Social realism
I ran my final workshop today as part of a Charity Bank in the North programme of support. The workshop helps third sector organisations to consider ways in which they can generate income, and, to use the much-used phrase, work towards sustainability. Opportunity KnocksView more presentations from r

It was ten years ago today
Well, it was ten years ago yesterday in fact, but even I tend not to blog on a Sunday, although I do tweet.22nd November 1999 was the day that the fair trade shop where I cut my socially entrepreneurial teeth opened in its shiny new high-street premises.We'd previously been hidden in the basement of a Christian bookshop - the kind of location that you'll find many a fair trade shop to this day.  We - with some justification - felt we were at the vanguard of the fair trade movement - taking it from the margins to the mainstream (I can well imagine that my press release used that very phrase).It was

Angel Entrepreneurs
It's Social Enterprise Day today.  So, for 24 hours at least, I'll put my default setting of sceptical enthusiast on hold and tell you a bit about my favourite social business - Angels Housekeeping. (I won't even mention that I can't wait to look at the detail of the Coalition's research - published today - that social enterprises are twice as optimistic about the future as SMEs). Angels Housekeeping are based in Leeds and I've known them since they started out in 2005.  They are a CIC, and their m

What matters more - impact or structure
I'm on a bit of a roll writing about social impact at the moment - here's a post I've written for the UnltdWorld blog as part of their Shout Out for Social Enterprise series - questioning whether a focus on certain business structures (four legged company limited by guarantee good, two legged private business bad) takes us away from what we should be concentrating on - does this business make a difference?  

Not everything in black and white makes sense
It seems that not everyone shares our enthusiasm for social enterprise.  First there was NAVCA's boss twittering away about his doubts about the good ship #socent, and now Social Enterprise Magazine assistant editor Chrisanthi Giotis has told us about how she struggles to explain what she does to her friends.I sympathise with Chrisanthi, as I find it tough to explain what I do half the time. I also share her enthusiasm fo