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THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE PLAN
We currently define social enterprises as having three principles. Social enterprises:
Prioritise their declared ethics and values
Have as their main purpose the verifiable fulfilment of agreed social objectives
Are governed, owned and managed as democratic and socialised enterprises
When it comes to planning a social enterprise the requirements and thinking can be very different to that needed to put together a traditional business plan. For example you may have to consider that the enterprise:
Will be shaped by agreed ethics and shared values
Will be governed by social or “socialised” objectives
That success will be measured through the contribution to a better community society/world
That governance may be a shared and inclusive “process”
That Finance will be through many different sources
Will want the engagement and involvement of different and diverse stakeholders at all levels
Will see management is as an open and democratic process
Will look more to Co-operation and partnership working rather than competition.
Profits either re-invested or distributed to “social” shareholders
Will consider complex legal structures to accommodate the social objectives, ethics and values and shared ownership
Will be Committed to creating social wealth and not private capital
Where beneficiaries may be diverse and varied
Whose workers and volunteers are also owners, partners or beneficiaries
Where sustainability is measured through achieving permanent social change
Will issue social licences extending the scope of the enterprise
Will use a social audit as a public judgement of the enterprise
The plan can therefore look very different and should be called a Social Enterprise Plan rather than a business plan.
