Social enterprise

A social enterprise uses commercial activity to pursue a social or environmental mission, directing substantial resources or profits toward that mission.

Social entrepreneurship: The practice of creating and scaling ventures that address social or environmental problems. It describes the entrepreneurial approach often used to establish social enterprises.
Earned income: Revenue received in exchange for goods, services, or other economic activity. Trading income can finance a social enterprise’s work without relying solely on donations.
Charitable organization: An organization established to pursue legally recognized charitable purposes for public benefit. Unlike many charities, social enterprises commonly earn revenue through commercial exchange.
Work integration social enterprise: An enterprise that provides paid work and training to people facing barriers to employment. It uses commercial production or services to advance an employment mission.
Social innovation: A new or improved approach that meets social needs or changes social relationships. Social enterprises can turn social innovations into operating services or products.
Cross-subsidization: Using surplus from one activity to fund another activity with lower or no returns. A profitable product or service can pay for mission-focused work that cannot cover its costs.
For-profit corporation: A company organized primarily to conduct business and generate financial returns for its owners. Its conventional priority of owner returns contrasts with a social enterprise’s mission commitment.
Fair trade: A trading approach that seeks better terms and rights for producers and workers. Social enterprises may use fair-trade sourcing to pursue benefits through their supply chains.
Triple bottom line: A framework for assessing organizational performance across social, environmental, and financial results. It captures the multiple kinds of performance social enterprises may balance.
Social impact measurement: The systematic assessment of an organization’s effects on people, communities, or the environment. It tests whether commercial activity produces the mission outcomes the enterprise claims.

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