Social enterprise in Calgary is an environmental scan and readiness assessment of social enterprise and earned income activity in Calgary's human service non-profit sector. The report reviews the readiness for a social enterprise stimulant and provides recommendations regarding key considerations for stimulant activity.
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Money & Mission; Social Enterprise in Calgary
As project sponsors for this initiative, the City of Calgary's Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), The Calgary Foundation and United Way of Calgary and Area undertook this project to:
- Better understand current social enterprise and earned income activity in the human service nonprofit sector.
- Enhance the ability to support innovation.
- Act upon presenting opportunities.
- Collaborate effectively with community partners.
What is social enterprise?
For the purposes of this research, social enterprise was defined as: an enterprise, organization or venture that advances its social mission through earned income strategies.
Social enterprise is a business model with a long history – a model that considers the needs and requirements of its stakeholders while leveraging the market mechanism to earn income that supports social outcomes.
Nonprofits that earn income from the marketplace are not new – consider those that run gift stores or charge a fee-for-service. Recent profiles of social enterprise activities highlighted their successes, analyzed the mechanisms, and supported the rapid growth of a network of social enterprise developers, collaborators and leaders across Canada and the globe.
Research design and methodology
The environmental scan and readiness assessment took a mixed-method approach using both exploratory and descriptive research including an e-survey and one-on-one interviews with key social enterprise operators, proponents and leading mainstream entrepreneurs. A comprehensive literature review of secondary sources supported and enhanced primary research findings.
The e-survey was distributed to 144 human service non-profit agencies jointly supported by the project sponsors. Though some local non-profits were excluded through this method, using this population ensured that respondents were pre-screened to provide programming aligned with the project sponsors' goals.
Interview participants represented:
- Non-profit entrepreneurs – individuals actively involved in running a social enterprise or earned income initiative in Calgary.
- Capacity builders – organizations that currently provide financial or technical support to social enterprises and/or small business development.
- Community leaders – individuals with political leadership or a proven entrepreneurial record in key business sectors in Calgary. Some individuals are recognized as active proponents for social enterprise, others represent sectors considered critically important to the success of a collaborative social enterprise stimulant.
Survey Results
The Social Enterprise e-Survey was undertaken from January 7 to January 30, 2009. In total, 76 agencies completed the survey for a completed survey response rate of 53 per cent.
Please contact FCSS for more information.
