Londoners to make furniture using reclaimed materials.

He seemed pretty enthused about the idea – so enthused that when he picked up his next late-night fare, he told his new passengers about the Living Furniture Project, and kept his breathless description (and my free sales pitch) going for almost the whole trip home. It was only towards the end that his fare was able to squeeze a few words in: “Yes, we know that guy. He’s our housemate.”

Luckily, people’s instinctive appreciation for what many social entrepreneurs do is something that works very much to our advantage. Our stories can inspire people to dig deeper and be a little more generous than they would normally be. This can be of special use when you’re starting a business and funds are tight. Getting the right donations – equipment, money or time – can be key to success.

With the Living Furniture Project, I secured three premises rent-free for the first six months, convinced a leading industry brand to give us thousands of pounds worth of tools, asked photographers, website developers, film-makers and PR agencies to help us launch a marketing campaign, and even managed to exhibit at some of the UK’s largest furniture trade shows at no cost.

I didn’t want this article to be about blagging, and some fellow entrepreneurs I spoke to also rejected that word, but I did want to share some tips to pique potential donors’ curiosity and inspire generosity. Starting a business is hard, but, with a little help from your friends, here’s how you can skip some of the set-up costs and get on with the good stuff.



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https://vimeo.com/140784469

1. If you need something, don’t ask for it (at first)

This holds true for most forms of entrepreneurship: “Ask for money and you’ll get nothing, ask for advice and you’ll get money.”

Unless you’re hanging around outside casinos pestering strangers for cash (and willing to live with the moral consequences), there really is very little chance of finding someone who will hand out money over a speculative social enterprise pitch.

But, if you have access to those people who might be able to help financially, these are probably the kind of people who can also offer advice, networking opportunities, potential sales leads and more.

Talk about this stuff first rather than going in with the pitch for funding because, even if you don’t get money, you’ll get plenty of free wisdom and useful connections. If the conversation between you and the potential donor keeps going, well, you never know where it might end up.

2. You’re doing this, with or without them

Your project needs to go ahead whether you get donations or not. Or at least that’s the impression you should always give. People admire determination, vision and also feel more secure if they know the project doesn’t rest entirely on them (that’s your job, social entrepreneur). So, talk about who else is on board already, talk about what more you could do if they joined in, too.

3. Keep writing short and sharp

Your emails should have no more than three or four lines, punching out exactly what you’re doing, what you’re asking for, what you’re offering in return, and what to do next. Broader details should be in an attachment.

In the attachment (which should absolutely be no longer than one A4 page), use bullet points not prose. Focus on what both of you will get if the donation or partnership goes ahead. Talk about your experience – and your team’s – to re-assure the donor.

4. Be empathetic

Advertisement

It’s important to really understand what your potential donors objectives are. I knew that partnering with two established charities was really important to improve my credibility as a new organisation. I also knew that one of the charities (a large national organisation) was



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really keen to focus on employability as part of their internal and external marketing campaigns – so I have bent over backwards to ensure they can get access to us whenever they need it.

I have had countless camera crews, photographers and journalists visit the workshop as part of their marketing campaign. Obviously, we get a boost from this, too, but it’s also a great win for that charity. And it means they’re keen to continue the relationship.

Likewise, I make sure an equipment manufacturer who supplies us with tools is sent lots of photos as soon as the new tools arrive. Each time they do a press release, it generates five or six media items for them.

5. Think long-term

Your sponsors’ time is precious. Donating a £500 piece of equipment might seem simple, but, with all the internal processes and accounting issues to get round, especially for larger organisations, it can be time-consuming for the donor for seemingly little return. But, if you can map out what a 12-month partnership looks like – with opportunities for media exposure, event attendance, days out for staff – and then have donations to match that schedule, it starts to make more sense.

6. Your network is bigger than you think

I would rate myself as a good but not excellent social networker – and have around 500 connections on LinkedIn. These 500 connections, between them, are reportedly connected to an additional 120,000 LinkedIn users. That number is surprisingly high, but just reflects how small the world is.

But don’t forget about it in the real world, too. If someone asks you at a social event, “How’s the project going?” reply with: “Great, but I’m still looking for a photographer.” Ask a few times in a month, and you’ll find yourself with a handful of willing volunteers.

7. Crowd fund

Crowd-funding is a great way to take advantage of your social enterprise story. People will instinctively want to share any crowd-funding project you have on their Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

Successful crowd-funding relies on a strong marketing campaign, though, so, while this is a good head start, make sure you set aside plenty of time to engage with bloggers and journalists. Consider hiring an intern to help with this.

8. Keep yourself afloat



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It’s important to keep what little money you have in the business. Writing opportunities, speaking engagements and consultancy work are three good ways to earn a wage while the social enterprise grows.

9. Be prepared to pay everyone back

Once you’re up and running, it’s not fair to keep asking people for donations. So make sure your donors, especially those who provided services free, are first on the list when you want paid work done. And don’t forget to forecast these costs into your business plan as you grow.

Alastair Sloan is the director of The Living Furniture Project, a social enterprise that employs and trains homeless Londoners to make bespoke furniture.



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Do this now!

Find a Social Entrepreneur

Our challenge is for you to find an inspiring, passionate, socially driven, entrepreneur and ask them the following questions.

Why do you do the work you do?

What drives you?

What are your core values?

How did you start?

How much money did you start with?

Whats the future look like?

Examples

Jamie oliver 15 training restaurant in Shoreditch: https://youtu.be/Tvs-2wEgGAc

Spitalfields Crypt Trust – Social Enterprises

For 50 years SCT have been supporting people recovering from addiction by helping them to get clean and sober, develop self-respect and hope for a much better future. One of the ways in which they do this is by setting up social enterprises. The following is information about their two main projects, ‘Paper & Cup’ and ‘Restoration Station’.

1 Paper & Cup

‘We run two social enterprise cafes in East London. Our Paper & Cup ‘coffee-bookshops’ provide work experience and employment training for the long-term unemployed and people recovering from addictions. The cafes offer a professional and safe environment where people can grow, learn and move on.’



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Impact:

“I loved volunteering at Paper & Cup. Apart from the formal barista training, it also gave me the opportunity to meet new people and interact with staff, other volunteers and the general public. It’s boosted my confidence and helped me having a structure in my week.”

Quote from former Paper & Cup trainee.

Benefit:

The benefit to the world comes in the form of changing perception and ways in which you encourage people to do good in their lives. ‘Many of the trainees are referred by our personal development and training centre, the New Hanbury Project. Each year, up to 16 people in recovery train as baristas and managers. This has enabled some of our trainees to find jobs with local businesses.’

2 Restoration Station

Background:

‘Restoration Station restores vintage and designer furniture from our workshop outlet on Shoreditch High Street. The social enterprise provides training and work experience for people in recovery from addictions.’

Impact: https://youtu.be/JMW3vHgW9Cs

This is an interview with one of the workers at the restoration centre, which shows off their work, and shows not only how happy he is with the work that he has made, and his new position, but also how happy the customers are with the produce of the workshop.

The Bristol Skipchen: https://youtu.be/Mc8TAkboZRI



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Index

Here is a great booklet from Social Enterprise UK!

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/se_report

References;

EMES International Research Centre;

EC Social Business Resource Page;

UK Social Enterprise resource (NDPB)

Setting up a social enterprise in the UK

Community Interest Companies

How do we balance social, economic and ecological demands on what we do when we set up a business…

https://youtu.be/aTo0qtdVMpM

Unltd – The Best UK resource;

This is their guide, its great

Schwab foundation;

This has the worlds best SE’s and their individual stories as nominated by WEF in one place!

Forbes

kaospilot (Copnhagen school)

Weird but kind of interesting!

The main UK resource is Social Enterprise UK

The Guardian UK Social Enterprise Network



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MODULE 2: SKILLS & PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION

· Start with the problem you want to solve in the world

Once you know what your challenge is you need to develop some key skills to the solve the problem!

This is Scott Sherman on the key skills of successful Social Entrepreneurs

‘For the past six years, the Transformative Action Institute (TAI) has been promoting a curriculum that teaches these skills. From in-depth studies of social innovators, we have identified seven important competencies that are essential for success:

1. Leadership. These people take initiative and action to solve problems (rather than complaining about what’s wrong).

2. Optimism. These people are confident that they can achieve a bold vision, even when many other people doubt them. They have a strong sense of self-efficacy and a belief that they have control to change their circumstances.

3. Grit. This is a combination of perseverance, passion, and hard work—the relentless drive to achieve goals, complete commitment to achieving their task.

4. Resilience in the face of adversities, obstacles, challenges, and failures. When things fall apart, these people rise to the occasion. They thrive in the most ferocious storms. They see failures as valuable feedback.

5. Creativity and innovation. These people see new possibilities and think in unconventional ways. They see connections and patterns where few other people would imagine.

6. Empathy. These people are able to put themselves in the shoes of others, and imagine perspectives other than their own; this is one of the most valuable qualities for understanding the needs of others whom they serve.

7. Emotional and social intelligence. These people are excellent at connecting with others and building strong relationships.

Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation – ‘Skills for social enterprise’ course

This is technically trying to sell courses on social entrepreneurship and related items to you, however the parts about how you need to ‘understand financial statements’ and how you need to be a good project manager, are all interesting and relevant.

‘ESSENTIAL SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SKILLS: For running a business and improving your impact



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The day-to-day running of an enterprise requires a range of practical skills and knowledge of key approaches in order for your business to be sustainable or to grow, and to have the vital social impact that is central to your goals. To make sure your budgets and finances are in order and that you can resource your work and plan for the future we offer Understanding Financial Statementsand Introduction to Budgeting – both are development programmes designed to give you the key skills to take away and put into practice. As a legally registered business, Data Protection compliance is essential.

In order to plan and deliver your organisation’s core activities effectively, Project Management skills will be an essential part of your team’s day-to-day work, helping you reduce spend, beat deadlines and take a pro-active approach to problem solving. A more in-depth look at the Monitoring and Evaluation involved in delivering and developing high quality projects will help you to assess and improve your work, evidence your impact and make decisions for planning and development. Our Strategic Planning and Practice course is designed to help you remain true to your organisation’s purpose and ambitions in the face of constant challenge and change from the outside world and take your organisation in the direction you want it to go.’

5 Skills Every Successful Entrepreneur Must Master – Jason Demers

This isn’t strictly about social entrepreneurs, however is focused on commercial entrepreneurs. I do, however, feel that this is still relevant and these skills are completely necessary for a successful social entrepreneurship.

1. Communication. When you’re a solopreneur, you may think communication is less of an issue, since you don’t have staff to interact with. But you’ve still got to maintain clear lines of communication with your customers via email and phone, as well as ensure that the message you send through your website and social-media profiles is the one you want.

2. Branding (personal and business). Whether you’re striving to brand your business or looking to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, knowing how to do so online is essential to your success.

3. Sales. You may not identify with salespeople, but the fact is, if you run a business, you’re involved in sales. You might have a sales team that handles all of your company’s sales, but every time you deliver your elevator pitch about your business, negotiate with a vendor, or even just persuade anyone to do anything, you’re tapping into sales skills.

4. Strategy. It’s easy to think about the “right-now” aspect of your business, because the results are easy to see. But what about the bigger picture, long-term challenges and goals? How often are you thinking about those?

5. Finance. While you don’t need to be a CPA to run a successful business, you should still have a decent understanding of your finances, profit margins, cash flow and funding. The more comfortable you are with all of these numbers, the more confident you’ll be, and the better decisions you’ll make.’



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Schwab Foundation for social entrepreneurship – what is a social entrepreneur?

‘Social entrepreneurs share some come common traits including:

• An unwavering belief in the innate capacity of all people to contribute meaningfully to economic and social development

• A driving passion to make that happen.

• A practical but innovative stance to a social problem, often using market principles and forces, coupled with dogged determination, that allows them to break away from constraints imposed by ideology or field of discipline, and pushes them to take risks that others wouldn’t dare.

• A zeal to measure and monitor their impact. Entrepreneurs have high standards, particularly in relation to their own organization’s efforts and in response to the communities with which they engage. Data, both quantitative and qualitative, are their key tools, guiding continuous feedback and improvement.

• A healthy impatience. Social Entrepreneurs cannot sit back and wait for change to happen – they are the change drivers.’

FabJob Guide to become a social entrepreneur

Infographic

Here is a useful info graphic!

PEOPLE

Who do you need to start a Social Enterprise?

People are the key part of any social enterprise. Let’s look at how we might make them partners

The six vital ingredients of a good partnership.

1 Clear and unambiguous benefits for all members of the partnership.

2 Efficient decision-making methods and processes.



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3 Clearly agreed roles and deliverables – agreed upfront and written down – for each partner.

4 A fair spread of both benefit and risk between every member of the partnership.

5 A sensible and manageable amount of administration, meetings and paperwork for all involved.

6 There must be trust and mutual respect. In an ideal world the partners should have shared values.

Here is a useful guide from SE UK!

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/start_your_social_enterprise

Employees

Check this long article in INC magazine

How to Become a Social Entrepreneur: Hire Employees Smarter Than You

A problem that isn’t unique to nonprofits, any well-run organization needs to employ this simple hiring tactic. For social entrepreneurs, it’s often just as difficult to hire other employees who may have skills or experience beyond yours, but that’s no different than a for-profit entrepreneur building a team. Once you get over that original fear, you will be able find and keep talented employees who recognize that your ego doesn’t get in the way of success.

“Today more than ever before, human capital is what counts, not financial capital,” Scofield says. “In the nonprofit sector, you probably don’t have the ability to offer either the short-term big bucks or the whispered promise of future riches that equity provides. Some managers are afraid to hire people smarter and more ambitious than they are, thinking these new hires will knife them in their back and steal their job. You just can’t do that and succeed.”

Harrison adds that the sales pitch to potential employees, while often more difficult in terms of finances, is all about finding the right people.

“I’ve got to really inspire people to give their lives to something greater that are interested in legacy and making history as one of the greatest world problems is solved,” says Harrison. “We’re always looking for talent and that’s often my ask—not for money but for talented people to join what we’re doing.

Community

A community in need and also behind your idea



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‘A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.’

Crowdfunding

Kickstarter/Crowdfunding/Just giving campaigns and crowdfunders are a sure fire way to guarantee a willing and open community. Obviously if people are willing to contribute financially to the opening of a space, then they are more likely to need and want to use it.



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Top Tip

Organise your ideas and thinking!

Use the 6 thinking hats – creative thinking and problem solving tool! Here is a book on issuu to help you develop this skill.

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/manuale_hct_-_eng_-_a4_final_copy

Find your tribe – find local SE’s and not for profits etc..

Linking with others – learn how to collaborate with this Prezi;

Join existing networks Speak to those who need your SE your users? What do they need??



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· Develop Your Skills!

Online Courses in Social enterprise

Iversity – Social Innovation MOOC

Cost: Free

Tutors: Nicholas Wenzel, Christine Rimke, Dr. Susan Müller

Aims:

Social innovations, i.e. new social practices, are everywhere and largely influence our lives: they change the rules of the game in business, civil society and politics. With social innovations, we can design social practices that are more beneficial, sustainable or just.

But what are social innovations? And what effects can they have? This course is an introduction to the topic. You will gain an overview of what social innovations are, how they function and how they can be developed.

You will learn what social innovations are and understand how they can help solve societal problems. You will get an overview of important literature and debates on social innovation.

You will get to know and apply methods to develop, implement, and scale social innovations. Exercises will allow you to apply the methods, develop own ideas and gather first-hand experiences.

Springboard – Social Entrepreneurship

Cost: Free

Aims:

The learning path is designed such that it puts you on a course to developing your own social venture. You will start as a beginner, getting introduced to basic concepts of social entrepreneurship. However, once you complete the learning path, you will come out with an



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intricate understanding of the key elements of starting a social venture and the core foundations of social entrepreneurship. Here are the main topics covered:

• An introduction to social entrepreneurship • Understanding a social problem and designing a solution • Developing a social enterprise business plan • Financing social ventures • Failing fast and learning quick

Social Entrepreneurship 101 – Discovering your passion and path to change the world Cost: Free Aims:

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the concept of social entrepreneurship and be inspired to find new ways to tackle the world’s greatest challenges

• Appreciate that social entrepreneurship is a mindset to tackle problems across different sectors (public, private, non-profit)

• Discover a pathway for how you can make change whether this is founding an enterprise, serving on a board, or supporting social entrepreneurs in other creative ways

Review:

Life After Lean

BY SABRINA NATASHA PREMJI & AFZAL HABIB IN ACUMEN BLOG, +ACUMEN

In May 2013, Sabrina Natasha Premji & Afzal Habib participated in +Acumen’s inaugural Lean for Social Change course based on Lean Start-Up principles. Enrolment for the next session of the Lean for Social Change course is open now. If you are working on a social issue in your community, are interested in pursuing your own social venture, or are just interested in creating an impact in this world…Register today! Sabrina & Afzal joined the course with a simple idea and the passion to transform the childcare crisis in East Africa’s informal settlements. Seven weeks later, they had developed a customer-tested business model ready to pilot in Kenya’s densest slums.

Read their story below.

In 2012, while working in Kenya, we learned about a new form of childcare in East Africa’s urban slums and decided to check it out. We were welcomed into a local woman’s home, the air pungent with the smell of urine and feces. As we inched our way into the mud-walled home, desperately trying to navigate through the darkness surrounding us, Sabrina tripped



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over a baby lying on the ground. Frozen, our eyes scanned the room quickly, and more shapes emerged from the unlit space. In front of us, we saw two dozen or more infants in the congested home, all awake, but lying perfectly still. In that moment, we asked ourselves: Is there a way to offer high quality, affordable early childhood care to young children in Kenya’s informal settlements trapped in the intergenerational cycle of poverty? In the months that followed, we visited more slums to understand the extent of the problem, conversed with development practitioners and researched global best practices in early childhood care and education. Although we were committed to the idea, our thinking was often unfocused and fell second to our full-time jobs. Enter +Acumen and the announcement that they were launching a new course for budding social entrepreneurs. We drafted an application including our first ever ‘business model canvas’ and a week later, we joined the 7-week course where we learned new topics via online modules, engage in weekly discussions with mentors and ‘got out of the building’ to develop, test and iterate our business model. For us, the four most valuable components of the program were:

• Created Accountability: Prior to Lean, we only spent a few hours a week on Kidogo, doing broad brainstorming exercises and desk research. Having specific deliverables and weekly check-in meetings during the Lean course forced us to focus our limited time on our most important priorities, and ensured that every hour was spent on something that would move us forward.

• Provided access to Mentorship & New Networks: When we began the course, we were paired with 2 mentors – Brad Rosenberg & John McKinley – with different backgrounds and experience. These mentors challenged our thinking and provided guidance throughout the course to point us in the right direction. Their advice, and often differing perspectives, were invaluable and they continue to remain actively engaged with Kidogo today as members of our Board of Advisors. In addition, we were introduced to a handful of other participants – passionate social entrepreneurs across the globe who were solving social challenges in their own communities – many of whom we are still in touch with today.

• Moved us from Idea to Impact: Over the weeks leading up to the course, we had created many PowerPoint “decks” with ideas, models based on our assumptions & financial ratios to inform stakeholders about what were we PLANNING to do. With a push from Bob Dorf & our mentors, we were encouraged to get out of the building, talk to customers & partners and conduct experiments to test our assumptions – effectively moving the conversation from what we were PLANNING to what we were DOING.

• Challenged our thinking: As a result, the course challenged us to refine our business model, adapt our focus, and develop a Minimum Viable Product – a way to test our model in a low-risk and inexpensive way and gain currency with our customers. This



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“MVP” has grown into a full-size pilot project which will be our first early childhood development center which is slated to open its doors in August 2014.

Overall, we left the Lean for Social Change course with a refined business model and confirmation that we were really onto a viable social business. So much so, that we decided to leave our jobs and work on Kidogo full-time, with the goal of unlocking the potential and changing the trajectories of young children living in urban slums. In short, the experience was a game-changer for us.

University of Oxford -Social Entrepreneurship (Online)

Cost: £255+

Tutor:Mr Santhosh Ramdoss

Course Aims:

This social entrepreneurship course is designed to introduce the concept as well as engage students and the tutor in a joint learning experience of this emerging field. Through the course, students will:

• Be exposed to the concept of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises and how social entrepreneurs are transforming society to deliver social impact in their home communities and abroad.

• Understand the role of measuring impact and how to quantify the social impact for investors, donors, and beneficiaries to help ensure that scarce resources are utilized appropriately.

• Be aware of how they might apply social entrepreneurship skills in their future pursuits to address social problems.



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Index

Hyper Island toolbox is full of great ways of working together!

Essential reading

Here are some great books that inspires us!

37 signals – re work

Seth godin – tribes

The lean start up – Eric Ries

6 Thinking Hats – Edward de Bono

Whats stopping you? – Robert Kelsey

A good resource about skills and people is the Capture project Go Create! This is how we set up a micro social enterprise in a nursery with a group of parents (skills)

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/quaggy_draft_report_final_for_lotte



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MODULE 3: LEGAL STUFF

OVERVIEW

· Introduction

Welcome to the Legal Stuff you need to know…

No two social enterprises are the same but each SE has its own unique legal challenges. There are different legal structures depending on what you want to do and how and where you want to operate.

Social Enterprises have been defined as “a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners”. Social Enterprises are involved in providing services or making goods. However they have explicit social aims and social ownership with a structure based on participation by ‘stakeholders’ such as users, community groups and employees. Most aim to be viable trading concerns, making a surplus from trading alone. Its therefore very important you choose the right legal structure, get good advice and even talking to those who have created an SE is a good starting point.

LEGAL UK

· What are the Legal Structures in the UK?

In the UK a Social Enterprise can take many different legal forms, therefore they are regulated by a range of different bodies, including:

• Community Interest Companies – regulated by Companies House and the Community Interest Company Regulator (limited by guarantee or limited by shares)

• Social Enterprises with registered charitable status – regulated by the Charity Commission

• Companies limited by share and guarantee – regulated by Companies House (Capture has this legal structure by Guarantee)

• Industrial and Provident Societies – currently regulated by the FSA • Private Companies – regulated by the FSA

Here are a list of the different structures in the UK



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Co-operatives and Workers’ Co-operatives

A Co-operative is a business that is owned and democratically controlled by its employees but it is not a single legal structure. A Co-op can be established as a Partnership or a Company Limited by Shares. But the two most common forms are as a Company Limited by Guarantee or as a Bona Fide Co-operative Society / Co-operative Society.

Partnership and Limited Liability Partnership

A partnership is not generally considered to be a Social Enterprise, though social aims can be spelled out in the Partnership Agreement. A Partnership Agreement is between two or more people and defines how the business will be run. But there is likely to be a problem if the business wants to apply for funding, as it will be difficult to demonstrate any wider social involvement. Partners can be self-employed or employees of the partnership and they are personally liable for debts.

There is also a form of Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), which is safer for the partners; they are not personally liable for any losses provided they have acted in a reasonable manner. An LLP requires you to register with Companies House and to publish annual accounts.

Limited Company

This may be a Company Limited by Shares or Limited by Guarantee. Its Memorandum & Articles of Association must state that any surplus is put towards the company’s social purpose and usually defines the company as democratic and accountable to the community through its membership. In law, a Limited Company is considered to be a person and it can therefore own land or enter into contracts. The directors are agents of the company and are not personally liable for its debts. This is a flexible structure, suitable for a wide range of Social Enterprises, but regulation by Companies House is fairly strict and there are detailed requirements for annual reports and accounts.

Community Interest Company (CIC)

A CIC is a limited company with special features to ensure that it works for the benefit of the community. It differs from a charitable company in that it can be established for any legal purpose, which benefits the community, whereas a charity must have exclusively charitable purposes. A further advantage is that a CIC is



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subject to lighter regulation than a charitable company. On the downside, a CIC may not be eligible for funding which is available to charities.

CICs commit their assets and profits permanently to the community by means of an “asset lock”, ensuring that assets cannot be distributed to shareholders. They report to the Regulator of Community Interest Companies. A big advantage is that a CIC’s not-for-profit status is visible as well as assured.

It is worth noting that a CIC cannot register as a Charity, but that a Charity may set up its trading subsidiary as a CIC.

CICs have to register with Companies House as a company limited either by guarantee or by shares and then apply to the new Regulator for CIC status. The CIC Regulator’s website has detailed guidance notes on all aspects of setting up a CIC, or converting an existing limited company to a CIC.

For more information contact the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.

Industrial and Provident Society (IPS)

An Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) is an incorporated organisation and its members benefit from limited liability. There are two types of IPS: a Bona Fide Co-operative Society / Co-operative Society and a Society for the Benefit of the Community / Community Benefit Society. An IPS must register with the Mutual Societies Registration section of the Financial Conduct Authority, the regulatory body. In general regulation is lighter than for Limited Companies and the accounting requirements far less stiff.

An IPS is run by its members and there are several sets of model rules. Profits must generally be ploughed back into the business. Where a part of the profits is used for another purpose, that purpose should be similar to the main aim of the society, for example for philanthropic or charitable purposes. Where the rules of the IPS allow assets to be sold, the proceeds must be put into its business activities. A change in the law has now made it possible for a non-charitable IPS to have an “asset lock”, similar to a CIC above, to ensure that its assets are always used to benefit the community.

An IPS whose aims are wholly charitable is considered an ‘exempt charity’ – it cannot register with the Charity Commission and is not regulated by them, but it is generally bound by charity law.



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A charitable IPS already has an “asset lock” under charity law.

1. a) Bona Fide Co-operative Society / Co-operative Society

This is a business owned and democratically controlled by its employees and founded on seven basic principles, one of which is Concern for the Community. Although a co-op must make a surplus to be successful, other motives may be equally important; for example, a recycling co-op will be based on concern for the environment. A co-operative must have at least two members.

A Credit Union is a specialist form of co-operative, regulated by an act of parliament covering financial services. It is a financial co-operative whose savers are its members. Money is saved in a common fund and can be used to make low interest loans to members. A Credit Union is run by a Board of Directors elected from among the membership at the AGM. There are other specialist co-operatives such as housing co-ops, which are covered by separate regulation.

In 2010 a legislative change was made to change the name from “Bona Fide Co-operative Society” to “Co-operative Society”. It is not yet known when this change will come into effect.

1. b) Society for the Benefit of the Community / Community Benefit Society

A Society for the Benefit of the Community / Community Benefit Society must show that its activities benefit the wider community rather than simply its members. It also has to demonstrate a ‘special reason’ for registration as an IPS rather than as a company.

In 2010 a legislative change was made to change the name from “Society for the Benefit of the Community” to “Community Benefit Society”. It is not yet known when this change will come into effect, but some authors and organisations are already using the term “Community Benefit Society”.

For more information about setting up and registering an Industrial and Provident Society, contact the Financial Conduct Authority.

Development Trusts and Social Firms

These are two fairly common forms of Social Enterprise but neither is a legal structure in itself. Development Trusts are set up to bring about local regeneration and are often established as Limited Companies with a broad membership. Social



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Firms are businesses set up specifically to provide employment or training to disabled people, and they are usually Limited Companies or Co-operative Societies.

Private Companies

A company that is owned by one person or a small group of people, for example a family, and whose shares are not traded on the stock market:

Electric Pedals is an example of a private company that is for social benefit.

The Case Kent website has a useful starter guide and says at the end;

…Plus the curious case of social enterprise

In addition to the distinct legal forms summarised above, several other terms exist for organisations working for social benefit. These include enterprise and mutual. Arguments over the definition of a social enterprise have abounded since the term was coined, although broadly it defines an organisation that exists to fulfil any social purpose through trade. A somewhat stricter definition is laid down in the criteria for the social enterprise mark, a mark of quality that says a social enterprise must make half of its profit in community or business and, if it closes, its assets will be redistributed to an asset-locked body. Some believe this definition is too lax. Similarly, many of the legal forms described can be used to develop a mutual – a general name that refers to an organisation with a membership made up of those connected to it, particularly staff, customers and beneficiaries. The model has been promoted by the government, which wants public sector workers to spin out their services into independent mutuals. Most organisations that have spun out so far have formed community interest companies with all staff as members. For help in setting up a social enterprise, you can get some advise from the Kent and Medway Social Enterprise Network (known as KAMSEN).



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LEGAL EUROPE

EU legal structures

Structures of Social Enterprises in Europe

Here is great essay that covers what social enterprise is in Europe for most countries. We have pointed out the most important parts, however there is a lot more information inside the article (published below as an ISSUU book) about the structure of a social enterprise in each country. As you scroll down you will find information about Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy Poland, Sweden, Portugal,

https://issuu.com/fredgarnett/docs/ern-socent-legal-eu

BELGIUM

The concept of social enterprise is still fuzzy in Belgium, but it is more and more frequently used to stress the entrepreneurial approach adopted by an increasing number of organisations in the third sector . The introduction of the “social purpose company” legal framework, in 1996, is clearly linked to this trend. This framework is not, strictly speaking, a new legal form; in fact, all types of business corporations can adopt the “social purpose company” label, provided they “are not dedicated to the enrichment of their members”, and their statutes comply with a series of conditions . However, this legal status (revised in 2007) has been adopted by no more than 400 enterprises between 1996 and 2006; this may be accounted for by the fact that it brings with it a considerable number of requirements, in addition to those associated with the traditional company legal form. Most initiatives that meet, to some extent, the criteria of the EMES definition of social enterprise have adopted the legal form of ASBL (non-profit association); this very flexible form allows developing commercial activities, provided that these activities are subordinated to the organisation’s social mission. Moreover, the legal form of ASBL is necessary to qualify for several forms of public support. However, some public schemes, such as the “work integration enterprises” scheme in the Walloon region, require that the organisation adopt the legal status of a social purpose company.



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Supporting structures

At least two important facts are to be mentioned as to the overall environment of social entrepreneurship, especially with respect to supporting structures. First, at the national level, a special fund has been set up by the government in 2001 to finance the “social and sustainable economy”. Given the financial means allocated to this fund, it has become an important partner for an increasing number of initiatives. Secondly, the “consultancy agencies for the social economy” (in the Walloon region), many of whom are currently working for all kinds of social economy initiatives, are increasingly incited by public bodies to concentrate their efforts on the support to market-oriented initiatives.

DENMARK

Social enterprise and related concepts

“Social enterprise” (social virksomhed) as a concept is still new in Denmark; it is just about to enter common vocabulary and Danish discourses on social cohesion (Hulgård & Bisballe 2004). Until now, it remains primarily used by insiders of the field – mainly researchers in the third sector, social entrepreneurs themselves and third sector representatives in general. Among politicians, the concept has been used as part of an active labour market policy, with an ambition to make traditional enterprises – and especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) – more socially responsible in matters of integration of unemployed persons into the labour market.

Related concepts used in the Danish context are those of social economy (social økonomi) and social innovation (social innovation). The concept of social economy is used almost as an equivalent to the concept of social enterprise, but with a lesser focus on democratic ownership or ownership not based on capital than the notion of social enterprise such as defined by EMES (Defourny 2001, quoted by Nyssens 2006).

The concept of social innovation is often linked to a focus on neglected “societal growth”; social innovation is considered as characteristic of enterprises combining both economic and moral values (Ellis 2004, 2006). The concept of social innovation is used – and highlighted as a way to produce new growth – by representatives of the private sector and by researchers in this sector.



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FINLAND

In Finland, work integration social enterprises are in practice the only type of social enterprises and, as explained below, the term “social enterprise” (sosiaalinen yritys) is reserved to them by law.

It has to be noted, though, that in a near future the term “social enterprise” might become used in a wider context, as evidenced by some recent developments, e.g. in the field of social and health care. Indeed, most providers in this field would not be referred to as “social enterprises” : many are private enterprises and companies, some are nationwide associations – like the national associations for the disabled, the visually impaired or the deaf – which play a very important role of service provision to their members (these services are often provided by companies owned by these national associations) and only a few are co-operatives or other client or worker-based organisations; but a first discussion on a specific legislation for social enterprises providing social and health care services was held in Parliament in spring 2007, and the subject of enterprises combining social and economic dimensions is awakening growing interest among academics.

FRANCE

The concept of social enterprise

In France, the concept of “social enterprise” (entreprise sociale) is still a new concept, whose use and understanding remain limited to a circle of experts and social entrepreneurs; it is not really used as a key concept by policymakers and is not well-known to the wider public. Indeed, the notion of social enterprise is far from having achieved a recognition similar to that gained by the concept of “social and solidarity-based economy”, which has gathered coalitions of actors for the last twenty years.

However, some events constitute tangible signs of the progress made by the social enterprise concept within French society. These include, inter alia, the “regional conferences of the social entrepreneurship” in 2003; the creation, during the same year, by some business schools, of a “chair of social entrepreneurship”; some activities launched by the “Agency of valorisation of socioeconomic initiatives” (Agence de valorisation des initiatives socio-économiques, or Avise); and the organisation, in June 2007, of an international conference in Paris on the theme of “Reconfiguring relations between economy and solidarity: associations, cooperative sand social enterprises” .



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Moreover, the boundaries between associations and cooperatives are becoming increasingly blurred; this evolution leads to the creation of new legal forms that can be said to focus on the concept of social enterprise. Associations’ increasing commercial activities and the role the former play as employers have already led a number of authors (such as Hély 2004) to talk about “associative enterprises” (entreprises associatives). With the changing public regulations and the advent of competition between associations and private companies for the provision of social services (e.g. services to the elderly), market pressure is no longer limited to mutual benefit societies and cooperatives; it has also become a reality for a significant section of the associative sector. In the social sector, in other words, the question of public governance of associations’ economic activities blurs the commonly accepted boundaries between market cooperatives and associations.

Obviously, France – as the other EU countries – has seen the development of different kinds of “work integration social enterprise” (Eme and Gardin 2002; Bucolo 2006; Gardin 2006). In the area of the fight against the various forms of exclusion, work integration social enterprises have constituted, in the 1980s and the 1990s, a strategy of fight against unemployment and exclusion which has appeared as innovating insofar as it mobilised work and the creation of enterprises to serve a social goal – namely the integration, into the labour market, of disadvantaged persons (unemployed persons, social aid recipients, low-qualified young workers, handicapped persons etc.). In 2004, the 2,300 registered structures providing work-integration services – work-integration enterprises (entreprises d’insertion), temporary work integration enterprises (entreprises de travail temporaire d’insertion), intermediary associations (associations intermédiaires), integration work sites (chantiers d’insertion) – employed some 220,000 salaried workers (DARES 2005).

GERMANY

The paradoxical situation of social enterprises in Germany

Social enterprises and social entrepreneurship in Germany are facing a paradoxical situation: on the one hand, they almost do not exist on the political agenda nor in the public debate or the media, and not even in the academic discourse, where their study is limited to a small circle of individual experts with almost no support from official institutions. On the other hand, a social enterprise culture of quite considerable size and importance does exist; some of its elements are based on traditions which date back to the 19th century.



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The reasons behind this situation are basically twofold.

First, the concepts of social enterprise and social economy (as a whole distinct third sector) are still ignored or rejected by the majority of politicians and economists alike in Germany. The factors accounting for this situation are rather complex:

• – The terms were imported from abroad by transnational research projects and in the first place did not mean anything to a German audience.

• – Furthermore, it was expected that social conflicts in post-war Germany would be solved by a special type of social partnership agreement which was referred to as the “social market economy”, and from this point of view, there was no need for new approaches such as the social economy and/or social enterprises. The situation became even more complex as the consensus between the social partners involved in the social market economy eroded heavily under the hegemony of neo-liberal economic thinking, and (more or less at the same time) the so-called “socialist economy” broke down in East Germany.

• In this context the terms “social economy” and “social enterprise” were confronted with a lot of prejudices and misunderstandings.

Secondly, those organizations which could be qualified as social enterprises do not really see themselves as belonging to a wider social economy sector. They are still separated and split up in a variety of different “milieus”, each with its own terms, identities and organisations; quite often, they do not even communicate with each other. Although social enterprises play an important role in the field of fighting unemployment, poverty and social exclusion, there are no real support schemes at the regional or national level. The only exception is that of so-called “integration enterprises”, which can ask for special subsidies for employing disabled people, but these schemes are open to all types of enterprises.

• Things have started to change only recently, and very slowly. In November 2006, for example, a first national congress on the “solidarity-based economy” took place in Berlin.

IRELAND

Types of Irish social enterprises

Social enterprises are part of the Irish social economy, which also includes charities and co-operatives. In the early 1990s, Planet (the network of area-based partnership companies) and the national social economy group developed a typology of social



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economy organisations on which subsequent statutory funding measures came to be based on this typology included three main subsets:

• – community businesses, which are generally financed from trading income alone.

• – deficient-demand social enterprises, which tend to emerge where the demand for particular goods and services within a community is not matched by resources to pay for the provision of the demand, due to such things as local disadvantage or low-density population;

• – enterprises based on public sector contracts, which deal with the potential for subcontracting public sector expenditure in disadvantaged areas to local community businesses and enterprises.

• A key attempt to categorise Irish social enterprises has been undertaken by O’Hara (2001), who has developed five broad categories of Irish social enterprises on the basis of their objectives, activities and operation. These categories are as follows

o – work integration social enterprises, associated with the integration of members of excluded groups into the labour force;

o – credit unions; o – social enterprises providing personal and proximity services; o – local development organisations; o – housing co-operatives.

• The Irish credit union movement, which was established in 1957, is an excellent example of a successful social enterprise. A credit union consists of a group of people who collectively save their money and lend to each other at a reasonable rate of interest. The Irish credit union movement is a voluntary movement, and each credit union is an independent autonomous body with support and advisory services organized by a central body, the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU). The ILCU is an umbrella organisation for most credit unions in Ireland. There are 547 credit unions in the country, serving over 3.2 million members, with an estimated 3.6b euros turnover. And with an estimated 3,800 employees and a 24% share of the national personal loan market the credit union has been established as a viable alternative financial institution in Ireland (Carroll & Beckett 2007).

Legal structures

Irish social enterprises adopt a variety of legal structures, including the company structure limited by guarantee or share, industrial and provident societies, and co-operatives. Social enterprises can also apply for charitable status, which provides



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them with certain exemptions from certain taxes. The Revenue Commissioners determine whether a body is entitled to charitable tax exemption under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Charities legislation is currently under review with a view to reform as the charities sector in Ireland is unregulated. As a consequence there is no such thing as a registered charity in Ireland at present and no statutory definition of what a “charity” is.

ITALY

From social cooperatives to a broader legal conception of social enterprise

Social cooperatives have so far represented the main type of social enterprise in Italy. Since the approval of Law 381/1991, which introduced the social cooperative legal form, these organisations have registered an average annual growth rate ranging from 10 to 20%. In 2005, there were over 7,300 social cooperatives; they employed 244,000 workers.

However, this impressive development of social cooperatives has not prevented other types of third sector organisation from developing social entrepreneurial activities, and a law on social enterprise (Law 118/2005) has recently been adopted, which undoubtedly constitutes a landmark in the history of the Italian third sector.

The new law incorporates the principle of pluralism of organizational forms and does not consider the organizational structure as a condition for eligibility as a social enterprise. The law divides eligible organizations into two sub-sectors: that of companies and that of organizations that are not companies. The innovative character of the law results from both the opening towards new sectors of activity, other than welfare, and the variety of the types of organizations eligible to become social enterprises.

As said, the law crosses the boundaries of legal and organizational forms, enabling various types of organization (not only cooperatives and traditional non-profit organizations, but also investor-owned organizations, for instance) to obtain the “legal brand” of social enterprise, provided they comply with the non-distribution constraint and organize the representation of certain categories of stakeholders, including workers and beneficiaries.

The law also provides that associations and foundations that want to be registered as social enterprises must provide evidence of their entrepreneurial nature; conversely, investor-owned companies applying for the social enterprise brand have to comply



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with certain requirements regarding the distribution of benefits (namely respecting a total non-distribution constraint) and participation of relevant stakeholders.

Interestingly, the definition of social enterprise introduced by the Italian legislator mirrors the EMES definition, except on three points.

• – the law imposes a “total non-distribution constraint” on social enterprises. Indeed, the latter have to invest all their income in their core business or in increasing their assets.

• – the goals pursued and the sectors of activity overlap; • – the criteria of stakeholders’ involvement (workers and users) prescribed is

weaker than the one proposed by EMES, as the definition of “involvement” introduced is indeed very wide.

POLAND

Recognition of the social enterprise concept

The concept of social enterprise is an emerging notion in Poland; there is not yet a common definition of the concept, which originates in the concepts of third sector, non-profit sector and cooperatives. The specificity of social enterprises, compared to third sector, non-profit or cooperative organisations in general, lies in the fact that they are profit–makers, although not profit–maximizers, and that they focus more on general interest/community interests, and not only on mutual interest goals.

Social enterprises are still rarely a subject of public discourse and they are only partially integrated into policies and laws. Only recently have a few policy debates recognized the potential of third sector and social enterprises as a vehicle for creating services for households and communities and jobs for hard-to-employ groups.

Training structures

Several Polish universities offer training programmes developed for social enterprise leaders and staff. One example is a pilot training/educational programme for social enterprise managers, which was launched in March 2006 at Warsaw University’s Institute of Social Policy, within the framework of the EQUAL project “We Have Jobs”. This innovative postgraduate programme for existing and would-be managers in social enterprises and local leaders is supplemented by winter and summer schools on social enterprises with a series of national and international visits. Various state and private universities also include the subjects of social economy and cooperative



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movement to the curricula of the general studies (mainly within the faculties/institutes of economics, management, law, social policy, economics and management of agriculture etc.); some of them also organize postgraduate studies on these topics.

Some cooperatives and other social economy organizations themselves organize training courses for the managers/employees/elected leaders of social enterprises. Most of them focus on very concrete issues (accounting, taxes, marketing, quality control, personnel management etc.). Most of these courses are financed by the participants themselves (sometimes with the support of the organizations of which they are members/employees); sometimes they are organized in the framework of EU or national projects.

SWEDEN

Social services and labour market integration

The public sector’s increasing inability to satisfy demand and quality expectations stimulated the emergence of the first social enterprises in social services in the 1980s. Cooperative childcare was the first and most successful field, presently providing over ten percent of child-care services (Pestoff 1998). In other welfare services the trend peaked in 1992, only producing limited results (Stryjan 1996).

Labour market integration in Sweden is steered by a separate set of institutions. The progressive erosion of these and the restructuring of mental health-care in the late 1980s fuelled an increase in openly marginalized groups (Stryjan and Wijkström 1996; Stryjan 2001). The first work-integration social enterprises (WISEs) were started as a response by those directly affected and/or by committed public employees; this grass-roots’ action produced new organizational models. No specific institutional/legal groundwork was laid beforehand, and formal financing agreements or rehabilitation contracts were negotiated locally with some municipalities. Likewise, relations with labour-market and social-insurance organs were developed locally, but never regulated nationally. On the whole, the level of institutionalization remains extremely low, which increases the enterprises’ vulnerability but also provides for a high level of innovation.

WISEs gained increasing recognition, first at the directly involved county and municipal levels (which dispense medical care, social aid and residential care), and gradually at the national level as well. This acknowledges social enterprises’ important contribution to rehabilitation but also notes the makeshift character of



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their financing, and the lack of adjusted tendering mechanisms as major development hinders, and recommends a review of WISEs’ situation. It is unclear whether this recommendation will be followed by the present government. Business-wise, WISEs are active in a broad variety of branches, ranging from technical ones (as logistics and a scrap yard) to services, gardening and janitoring (Stryjan 2006). Some enterprises provide services to the population, while others rely on business-to-business contracting. Only a handful have municipal contracts in their mainstream business activity, though contracts for rehabilitation placements and occupation are a source of additional revenue for some. No incentive for a commercial binding to public authorities exists, since the Swedish interpretation of EU public procurement legislation does not allow for preferred treatment for social enterprises, and periodic public tendering makes public agencies less reliable as business partners than the private ones.

PORTUGAL

The field of social enterprise in Portugal

The concept of social enterprise, as such, is still relatively absent both from mainstream policy and scientific debate in Portugal. However, there is an on-going debate about the larger set of third sector organisations, to which social enterprises belong. In the last few years, this debate has revolved almost exclusively around the concept of “social economy” and, more specifically, around the “Social Employment Market” (Mercado Social de Emprego), which aims at the work integration of disadvantaged persons.

Most third sector organisations have been traditionally oriented to the supply of social services, namely to children, elderly people and people with disabilities. Indeed, the Portuguese system of social security is based on a model in which responsibilities are shared between the state – through public bodies, including local authorities – and the non-governmental and non-profit sector. According to the principle of complementarity, it recognises the articulation among the various forms of social protection – public, social, cooperative, mutual and private for-profit organisations – for developing, replacing or complementing state initiatives for social security purposes and especially for social action.

But third sector organisations have recently been growing and diversifying, penetrating new areas and developing new forms of response, including in the field of work-integration. An important factor accounting for this evolution is the launch, in 1998, within the framework of the Social Employment Market, of a specific public



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scheme – the so-called “Integration Companies” (Empresas de Inserção) scheme. “Integration Companies” receive public technical and financial support. They may be promoted by different types of third sector organisations: misericórdias (charitable organisations closely related to the Catholic Church), mutual benefit associations, private institutions of social solidarity (Instituições Particulares de Solidariedade Social, or IPSS) and cooperatives, mainly from the social solidarity branch. They are practically the only form of organisation in Portugal combining social and economic purposes; talking about social enterprises in this country thus virtually amounts to talking about Integration Companies. Consequently, the present contribution will focus on the latter.



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Write and Action Plan or do a course

Here is a useful video about making an action plan. Have a look at Mind Tools for more detailed information.

https://youtu.be/-tBXJJdw9Jg

Online courses

Both webinars and online courses, some free some paid for, are available. Here is a list (as of Summer 2017).

Webinars

List of Social Enterprise Webinars

Paid Online courses

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Social Impact

List of Coursera course on Social Impact Cost: free

About this course: This course offers an introduction to social impact strategy and social entrepreneurship, including key concepts, an overview of the field, and tools to get started as a changemaker. Students will learn how to innovate and design new ideas and new organisational forms to implement those ideas. Students who take this course will be better prepared to launch social impact organisations of their own invention. By moving through four stages, Define, Design, Pilot, and Scale, students will turn their passion for changing the world into concrete plans for launching a nonprofit or for-profit venture designed to achieve a social goal. This course will allow students to systematically think through problems; develop and test an innovative solution;



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assess risk, competition, and performance; and spread impact in a way that is financially sustainable.

Identifying Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities

List of Coursera courses on Social Entrepreneurship includes prices.

About this course: This Course will clarify the definition and meaning of Social Entrepreneurship and will focus on the need to learn about the source and root of a social problem. You will be introduced to different perspectives about Social Entrepreneurship and you will learn about complementary and opportunistic assets which will help you to detect an opportunity and develop an idea of how to create a business for social change. From a practical perspective you will be asked to initiate a team formation process and start to think about a problem topic that you want to address with your social venture in the future. You will work in a team to research this topic and will gradually start to think about a particular opportunity and identify a purpose for your social venture project.

First steps in innovation and entrepreneurship

Free course providing you with a short introduction to innovation and entrepreneurship, clarifying some key themes and terminology and helping you to examine your own views about these important subjects.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• examine personal pre-existing ideas and assumptions about innovation and entrepreneurship, and see how they compare to those of other people

• identify core innovation and entrepreneurship terms and categories, apply these categorisations to practical examples and recognise where boundaries between these categories are blurred

• recognise the main connections between innovation and entrepreneurship and start to isolate a distinctively ‘entrepreneurial’ role in the innovation process.

Starting a Business or Social Enterprise – The Stone Soup Way



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COURSE DESCRIPTION

This free interactive online business course with Stone Soup covers entrepreneurship. Taking as its inspiration the book: “Stone Soup – The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing”, this course takes you through the 26 ingredients needed. This course not only brings you a flavour of the book, it also provides a profile of the successful entrepreneur/venture founder.

Social Enterprise: Business Doing Good

Can business do good? In this Business Doing Good course, we explore different models of social enterprise and the local and global problems that they aim to address.

Where could this course take me?

This course is a must for anyone who wants to understand more about what social enterprise is and its relation to sustainable development. You will learn how to evaluate social enterprise in the context of global and local problems. If you work with social enterprise or are thinking about launching a social enterprise, this course provides a valuable foundation.

What and how will I learn?

Social Enterprise: Business Doing Good, jointly run by Futurelearn and Middlesex University online includes a mix of theory, practical information and case studies from around the world. You will assess different definitions and models of social enterprise and evaluate their social impact. Video interviews with experts and practitioners, articles and discussion steps will offer you the opportunity to learn and engage with other learners on key concepts and ideas.

By the end of the course, you will understand the key concepts related to social enterprise and how to assess the social impact of a social enterprise model.



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A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO DEVELOPING YOUR SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Practical Advice for Every Step on Your Journey

The Unltd toolkit offers practical guidance and working models for every stage of social entrepreneurship from initial idea, setup and piloting, on to longer term sustainability, growth and replication. The toolkit is not meant to be a formal textbook, instead it aims to to present the authors’ experiences of supporting social entrepreneurs and the challenges and opportunities of social entrepreneurship in a structured way.

The toolkit is divided into sections, each focusing on one stage of this journey. There are 3 different ways to view the toolkit, each designed to help you find what you need fast.

Create societal impact through social entrepreneur Cost: £99

In this Coursera course you will learn how to create societal impact through Social Entrepreneurship. Social Entrepreneurship describes the discovery and sustainable exploitation of opportunities to create social change. We will introduce you to examples of Social Entrepreneurship and guide you through the process of establishing a venture to address a social or environment problem. You will form of team and study a problematic issue to learn more about the source of the problem. We will equip you with frameworks identifying opportunities, support your team, and outlining your idea. You will develop your idea and iterate on your business model throughout the Specialisation, and conclude with a complete a business plan.

Entrepreneurship is not about a single genius doing magic, but about a group of people who combine forces, take action and initiate change. Throughout the 3 courses learners will be encouraged to work in teams and form a social venture. They are asked to reach out to people who share similar thoughts and concerns about a particular topic to eventually form a team. This team will focus on a very specific issue and do research to examine the source of the problem. Results will be used to identify an opportunity to address this problem. Gradually a business model will be developed. Learners will choose an organizational form, devise an appropriate financial structure and start to create a business plan. Measuring social impact and selecting the right strategy to scale will define success. Whether a team sticks to the very same members and project throughout all 3 courses will depend on the individual learners. Changing topics or switching teams is possible anytime.



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· Talk to a Social Enterpise

No two social enterprises are the same but each SE has its own unique legal problems. Talk to the Social Enterprise that inspires you for advice and guidance.



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Additional Info on legal structres

Social enterprise – key formation options

A social enterprise can be set up as a limited company (which must be registered at Companies House), sole trader business (registered with HMRC), business partnership, charity or charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), mutual (eg industrial and provident society and co-operatives – owned by members and run for their benefit) or community interest company (CIC).

A CIC is a type of limited company created specifically for social enterprises. CICs have a social objective and are regulated, ensuring that they cannot deviate from their social mission and that their assets are protected from being sold privately.

You need to apply to Companies House to set a CIC up (it costs £35), following approval from the CIC regulator. You can convert an existing company into a CIC (£25). Each year a CIC must submit an annual community interest company report along with detailed accounts and a confirmation statement (Annual Return). The CIC regulator pages of the GOV.UK website contain a wealth of helpful information about CICs, as well as downloadable forms and handy guides.

What is a charity?

The Charities Act 2011 describes a charity as “an institution established for charitable purposes only”, which is “subject to the control of the High Court’s charity law jurisdiction.”

According to the Charity Commission (the independent government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales): “Charities exist to benefit the public, not specific individuals. Because of this, charities pay reduced business rates and receive tax breaks but are restricted in what they can do and how they work.” Charities must observe charity law, which includes being transparent about their activities and only do things that are charitable according to law. They are normally run by trustees who do not benefit from the charity.



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A CIO is a legal form of charity launched in 2013, as the Charity Commission explains: “Created in response to requests from charities for a new structure which could provide some of the benefits of being a company, without some of the burdens.” CIO’s must only register with the Charity Commission. Visit the organisation’s pages on the GOV.UK website to find out about setting up and running a charity. The GOV.UK website also features information about tax rules for charities.

Support and advice for social enterprises

Seek out free sources of reliable advice and support. The website of Social Enterprise UK (the national body for social enterprise) features a wealth of advice and information, including a downloadable guide to setting up and running a social enterprise [PDF]. Also find out about Inspire 2 Enterprise (“a unique, free-to-access service for the social enterprise sector providing information, specialist advice and support from start-up to initial growth and beyond”).

Here is a list of examples of legal structures across Europe!

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/legal_structures_e689ee26d20e3b



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MODULE 4: FUNDING & PLANNING

FUNDING

Getting Started

How to find funding for your Social Enterprise

This research is just a quick link guide, to run alongside all the extensive information and research done in previous steps in different categories about funding.

What funding is available for Social Entrepreneurs?

If you are looking for funding to help you get your social enterprise up and running, there are a number of organisations who offer grants to social enterprises, charities and community projects as well as organisations who are offering social investment. This page brings together details of many organisations that offer this type of support. As such sources of funding often change, this list is intended only as a starting point and is not a definitive list. We have also included grant information and search providers that could help you further in your search for funding.

https://youtu.be/W7E_MGpiIK4

Fantastic advice about how to get funding from investors etc by Alistair Wilson from the SSE.

Grant Providers

Huge long list of people who provide grants for social enterprises in the UK. Just a snippet of the list below…

How-to guide: funding your social enterprise with and without money

Money makes the world go round, right? Wrong. It is a common mistake to believe that you need funding in place before you start your social enterprise. By being savvy, communicating with customers and scaling on a budget you may not need initial investment to fund your social enterprise. Here are three common misconceptions and how you can tackle them:



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1 You have an idea for a B2B product, and you need to build it before going to customers to try to sell it to them. Talk to your customers, show them mockups, process diagrams and samples. They may help fund your development or at least offer you criticisms and tell you how to improve your idea.

2 You are building a new product, and you need to spend money on advertising/marketing. Scaling can be done without spending huge amounts of money. Gabriel Weinberg’s blog and Ryan Holiday’s book, Trust me, I’m lying, are great resources. If you still think you need money for advertising, the problem might be the concept; if so, return to step one.

3 You need to pay someone to develop your website/product because you don’t have the technical skills. Ideas are cheap, and if you don’t have the skills to build even the basics then you are just a component of your founding team. You will need to talk to people and build your tribe: get people to work with you, not for you.

What to do if you do really need money

There are many sources of money for social enterprises. UnLtd, the Startup Loan scheme, the SEIS and EIS schemes. There are grants available from UKTI, Nestaand many more.

Tax reliefs are also available. HMRC schemes are there to help you finance your research and development spend and national insurance contributions, and accelerators are popping up all over the place, providing early stage finance, office space and mentoring.

It’s never been easier to find funding for a UK social enterprise. However, securing investment can be complicated, but the acid test is simple. If you’re ruthless with yourself, it’s hugely effective: write down every single assertion, projection and assumption in your pitch, then justify or remove each one in turn. Whoever you ask, you will have to demonstrate the same three things:

Credibility. Are you – and your other team members – the best people to do this? If not, can you build the perfect team, and is there a clear route to financial and/or social return?

Planning. Have you identified what your team, product and market look like for at least the next year? What is your strategy, and what are your milestones?



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Progress. Do you have orders, customers, signups, written letters of interest? Does it “work”?

The job of most investors is two-fold: to safeguard money and make a return. Most startups focus on the latter – financial or social return. Instead of focusing on the impact, social entrepreneurs need to be realistic and focus on how they are going to pay the money back and on demonstrating they have sorted out their credibility, planning and progress.

Scaling up: what are your priorities?

Scaling up often follows the same protocol, but with larger UnLtd programmes, bigger Nesta funds and backing from social investment funds, social banks and even conventional venture capital funding.

But here, it is essential to ask yourself a different set of questions. What does scale mean to you? Does it matter if you are copied? Is scale about control and revenue, or is it about delivering greater impact?

If your primary purpose is to grow the impact or revenues of your organisation, then you may need to raise more capital (offices, people and equipment can be expensive). If your primary purpose is to scale your impact, think deeper than money. Look at franchising, open-source, training and network/partnership models. If you’re really ambitious, consider incubating other ideas, people and startups, before spinning them out to new regions or markets. This way you can deepen your impact and create sustainable, resilient structures.

The critical question when you start up is, “Do you really need money?”, and, when it comes to scaling-up, “What does scale mean to you?” You need to explore these questions before you start your journey because they will define how you’ll live and breathe for the next five plus years of your life. Good luck!

Social Entrepreneurship Awards Toolkit Theme #10: Funding and Financing

Sources of funding

The sources of funding are predicated by a number of factors:

• The amount of trading income you expect to generate • The level of expected profitability • Your enterprise’s legal structure



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If your social enterprise is likely to generate only or mainly social or environmental outcomes with little or no trading income then you need to consider grant funding. Strictly speaking if you are not going to generate trading income it is questionable whether you can be regarded as a social enterprise.

You may generate trading income but the profitability may be comparatively low compared to what a commercial business would be expected to generate. Typically social enterprises also operate in markets that are high risk – e.g. environment, health, social care. Both these factors may exclude you from being funded by many commercial funding entities that are looking to invest in businesses with a higher profit potential and with a lower market risk.

You need to think through all these considerations before approaching sources of funding. You need to devise a strategy and also consider carefully what the implications of obtaining the funding sources may have on you personally and on your enterprise.

You will need to have a convincing story and outcomes to get the financial support that you need. This means that you need to have undertaken your marketing and created a business plan that explains what you intend to do, how you are going to create the social and financial returns (contained in financial forecasts) and how much you are looking for. As a start, we recommend you work through the frameworks and actions set out in relevant sections in the Business Model , the Marketing and the Financial Management themes of this toolkit.

You may need to plan for staged funding – you may not be able to secure what you need immediately and from one source. This is normal. You should plan to get what you can and build on that. So you need to be looking to, and approaching, all potential sources of funding.

Grants

Grant funding is an attractive option for many social enterprises. There is no repayment required. However grant funding needs to be carefully navigated. Grants from grant making trusts are often restricted to organisations that are non-profit making. So many social enterprises may be excluded because of their legal structure, i.e. a company limited by shares, or if the constitution states that the company is profit making. The social benefits that the enterprise will generate need to be explicit and probably measurable. The grant funders are also more demanding



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about wider community involvement in the ownership and governance of an organisation as well about the adequacy of governance structures.

Grants also tend to be project-specific. That is they cover the costs of delivering a project but not an enterprise’s central administration and management costs. For a start up enterprise it is exactly the administration and management costs that you need covered so that you are in a position to start delivering projects.

Grants are usually made available to organisations and not to individuals. The exception is Unltd (www.unltd.org.uk), which supports individuals involved in social enterprise activity. The grant is for projects at the pre-start up or early start-up stage. Grants of up to £5,000 (Level 1) are available. The grant is given specifically to assist the individual to realise a project, such as a one-off event, or to launch a longer term and sustainable project. Unltd also offer the budding social entrepreneur other support in terms of workshops, networking, seminars etc.

PLANNING

Getting organised....

Social enterprise works – promoting your organisation

This information sheet looks at the way you promote your organisation, products and services, and considers what is involved in developing a promotion strategy. Your organisation might choose to promote messages about:

• The benefits of your organisation and its services/products

• The image of your organisation

• The people involved in the organisation

A promotion strategy might form part of a wider marketing plan, which should include amongst other elements a customer care strategy. See Social Enterprise Works information sheet on ‘Marketing’ under the Policy and Strategy section and Social Enterprise Works information sheet ‘Customer care guidelines’ under the Processes section.

• Image



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The image of the organisation and business is the face it presents to the outside world: it is a major part of the message. It is important to ensure that the image presented is appropriate to the organisation/business and the potential customer/user. Image is reflected in many areas of activity:

• Product and Services: positioning, packaging:

o Business Presentation: Name, logo, stationery. Consider carefully the visual.

o symbols that are placed on letterheads, posters, vans, T-shirts etc…It may be worth “piloting” the graphics to see how potential customers/users respond, and it also may be costs-effective to bring in outside expertise:

o Staff: Physical and professional qualities as seen by customers/users, such as appearance, gestures and language along with skills, experience and knowledge. (see Information Sheet 1 ‘Customer Care Guidelines’)

One aspect to consider is whether the promotional techniques should be targeted to non-targeted. Targeted promotion means that it is possible to control or determine broad categories of people who will receive the message, and therefore be sure to reach the target market. Untargeted promotion sends out a message to a large and unspecified to a large and unspecified number of people in the hope that the target market is reached.

Examples of targeted promotions are:

• Word-of-mouth/networking – though slow and message may not be clear. • Videos about the Organisation – Can target distribution but can’t ensure it

is seen.

• Open – Days/Evenings, Conferences and Lectures – but there is still the question of how you inform the target market of these. Useful for introducing new services and products to an existing market.

• Stalls, exhibitions and shows – time-consuming but often effective. • Specialist newspapers, journals and magazines- some adverts may

be expensive, but may be cost effective. Be careful in the placement of adverts – check what headings they are placed under and ensure they are not placed where they will not be seen or next to something inappropriate.



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• Leaflets and Posters – often a good technique if placed where the target market goes.

• Notices in shop windows – targets those in a geographical area. • Radio – most stations have identified market, including ethnic groups

different age groups.

The following are generally non-targeted promotional techniques:

• Press Release – good for controlling the message but difficult to target

• Newspapers – can control message with adverts: if editorial or article, the message may be distorted though may be free. As with adverts in magazines, check that placement is appropriate.

• Direct mail letters/newsletters, circulars – can have these inserted into local papers or delivered to all homes/businesses

• Directories (e.g. Yellow Pages) – Useful in reaching large market if message likely to stay the same for a long time, may be expensive

• Television – very expensive and need to b careful about image conveyed.

The choice of promotional techniques will also depend on other considerations:

• How quickly do you want or need the communication to take place.

• Whether “Instant impact” is desired

• Use AIDA formula: (gain0Attention,(generate)Interest,Desire(offer something) and Action (give opportunity to follow up)

UnLtd – Social Entrepreneurship Awards Toolkit

*There are endless great tips and facts in this article/PDF. We have included the main points and the info-graphs/diagrams

Understanding your target audience and defining your value proposition

Now that you’re ready to turn your idea into a reality and begin defining your business model , it’s time to think about how you will market your products or services. Marketing is a much broader topic than many people imagine. Most people



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would probably define marketing as advertising, PR and sales; but the true concept of marketing is much broader and a key part of any organisation.

What is marketing and why is it important?

At the most simplistic level, marketing is the activity which connects your organisations ‘offering’ with the target audience(s). Marketing is therefore the key ‘enabler’ to growing your business and achieving success. The principles of marketing are commonly understood around the following core ‘components of marketing’

• The offering: the products (e.g. ethically sourced clothing) or services (e.g. counselling) your organisation will offer.

• The value proposition: Articulating your offering to the target audience- ‘the solution to their needs’.

• The marketing strategy: Your strategy for connecting with the target audience (e.g. deciding to target a specific geographical audience).

• The marketing plan: The objectives, budgets and tools that will be used to deliver the marketing strategy.

• The target audience: The stakeholders who will be ‘sold’ your value proposition.

• Underpinning all of these marketing pillars must be comprehensive understanding of the target audience (e.g. who they are, where they are, what are their needs and their typical characteristics). The relationship between these different components is illustrated in the diagram below:

Understanding your target audience

As introduced earlier, understanding your target audience is a vital step in enabling your organisation to define its value proposition(s). Once you have defined your external stakeholders within your target audience, the next step is to examine the key features of each stakeholder group or audience.

Understanding target groups (e.g. beneficiaries or paying customers) will probably require the most in depth analysis. For this target audience you will need to understand:

• The size of the target audience • The structure of the target audience (this will often involve trying to segment

the audience into a number of core groups)



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• The trends associated with the target audience (e.g. growth) • The needs and characteristics of the target audience (this is vital to allow you

to develop a strong value position that addresses the needs and demands of the target audience)

What is a marketing strategy?

The marketing strategy of your organisation should define how you plan to communicate your value proposition to the target audience. It should therefore consider:

• Your brand identity – how you communicate your value proposition / offering to the market

• Your position in the market landscape- how does your value proposition compare to your competitors?

• Your ‘routes to market’- how will you reach the target audience with your value proposition?

• Your marketing strategy should be seen as an integral component of the overall business strategy and will be play fundamental role in delivering your organisation’s mission and overall strategic aims. Once you have defined your marketing strategy, you will then be able to develop a marketing plan – i.e. the objectives, budgets and tools that will be used to deliver the marketing strategy.

• Marketing strategy – brand identity • In some cases you may need to communicate your value proposition in

different ways depending on the target audience or route to market. For example, an organisation providing information and advice services to the homeless is likely to communicate very differently with beneficiaries versus Local Authority commissioners.

• Features are factual statements about your product or service, whereas the benefits should answer the target audiences question ‘how does this benefit me?’

Your brand identity needs to work effectively with all segments your target audience, and through all routes to market. However, the specific features and benefits you decide to emphasise may vary depending on the audience segment/ route to market in which you are communicating your value proposition (see marketing plan- next section).



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Marketing & Modelling your Social Enterprise

University of Greenwich

https://youtu.be/p3Jz0pjHGfo



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· Success Stories

Most Successful Social Enterprises in the UK – Solving a social problem directly.

The Big Issue

Facebook Likes:9k

Twitter followers:21k

About

The Big Issue Foundation is a financially independent charity. We believe in a ‘hand up and not a hand out’ and recognise that earning an income is a key step in a person’s journey towards stability and a better life. Achieving something for yourself is 100% more empowering than having it done for you. The Big Issue offers the incentive of earning an income; it means that we engage with a number of individuals who are not seen by other services or projects. We work exclusively with Big Issue vendors. People who are homeless are often excluded from mainstream society, financially impoverished and disadvantaged in multiple ways; we seek to address the fundamental issues attached to social and financial exclusion. Please click here for more basic facts about us.

We operate an open door policy and work with individuals who have made the first step to try and work themselves out of homelessness. Our charity work focuses on delivering brighter futures, boosting self esteem and helping vendors to reclaim their citizenship.

Social Aims

A key part of the way that we work with Big Issue vendors is by identifying and motivating individuals to engage with the services that will help them move forward and deal with their homelessness, health issues and achieve their own goals.



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Our objectives are:

‘Vendor-centric’ – our charity work is led by the hopes and aspirations of Big Issue vendors

‘Inclusive’ – social and financial inclusion at the heart of our philosophy

‘Non-judgmental’ – we work with anyone who is prepared to engage with self-help.

Through this approach we seek to ensure that our vendors have the following:

• somewhere meaningful to call home • access to a doctor and equality of access to health care opportunities • the essential support that is needed to overcome addictions • direct help with business skills to maximise independent earnings • the crucial personal identification that opens so many doors • access to additional financial support and secure saving opportunities • the opportunity to re-connect with family members and loved ones.

Financial Sustainability

The accounts show an increase in profits over the last two years, but is far too varied to try and snippet into this doc. Below is a pie chart, taken straight from the website of TBI, showing where their income is generated.

The HCT Group

About

HCT Group is a social enterprise in the transport industry. Our story starts in 1982 with the formation of Hackney Community Transport, providing low cost minibuses for local community groups – a service we provide to this day.

In 1993, with traditional grants under threat, we came to the realisation that the best way to become a sustainable social enterprise was to become an effective enterprise. We began to compete for commercial contracts in the marketplace to ensure we could continue to provide community transport.

This approach has seen HCT Group grow from a handful of volunteers and a couple of minibuses, with a turnover of £202k in 1993 – to a large scale social enterprise with 800 employees, ten depots spread across London, Yorkshire, Humberside, the



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Southwest and the Channel Islands, a fleet of 500 vehicles and a 2015/16 turnover of £44.2m.

Social Aims

• To enhance people’s lives, provide opportunities and bring people and communities together through transport and training.

The HCT group have an incredibly detailed, and inspiring impact report that can be found here:

It lists the hundreds of reasons they run their enterprise, but also provides case studies, infographics (such as below), and reasons for every action that they take.

Financial Sustainability



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Organise an event or a Get Together

Have a go at getting a group of like minded people together to generate ideas and get inspired. Plan and organise a small event, gather feedback and ideas and use these to take the next step… funding! Set up a Facebook group (like CoWorkLisboa) and build your community of like-minded people.



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· Free Planning Tools

Free planning tools!

Click here to look at some free tools!



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MODUL 5. CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDIES

How did Capture start?

Capture Projects is one of the Social Enterprises in our films, but how did they get started?

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/case_study_capture-oos_font

BEST RESOURCES

Unltd (London)

UNLTD is also a social enterprise that helps set up other social enterprises. They help set up Capture with one of their starter grants (£5,000) – Very useful!!

https://issuu.com/capture/docs/unltd_toolkit

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