Do Good Design

Another handy tool I’ve found that you might find useful: Highrise. With all the people I’ve been chatting with about social enterprise, I needed some way to keep track of them: who they are, who they work with, and what we talked about so I won’t forget next time we speak.

If you’re like me, you forget people’s names all the time, struggling to remember when you talked to them and what on earth you said. No more excuses because I’m going to introduce you to a free tool that’ll help … Continue reading »

According to Your Chance to Change the World: The No-fibbing Guide to Social Entrepreneurship, the steps to getting seriously rich are the same ones for being a successful do-good business:

1. Commit or don’t commit. No half-measures.
2. Cut loose from all negative influence.
3. Choose the right mountain.
4. Fear nothing.
5. Start now.
6. Go.

I found that so inspiring, I made a quick design for it to print out and blue tac to my wall, right next to my desk. I thought I’d share it … Continue reading »

Perhaps you have an idea you’ve been mulling over for years, an idea for a project that helps people that you’ve never seen anyone else do. But you aren’t a charity and you want to earn a living doing good work. Enter social entrepreneurs.

Examples of successful social entrepreneurs

Maybe you’re like Andrew Mawson and the Bromley-by-Bow Centre, who turned a run-down church with a congregation of 12 in a run-down neighbourhood of London in a thriving health centre that combines “prescriptions” … Continue reading »

Today I’m crusading for social enterprises. Why? Because I think we all have the potential to be part of a way of earning an income that also helps people and makes you feel good about yourself.

Social enterprise or “social entrepreneur” are terms that few people know, but I’m keen to get them out into the wider world because I think they’re the way of the future. As one person put it on Couchsurfing, “Is social entrepreneurship just evolved capitalism?” … Continue reading »

Social enterprise, social entrepreneurs, community interest companies (CIC), fourth sector, charitable businesses — they’re all terms for businesses who care about more than profit.

For the most part, what makes a business a “social enterprise” is that where you put the money: in the hands of charitable causes rather than shareholders or owners or even employees.

Researching social enterprise hasn’t been easy, so I thought I’d share my list of resources for Scottish and British people interested in either starting their own or in buying goods and services from one.

Starting your own

… Continue reading »

After months of planning and groundwork, a new community cooperative is taking shape here in Stromness. The Sorting Room will be a “social enterprise”, meaning a business whose profits benefit the community both by helping artists get a fair wage and by creating a space that everyone can be a part of.

Social enterprises are exactly the kind of clients I want to work with. It’s not a non-profit, and it’s not a standard business — it’s somewhere in between, and I believe it’s the most fulfilling and sustainable way to … Continue reading »