Social Enterprises are defined as businesses motivated by a social or environmental need rather than profit. Any surplus or profit made is reinvested n the social objective of the business, resulting in benefits for the community or environment rather than increased profits for shareholders or owners. The Social Enterprise Mark has been developed to show customers that businesses holding the Mark are founded on these principles of social enterprise.
Social enterprises operating in South West England can apply to use the Mark, and are assessed on a range of criteria before being awarded use. Applicants need to demonstrate that their profits are used or redistributed for social purposes, have clearly stated social objectives, and have eternally verified evidence of the social benefits and impacts of their work. They must also generate at least 50% of their income (turnover, not profit) from trading rather than grants in order to qualify.
There is an obvious balance to be kept between maintaining the integrity of the Mark by regular monitoring and updating of business procedures, and not making compliance so onerous or expensive that it becomes just another burden for non-profit enterprises. Other issues raised in the lively discussion were around the arbitrary 50% income cutoff point, which can easily be thrown by one-off grants, and the interaction of this Mark with others such as environmental and Fairtrade marks when a particular business might require several.
While this forum raised some useful issues about how to verify and brand socially responsible businesses, the most interesting aspect for me was actually the venue which hosted this meeting, called The Melting Pot. A social enterprise providing work and meeting spaces for social innovators, The Melting Pot is an “eco-funky” light and airy top floor of an inner city Edinburgh building which houses, as well as the meeting space we used, a large open-plan office with desks, sofas, and kitchen. Individuals or small enterprises can use these premises on a drop-in or permanent basis and pay hourly, daily or monthly rental. A range of grass roots organisations, global NGOs, entrepreneurs and freelancers use this space, benefiting from the professional equipment, service support, flexible spaces and cross-fertilisation of working alongside other people involved in social change. It is a very pleasant and impressive facility.The next session was a “cultural cafe” held at another social enterprise, Dancebase. I joined the “Community Regeneration” table hosted by Wendy Reid of the Development Trusts Association Scotland. I've descried DTAs previously, and Wendy reiterated the benefits of owning assets in order to become more autonomous. My question to this table was how a community organisation could acquire those assets in the first place. Many of the answers really only applied to the UK, with such things as land reform legislation, and public bodies that can be convinced to hand over assets to community groups (often abandoned properties that require an enormous amount of work to rehabilitate). They mentioned that there is £40 million of unclaimed money sitting in banks in the UK, that the government is considering using as grants to community organisations (!).
Some developers build in community facilities to avoid paying levies to the council, and put in management structures from the community. Another source is from wind companies who erect wind farms in an area, who are often required to pay a community benefit to offset the impacts. Or communities can put up their own wind turbines from lottery money, and spend the ongoing income on community projects.
The day ended with a drink and dance in a third social enterprise, the Bongo Club, long part of the Edinburgh music scene. It's good to know that socially-responsible people can still party!!
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