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iSE is seeking a new chief executive

February 24, 2021

I’m not going to embarrass either myself or Sarah Crawley by repeating everything I said in this post when last her departure from iSE was announced. She didn’t leave. Her plans coincided with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and lockdown and she delayed her departure at

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New BVSC report reveals detailed picture of the impact of the Covid crisis on Birmingham’s VCS — and the sector’s contribution

November 26, 2020

A new report just published by BVSC reveals a fascinating and detailed picture of the impact of the Covid crisis on Birmingham’s voluntary and community sector. Birmingham Voluntary Service Council: State of the Sector 2020: Digest of Headlines brings together key findings from

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Government sets important new trend in social value

November 24, 2020

After a period during which things have been very quiet on the social value front, the government has recently (Sept 2020) issued new procurement guidelines which explicitly link social value in public procurement contracts to the Covid recovery effort. At first glance this may seem a

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iSE’s WiSE Wednesday webinars return on 16th September

September 03, 2020

On Wednesday 16th September 2020 iSE’s WiSE Wednesday webinar series returns following an August summer break. The discussion topic, including open Q&A, will be Digital Transformation — in a low tech environment with Pauline Roch

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BECo — the social enterprise that wants employers to steal its staff

September 01, 2020

Divine chocolate. Belu water. The Big Issue. A comparatively small number of social enterprises are operating at the scale of national manufacturers. And note that I do call them manufacturers and not ‘brands’ — I mean companies that make things, not brands that purs

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Pressure for a fairer, greener, juster recovery increases

June 29, 2020

Pressure is growing for an economic and social recovery that is fairer, more just, and greener. A recent YouGov poll reported in The Guardian indicates that just 6% of the public want to return to an unchanged ‘pre-pandemic’ economy. A recent letter to the government

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Build back better — Bill Grimsey report on the future of town and city centres post-Covid-19

June 23, 2020

Bill Grimsey has spent a lifetime at the top of retailing in the UK, Hong Kong and South Africa, during which time he regarded it as his mission ‘to clone every town in the UK with the same brands’. And he did, and in the process, as he readily acknowledges, he put paid to

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How one social enterprise is planning to be part of the post-virus recovery

April 28, 2020

Martin Hogg, founder and chief executive of Citizen Coaching, the counselling social enterprise, has tried various approaches over recent years to grow and scale-up the business. ‘We’ve always reinvested in the business,’ he says, ‘but this alone was never enou

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HoE Community Foundation — Coronavirus Resilience Fund now stands at over a quarter-of-a-million

April 09, 2020

On the 8th April the Chancellor announced an emergency funding package of £750 million for frontline charities across the UK, including hospices, those supporting domestic abuse victims, and smaller charities. The emphasis is very much on those organisations working at the frontline w

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NCVO — supporting the sector during coronavirus crisis

March 19, 2020

NCVO’s chief executive Karl Wilding has just issued an interesting statement on the organisation’s blog regarding his plans for a “whatever it takes” approach to supporting the VCSE sector through the current coronavirus crisis. The organisation has taken down

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iSE announces cancellation of City Drive 2020 events

March 16, 2020

Under iSE’s leadership and facilitation, City Drive has always been a collaborative event. Many social enterprises support it with activities and events, many contribute to its planning, and a substantial number of City Drive supporters help with generous sponsorship. After disc

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Coronavirus crisis — Claire Dove, VCSE Crown Representative, seeks VCSE views on sector support needs and responses

March 12, 2020

You may not know that Sarah Crawley now sits on the group convened by Claire Dove, the government’s VCSE Crown Representative. Claire’s role is to act as an intermediary between government and the voluntary, community & social enterprise sector, with a specific remit t

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Comments now working

February 25, 2020

This post is a sticky. For the time being, newer posts appear beneath it. If you have been trying to comment on the blog — perhaps especially this post — but have been unable to, our apologies. There has been a problem with the comments facility but our good friends at Cit

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Sarah Crawley to leave iSE

February 24, 2020

Sarah Crawley has announced that she will be leaving iSE at the end of June 2020. Sarah and I have worked together for over seventeen years and for a good part of that time she has served as chair of BSSEC and one of its Directors. This, thankfully, will continue and I look forward to

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The School for Social Entrepreneurs is recruiting…

December 11, 2019

The School for Social Entrepreneurs is seeking to recruit: Development Officer x 2 Reporting to: Development Manager Location: Flexible 0.8 FTE, with some flexibility. SSE is looking for two Development Officers, and would consider candidates looking for part-time (0.6 FTE+) or full-t

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Social Enterprise World Forum — day four

October 24, 2019

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: 23rd – 25th October 2019 It’s day four for iSE’s chief exec Sarah Crawley and Citizen Coaching’s Martin Hogg who are both at the Social Enterprise World Forum. Sarah has sent us another fascinating update… * * * *

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City Drive 2019 — social enterprise conference: 8th April

March 11, 2019

→ UPDATE: The full City Drive programme is now available. City Drive 2019 kicks off in grand style this year with a Social Enterprise Conference. The conference theme is exploring new business ideas that maximise social impact. Details WHEN: 8th April 2019, 9.00am registration,

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JTH announces Christmas tree recycling scheme

December 19, 2018

John Taylor Hospice has a brilliant plan that will take the hassle out of your new year Christmas tree disposal – it has just announced a Christmas tree collection and recycling scheme which will be good for the environment and good for its fundraising. For a suggested donation of £8,

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Live from Social Enterprise World Forum 2018 — Edinburgh

September 12, 2018

As we wrote in this post, the Social Enterprise World Forum has returned to the UK after 10 years of travelling the world, one continent at a time, and this year’s host city is Edinburgh. As in previous years, Sarah Crawley has kindly offered to do some live blogs so t

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Social impact researcher needs market research participants — can you help?

January 23, 2018

We have been contacted by ex-government policy researcher Kate Sweetman who is developing a new social impact/social value reporting consultancy. Kate is currently engaged in market and feasibility research to fine-tune her business idea. What does the ‘offer’ need to look like in ord

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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