There are major forces of change impacting our communities. The current economic condition is increasing the need for social services at a time when foundations, governments and businesses have fewer resources to provide to social enterprises.
Currently 5% of the non-profit enterprises in Canada receive 85% of charity dollars This reduced revenue means that small non-profit social agencies face the greatest risk. The Wesley Institute estimates that about 10 -12,000 social enterprises in Canada will go out of business this year.
This means that in order to solve our social and environmental problems enterprises both non-profit and for-profit need to become more innovative.
A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, finance and manage a venture to make social change. A social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society.
While social entrepreneurs often work through nonprofits and citizen groups, many work in the private sectors.
The main aim of a social entrepreneurs is to further its social and environmental goals. This need not be incompatible with making a profit – but social entrepreneurships are often non-profits. Social entrepreneurships are for ‘more-than-profit’.
“Social business entrepreneurs can help make the market work for social goals as efficiently as it does for personal goals”
-Muhammad Yunus
Microfinance Pioneer
Becoming a co-operative community social entrepreneurship does not mean forgoing our existing sources of resources but enhancing our current relationships and developing others.
The key entrepreneurial principles needed for a successful social entrepreneurship
• Self-sustaining – The enterprise must match up activities with on-going available resources
• Focus – Clearly identify its purpose and an explicit opportunity
• Resources – Seek mutually beneficial partnerships with the non-profit and for-profit enterprises
• Innovation- Be an opportunist always looking to exploit change
• Results- Be prepared to be paid for results not for mission and measure the un-measureable
• Scalability
• Transparency and Accountability-All aspects of our operation need to be open and you need to be accountable for your results to continue to receive revenue
While people may like our social goals they will do business with us based upon who we are, what we do, the quality and value of our services and the results we achieve that are meaningful to the community