Making the right connection

We've all experienced it - that blank look you get when someone asks what you do and you say you work in 'social enterprise'. And even among those people who don't look quite so blank, you rarely find anyone who really understands what it means.

The social enterprise movement has struggled for years to make itself heard and understood. But with the economy in its current state, and with a yearning in the market for fairer, more ethical business, there really is no time like the present to move social enterprise from niche to mainstream.

If we can crack it, the prize is huge, not least for the people we aim to help and the issues we aim to solve.  It will also help us to galvanise the next generation of social entrepreneurs.

We will increase the reach of social enterprise and its influence on the economy as a whole. And, as a movement, I'm convinced it's something we must do now.

Indeed, this issue has already been recognised by those social enterprises who have  been working with RISE (the social enterprise network in south west England) in their pioneering work on the Social  Enterprise Mark.

On behalf of the Social Enterprise Coalition, I am chairing a steering group of representatives from the social enterprise movement that is currently leading work, funded by the Office of the Third Sector, to create widespread recognition and understanding of what social enterprise offers.

This Social Enterprise Identifier Steering Group first met on 8 May and again on 21 July, and membership spans the whole movement (see side bar).

This work isn't happening in isolation. We are linking with the significant amount of work already underway across the whole of the UK, to raise awareness of social enterprise.

Lucy Findlay, CEO of RISE, who is on our steering group, says: 'The success of the Mark has demonstrated a clear and pressing demand for an ethical brand that can clearly communicate the values of social enterprise to customers.

'What is now needed is to make it work on a scaled up, national level.'

Drawing on research and scoping work by experts at the Central Office of Information (COI), as well as on the invaluable work already underway in the movement, we are developing and testing a suite of three social enterprise identifiers which we aim to launch on Social Enterprise Day (19 November).

These identifiers will enable our movement to conquer the lack of awareness and understanding that has been such a barrier to us.

The identifiers will have a strong visual continuity and consistent messages underpinned by clear social enterprise principles and values. They will provide us with the campaigning tools that we need to get the idea of social enterprise squarely into the public consciousness.

To get social enterprises noticed by new customers, investors and supporters we need to make social enterprise a visible part of everyday life. That's what all the research done on this subject shows. It's why we want a social enterprise campaign device that will enable every organisation that supports, buys from or invests in social enterprise to show their support and help drive up understanding.

The campaign device could be used by every school or university running a social enterprise project; by every law firm, business adviser or bank providing specialised social enterprise advice, and by public and private sector buyers or commissioners who actively seek out social enterprise solutions.

This will build recognition, understanding and interest among a wide, diverse and influential audience, and could catalyse all sorts of new initiatives (social enterprise towns, anyone?).

As awareness and understanding grows, more people will look for individual social enterprises to buy from, invest in, and work for.

Alongside the social enterprise campaign device, we have in mind a two-tier identifier that will signpost social enterprises to customers and investors. The first tier of these would be the main business identifier which would identify to customers and wider that 'We are a social enterprise' and can prove it and have fulfilled specific criteria - the role model social enterprises that others aspire to.

RISE's work on the social enterprise Mark is central to the identifier and the Mark criteria will form the platform/foundation for future development.

The second tier would be lighter touch, telling the wider world and customers that 'We are on a social enterprise journey', to emphasise their commitment to social enterprise principles and values and recognise their ambition, and to demonstrate the future growth potential of the social enterprise movement.

The two-tier business identifier will become the social enterprise brand that will allow the sector to powerfully promote itself as a real alternative within the marketplace.

If we can get this right, this family of three - the wider campaign device and two tier business identifiers - could ultimately give every one of the estimated 62,000 social enterprises in the UK and those to come in the future a clear way of standing out from the crowd.

We know this is a big challenge for the movement, and that this work needs to be robust and instill trust in customers and investors. The Social Enterprise Coalition and RISE in consultation with others are drawing up plans for an agency to promote and manage the campaign device and business identifiers.

Alongside the designs for these, we are developing the principles, values and criteria that will sit behind them as well as a clear, transparent and credible way of governing them. This will help to reduce the risk of social enterprise 'greenwashing', for example, private companies claiming to be social enterprises for commercial advantage.

We do want private companies to support our movement, and we certainly want to encourage people setting up new companies to take the social enterprise rather than the private route. But we will need to be careful that we do not make it easier for the private sector to confuse the public by claiming to be something they are not.

We'll be testing all of this with customers, social enterprises, and champions for the movement - ultimately it will only work if the sector takes it up, and if customers value it. But we must act quickly and decisively to develop the identifiers and we must do it as a united movement. The opportunity is too great, and the outcome too important.

Dai Powell, Social Enterprise Ambassador and CEO of HCT Group, says: 'We must collectively agree on a robust and powerful way to brand and promote ourselves in order to place social enterprise firmly in the public consciousness, where it is long overdue.

'It is one of the most important things we can do as a movement, but we need to act now, and we need to get it right.'

The steering group will be working on the development of the identifiers through the summer, and will have further updates on what is happening in September.

In the meantime, they'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Please send comments and ideas to the Social Enterprise Coalition by going to www.socialenterprise.org.uk

Steve Wyler is chair of the Social Enterprise Identifier project steering group, vice-chair of the Social Enterprise Coalition and director of the Development Trusts Association.