I’ve been working for, running and volunteering for social enterprises for 12 years now.
I find that “social enterprise” as a term isn’t really known by anyone outside of the social enterprise bubble, e.g. those running, funding or volunteering for a social enterprise.
The funding structures available to social enterprises seems to be an issue - you can be anything from a private limited company through to a registered charity or anything in between (and don’t get me started on CICs...).
I know a fully for-profit company who claims they are a social enterprise just because their main client base is registered charities.
I also think that the B Corp movement (https://bcorporation.net/) is building a much better brand than the social enterprise movement - and the whole process to becoming a registered B Corp is much more stringent than become a social enterprise, and has the added benefit of helping improve the social impact of organisations that apply to become B Corp registered.
I’m currently building a database of social good organisations in the UK and beyond here: https://goodhere.org/
Would love to see more projects and funders submitted. Email is in profile if you’re interested in discussing more.
> I know a fully for-profit company who claims they are a social enterprise just because their main client base is registered charities.
Cynical me thinks that for-profit companies primarily work to benefit their executives and shareholders. Non-profit companies primary work to benefit their executives alone. How is this better? My source is overhead conversations in bars in Seattle where I heard Gates Foundation executives bragging about how they were getting paid $300,000 a year to do absolutely nothing.
> bragging about how they were getting paid $300,000 a year to do absolutely nothing
If I was doing this, I would feel guilty as hell and wouldn't tell a single soul. I'd probably also be looking for something else to do. The messed-up stuff some people boast about, it's sickening.
Non-profits have to report financial, and in their 990 forms have to say all employees who make over 100k a year. You can look at them usually through the IRS website. Gates Foundation posts theirs here: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Informati...
The only people making more than 300,000 are their 4 directors.
I don't think this necessarily says anything to the contrary of that. If you are someone at Gates overseeing research grants etc, you probably have a PhD and I'm sure the Gates job is less stressful than doing your own research. I could very easily see how friends of mine would say such a position is "easy" compared to publishing yourself, being scooped, research failing, etc. Instead, you get paid well to help other people do the same. Nothing wrong with that - it's just perspective.
Granted, I didn't talk to this executive, but I feel somewhat comfortable hypothesizing this due to what I know of this area.
+1 on B Corp certification being better than a “social enterprise”. I’ve seen so many companies call themselves social enterprises with little evidence of impact, which really amounts to a new form of greenwashing. B Corp helps solve that
We’re currently going through the B Corp process and even taking the initial questionnaire is improving the social impact side of our business and helping us plan for how we can improve here.
I’m sure B Corp as term suffers from the same issues as social enterprise does, namely who knows or cares what a B Corp is outside of those that have achieved B Corp status?
Sometimes it seems much simpler to just be a business and outline your social impact on your website and marketing materials, or register as a straight charity so there’s no questions asked.
Hey Ben! I took a look around GoodHere, and to be honest with you, this is similar to a product idea I had in mind (at its core but different in vision + implementation).
How are you looking to monetize the platform? Would you mind talking things over with a potential competitor?
I find that “social enterprise” as a term isn’t really known by anyone outside of the social enterprise bubble, e.g. those running, funding or volunteering for a social enterprise.
The funding structures available to social enterprises seems to be an issue - you can be anything from a private limited company through to a registered charity or anything in between (and don’t get me started on CICs...).
I know a fully for-profit company who claims they are a social enterprise just because their main client base is registered charities.
I also think that the B Corp movement (https://bcorporation.net/) is building a much better brand than the social enterprise movement - and the whole process to becoming a registered B Corp is much more stringent than become a social enterprise, and has the added benefit of helping improve the social impact of organisations that apply to become B Corp registered.
I’m currently building a database of social good organisations in the UK and beyond here: https://goodhere.org/
Would love to see more projects and funders submitted. Email is in profile if you’re interested in discussing more.