Contents

Sponsor of This Guide

NatWest

Supporting the social enterprise sector is an integral part of NatWest’s

strategy to make a positive difference to local communities.

Supporting enterprise is not just about providing banking products and

services. It is about taking a longer-term view of how we work with

customers and their communities to help them become more sustainable.

That’s why we work with a range of partners and networks to create opportunities

for businesses which have traditionally struggled to access financial services.

In helping to unleash the talent of the UK’s social entrepreneurs, we

achieve a more sustainable economy and a stronger society too.

Our long-established Community Banking team exists to support enterprise

with a social purpose and help to promote sustainability, and develop the

social finance & investment marketplace by working with groups and

organisations facing particular challenges in accessing finance and starting

up or growing their businesses. These activities also help to support the

professionalisation of the sector and open up access to financial services

for socially-excluded groups. We recognise that our health as a bank

depends on the health of the economy and our local communities too.

We also support the NatWest SE100 Index because, like any other part

of the economy, it is important to gather as much market intelligence

as possible. This information is invaluable in helping the social

enterprise sector to demonstrate its growing size and impact.

NatWest provides a range of banking products for charities and social enterprises.

These organisations can also benefit from the wide ranging support provided

by our Community Banking team. We also offer more business support,

through our local network of business growth enablers across the UK.

Social Enterprise UK is working with NatWest to help strengthen the social

enterprise sector in the UK and make it easier to set up and run a social enterprise.

www.natwest.com/scc

Social enterprises come in all sorts of types and forms (more on this

later), but what connects them are these five characteristics:

About Social

They have a social mission written into their company

They make more than 50% of their money from trading

They reinvest or give away more than 50% of their

Enterprise

profits to further their social mission

They are independent: owned and controlled

WHAT IS IT & WHY MIGHT

in the interests of the social mission

They are transparent in how they report their

YOU THINK ABOUT IT?

social impact and how they operate

If you tick all five of these, you are a social enterprise: these are exactly the five

What is social enterprise?

things we ask organisations when they join Social Enterprise UK as members.

Social enterprise is all about combining business with social justice, and

For more on social enterprise definitions, how you ‘prove’ you are one, and

using business and enterprise as a force for good and a way of making

who regulates them, please see the Social Enterprise UK website .

change. It is estimated that there are over 70,000 social enterprises in

the UK, ranging from new start-ups at the grassroots through to large

Why social enterprise?

multi-million pound organisations with thousands of employees.

There are lots of reasons why we are seeing the number of

It is a diverse and exciting movement to be part of, and they change people’s

social enterprises grow. Some of the reasons we hear are:

lives in lots of different ways: through creating jobs; through preventing

environmental waste; through reinvesting profits into community activity; through

Someone has experienced or identified a problem they

developing new services to help the most vulnerable. Well-known examplesof

want to solve (and then solve it for other people)

social enterprises include the Big Issue, Belu Water and Divine Chocolate.

All businesses should operate this way, and put people

Social enterprises exist in the space between traditional

and planet on an equal footing with profit

charity and mainstream business.

Charities needing to earn more of their money to survive and thrive

They are different from traditional charities in that they:

Not wanting to rely on handouts or donations or

volunteering to be sustainable

Make most of their money from selling products or services

Being inspired by examples of successful social enterprises

Don’t rely on volunteering, grants or donations to survive

There are lots of organisations out there to support social enterprises

Whatever has brought you to this point, this guide is intended to help you think

They are different from traditional businesses in that they:

through the key things which are important for starting a social enterprise.

Have a primary social mission or purpose similar to that

A note on this guide: lots of people want to jump to writing their business plan or

which a charity may have

choosing a legal structure. Both of these are important and they feature later in this

Don’t exist to maximise profit for shareholders

guide, but we think there are lots of important questions to think about first. Some of

these questions you may already have a good idea about or have clear answers for;

Don’t exist to make owners very wealthy

others might require more thinking. We have used a made-up social enterprise,

Measure the social impact and difference they make

Furniture Recycling CIC, to translate things into practice throughout.

1.0 MISSION

Social mission is another way of saying the central purpose

of the social enterprise you are setting up. It is important

because it helps social enterprises with planning, in making

sure they are on course and in knowing whether they are

achieving what they set out to do. It is also what makes social

enterprises different from mainstream businesses, whose

central purpose is to make as much money as possible.

For example, the mission of Furniture

Recycling CIC might be: “To reduce the

“SOCIAL MISSION

amount of waste which goes to landfill and

to provide local people with work.” You

IS WHAT

will see that this talks about the problems

the organisation wants to tackle: the lack

MAKES SOCIAL

of employment for local people, and the

It may be that you have started a project prompted by

ENTERPRISES

environmental waste currently happening.

an opportunity or a gap that you have noticed needs

to be filled, and not thought about your mission.

DIFFERENT FROM

That doesn’t matter— but being able to describe

MAINSTREAM

your mission will help in the future, because lots

Lots of business plans have ‘Vision,

of people will want to know about it. That includes

Mission & Values’ at the start. The

BUSINESSES.”

people who might buy your products and services,

vision is simply ‘how you see the

people who might work at your enterprise or

world ideally in future’; so for Furniture

people that might support it in some other way.

Recycling CIC, this might be “a zero-

Your mission will also go in documents you create

waste, full-employment economy.”

when you establish your social enterprise company

Values are about how an organisation

(more on this later). It’s important to achieve a balance

operates, which is more about the

in your social mission to ensure it is sufficiently

culture you want to create: honest,

tangible whilst also allowing scope for your business

transparent, enterprising, authentic,

to develop. It may be appropriate, for example, for

collaborative and so on. This tends

some businesses to reference a particular geographical

to be more useful and relevant as

area (if you’re focused on a particular community)

you build a team around you.

whilst for others this may create a limitation that

you’d rather avoid as the business expands.

Case Study:

Fair for You

hiSbe Food

Angela Clements spent 5 years leading

Fair for You Enterprise is a Community

In 2010, after years of feeling discontent

the largest community based credit

Interest Company, wholly owned by

with the way big supermarkets conduct

union in the Midlands after an early

a charity, that has carefully developed

business, Ruth and Amy Anslow

career as a qualified banker. After

a brand that is trusted by its customers.

decided to create a company to change

hearing stories from members of the

As a social enterprise, Fair for You

that. Inspired by ethical consumerism

credit union about their experiences

generates revenue by providing credit

and the fair trade movement, they

with high cost credit, it became

that is affordable and structured to

envisioned a new way of supplying food

clear that some of the high cost

meet the modern borrowing needs of

that prioritized the health, happiness,

lenders had developed business

their customers. They make an impact

and wellbeing of people and their

models that targeted vulnerable

by helping families save money and

local communities. They set out on a

households. It was equally clear

afford essential appliances such as

mission to transform this vision into a

that a new approach was needed.

washing machines and refrigerators.

store. While they had to work hard to

In addition, the health of customers

prove the feasibility of this innovative

Fair for You is the result of intense

is improved as their financial stress

new business model, they raised over

consumer research to ensure the

is reduced, and 1/3 report their

£30,000 in a crowdfunding campaign,

solution would meet the needs of

children’s health has improved as

in addition to money from various funds

households with low consumer power.

well. Fair for You reports on its social

and social investors. Their successful

After hours of listening to countless

impact regularly to inform the wider

fundraising campaign allowed them

mums of young children in low

credit community of its work.

to garner the support from people

income households, the Fair for You

in Brighton and all over the country

team created an efficient, accessible,

Innovation in consumer credit is

for a better kind of supermarket.

and supportive credit service that

difficult to get funded and struggles

the local economy, creating a

strives to put customers first.

to be viewed as a credible mainstream

In December 2013, the Anslow

happy community and standing

alternative. However, high cost credit

sisters co-founded the hiSbe Food

up for a responsible food industry.

needs an alternative that has social

pilot store in Brighton with their

benefit at its core. Now Fair for You is

friend Jack Simmonds. hiSbe

Since 2013, the hiSbe pilot store has

a growing team that hopes they can

stands for “how it Should be.” hiSbe

become commercially viable and is

inspire others to find creative alternatives

Food embodies fair, responsible and

delivering measurable social impact.

to the high cost credit sector.

sustainable trading practices and

Ruth, Amy and Jack are seeking

is dedicated to making a positive

to scale their business concept to

fairforyou.co.uk

contribution to the local community.

other areas. They are propelled by

By putting people before profit, hiSbe

tremendous support from the local

is reinventing the way supermarkets

Brighton and Hove community and

do business in a beneficial way. hiSbe

social enterprise investors CAF

is a social enterprise, so rather than

Venturesome, UnLtd, CIVA and Here.

prioritising delivering short-term profit

In 2015, hiSbe was invited to speak

like the big supermarkets do, they focus

at the Social Enterprise World Forum.

on making a fair profit while supporting

hisbe.co.uk

2.0 MARKET

For people setting up a social enterprise, who have

spotted a problem that needs addressing, there

are a couple of key questions to ask early on:

a) Is that problem being tackled by anyone else?

b) Who is going to pay (or who are the customers)?

Both of these require some market research. This

doesn’t have to be a long and expensive exercise

but it is important. The first of these questions is

important to find out about other organisations that

might be trying to tackle the same problems as you:

these organisations might be competitors, potential

partners or they might be people you can learn from.

Either way, it is worth some work to find out who is

working in the same space in the same place as you.

For Furniture Recycling CIC, they know there

are some similar organisations in the next

county, but nobody is doing exactly the

Furniture Recycling CIC have decided there are a few different types of

same thing. There are organisations focused

customers who might pay them. There are private businesses who will pay

on changing people’s behaviour on the

for them to take the furniture away. There is the council which has a contract

environment, and other organisations focused

for a bulky waste service. There are housing associations interested in getting

on getting people into work. But these look like

their residents employment (and refurbished furniture). And there are individuals

potential partners rather than competitors.

who can buy furniture from the shop they hope to set up on the high street.

It is really important that you do not conflate social need with commercial

The second question is even more

“WHO WILL

opportunity. Too often, we hear from entrepreneurs who assume that as

important and fundamental. All

there is significant social need in the area they are looking to address, there

social enterprises are businesses

PAY FOR MY

will automatically be people willing to pay for it. This is often not the case, and

and need to earn their money,

indeed (unfortunately) those most in need are often unable to pay themselves

even if they might get some help

PRODUCT OR

while being set up. More important

and not valued by others.

than any conversation about legal

SERVICE?”

It’s also important to note that you don’t need to tackle both of these alone.

structures, mission statements

Look at your own skill set and understand where partnering may enable

or measuring social impact is the

you to provide better outcomes. For example, if the founder of Furniture

question: ‘who will pay for my

Recycling CIC has a background in getting people to work, they may

product or service?’. This will depend on the nature

look to work with a commercial furniture business to get furniture from,

of your business, and there may be several different

whereas if they have a more commercial background it may be that working

customers, but unless you can answer this question

with a local charity supporting young people is more appropriate.

well, you will struggle to make ends meet and a

social enterprise might not be the right route to take.

3.0 MONEY

In the last section, we talked about customers and the key question

- who is going to pay for your social enterprise’s product or service?

Finding and growing the number of those customers will be really

important to making the social enterprise sustainable in the long term.

We should say again here that social enterprises are businesses and that they want

to make a profit. What makes them different from other businesses is what they

do with that profit: putting it back into their social mission. So profit is important

and that also means that being able to manage your finances is important:

Can you do a basic budget?

Do you know about cashflow?

Do you have a good handle on the current financial situation?

This might not be as important when you start, as the amounts of money may be

School for Social Entrepreneurs - provides learning programmes of support

small and easy to track, but be aware that as things progress, you will need to be

for social entrepreneurs, usually accompanied by a small grant - the-sse.org

able to have a grip on the finances. There is lots of support out there to help, and lots

UnLtd - provides a range of grants and support for social entrepreneurs at different

of specialist accountants and advisors who can assist you as your enterprise grows.

stages, even before they have a legal structure or an organisation - unltd.org.uk

It’s also helpful to have some understanding from the start about costs,

There are also lots of trusts and foundations in the UK: mostly these

prices and margins. If you want to make a profit, you will have to make

organisations support more traditional charities, but an increasing

more money than it is costing you to deliver the service or create the

number (including the Big Lottery Fund) will also fund social

product you are selling. This difference between how much money

enterprises. Good places to find information on these include:

you bring in and how much it costs you is the profit margin.

The Directory for Social Change - runs training courses and maintains

For example, if Furniture Recycling CIC has a contract with the council to

databases and information on trusts and foundations - dsc.org.uk

train people who are long-term unemployed, then they will need to look at

Funding Central - website and email service run by NCVO

the support and training they provide. This might include staffing, building

which provides information about funding opportunities (free

costs, transport, and equipment, for example. If they know this costs them

to smaller organisations) - fundingcentral.org.uk/

on average £1000 per individual, then they need to be charging the council at

least £1000 to break even. If they charge them £1100, they have a profit margin

NatWest Social & Community Capital is an independent charity, supported by

of £100 (or 10%) on each individual trained. If they train 10 people, they will

NatWest, which provides loans of between £30,000 and £750,000 along with

have £1000 profit to reinvest back into their mission or supporting others.

business support to viable social enterprises who make a positive impact to their

community but who are unable to access mainstream funding - natwest.com/scc

Finally, it is worth knowing that there is money available which is specifically

As your organisation grows and becomes established, and has a proven business

intended to help social enterprises at different stages of their journey.

model, social investment may also become something relevant to you - social

There are plenty out there, but some of the best known include:

investment ranges from peer-to-peer lending to repayable finance (e.g. loans)

which can help organisations grow or expand or manage their business. You

can explore social investment at GoodFinance.org.uk which is designed for

charities and social enterprises; or read the Social Investment Explained guide.

4.0 SOCIAL IMPACT

5.0 PEOPLE

Every social enterprise is trying to make a difference: to a

Often when you are starting out, it may just be you running

community, to particular individuals, to the world at large.

the social enterprise. As things continue and grow, you

So it is important to think about how you might know that

may need to add to the team and recruit people. There

your enterprise has made a difference. This positive difference

are a couple of key things to think about here:

or change you have made is often referred to as ‘social impact’.

Making sure you have the administration ready (payroll,

You might be able to see already that your enterprise is making a positive

contracts, tax and national insurance, and so on)

difference - but it is important to think about it more for a few reasons:

Finding the right people: how to recruit?

So that you can plan what you hope to achieve

Your accountant or bookkeeper will be able to help you with the first of

So that you can prove to others who support you that it

these. With finding the right people, it is normally important when starting

works (including potential funders and investors)

up to have people who can turn their hand to lots of different things, and to

So you can get better and improve your product or service

have people who bring different skills and experience to add to yours.

You can recruit people through your networks, through social media, or through

For example, for Furniture Recycling CIC, they aim to keep waste

local newspapers and websites - depending on how much money you have to

spend. Members of Social Enterprise UK can post any jobs up on our jobs board

out of landfill and get local people back into employment. So they

- you can also use the hashtag #socent on Twitter for anything social enterprise-

might plan for the year ahead, saying they want to achieve:

related. Try and think about the balance of skills in your organisation and what

will be required to ensure success - if your background is in a commercial role

you may need someone with more social sector skills, and vice versa.

Depending on which legal structure you choose (see below), you may also have a

board of directors or trustees. These are the people that provide strategic direction

young people

of these, at

tonnes of waste

and governance for the organisation. They can help by bringing a good mix of skills,

supported in training

least, back into

recycled, reused or

experience and networks to an organisation, including people who use the product

employment

kept out of landfill

or service - and in both supporting and challenging you (and your team) as you try

/ into a job

to achieve your goals. Good governance is important to keep the social enterprise

to its mission in the long-term, and to ensure the enterprise is properly run.

There are some good guides to governance around - see here for ones specifically

aimed at those with a community interest company or charity structure.

They could then think about how they might know this has

happened, and how they might collect the information.

Bates Wells Braithwaite Community Interest Company Guide

Measuring social impact is a big area to get into, and you can find lots more

NCVO Governance Guides

information on the websites below. We advise when you are starting out to pick

NCVO Governance Resources

the two or three things that are most important to you and central to your mission

- and to start collecting information and data about those. Don’t overcomplicate.

Useful Links

Inspiring Impact, Social Value UK, Charities Evaluation Service.

Case Study:

Vi-ability

Time to Change

Kelly Davies, a former footballer, wanted to find

Time to Change, a Community Interest Company (CIC) supported by

a way to use sports not only for fun but also as

NatWest, provides emergency accommodation to homeless people.

a creative way to address social problems. This

Founder Rachel Holliday was 19 years old when she became one of the “hidden

led to the idea for Vi-ability, a Wales-based social

homeless.” She developed a drug and alcohol addiction and went into rehab but

enterprise that aims to engage young people and

after leaving there, with nowhere safe to live, she relapsed. “It got to the point

help them achieve positive life outcomes.

where I realised that unless I did something, I was going to die,” she

In 2009, Vi-ability started in Colwyn Bay in North

emphasises. Rachel moved in with her parents, went back to college, and

Wales. Their mission is twofold: 1) to reduce the

eventually found paid employment, allowing her to save up to buy a house.

number of disengaged young people by motivating

In 2007 Rachel began working as a housing support worker in homelessness.

them to contribute to their communities, and 2) to

She then learned that there wasn’t a homeless hostel in West Cumbria. Rachel

help sports clubs be run like businesses and thus

knew that in the months it takes for homeless people to find housing, they can

create more jobs within local communities. They

lose their job, relationships and self-esteem. She developed an idea to convert

generate revenue through their “Run the Club”

an empty government building into a hostel to help people from the very day

programme, in which they win contracts to deliver

they became homeless.

sports programmes. They also work with corporates

At the time, figures from Shelter estimated there were 1.4 million empty

to challenge them to engage more with youth.

properties in the UK and 400,000 hidden homeless. Rachel wrote a business

Being financially sustainable has been important

plan for a CIC but needed a business bank account.

to Kelly since the beginning because it allows Vi-

ability to be more competitive for the future and

“No bank would touch me because of my history,” she emphasises. “But

therefore grow and help more young people.

NatWest had helped me when I was homeless and provided a personal account,

so I went back to them. The bank opened a Business Account for me. I could

After Vi-ability’s initial success in Wales, they

see they really cared about what I was doing.”

expanded their work to London in 2014, showing

an example of how social enterprises can scale

Next, Rachel leased the disused Egremont Police Station in an agreement

successfully. While expanding into a new location

that would prioritise homeless ex-military personnel and minimise soldiers

was challenging, it also offered more opportunities

on the streets. Rachel raised over £500,000 in grant funding and opened

to find financial support from like-minded investors

the new hostel in 2015.

such as Nesta, a foundation that seeks to tackle

Since then, Time to Change (West Cumbria) Project was named in the NatWest

inequality and help marginalised young people.

Top 100 UK Social Enterprises of 2015, and Rachel has been working every day

Since winning the “Social Enterprise of the Year”

to get more people off the streets.

award in 2015, Vi-ability’s reach has continued to

ttcwestcumbria.org

grow. They have engaged with thousands of young

people and have run programmes on the international

level, in places such as Spain, Portugal, Sweden,

Italy, and India. They continue to seek opportunities

to scale, always searching for new ways to reach

more sports clubs and more young people.

vi-ability.org

6.0 SALES, MARKETING,

BRANDING

By now, if you have a good sense of your mission, of what

activities you want to do, and of the market you are operating in, you

are in a good place to think about how you communicate this to others.

Depending on what activities you are planning to undertake, you may

be trying to reach different types of people with your marketing.

It is useful to think about:

Your unique selling proposition (USP) - what are you offering that others

aren’t? How does what you are offering compare to other organisations?

Different audiences - you may want to reach the potential

users of your service but also potential supporters

Channels of communication - where are people

going to find out about you, and how?

All of this can also feed into the development of a ‘brand’ or ‘identity’ for

your organisation. You may have already thought of a name, but a brand

isn’t just about a logo on your website but about the mission and values

of the organisation. Think about how the name and brand will come

across to others - is it professional, understandable, clear, different?

For example, Furniture Recycling CIC decided that its USP was its

combination of waste reduction, reduced-price furniture and giving

people jobs in the local area. Their name was clear on the environmental

aspect, so they added a key message to their marketing: to - Furniture

Recycling CIC: creating opportunities for local people. They also knew

they had to reach different audiences, so they did the following:

An A5 flyer to be handed out to housing residents

and at local job centres to find recruits

An article in the local paper to raise their profile

with local businesses and the council

Set up a simple website and social media accounts with clear

information about their plans and services for people to refer to

In terms of communications channels, think also about how you can

piggyback on existing activity here, for example SEUK’s Buy Social or Social

Saturday campaigns. These are also good places to look at how others

in a similar field to you are articulating and marketing what they do.

7.0 LEGAL STRUCTURE

Now we come to the legal structure for your social enterprise.

Many social enterprises start off just from trading without a company structure

(sole trader or unincorporated) and this can be fine when the income and

activities are small. However, if you wish to win contracts, apply for funding,

get investment, and hire people, you will need a legal structure of some sort.

The reason it is important to think about all the other aspects

first, is that they will help you choose the right sort of legal

structure for you. Your decision should be influenced by:

The type of activities you are going to do

Registered charities can be social enterprises, as long as the amount of income

they earn from trading is more than 50%; the main difference from CICs or

Where you think your money will come from (now and in future)

companies is that they are more heavily regulated (by the Charity Commission),

What sort of governance you think will suit your enterprise (how much

you have a board of voluntary trustees (rather than directors), and there are some

control do you want? Who else do you want to participate?)

limitations on trading - it generally also takes longer to register. On the positive side,

because of the heavier regulation, charities have greater access to tax reliefs (for

Who your potential customers and partners may be

example on business rates) and grants from foundations.

See charity-commission.gov.uk for more information.

On the next page is a table which outlines the differences between various

options for social enterprises - at a glance. At the end of this chapter, we also

Co-operatives are the other most common form for social enterprises; co-

link to some other specific information to help in choosing a legal structure.

operatives are more participative and democratic in their ownership models. As

can be seen from the table below, there are two main types of co-operative, the

community benefit society (CBS or ‘BenCom’) and the more standard industrial

Here is a bit more information about legal structures:

provident co-operative society (IPS). The CBS has social objectives built into its

governing documents, so is often chosen, but an IPS can be a social enterprise

Companies can either be Companies limited by guarantee (CLG) or Companies limited by

too. Co-operatives are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) .

shares (CLS); CLGs have no shareholders, only ‘members’ who cannot profit personally

from the company. A CLS can be a social enterprise, but will often require adaptation (eg

Often you will be able to do much of this work of choosing and

stating what will happen with profits, putting social mission in governing documents).

registering on your own. If you need specialist help, there are lawyers

The Community interest company (CIC) is a structure specifically created for social

who specialise in social enterprise, and Social Enterprise UK can

enterprises in 2005; there have been about 1000 registered each year since then. A

recommend people. We also recommend the Get Legal website for

CIC can either be a CLG or CLS, and it has additional protections in place: every CIC

good information and simple legal documents and templates.

has to report on its social mission (‘community interest’) each year, there are limitations

As you can see from the information, there is no one place that says ‘you

(for CLS) on profit distribution, and all CICs have a clause which means any assets are

are a social enterprise’ and regulates that. Joining an organisation like

retained for community benefit. Because of these additional protections, CICs can often

Social Enterprise UK is one way to demonstrate that you meet the criteria

get access to some grant funding and are understood as being clearly a social enterprise.

(and get a badge to display that), and another is by the legal structure you

choose and your own communications. Many choose to do both.

To register or find more information see

cicregulator.gov.uk or companieshouse.gov.uk

Company limited

Industrial and

Unincorporated

Community

by share (CLS)

by (CLG)

provident

association

interest company

community

/ CLG

/ CLS

benefit society

cooperative society

Incorporated with

Yes

own legal ID?

Limited liability

Yes

for members?

Limited Liability

Yes

for directors

/ trustees

Constitutional

Memorandum

Rules

Rules or

Memorandum

document?

and articles of

constitution

and articles of

association

Objects?

Any

Must benefit the

Must follow co-

Any

Community

community

operative ideals

interest

Charitable Status

Not usually

Can be

Regulator

Companies House

FCA

None

CIC Regulator and

Companies House

Fees for

£20

£100-1,000

£100-£1,000

n/a

£35

registration

Debt financing

Yes

available

Equity financing

Yes

Protection of

Not guaranteed

FCA has to

None/ safeguards

As CLG

As CLS

social purpose

unless charitable

without charitable

approve changes

in constitution

status

Membership

One vote per share

One member

As per the

As CLG

As CLS

Voting

one vote

constitution

8.0 THE

9.0 LOOKING

BUSINESS PLAN

AFTER YOURSELF

A business plan can be useful as a way of bringing all the

Social entrepreneurs tend to be very passionate

things into one place - for you, your team and anyone who might be

about their cause: often they or someone close to them will have

involved in the organisation. Especially when you are starting up, it really

experienced the problem they are seeking to solve. This passion is

doesn’t need to be very long - it is only useful if it is helping you do what you

important - when things get difficult and a business hits bumps in the

want to do. It’s often a good way of clarifying your ideas and making sure

road, passion and persistence is often what sees you through.

you’ve covered all the key areas outlined above - although things will change

Sometimes, though, this passion and commitment can mean that

very rapidly in the early days of any organisation. It is much more important

people can overwork, feel isolated, and burn out. And in the early

to test out your ideas and plans with potential customers and users than to

stages, if the entrepreneur burns out, then so does the enterprise.

spend hours on a piece of paper which might go out of date very quickly.

A few key tips on this:

But a plan will be useful, more so as you grow,

and generally it would include the following:

Pay yourself properly - as soon as is practically possible, pay

yourself properly; some social entrepreneurs pay other people

A) ORGANISATION - your mission, vision, values, structure, history, governance

first in the organisation, but everyone needs to live

B) STRATEGY - your overall objectives or goals, and what

you think the key success factors are; your USP

Find a mentor - a mentor is someone independent outside your organisation

to talk to who can provide advice and support to you; organisations like

C) PRODUCTS / SERVICES / ACTIVITIES - the types of

UnLtd and the School for Social Entrepreneurs will often link you to mentors

activity you intend to do to achieve your goals

as part of their support, but you may be able to identify your own

D) MARKET - what is the need or demand for your enterprise?

Who benefits? Who are the competitors? What is the broader

Be part of networks - there are lots of local, regional and national groups and

environment that your organisation is operating in?

networks for social enterprises, from national bodies like Social Enterprise UK

to the Social Enterprise Places across the country to local and regional networks

E) SOCIAL IMPACT - what are your aims on this, and how do you intend to

like SELNET in Lancashire or SEEE in the East of England; they will often run

collect information to prove what you do works and to improve its effectiveness

events, send newsletters with information, and provide connections to others

F) OPERATIONS - staffing plans, management, systems

and processes, sales and marketing plans

Don’t neglect family and friends - take time out, spend time with

the people you like and love, and you will be better refreshed, more

G) FINANCIALS - current status, forecast / budget for the year ahead

focused and more productive when you return to the enterprise

There are different variations on this format, but this gives you a rough guide

to the key areas to cover. Generally, for a start-up, this need be no longer

Keep learning - this is a fast-moving world, and there are new developments,

than 3 or 4 sides of A4 in total. As an enterprise develops or changes or

opportunities and information to find out about; events and newsletters can

plans to grow, you can revise and update this plan to keep it relevant.

help with this, as can podcasts or books on business and social enterprise

Social Enterprise UK

10.0

We are the national membership body for social enterprise. We

offer business support, do research, develop policy, campaign,

build networks, share knowledge and understanding and raise

SUMMARY

awareness of social enterprise and what it can achieve. We

also provide training and consultancy and we develop bespoke

business and information packages for clients of all kinds.

Here is a summary of the top tips and key actions for you to refer to from the guide:

SUPPORT FOR STARTUPS

Get clear on your mission - it will help you plan and

Social Enterprise UK offers very low-cost or free membership to most start-ups.

communicate what you want to achieve.

Joining Social Enterprise UK means you get access to our networks, heavily

Check the market - is there a problem or need for what

discounted products and services, free information and advice about your business.

you are proposing? Who is going to pay for it?

If you are interested in joining please visit socialenterprise.org.uk/membership .

Keep an eye on the money - most businesses that

To order copies of this guide, please email publications@socialenterprise.org.uk

fail do so because they lose sight of the money: don’t

We have a network of almost 9,000 organisations and operate a very busy

avoid this, and get a handle on it from the start.

website. We also have a lively and growing social media presence. Follow

Measure your social impact - but keep it simple at the start,

us on Twitter @SocialEnt_UK or visit us at socialenterprise.org.uk

and make sure it’s useful to you to grow and improve.

Find the right people - the best social entrepreneurs build great

teams of supporters and staff, rather than doing it by themselves.

Good governance is important - think about who you

want involved and what you want them to bring.

Sales and marketing aren’t dirty words - they are just

ways to reach people so that you can win business and

create more change. Know what your USP is.

Pick the legal structure after you have thought about your

mission, activities, money, impact and governance - all are

important factors in picking the right one for your enterprise.

Social Enterprise UK

Write a plan - but keep it simple and short. More important

info@socialenterprise.org.uk

is starting to try out things in reality, and see if people

Published by Social Enterprise UK 2017

will use your product or service...and pay for it.

Get networked in the social enterprise

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more guides and resources to help you as you start your social enterprise.