April 22, 2015
Sign up for the census
Quantifying and qualifying Scotland’s third sector is a bit of a social research nightmare. Nonetheless, Scottish Government is keen to make a start with one aspect of Third Sector activity – social enterprise. Although many in the community sector wouldn’t necessarily describe themselves as social enterprises, the definition being used for this national census is pretty broad and many community organisations would qualify. It’s important that take up of the census is high because it will help to inform future Government policy and support. Some nice prizes to be won too.
22/4/15
A consortium of support bodies and government agencies have come together to launch a high profile and ambitious study. This large-scale Social Enterprise Census will take an official count of the entire population of non-profit-distributing organisations that are carrying out some level of trading for the good of Scotland.
The findings will be made widely available to ensure that this type of enterprising activity is better understood and better supported, and its contribution evident to all.
Is your organisation trading for the benefit of others? If you can answer ‘yes’ to all or the majority of the following questions we want to hear from you:
– Does your organisation have social or environmental goals?
– Are you operating independently of the public sector?
– Are you earning some level of income from delivering contracts or selling goods/services?
– Do you aspire to greater financial independence through earned income (not reliant on grants)?
– Do you reinvest your profits and retain assets entirely in pursuit of your social or environmental goals?
You might operate as an enterprising Charity, SCIO, Company (without share capital), CIC, or Society. You might take a recognisable form such as Housing Association, Development Trust, Credit Union, Social Firm, or Co-operative. You may earn income from fees or contracts in a variety of fields – everything from the arts to social care. Whatever the case, we want to know more about your organisation and its work.
Please take 15-20 minutes to register some basic information and give us your views (it’s best here if the person providing information has a good grasp of the finances in your organisation). You can register your information here.
Any information that you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence by the research team at Social Value Lab and used only for research purposes.
As a thank you for taking the time to respond you will have the option of entering a FREE PRIZE DRAW to win an iPad Air. In partnership with Run Native (www.runnative.co.uk) and Social Enterprise Networks, we will also be announcing winners of a great selection of weekly prizes to be contributed by some of Scotland’s leading social enterprises.
THIS STUDY IS BEING SUPPORTED OR GUIDED BY THE FOLLOWING PARTNERS: HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS ENTERPRISE, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT, BIG LOTTERY FUND SCOTLAND, SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE, NESTA, SOCIAL INVESTMENT SCOTLAND, SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SCOTLAND, SOCIAL FIRMS SCOTLAND, SENSCOT, COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT SCOTLAND, SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ACADEMY, SEUK, GLASGOW CALEDONIAN UNIVERSITY, SCOTTISH URBAN REGENERATION FORUM AND FIRSTPORT.