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Anyone for loan finance?

September 29, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Having just prepared and delivered my twelfth annual report to ART members, I have been reflecting once again on how low the take up of our kind of finance continues to be from the social enterprise sector in Birmingham and the West Midlands. ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust) is a social
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‘Social enterprise’: does the definition need tweaking?

September 28, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Third sector minister Angela Smith thinks so. Speaking at a Labour Party conference fringe event yesterday, she acknowledged that the current definition is “pretty broad” and in her view requires “a bit of tweaking” in order to address  some criticisms “o
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Peter Holbrook might offer the new approach SEC needs

September 24, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
The Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) announced yesterday that Peter Holbrook will become its new CEO when Jonathan Bland leaves next year. I heard Holbrook speak at Voice 09. He’s currently CEO of Sunlight Development Trust in Gillingham, Kent. He was really good at Voice – qui
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Mandy’s optics

September 24, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Alright, I admit it in advance: this isn’t really about social enterprise. It was just irresistible. A piece in the Guardian yesterday reported that Peter Mandelson, secretary of state for business, gave an interview to The Economist in which he stated that the government’
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A bright future for Social Enterprise in Solihull

September 15, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
From its humble beginnings as a project within The Colebridge Trust, Solihull SUSTAiN has grown into a serious driver for change in Solihull in terms of Third Sector Support Services, Third Sector Development & Voice and Social Enterprise. SUSTAiN is now the parent organisation le
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Recession will change voluntary sector for good – social enterprise will dominate, says third sector experts

September 15, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Third Sector magazine’s recession watch panel says the third sector landscape will be permanently changed by the current economic downturn, according  to a story in the online mag today. Changing patterns of giving, the rise of public sector commissioning and the need to generat
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Can charities & social enterprises run prisons?

September 07, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Libby Brooks writing recently in the Guardian thinks not. The purpose of imprisonment, she says, is fundamentally punitive and cannot be reconciled with the third sector’s social mission — even (and perhaps especially, she seems to suggest) when this social purpose might b
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iSE celebrates 10th anniversary in style

September 04, 2009
by Alun Severn
6 Comments
On Thursday 3rd September iSE celebrated its tenth anniversary, hosting a dinner for over 80 guests at the Botanical Gardens. Welcoming guests, Sarah Crawley, iSE’s CEO explained: “iSE began life in 1998 as a European project providing employment opportunities for people w
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Community Sector Coalition says new Compact is a charter for third sector sub-contractors

September 01, 2009
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Today’s Third Sector Online has a story about the new ‘refresh’ of the voluntary sector Compact, currently available as a consultation paper until 12th October 2009. The Community Sector Coalition (CSC) has already written to third sector minister Angela Smith saying
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BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL SOCIAL ECONOMY CONSORTIUM C.I.C., trading as BSSEC. A community interest company registered in England and Wales with company no. 07992674. Registered office: c/o Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES | All rights reserved | Copyright 2013-BSSEC | Created by Citizen Click