What is a Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are an innovative breed of businesses that exist to create a fairer and more sustainable world.

Social enterprises must do three things:

1. Have a defined primary social, cultural or environmental purpose consistent with a public or community benefit, and

2. Derive a substantial portion of their income from trade, and

3. Invest efforts and resources into their purpose such that public/community benefit outweighs private benefit.

They operate in all industry sectors of the economy, from facilities management, to catering and hospitality, to business administration to design.

There are three social enterprise impact models:

• Employment-generating – creates employment and training opportunities for marginalised people.

• Community need – delivers accessible products and services to meet community needs that are not met by the market.

• Profit redistribution – donates at least 50% of profits or revenue to charity.

Whilst purpose is at the heart of why a social enterprise operates, it can be hard to quantify or explain and there are many different legal structures.

https://www.socialtraders.com.au/news/what-is-a-social-enterprise