What is a social enterprise?

Good question. There are countless definitions of social enterprise, but a useful one is:

"An organisation which trades in the market for a social purpose"

Our social enterprise consultants SBC describe them as businesses that try to do two things at once - they aim to do good and do well. So they achieve social objectives, whilst aiming to be financially sustainable.

Ownership is important too - as is what happens to profits. Social enterprises are not privately owned, and they tend not to distribute profits - for this reason they're sometimes described as "not-for-profit". A better term would probably be "more-than-profit", because in reality they do need to make money - it's what they do with it that counts.

A lot of the anxiety that surrounds social enterprise centres around the misconception that they need to be 100% self-sufficient through trading. Some will be - but many won't - the important thing is that they earn as much income as they can through providing services or selling products. Many still get grants - but they're not reliant on them.

You can find out more about social enterprise from our consultants or from local social enterprise support organisation, Business Link Yorkshire.