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Expanding Markets
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Marketing is in a funny position in social enterprises. They are organizations with great ideas and a great passion. So it makes sense to sell customers on the great things that they do for the community. Indeed, the enterprise's success ultimately depends on how well it does those great things or supports them. That's why social enterprises face intense pressure to get out and grow, despite the higher costs inherent to them and very limited sources of funding and investment.
Procurement and the Social Economy was part of a Telelearning event hosted by the Canadian Social Economy Hub
May 13th, 2009
MP3, 58 mins, 24.9 MB
The Buying Social Guide is a very concrete tool to help public authorities to buy goods and services in a socially responsible way in line with European Union rules. The Guide is useful in a North American context as we too face similar trade restrictions that can cause confusion for public procurement strategies. It also highlights the contribution public procurement can make to stimulate greater social inclusion.
The Social Enterprise Purchasing Toolkit is designed to help increase the integration of social values into purchasing decisions, resulting in healthier communities and a stronger market for social enterprises.
The Toolkit includes:
Local Investment Toward Employment (LITE) is a non-profit granting organization that supports community economic development (CED) initiatives that build capacity and provide jobs in Winnipeg's inner city.
The Social Purchasing Portal facilitates the targeting of existing everyday business purchasing to suppliers of goods and services to blend business and social values.
The Social Purchasing Portal (SPP) is an innovative and effective tool helping to build healthy communities across Canada.
This background paper aims to develop people’s understanding of social procurement and some of the barriers to social procurement. While the context for this study is set in Australia, many of the challenges and benefits of social procurement policies are similar around the world.
The proposed UK Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill aims to strengthen the social enterprise business sector and make the concept of 'social value' more relevant and important in the placement and provision of public services. The Bill was debated at a Parliamentary Second Reading on 19 November 2010. The House of Commons voted for the Bill to be sent to a Public Bill Committee that will scrutinise the Bill clause by clause.
Glasgow City Council, through Development and Regeneration Services has a remit that focuses on the regeneration activity within the city. The Council’s objective is to maximise the opportunities for securing training and employment, business start up and business growth through planned investment.
Author: David LePage
Source: Making Waves Magazine (Volume 19, Number 3)
"Like a stone thrown into a pond, every purchase creates a ripple. Unintentionally or intentionally, every decision to purchase causes not one, but multiple transactions affecting the community’s capital, whether social, environmental, cultural, structural, human, or economic."