tees valley creatives is a website that gathers together creative social enterprises in the Tees Valley region.
tvc provided members with a ‘shop front’ page on the website to raise the profile of their activity, using text and images to explain and illustrate their enterprise. A members page can also contain a link to their own website if they have one.
Whether you are considering setting up a social enterprise or are an established group tvc offers on line resources to assist with your project development.
What is a Social Enterprise?
Social enterprises are businesses that trade in the market with a social purpose. They use business tools and techniques to achieve social aims and include an incredibly wide range of organisations, for example co-operatives, development trusts, community enterprises, housing associations, social firms, and leisure trusts
A social enterprise is not defined by its legal status but by its nature: its social aims and outcomes, the basis on which its social mission is embedded in its structure and governance, and the way it uses any profits it generates through its trading activities. Common characteristics of social enterprises include:
- Enterprise Orientation – they are directly involved in producing goods or providing services to a market.
- Social Aims – they have explicit social aims such as job creation, training or the provision of local services. Their ethical values may include a commitment to building skills in local communities. Their profits are principally reinvested to achieve their social objectives.
- Many social enterprises are also characterised by their social ownership. They are autonomous organisations whose governance and ownership structures are normally based on participation by stakeholder groups (eg employees, users, clients, local community groups and social investors) or by trustees or directors who control the enterprise on behalf of a wider group of stakeholders. They are accountable to their stakeholders and the wider community for their social, environmental and economic impact. Profits can be distributed as profit sharing to stakeholders or used for the benefit of the community.
The Governments definition of a social enterprise says that it is:
a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.
The Dept of Trade & Industry (DTI) describes social enterprise as:
A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.
Social enterprises tackle a wide range of social and environmental issues and operate in all parts of the economy. By using business solutions to achieve public good, the Government believes that social enterprises have a distinct and valuable role to play in a helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy.
Artists
Funding
