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Social Finance issues first report on the Peterborough ‘social impact bond’
Further to this post on Social Impact Bonds, Social Finance has today issued the following statement regarding the Peterborough social impact bond which many of you will remember seeks to reduce reoffending amongst a defined cohort of offenders: Today Social Finance publishes a report
Continue Reading →URGENT — Serco offers used office furniture to good causes — must be cleared by Xmas
Courtesy of Business in the Community, this announcement made recently by Serco (Birmingham): ANNOUNCEMENT As promised here is the list of the furniture we have available, ready to go to good causes (community organisations/schools etc). This furniture is being disposed of following a
Continue Reading →World’s biggest social enterprise event is looking for suppliers!
Social Enterprise UK and Social Enterprise Scotland have joined forces to organise what is being billed as the biggest social enterprise event in the world. The Social Enterprise Exchange, to be held in Glasgow on the 27th March 2012, is expected to attract over 1200 delegates and 150
Continue Reading →Hurd says government must work with the sector to clarify what kinds of impact measurements are most useful
Further to this post, I notice that today third sector minister Nick Hurd has said something I wholeheartedly agree with. In a piece in today’s Third Sector Online Hurd says that although there is a “buzz” in the sector that impact measurement is necessary, he is con
Continue Reading →Food wholesaling and distribution giant supports small producers
I attended a session with Business in the Community this week where we heard from wholesaler, distributor and shopfitting company A F Blakemore & Co — the company, incidentally, that services the SPAR retail estate of 12,000 stores. A F Blakemore also operates a not for prof
Continue Reading →BIG Lottery comes out in favour of social investment
In the same week that New Philanthropy Capital warns that charities that take on social investment prematurely threaten to damage a “young market”, the BIG Lottery announces Next Steps: Supporting Social Investment in England, a new £6m fund intended to help pilot, test or
Continue Reading →EHRC report reveals elderly home care as the next frontline battle for reform and protection of rights
Anyone in the third sector involved in elderly care will doubtless already have been following the investigation that the Equality and Human Rights Commission has been conducting into care for older people delivered in the home. Close to Home, the EHRC’s report, published today,
Continue Reading →Grab a Slice of the Action with Think Catering
Last year Think Venue generated over £1.3m worth of business to local Social Enterprises and Third Sector conference and meeting venues, helping to secure valuable income for communities and businesses with social and environmental objectives. The launch of Think catering, aims to do
Continue Reading →SE Central- great value workspace in the heart of Birmingham
Social Enterprise Central, is a new co-working space from BVSC Enterprises and Cloudberry and is set to provide a focus for social entrepreneurship and social enterprise development right in the heart of Birmingham City Centre. Located inside BVSC, just two minutes from The Bul
Continue Reading →User-led gardening services enterprise restarts life as a CIC
At iSE’s Social Enterprise Day event yesterday I bumped into Ian Wells, an old friend from work I have been involved in with Birmingham Chamber. Ian is now the co-ordinator for Cherry Orchard Gardening Services — COGS. COGS is a training and support opportunity run for and
Continue Reading →ART REACHES £10M MILESTONE
ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust) has announced that it has reached £10m in loans delivered to businesses, including social enterprises, based in Birmingham and Solihull. ART is a Community Development Finance Institution, which was set up in 1997 to fill a gap in the market left by the
Continue Reading →Ella Foundation launches ‘Inspired Leadership’ group in Midlands with Birmingham meeting in December
Until just a matter of weeks ago the Ella Foundation was a new name to me. But things are moving quickly. The organisation has been providing leadership coaching and support for commercial companies for over twenty years but recently has developed the programme so that it is customis
Continue Reading →Social Enterprise Day @ iSE
I joined around fifty other guests at iSE today for a lunch to celebrate Social Enterprise Day. It was lovely to meet up with so many friends, old and new. The iSE team made sure that everything went smoothly. The lunch — homemade soup, bread, fruit and some of the best homemade
Continue Reading →‘Grow in a socially responsible way — and give young people a chance’ says Citizen Coaching
With youth unemployment officially breaking the 1m mark and 25% of 16-24 year-olds unemployed, Birmingham-based social enterprise Citizen Coaching is trying to do its bit to help young people get into work. In 2009, in a bold move for such a young company, Citizen Coaching took on two
Continue Reading →Nick Hurd’s open letter to the sector sets current policy announcements in their “strategic framework”
And now something for those of you who have not been keeping up. I only just found this — by accident. Maybe everybody else already knows about it… On the 11th October 2011 Nick Hurd published a long open letter to charities and social enterprises seeking to set a welter o
Continue Reading →New association of social impact analysts launched
A new fifty member-strong association of social impact practitioners – the Social Impact Analysts Association (SIAA) – has been launched to try and ensure that members can identify and sign up to an agreed framework on social impact measurement for the sector. Pressure to improve the
Continue Reading →SE Central set to arrive in Birmingham
It is often said that “entrepreneurship is the loneliest job in the world” – but we are about to prove that opinion wrong with the arrival in Birmingham of Social Enterprise Central. If you are a solo social entrepreneur, start up social enterprise or looking to move
Continue Reading →Michael Gladwell on TED
I’m not a great TED fan but this morning a friend pointed me in the direction of Michael Gladwell’s superb little performance/lecture on the Norden bomb-sight and I had to set aside my prejudices. Watch it here. It is brilliant — and its call for a healthy scepticism
Continue Reading →More cash for social investment intermediaries
It seems suddenly that everyone is at it — pushing money in the direction of social investment intermediaries, that is community finance institutions and similar. Third Sector Online announced today that Deutsche Bank is the latest to set up a ring-fenced fund of £10m to lend to
Continue Reading →Evaluations for Birmingham’s WNF programmes now available
Social enterprises and third sector organisations involved in delivering programmes under Birmingham’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund may be interested to know that the evaluation documents are now available on the Birmingham City Council website here. Thanks to Judy Tullett at Cas
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