Ok, so
it's a bit late for New Year Resolutions, but here's what I'd like for the
sector in 2013. A shift in emphasis. Away from obsessing over how we label our
organisations to a focus on the social impact we make.
Think of
it, a real opportunity to liberate and empower ourselves from moving from the
'how' to the 'what'.
Our
sector puts a lot of stock in its identity, and quite rightly. We have some
clear characteristics that unite us in our work and make us different to ‘the
state’ or to those operating in the interests of generating financial profit
for shareholders.
The most
fundamental of these is a history of social action, beyond the advent of most
of our esteemed public services and driven by altruism. We pride ourselves in
providing services and voice to citizens and communities which are vulnerable or
likely to be forgotten.
These
days our mission to create positive social change is more important than ever.
And yet, as a sector we are becoming increasingly caught up in defining
ourselves by ‘how’ we do it rather
than ‘what’ we need to change. By
concentrating on our operational differences (or even more specifically, how we
get the money in!) we are in danger of becoming divided and less
powerful.
For
me, social enterprise is a verb, and something which many organisations
traditionally seen as charities or voluntary and community groups have been
grappling with for many years.
As
a sector, I believe that if we are to continue to meet the demand for our
services, we need to become more adept entrepreneurs. For some organisations it
will become part of the funding mix, for others it will become their business.
However, for all it will be the means to which they deliver their social
mission, not the end in itself.
In
2013, let’s shift the emphasis on social enterprise from a label with
conditions attached, to a venture with the potential to liberate our
organisations and increase our social impact.
