Day Centres and Social Enterprise

A social enterprise is a business that looks to achieve a social benefit as well as financial success. A social enterprise operating in association with a day centre is a winning combination: the social enterprise can use day centre resources to run (such as facilities, volunteers and service users) and in turn can help the day centre achieve the social benefit of helping to build confidence, skills and experience for service users, as well as contribute to its finances.

A word of caution: starting a social enterprise might be an excellent way of providing training and experience for your service users as well as generating income - but unless you plan and consider your prospects very carefully, it might also be an excellent way to lose money. Remember that a social enterprise is a business, and it won't work just because you want it to - you have to research the market and the feasibility of your idea.

There are several examples of successful social enterprises in day centres.

• The Booth Centre in Manchester has set up Phoenix Landscapes, a company that provides training and work experience to homeless people in gardening and landscaping. The enterprise has contracts with the Manchester City Council, supported housing projects, churches, community centres and more, enabling them not only to make a profit to put back into centre and the business, but also to provide valuable training and experience to 10 service users. In 2006-7, 2 trainees from Phoenix landscapes had already found full-time employment.
• NOAH Enterprise in Luton has made it a deliberate policy to be a broad contributor to the social benefit of the community – their social enterprise which renovates donated furniture and white goods is a useful service for everyone in the local community, from those on limited incomes to landlords and antique hunters. At the same time, service users at NOAH gain valuable training and experience in woodwork and furniture restoration.

For more information and case studies of social enterprises, see the social enterprise section of our Education, Employment and Training Handbook.

Starting a Social Enterprise

Of course, the whole idea of a social enterprise is that it makes a profit and so pays for itself. However, you might well need help with obtaining the start-up capital to get your enterprise off the ground. Fortunately, 'social enterprise' is quite the buzz concept at the moment, so, once you are armed with a well-thought out and -written business plan, there are numerous sources you can go to for start-up funding.

Given the popularity of the social enterprise concept, many trusts and foundations would consider funding start-up or equipment costs for an innovative project. Please see our Trusts and Foundations page for more information on finding and applying to general trusts and foundations. However, since it will ultimately be a for-profit venture, many might also shy away on the principle that they are funding charities, not businesses. There are some funders who specifically target finance at social enterprises, so these might be a good place to start. Below are some suggestions of where to start looking:

• Big Invest : A Big Issue foundation initiative to provide funding for start-up social enterprises.
• Esmee Fairbairn : has a long standing foundation funds social enterprises under a programme entitled 'Social change: Enterprise and Independence'.
• CDFA website: The Community Development Finance Association allows you to search for funding and loans for your social enterprise on this online database.

There is also quite a lot of advice out there about how to start planning and preparing your organisation for a social enterprise:

• Business Link : has some specific advice on starting social enterprises. See in particular its guides on how to Set up a social enterprise and how to Develop your social enterprise idea.

• A business planning guide to developing a social enterprise : has been published by Forth Sector.

• The Social Enterprise Coalition: has a website full of useful resources, including the downloadable guide to social enterprise .