The Buy Social Corporate Challenge is a simple initiative with a bold ambition to collectively spend £1 billion with social enterprises as part of the Challenge.
Read their most recent Impact Report here. The report shows that £65.2 million has been spent with social enterprises by corporate partners and the Challenge has created 637 jobs at social enterprises.
When we think of social enterprise, The Big Issue, fair trade chocolate, or even our reliable Co-op might spring to mind. But in recent years there has been a “hidden revolution” in the way business is being done in the UK and we have seen an impressive growth surge in the third sector. The third sector encompasses charities, social enterprises, community interest companies (CICs), and any other organisations with a social soul. According to Social Enterprise UK (2017), there are now over 80,000 social enterprises contributing £24 billion to the UK economy, employing around a million people. “The UK is viewed by many other countries as a pioneer of social enterprise” says the report.
Social enterprises can be defined as organisations that have at their heart a social mission. They make products or provide services that benefit their local communities, provide employment for disadvantaged or disaffected groups, or have as their main purpose the goal of investing their profits into good causes. In turn, customers of social enterprises are also on the increase – those who actively seek to buy local, sustainable and fairly traded are adding ‘socially aware’ to their portfolio.
Possibly the most exciting thing about this growing sector is that social enterprises are run by a far more diverse range of people than mainstream businesses – often by those disaffected by or disinterested in getting involved with the rat-race. They are set up by young, dynamic, forward-thinking entrepreneurs with an inventive take on the business world, and who as a necessity think creatively to make their ventures work.
Often the inspiration for a social enterprise comes from a requirement to meet a specific need, often in and for the communities in which they operate. Over one-third of social enterprises has a director with a disability, nearly all have a female director (over 40 percent are entirely female-led), and over a third has black Asian minority ethnic (BAME) representation. Two-thirds of social enterprises support people from disadvantaged groups, with 44 percent employing them. “A large proportion are also supporting and creating opportunities for groups that most other businesses ignore; often, in places where other businesses do not operate” (Social Enterprise UK, 2018).
Make no mistake – this is not a sector purely for hippie do-gooders. There are significant successes and actual profits to be made here. Social enterprise has proved itself to be commercially resilient, outperforming mainstream small and medium enterprises (SMEs) against a range of business metrics: turnover, innovation, start-up rates, diversity in leadership and more. Over 70 percent made a profit or broke even in the last year – the bottom line is that social innovation makes business sense. “Social enterprises have put reality to the rhetoric of the late 90s and mid-2000s: financially sustainable, commercially competitive, profitable (and reinvesting to achieve their social goals), and creating jobs and opportunities, often for those who need it most” (Social Enterprise UK, 2018).
Most (around three-quarters) of social enterprises earn the majority of their income from selling products to an increasingly socially aware general public, open to shifting their buying habits. And in this sense they are more innovative – 50 percent of social enterprises introduced a new product or service in the last twelve months compared with just 33 percent (and falling) by SMEs. For big ticket items, the public sector is the main source of income for the 20 percent of social enterprises with high (over £5m) turnover.
Despite all this, and however promising the statistics look, social enterprises remain “finance-hungry”, and access to finance remains a struggle for social enterprises. As Social Enterprise UK says, “The social enterprise sector is a powerful part of the UK economy and has been significantly underestimated”. With no signs of the sector letting up in the near future, and with growth continuing to prove resilient, canny investors would be wise to look in their direction.
Maldon and District CVS is looking to review its organisational strategy reflecting its priorities for 2019 onwards. To do this they are keen to hear from a range of their members, partners and other stakeholders. If you are able to complete a short survey about their services, your priorities and what you need from your local CVS they would be grateful.
Please circulate this link to anyone who you think might be interested in feeding in and if you have any questions please contact Sarah on 01621 851891 or [email protected].
Please complete your feedback by Friday 10th May 2019
Local charity Maldon and District CVS is launching a new service for charities working in Essex to help them to demonstrate the impact of the work they do in the county and for local people.
The new Evaluation and Monitoring Service, launching on 1st May 2019, will provide access to a bespoke service for charity managers and staff to look at designing an evaluation process for their services that works for them. This will include access to consultancy support, research services, and training. Charities can choose from an inclusive service and report writing to support to develop tools in house.
Sarah Troop, Director at Maldon and District CVS says “charities all need to be able to demonstrate that the work they do has a real impact, making a difference in their fields. This can be to support funded projects and work, to help shape future services or to attract donations. Having a structured approach to gathering an evidence base is vital and our new service can help. We will work with charities of all sizes and on all budgets to find a bespoke solution for them.”
The service will also offer training on research methods, the first of which will be held on 5th and 6th June at Heybridge. Costing from just £70, the course will cover questionnaire design and analysis and will be run by Catherine Kennelly, MA (Econ) Applied Social Research.
New Charity Support Services launches in Essex – find out more about demonstrating your impact! maldoncvs.org.uk/evaluationservice @maldoncvs
Need help writing case studies or running focus groups? – let us help you design sessions to best showcase your impact! maldoncvs.org.uk/evaluationservice @maldoncvs
New charity evaluation service launches with training sessions on questionnaire design – find out more! maldoncvs.org.uk/evaluationservice @maldoncvs
From conversational greetings to trackable campaigns, improve your email communication and maximise your digital footprint with these top tips.
Since the birth of the World Wide Web, technology has become increasingly fundamental in the development of personal relationships and businesses alike. Globally, billions of emails are sent daily. So, what can you do to make yours stand out? Here are just a handful of knacks to get you started.
Be economical with your words
This has stuck with me since my first marketing job, and with luck it will forever. Whenever I write anything, I hear my old boss in my head asking if I really need that in there. Ask yourself “Does this still make sense without that?” and if it does, get rid of it. Less is more, and you won’t have your reader’s attention for long so best to make the most of the time you do.
Get personal
Who doesn’t like feeling special? Or has time to digest the messages of over 500 ads we’re exposed to daily? Personalisation isn’t skin deep (it’ll take more than addressing an email to someone personally to receive their full attention) but complemented by additional methods, could form the beginning of a beautiful (e-)friendship. There are plenty of ways organisations can entice their audience.
The simplest way is to address your audience by their first name; talk to your audience directly. A personal “good morning” goes a long way.
Second, establish a connection based on mutual interests. Do you have similar responsibilities? Are you emotionally invested in the same cause? Are you familiar with the same area, work or play?
There is no such thing as the perfect pool of data; while we – as humans – adapt, behavioural data changes. Historical data in the form of a previous transaction could be enough to make a connection. Have they recently attended an event or purchased something similar?
Embrace your inner-scientist
Another proclamation from my first marketing job – “Data is oil.” This means that good data to an organisation, is what oil is to a bike chain. It’s a vital element of keeping it going.
We’ve all heard quality over quantity, but with great data comes great responsibility. Whilst communicating with your audiences, it’s crucial to test subject lines, content and more, based on opens, clicks and so on. We – as receivers – change in behaviour, so why wouldn’t our communication?
With testing, comes tracking. Google Analytics and Campaign URL Builder are the only couple you’ll want to spend eight hours a day with. Google Analytics is another kettle of fish and deserves its own show (as well as holds enough information to keep you looking at a screen until the end of time) but until you explore it, my fellow marketeer touches on it along with other digital tools to maximise your website traffic.
Be relevant
Many like using personalisation; being relevant makes your message fresh and more attractive. What’s happening that’s topical? Is it a trivial “day of the year”? What will your reader already have on their mind when they see your email drop into their inbox? Be empathetic to your reader and make a connection.
Write for the web
Be mindful of how your message will be received. It’s the 21st century and a higher percentage of emails are opened on mobile devices than desktops. Unfortunately for you, a smaller screen – which is also likely to be read on-the-go – means less time for your message to be digested.
As well as being conscious about word count, layout and optimisation is key to a friendly user experience. Know how your email (and landing pages) will appear on different devices, and how much scrolling is required from top to bottom. Check your platform – I’ve yet to come across a system that doesn’t let you check.
Pssst… Don’t shout
It’s easy for exclamation marks to be overused. If you wouldn’t shout something at someone in real life, then it shouldn’t be followed by an exclamation mark in writing. If a message (literally and figuratively) is strong enough, an exclamation mark isn’t required. Regarding emails specifically, sometimes filters identify emails containing exclamation marks in the subject line as spam. Beware! And yes, I’d shout that.
Present a clear call-to-action
Keep the purpose of your message in the forefront of your mind from start to finish. Keep the call-to-action short, snappy and most importantly – obvious. Something to keep in mind which comes in handy (in and out of the workplace) – NEVER assume. Put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Just a hunch, but maybe you know where the button is because you put it there?
Proof – not once, not twice, but three times (at least)
There’s a reason this piece of advice will find its way into almost any top tip article. Not only specific to design and marketing, proofing content – from daily emails to monthly reports – is a good habit to have whilst being the perfect defence against wasted time. As well as proofing something more than once, it’s important to do so after having stepped away from it. Even ask a colleague.
The Essex Alliance is proud to announce that we will be launching The Essex Map – a community asset map of our county – on Tuesday, 23rd April 2019!
The Essex Map is designed to give our local public a better understanding of the services available across our county, and help them to connect with these services. Users can search by location, category, and keyword tag to discover the wide variety of charities, social enterprises, community groups, venues available to them.
Before we launch to the public, we invite you to add your listing. You are also welcome to add multiple listings, should you feel that your services would be better listed individually to help users understand the work you do.
To add your free listing, please visit The Essex Map website using the link below click the “+ Add Listing” button at the top-right of the page.
If a listing has already been created on your behalf, you can claim ownership of the listing by clicking the “claim this business” link at the bottom-right of the listing page.
If you have any questions regarding The Essex Map, including advice on how to make the most of your listing, please do not hesitate to email us.
We hope that you will find The Essex Map to be a useful promotional tool for your organisation, but if you have any suggestions on how we can further improve this service please email us.
Following on from the successful delivery of several “Meet Up Mondays” across the
Braintree District, plans are afoot to introduce more venues across Essex in the
coming months, starting in Colchester, Maldon and Epping Forest. “Meet Up
Mondays” are already up and running across Suffolk, where they have been highly
successful at reducing social isolation and loneliness. Paul Tufnell, Senior
Commissioning Officer from the Adult Social Care – Early Intervention & Prevention
Team at Essex County Council, said: “Braintree District Council have picked up on
this scheme and done a fantastic job in rolling it out across their District. There is
definitely a lot of momentum and enthusiasm around this idea and we look forward
to seeing how it develops across the other Essex Districts”.
The purpose of “Meet Up Mondays” is to address isolation and loneliness. Once a
venue has been sourced and a regular time and day set (usually Monday, but it
doesn’t have to be), anyone is able to go along, completely free of charge.
Loneliness can be defined as “a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of
companionship” which occurs as a result of “a mismatch between the quantity and
quality of social relationships that we have, and those that we want” (Perlman and
Peplau, 1981). It is an increasingly prevalent issue facing today’s society, especially
with our aging population. One million people aged 65 and over say that they always
or often feel lonely. However, 92% of people find it difficult to admit to others that
they feel this way, with 80% feeling judged because of it and a third of people
thinking that there is something wrong with them. But it’s not just the older
generation – 13% of us feel lonely all of the time, and two-thirds of us know
someone who is lonely, often a close friend or relative.
As well as adversely affecting of mental wellbeing, loneliness is worse for our
physical health than we might think. According to the Campaign to End Loneliness, it
is worse for us than being obese or smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Furthermore,
lonely people are more likely to develop depression, dementia, and even heart
disease.
With those facts in mind, “Meet Up Mondays” is a relatively simple idea that has the
potential to make a significant, positive impact on large numbers of people. They are
arranged in local coffee bars, restaurants, pubs and cafes, which provides the safety
net of knowing that you can just drop in for as long as you wish, without having to
commit in advance, and everything is free of charge. Staff at the venues will provide
a warm welcome for those who might feel anxious on their first couple of visits.
The initiative is good for business too. Cafes, pubs and hotels, already valuable
assets within communities, provide a hub for people to meet socially. “Meet Up
Mondays” afford them the opportunity to show they care about their local
community and about ending loneliness, as well as enhancing their commercial
viability as they can showcase their premises.
The inspiration for “Meet Up Mondays” came originally from Mick Dore of The
Alexandra pub in London SW19, in January 2018, who decided to offer free tea,
coffee and sandwiches on a Monday lunchtime to entice those in the local area who
‘are fed up with their own company’. The initiative was picked up by Ann Osborn,
Director of the Rural Coffee Caravan in Suffolk, who spotted #MeetUpMondays on
Twitter and introduced it into her own loneliness prevention scheme. The concept
grew further when Ann met Sally Connick, Good Neighbour Scheme development
officer for Community Action Suffolk and there are now over 50 venues across
Suffolk.
Interested venues across Essex are strongly encouraged to sign up to “Meet Up
Mondays” and can do so by visiting www.MeetUpMondays.org.uk or by contacting [email protected]
Reference: Campaign to End Loneliness – www.campaigntoendloneliness.org
On behalf of Essex Partners we would like to invite you an Essex Communities workshop on the power of technology and what this means for public services in new communities.
The Essex Communities project is collaborative initiative developed with representatives from across the public sector to encourage senior leaders within Essex to consider the impact of growth on our communities and public services. Through a series of events we aim to encourage all public service organisations within Greater Essex to consider how they can shape the choices made in designing major new developments to:
have a positive impact on economic, social and health-related outcomes;
create opportunities to develop new models of public service delivery; and
help address long-term service pressures.
Supported by NESTA, the first of these events will provide a stimulating discussion on how technology might shape the planning and design of new communities, and how this might influence future lifestyles, improve outcomes and reshape the relationship between people and public services.
Senior leaders from across Essex will be joined by national experts to consider the implications of growth for public service partners, the opportunities afforded by new technologies, and the steps that we can take to maximise the economic, community and public health potential of the major new developments.
First published in Essex Community Foundation: www.essexcommunityfoundation.org.uk
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The ‘Realising Ambition’ initiative has awarded a £2 million contract to Suffolk and Essex Community Foundations.
The initiative brings together primary care, social services and the voluntary sector to improve health services identified by the three local alliances (East Suffolk, West Suffolk and North East Essex).
Between them, they have set measurable ‘place level’ ambitions to make a difference to the things that really matter to people at a very local level which, in turn, supports the vision for the wider system. Improving mental health, reducing suicides, tackling obesity, improving end of life care and combating loneliness are key priorities for the Integrated Care System (ICS).
Dr John Hague, Mental Health Lead for the Suffolk and North East Essex Shadow ICS and GP in Ipswich, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity which will bring health, care, volunteers and the public together to bring about real improvements for local people and communities. We have been working with the community foundations and voluntary sector in setting up social prescribing – a scheme which links patients needing GP or primary care with sources of support within the community. With ‘Realising Ambition’, we will be building on this way of working and expanding it to include other priorities for our system.”
ICS leaders say that the distribution of the money across the three areas – Ipswich and East Suffolk, North East Essex and West Suffolk – will be based on a number of factors, including local levels of deprivation.
ICS Programme Director, Susannah Howard, said: “We know that making a difference to complex population outcomes is very difficult. We are therefore asking leaders within each of the three main areas to determine their local priorities. This would involve working closely with local people and communities, clinicians, support groups and stakeholders to determine what these should be. Voluntary and community organisations will then be invited by the Suffolk and Essex Community Foundation’s to submit proposals for projects where they believe a broader contribution could be made towards achieving the system’s higher ambitions.”
Caroline Taylor, chief executive of Essex Community Foundation, said: “Empowering communities with resources to tackle the issues impacting local people, is at the heart of what we do. This new initiative brings together public sector partners with the voluntary sector and vital funding so that we can improve health and well-being in our local communities.”
Essex Community Foundation will be launching the new funding initiative in May and grants will be awarded in North East Essex. We encourage you to follow Essex Community Foundation on Twitter @Essex_CF or on Facebook @EssexFoundation to keep up-to-date on the launch.
Originally published by Social Enterprise UK: www.socialenterprise.org.uk
With the publication of the NHS’ Long Term Plan and the imminent arrival of the long-awaited Social Care Green Paper, health and social care policy is starting to become clearer.
Join us at our Health and Social Care Conference: A Better Way Forward, taking place in London on 16 May, where an impressive list of speakers will explore the impact of these policies on the role of social enterprises.
We will see how social enterprises are well placed to lead on innovative thinking and to demonstrate how to work with communities and with local people. Chair of NHS Improvement, Baroness Dido Harding will be delivering a keynote in the morning focusing on the Social Care Green Paper and NHS Long Term Plan. Simon Devonshire OBE, Entrepreneur in Residence at the National Physical Laboratory, will also inspire delegates with his talk on digital advances to improve health and social care.
Workshops led by subject experts will delve into the realities and benefits of measuring social impact, provide practical tips on increasing your digital working, look at the opportunities provided by social prescribing; and give guidance on understanding contracts and funding opportunities.
Come along and contribute to discussions on current policy, be inspired by innovations, and take away practical advice to help drive you and your organisation forward.
The conference is of interest to health and social care social enterprises, charities, housing associations, NHS commissioners, local authorities, private providers and all those involved in supporting social enterprises.
