Social impact isn’t just good, it’s good for business. And that’s OK.

Social Enterprise is currently being bandied about as the solution to many problems across the UK and beyond – from solving the Greek economic crisis to bolstering up the NHS.

So, is it just the latest public sector buzz word / corporate sector gold-rush, or is there something in really in it?

We believe that there is. Of course we do. And when it’s done right, it’s not just good, it’s good for business.

To define why it’s good for business we must first define what it is. Social Enterprise UK defines social enterprises as:

“… businesses that trade to tackle social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances, or the environment. They make their money from selling goods and services in the open market, but they reinvest their profits back into the business or the local community.”

So like charities, social enterprises exist to fulfil a social mission and reinvest the majority of their profits.

However, there is a key distinguishing characteristic between these two types of organisation: enterprise.

Successful social enterprises must have a sharp commercial edge. Healthy trading is required in order to be able to do any social good in the first place. Equally, the social achievements generated should also serve to fuel commercial success.

This is what all the best social enterprises have in common.

When we started out, pushing 10 years ago now, social enterprise was still a relatively fresh concept. The buzz was just breaking with businesses like The Big Issue, Café Direct and Fifteen getting known for doing their thing and doing it well.

Since then the model has been adopted by a number of successful charities too, including The London Early Years Foundation and Turning Point.
In the very early days we had the balance weighted completely toward the social and not the enterprise; with all the best intentions employing 100% ex-homeless crew, the model started to fall down. We needed to bring experienced crew into the mix to help nurture and up-skill new crew members from homeless backgrounds.

After some experimenting we settled at 25% ex-homeless crew. Getting to this balance meant that we have been able to continue to create job opportunities for people with a history of homelessness for nearly a decade.

We’re launching new initiatives such as Crew Academy – a crewing industry training and work experience programme specifically for ex-homeless people, to build on this going forward.

It’s helping us to reach more ex-homeless people, but also to increase quality for our clients – our social agenda creates a supportive and positive working culture that motivates the whole workforce.

The fact that social impact is fast climbing the corporate procurement agenda is a very nice by-product of all of this.

In response to this observation we launched the Connection CSR Account back in 2012. It provides our clients with tangible recognition of the social impact that they have helped us to achieve and helps them use the information to win more business.

In conclusion, when social enterprise is good, it’s good for everyone.