Trading (Social Enterprise)
What can we sell and is there a buyer?
Increasingly, voluntary and community organisations are looking to social enterprise (income from trading) as a way of financing their activities. As grant funding becomes tighter, generating income through the sale of services and products becomes a more realistic and attractive option. It can bring in unrestricted income that the organisation can spend on the things that some grant funding might not support.
Preparing your organisation for social enterprise/trading activity
Many groups have already started to trade goods and services. Others have lots of ideas and want to know more about setting up a trading activity. Making the leap from donations and grant funding to "social enterprise" is not always easy. Great ideas must be backed up by good planning tools: an overall fundraising strategy, financial management tools, marketing skills and a business plan.
Our Organisation Development Officer can help you put the strategy and planning in place. Our parent organisation, Voluntary Action Westminster, offers courses on a number of subjects to develop your organisation's planning:
- strategic planning
- developing a fundraising strategy
- financial management
- business planning
Our next training course on Social Enterprise is on 21 April 2010 from 9.45am-4pm at Voluntary Action Westminster, 37 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DP. To book a place, email training@vawcvs.org or telephone 020 7723 1216. CITY.COMM also works with ACE (Accounting for Community Enterprise) to support groups in their financial development. Download ACE's training schedule here.
