Office of the Third Sector Homepage
Last updated: 19 November 2009
Social Enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.
Social enterprises come in many shapes and sizes, from small community-owned village shops to large charities delivering public services; from individual social entrepreneurs to national businesses. You might be familiar with such examples as The Big Issue [external website] and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant [external website].
Our latest estmitates suggest there are 62,000 social enterprises like these across the UK, contributing £24 billion to the UK economy. While social enterprises can take any legal form – including those commonly used by private businesses, many are Community Interest Companies [external website], Industrial and Provident Societies or Companies Limited by Guarantee. Many also take charitable status, if they are trading directly in support of their social mission - for example if they are proving care services.
Whatever form they take, social enterprises prove that social and environmental responsibility can be combined with financial success. They are destinctive from other businesses in that the majority of their profits will be used to further social and/or environmental goals. They are distincitve from more traditional charities or voluntary organisations in that they generate the majority, if not all, of their income through trading goods or services rather than donations.
Social enterprises can sometimes be hard to find because of their diverse nature. For this reason the Office of the Third Sector is working with the social enterprise sector to help them develop an effective way to identify and market themselves.
For more examples of social enterprises see:
• Social Enterprise Ambassadors website [external website]
• Enterprising Services