What is a social enterprise?

By Harrison Gardner and Fionn Kidney, Co-CEOs of Common Knowledge

What is a social enterprise? This is a question we’re asked a lot at Common Knowledge, so here’s five things that can help to understand what it means to be social enterprise

 1. Social enterprises are driven by purpose, rather than profit  - The goal of a social enterprise is normally to focus on achieving some social, societal or environmental impact. So for example, at Common Knowledge, our mission is to share skills for a truly sustainable homelife - whether it’s learning to fix or make what you need at home, grow more of your own food, or even build your own house. We believe that sharing these types of skills can help us all to become more capable, more confident and more connected to ourselves, our communities and the world around us. So rather than cutting a profit, seeing this change happen is what we consider as success for Common Knowledge.

2. We have no private shareholders - Like Common Knowledge, about 80% of social enterprises are formed as Companies Limited by Guarantee or ‘CLGs’. Unlike private limited companies, this type of company doesn’t have any private shareholders. This means that, no one owns or takes profit from the company, and no-one can buy or sell a stake. If Common Knowledge no longer existed, our assets would go directly to the organisation closest to us in terms of location and mission.

3. We generate income both through trading and fundraising - Social enterprises operate by trading goods and services, in addition to fundraising from private and public sources. You also hear of a social enterprise being ‘non-profit’, which just means that their income is reinvested into the mission rather than given to private shareholders. At Common Knowledge, so far we’ve created about two thirds of our income from courses, which has provided the resource for us to focus on delivering on our mission. Now that we’ve moved into our new home in the Burren, we’re going to need more resource to operate, so in addition to our courses and community projects, we’re going to be running our eco-lodge accommodation, and renting our space for events and retreats. We’re also seeking to raise a large portion of the purchase and upgrade cost of our new home through a type of loan called Community Bonds, which you can find out more about here if you’re interested.  

4. Social enterprise is all around us! A Census of Social Enterprises in Ireland was recently commissioned by the Department of Rural and Community Development, which is well worth checking out. The Census identified over 4,000 social enterprises in Ireland, together employing an amazing 85k people, which is about 4% of the Irish workforce. You probably know some of these already, like 

• Our neighbours in Clare, HomeTree, whose work is to establish and conserve permanent native woodland in Ireland

• GIY in Waterford, whose ambition is to inspire 100 million people around the world to grow some of their own food by 2030

• FoodCloud in Dublin, whose mission is to transform surplus food into opportunities to make the world a kinder place.

5. Social enterprise is hugely supported by volunteers - The Census of Social Enterprises counted about 75k people actively volunteering for social enterprises, including 30k as voluntary board members. We literally could not be doing what we do without our volunteers, and we’re so grateful for everyone who has helped us get this far. This year alone, we’ve had more than 300 people give time to Common Knowledge, whether helping with the gardens, at events, or upgrading our new home. There’s no shortage of opportunities to get involved. Our other volunteers are our board, who are people with experience in areas like social enterprise, sustainability, design, law and accounting. They keep us inspired and accountable, and help us to steer our activity for long term impact.

If you have any questions about what it means to be a social enterprise, we’d love to hear them, so feel free to drop us a line!