The funding landscape is becoming increasingly competitive in South Africa, as it is globally. In response, many non-profit organisations (NPOs) are looking for ways to generate income in order to decrease their reliance on donor funding and become more financially sustainable and independent. Social enterprise provides a viable alternative to donor dependency, enabling social purpose organisations to achieve long-term social impact that is not reliant on annual grant applications.
At the same time, businesses are looking at how they can play a positive role in society by tackling the social and environmental challenges in the communities in which they operate. Social enterprise is an innovative model that can empower entrepreneurs and NPOs to design business solutions to social problems, enabling sustainable and systemic change to take place.
On May 23, the day before the Trialogue CSI Conference, Social Enterprise Academy will present the workshop “The Journey to Social Enterprise”, aimed at NPO managers who are considering transitioning to increased income generation, entrepreneurs who want to find out more about the social enterprise movement and model, and corporates interested in how they can address social and environmental challenges through the medium of social enterprise.
Participants will:
- Gain a general overview of social enterprise;
- Define the values and purpose of a social enterprise to better understand where it sits in relation to the corporate and non-profit sector;
- Examine the range of organisational and legal structures available to social enterprises;
- Explore the challenges of balancing economic demands with the achievement of social and/or environmental aims;
- Discuss and workshop how to shift from a purely non-profit model to a social enterprise; and
- Discuss actual examples of social enterprise.
About Social Enterprise Academy
Social Enterprise Academy is a social enterprise delivering transformational learning and development programmes for people and organisations working for social purpose. The organisation’s vision is of a society that combines economic activity with community benefit, a society led by dynamic social entrepreneurs. The organisation’s unique approach to learning has helped thousands of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises to become stronger and more resilient, thereby increasing their social impact and their economic sustainability.
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