Co-operative Social Enterprises

What are they?

Co-operative social enterprises are businesses with social or environmental objectives which are set up to provide a service to a local community. Sometimes known as community co-operatives, community enterprises or community businesses, they use co-operative principles to guide their structure and activities. Any profit generated by the Co-operative Social Enterprise is reinvested to further their social or environmental aims.

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Some examples

A nursery for a housing estate where many single parent families live, so that parents can find work
A village shop and post office for a rural community several miles from the nearest commercial store
A community centre offering different services to its local community such as youth clubs, meeting rooms and a cafe

We have also helped set up food co-operatives, community transport schemes, environmental projects, social firms, community land trusts, development trusts and many other community co-operatives.

How can we help?

The Wales Co-operative Centre’s Development Officers can help groups through all stages of setting up a social enterprise. Support includes:

Advice on funding and sustainability
Assessing what the community needs
Designing a service to meet those needs
Establishing how popular the service will be
Sorting out a legal structure and registering the co-operative as a company limited by guarantee, industrial and provident society or community interest company
Working out what resources will be needed to provide the service
Planning how many people will be needed to run the service and providing training for the social enterprise
Help with writing a business plan
Help with writing a marketing plan