Trading and Social Enterprise
Welcome to this brand new page which will bring you news, information and tools to help you start and grow your social enterprise and generally find out more about the benefits (or not!) of trading, along with funding opportunities as they arise. If you have any information you think would be useful to include, please email: marilyn.keats@communitybarnet.org.uk.
What is a social enterprise?
Social enterprises have a primary purpose to pursue a social or environmental goal (as opposed to being purely or mainly profit driven).
In addition, they principally reinvest any profit or surplus that is made in the organisation or community to further the social or environmental goal.
What is a charitable purpose?
The Charity Commission provides detailed guidance on what is a charitable purpose. Please follow this link to the Charity Commission website.
Funding Opportunities
* NEW * The School for Social Entrepreneurs new Lloyds Banking Group Social Entrepreneurs Programme
The programme has two strands:
- The Start Up Programme compromises of a grant of £4,000 and a place on SSE’s Start Up learning programme. The action learning programme will run in eight locations across the UK from October 2012 – October 2013. It is for applicants at an early stage in the development of their project or organisation, and supports personal development and business skills development to help turn projects or project ideas into reality.
- The Scale Up Programme compromises of a grant of £15,000 and a place on SSE’s Scale Up learning programme. The action learning programme will be delivered in London (with a national intake) UK from October 2012 – October 2013. It is for social entrepreneurs with an established organisation who are looking to take it to the next level, equipping them with the tools to develop it further and maximise their social impact.
- Each year, one of the Scale Up participants will also win the Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award with a total grant of £25,000.
Applications are open now, and the closing date is Monday 28th May at 10am.
The Santander Social Enterprise Development Awards
aim to support social enterprises and Community Interest Companies looking to grow their business and improve their local community.
The Development Awards are targeted at established social enterprises, with two or more years of trading, that have ambitions to develop their business but need a financial boost to help them realise their ideas.
If your business could use a Development Award of up to £50,000 read more about the competition in About the Awards.
We are a formal consortium of social enterprises, commercial companies and local authorities, who:
- Actively search for and tender for public service contract opportunities
- Allow members to jointly trade within an internal market
- Offer structured networking opportunities for members.
TSELF – The Social Enterprise Loan Fund
Specialist loans for charities and social enterprises
We provide loans to charities and social enterprises that are unable to secure sufficient funding from mainstream sources. We aim to help organisations that have a social impact, especially those working in disadvantaged communities.
We have a network of regional managers who work closely with our clients to ensure that our loans meet their needs and help them become more sustainable enterprises.
We are especially interested in receiving applications from organisations active in the:
- prevention or relief of poverty
- advancement of education
- advancement of health or the saving of lives
- advancement of citizenship or community development
- advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
- advancement of amateur sport
- advancement of environmental protection or improvement
- relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.
If the loan you are seeking will help deliver any of the eight things listed above, we would like to hear from you.
Information on legal structures and governance arrangements
Co-ops
Community buying challenge
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The Buy Better Together Challenge is an exciting initiative by Co-operatives UKand BIS to inspire new models of community buying, stimulate enterprise and promote shared learning. A £60,000 pot will go towards training, mentoring and seed funding for stand out projects, including £15,000 for the overall winner
Entries by 15th May.
See http://discuss.bis.gov.uk/buying/the-buy-better-together-challenge-feb-2012/.
Help Organisations
Third Thursday
Working to increase the capacity of participating organisations, together working for a better society.
Our aim is to provide a platform for social enterprises to grow their businesses through collaborative working, while retaining their individual identities.
