Office of the Third Sector Homepage
Last updated: 23 November 2008
As part of the research work commissioned by the former Social Enterprise Unit in the Department of Trade and Industry, now part of the Office of the Third Sector, some useful research tools have been developed to help the Government and third sector organisations develop their own research into social enterprise.
In 2003 a research report was commissioned a to review knowledge of the social enterprise sector and develop guidance on mapping social enterprise.
The Social Enterprise Partnership was sponsored to produce a toolkit to help provide social enterprise and other mission–driven organisations with the knowledge, tools and resources to prove and improve their quality and impact.
The toolkit is available on the Prove and Improve website [External website].
In 2003 the DTI supported a practitioner–led conference on social audit, 'imPROVE it – social auditing to win business'. To accompany the conference, the DTI supported the publication of a special supplement on social audit to help raise awareness of social audit tools and the potential benefits of social audit.
The Social Audit Supplement [External PDF], was produced by Social Enterprise magazine in association with Cat's Pyjamas.
Read the full evaluation of the event on the Cat's Pyjamas website. [External website]
In 2006 a pack of free training materials was produced to help people work more effectively as board members of social enterprises and voluntary organisations.
The materials were developed by the consultants Governance Works with funding from the Office of the Third Sector. The initiative came about as a result of research that showed that many people sitting as board members in the not-for-profit sector had more experience of managing grant aid than earned income, and would benefit from help in understanding the workings of the boards of trading organisations.
Becoming a social enterprise: essential business understanding for VCS boards