What is Social Enterprise?

The definition we use is from the Social Enterprise Coalition:
“A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners”

A social enterprise is, first and foremost, a business.

Some call it more than profit trading, some call it social purpose trading however you define it, it is a particular way of doing business for social, environmental, and financial benefit. This is known as the triple bottom line.

Experienced social enterprise managers can measure their organisation’s performance in social, financial and environmental terms using social audit tools. But that isn’t where we start.