Social Enterprise organisations and support

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The material available on this website is designed to provide general information only. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, it does not constitute legal or other professional advice.

Spangle Jelly does not endorse and does not accept any responsibility or liability for the contents of websites referenced by an external link.

• The Social Enterprise Coalition is the UK's national body for social enterprise. The voice for the sector, it supports and represents the work of its members, influences national policy and promotes best practice. The Coalition set up a Social Enterprise Health Forum for health social enterprises in mid-2007.
• ACEVO is the professional body for the "third" sector's chief executives, with 2000 members. It connects, develops and represents the sector's leaders in order to increase the sector's impact and efficiency.
• The Association of Social Entrepreneurs in Health is a membership organisation of health professionals to set up and sustain social enterprise in healthcare. It provides networking, knowledge, advocacy, debate and education.
• Business in the Community is an independent business-led whose purpose is to inspire, engage, and support and challenge companies, to continually improve the impact they have on society. This includes a range of programmes, such as Business Bridge, Cares and ProHelp.
• Business Link offers support and advice to small businesses, including social enterprises. It provides straightforward information for business, access to a wide network of business support organisations and a directory of sources of finance.
• The Community Action Network (CAN) develops, promotes and supports social entrepreneurs. The CAN team and members deliver high quality community projects in almost every field of social change and service delivery, from homelessness to schools and from health care to recycling.
• Co-operatives UK is the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK, promoting co-operative and mutual solutions, working in partnership with its members to build a stronger and increasingly successful co-operative movement.
• The Development Trusts Association promotes the work of development trusts, advocates on their behalf by commenting on and contributing to public policy developments, briefing and lobbying central and local government, and liaising with a wide range of organisations at regional, national and European level.
• The Directory for Social Entrepreneurial Organisations (seo-online) provides a one-stop source of data about social entrepreneurs in England, and a place to trade information, insight, products and services. The site raises the profile of social entrepreneurial organisations and helps them to deliver even more cutting edge solutions.
• Edge Upstarts is a programme designed to encourage and promote practical learning so that everyone is able to fulfil their potential. Edge Upstarts is a unique forum through which to discuss ideas, policies and the impact of learning-by-doing. It seeks equal status for practical learning and produce a much fairer education system for everyone.
• The Employee Ownership Association is the voice of co-owned business in the UK – companies wholly or substantially owned by the people who work in them.
• Employee Ownership Optionsprovides information and signposting on how employee ownership can bring benefits to employees, business owners and trade unionists. It raises awareness of the business options available to small firms when they are threatened with closure either as a result of succession problems or as a result of divestment.
• The Future Services Network is for organisations and individuals who want to see public services which are genuinely driven by citizens and consumers.
• Make Your Mark: Change Lives is a campaign to inspire young people to use enterprising ideas for social and environmental change.
• Nearbuyyou is a national trading network for social enterprises and those that wish to trade with them. Find tenders, offers and requests or search for social enterprises near you. All member services are free to social enterprises.
• The Plunkett Foundation is an educational charity which advocates and supports economic self-help as an effective instrument for meeting the needs of rural communities. It promotes and implements economic self-help solutions to rural problems, and enables rural communities to establish and run enterprises that provide themselves with essential services.
• The Public Service Delivery Network is for those in the social economy with responsibility for negotiating and managing public service contracts. It develops capacity within the voluntary and community sector by providing a forum for peer support, developing and sharing resources, networking and professional development opportunities.
• The Scarman Trust helps citizens bring about change in their community, in the way that they want. It finances and gives practical support to hundreds of remarkable people with a 'can do' attitude, who mobilise thousands of others to make fundamental life chances available to all.
• The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) exists to provide training and opportunities to enable people to use their creative and entrepreneurial abilities more fully for social benefit.
• The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides a global platform to promote social entrepreneurship as a key element to advance societies and address social problems in an innovative and effective manner.
• SmartResources is an online resource for the social sector, providing information and advice on best practice, organisation profiles and case studies focusing on new technology.
Social Enterprise Partnership implements infrastructure and systems development, capacity building, research and development for the social enterprise sector in the UK. Its raises awareness and improves the performance of social enterprises by making the support system more effective and mainstreaming best practice and innovation.
• Make Your Mark: Change Lives is a campaign to inspire young people to use enterprising ideas for social and environmental change.
• Social Enterprise Training and Support (SETAS) is an information resource providing links to training and support providers, and specialist publications specifically about social enterprise.
• Social Firms UK aims to create employment opportunities for disadvantaged people through the development and support of social firms. Social firms are market-led businesses that are set up specifically to create good quality jobs for people severely disadvantaged in the labour market.
• UnLtd supports social entrepreneurs - people who have the ideas and the commitment to make a difference in their communities. It provides a complete package of finance and support to help these individuals start up and run projects that deliver social benefit. In doing so, UnLtd fosters a positive environment for social entrepreneurship in the UK.
• VolResource provides practical resources for people involved in social economy organisations through communications technology. It carries briefings, contact information, specialist sources, suppliers, alongside tips on key issues and what to look out for elsewhere.

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