Social Enterprise

Demystifying the Social Enterprise Model 

What is a Social Enterprise?

Social enterprises have certain characteristics:

• they have explicit social aims and objectives,
• they undertake trading activities to generate income and profits,
• they reinvest a significant proportion of their profits to achieve their social objectives
• there is social ownership with assets held primarily for community benefit
• there is an emphasis on sustainability

The government definition sees social enterprises as businesses 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'.

Essentially social enterprises take on a business form to try and tackle social or environmental issues and needs. There is a strong emphasis on reinvesting profits back into the business or community that it serves rather than maximising profit for shareholders or owners. This is a fundamental aspect to the social enterprise model.

For more information on social enterprise model and how it could apply to your organisation please see our Demystifying the Social Enterprise Model: A CommUNITY Barnet Toolkit 

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