What is a social enterprise?

This question is akin to "how long is a piece of string?". I am not a great fan of trying to define social enterprises, because as soon as you do, you begin to limit the options. One definition that I do like is one from the Queensland University of Technology which they devised as part of their FASES research project with Social Traders. You can read more about that research here.

Social enterprises are organisations that:

• Are led by an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit;

• Derive a substantial portion of their income from trade; and

• Reinvest the majority of their profit/surplus in the fulfilment of their mission.

(http://www.socialtraders.com.au/finding-australias-social-enterprise-sector-fases)

The definition is fairly loose and I like this because once you start to put in too many parameters it creates a box that can limit the number of organisations that can be identified as social enterprises. One of the findings of the FASES research was that social enterprises come in all shapes and sizes. From the large, such as the St Vincent de Paul shops, to the small such as the local P&C group. Wikipedia has another good definition which goes into a bit of the global history of social enterprise. 

The social enterprise world is large and expanding. The purpose of this blog is to create an environment of different resources and links which will hopefully expand people's understanding of social enterprise.

Below is a presentation I found on Slideshare about social enterprise. Unfortunately I am not sure of its origins but it is a good description of social enterprise.