Social Enterprise and the Delivery of Public Services
Faith traditions and social enterprise
Faith traditions have always played an important role in communities, especially where there is need and disadvantage. In recent years this role has become a focus of policy in the UK where governments have come to regard faiths as repositories of staff, buildings and resources for the wider social good, as well as potential sources of community cohesion and strengthened citizenship.
Social and public policy promises many opportunities for faiths to become more engaged. For example, faiths are increasingly engaged in public sector contracts for the provision of services; they are more involved in setting up faith schools; many are frequently active as partners in neighbourhood renewal initiatives; and growing numbers are represented in regional assemblies and local strategic partnerships.
As faiths have demonstrated their ability to deliver, government has become interested in how they can be encouraged to ‘stand on their own feet’ by generating their own income from the services provided, which is then ploughed back into those services.
A definition of social enterprise
The Government’s Social Enterprise Action Plan – Scaling New Heights defines a social enterprise as
“… a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.” http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector
Social enterprise might also have some or all of the following three key characteristics or ‘ethos dimensions’:
- an enterprise orientation - they are directly involved in producing goods or providing services to a market.
- social aims - they have explicit social and/or environmental aims such as job creation, training or the provision of local services.
- social ownership – governance and ownership structures are based on participation by stakeholder groups e.g. employees, users, clients, local community groups and social investors. www.socialenterprise.org.uk
The role and contribution of faiths to social enterprise
values or attitudes: hopefulness, non-judgmentalism, caring and compassion, focus and commitment, holisticism, issues of ethos, distinctiveness of mission, transformativity, helping the disadvantaged; participants strongly saw faith communities as bringing a specific and additional ethos to the table.
skills and practice orientations: skill and talent, stability, continuity, long-termism, sustainability, leading by example, buildings and resources, responsiveness and speed, reaching parts others can’t reach.
relationships and networks: rooted-ness in communities, reaching into communities more broadly, community cohesion/social capital, educative about faith values, educative about faith in wider contexts, encouraging of diversity; here the spiritual, or ‘God’ dimension, of motivation to be in community and relations is emphasised.
What do faiths need in order to do social enterprise?
organisation: support and leadership, including mentors, a strong community, resources (volunteers, staff, finances, buildings), knowledge and skills , good governance
practical framework: good communications, documents in clear English, research and evidence, appropriate supportive policy and procurement contexts, templates and models for key tasks, eg community audits
business planning: clear market and strategy for engaging with it – a business plan, clear product or service, distinctive idea and creativity
connections with the wider community: strong partnerships, understanding of other traditions and practices, to go out into the wider world,
and passion, faith and a strong motivational commitment
What opportunities are there for faiths to do social enterprise?
- increasing human well-being: serving the community, broadening people’s experiences, raising aspirations, increasing morale and empowering communities
- the image and role of faiths in public space: faiths are in the public eye and actively being sought as partners, counters the negative images of faiths, engaging with partners of other faiths
- developing influence, credibility and capacity: finding further opportunities for funding, a chance to get better organised, a ‘standard’ which lends credibility, opportunities to raise issues with government
- greater access to public sector contracts.
What are the advantages for faith groups themselves?
- can foster a strong sense of identity
- making the most of their social capital, resources, skills and local knowledge
- can increase sustainability and independence
What are the advantages for the wider community?
- a practical dimension - buildings and resources, local trust, social capital and knowledge, infrastructure, skills and talents, good at risk taking
- a spiritual dimension - a ‘whole person’ view embracing a wider vision
- an ethos dimension – independence and values
What are the difficulties and challenges for faiths doing social enterprise?
- a sense of lacking: skills, resources, partnership skills and capacity, adaptability, governance know-how and ability, volunteers, staff, time.
- a sense of fear: of not knowing how to professionalise, of competition with others, of getting on the wrong side of legal obligations, of risk taking, of a resulting disjunction between business aims and values, of what IS known being swamped by what ISN’T and ultimately, fear of failure.
- a sense of ignorance: about what social enterprise is, how to do it and what effects it could have.
What role does government play in supporting faith based social enterprise?
Positive aspects: government should continue to extend forms of participation in governance, increase their knowledge of faith groups, be more sympathetic to the aims and methods of faith groups, use less jargon, be less remote, be more facilitative and trusting, stop setting very short deadlines.
Negative aspects: there is the possibility that government may be seeking simply to use faith groups as instruments to deliver policy aims; it may also be idealising faiths and what they can effectively deliver; it sometimes changes the rules and moves the goalposts.
Taken from the FbRN publication Faiths and Frontiers on the Starship Social Enterprise: boldly going as faith based entrepreneurs by Adam Dinham, 2007. To download a full copy of the report click here
For more information on social enterprise see
The Social Enterprise Coalition
Business Link is the official government website for businesses of all sizes.
It offers free workshops, advice and other support for developing social enterprise go to:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home
If you would like to talk about faith based social enterprise please contact our director Steve Miller
