Social. The Facts RESEARCH FINDINGS SERIES

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1 1 Social Entrepreneurs The Facts 2012 EDITION In March 2010, we published our first Findings Paper. Social Entrepreneurs: The Facts provided insight into the individuals who have the passion, ideas and can-do attitude to set up and run a social venture. This 2012 edition provides an update of our previous findings and key facts about the social entrepreneurs we support. RESEARCH FINDINGS SERIES

2 INTRODUCTION UnLtd is a charity that supports social entrepreneurs - people who have the determination and commitment to change the world around them. We provide a complete package of funding and support, to help these individuals make their ideas a reality. We want to create a world in which people act to make it better. We will know we ve achieved this when: Larger numbers of social entrepreneurs get help to start up and to scale up People who have strong potential to deliver social value have more skills and confidence to act for social benefit There is a supportive environment in which social entrepreneurs come forward and thrive By supporting social entrepreneurs, we aim to create social capital and wider social impact. We expect that social entrepreneurs will generate economic impact, social innovation and help raise aspiration in disadvantaged communities. So, who are the social entrepreneurs we help? What do they achieve? How does UnLtd help them? Key findings Social impact: Most UnLtd Award Winners create impact by providing services or activities reaching an average of 100 beneficiaries per year. A small number of ventures operate at a much larger scale; some reach thousands each year. Creating jobs: 43% employ at least one person. We estimate the annual wage value of jobs created by our survey respondents at 45m. Offering opportunities: Over 75% create volunteering opportunities, with a median average of five per venture. 69% offer training opportunities, a median average of four per venture. Connecting people: UnLtd Award Winners are highly likely to create social capital by helping people to meet others outside of their normal social circle - 83% do so. Promoting social entrepreneurship: Nearly 60% have supported another social entrepreneur to set up a venture. PAGE 2

3 Who are UnLtd s social entrepreneurs? A wide variety of people become social entrepreneurs. Since 2003, we have made over 7,300 Awards directly to social entrepreneurs. 1 Our data shows how these break down: By gender 53% Male 47% Female The proportion of men and women amongst our Award Winners is almost equal, which reflects findings of other research into social entrepreneurship. 2 This is a sharp contrast with mainstream entrepreneurship, where men outnumber women by two to one. By highest qualification 40% Degree or postgraduate course 26% NVQ, CSE, GCSE or A Levels 11% Professional qualification 9% Other 14% Unknown The majority of UnLtd Award Winners have degrees or professional qualifications. Again, wider research shows that social entrepreneurs are more likely than mainstream entrepreneurs to be university educated. Is there a typical social entrepreneur? By age (at start of Award) By ethnic group 3% Under 18 21% % % % % 65+ We can identify four main clusters amongst people who responded to our annual survey in 2012: 4 Middle age and later life Most people in this group are aged 50 or over. Two thirds have degrees. They are more likely to live in affluent areas. 90% are white. Younger, well qualified This group is comprised of people aged under 50, 75% of whom have degrees. Three quarters are white. They are more likely to live in affluent areas. 68% White 18% Black or Black British 9% Asian or Asian British 5% Mixed / multiple ethnic groups While people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups make up less than 10% of the UK population, they account for over 30% of the people UnLtd has supported. Unlike some of our other findings, this is not so strongly reflected in social entrepreneurship in the UK more widely. By where they live 34% live in the most deprived areas of England, Scotland and Wales. 3 Younger, diverse 85% of people in this group are aged under 50 and 40% are from BME groups. Two thirds have degrees. They tend to live in less affluent areas. Lower qualified There is a spread of ages within this group. Unlike the other groups there is a male bias. No-one in this group has a degree. Three quarters are white, and they live in a wide range of areas. This analysis gives a basic picture of who UnLtd supports, but not the whole picture. For example, it excludes many of the young people UnLtd has supported, since our youth programmes were not included in our 2012 annual survey. PAGE 3

4 What do UnLtd s social entrepreneurs achieve? In January 2012 we surveyed 4,300 Award Winners supported since ,014 responded. Their answers give us rich information about their activities and impact. How many people benefit from Award Winners ventures? The survey shows that most Award Winners operate at a relatively small scale. For example, 31% currently reach fewer than 25 people per year. Nevertheless, some ventures reach much larger numbers: 3% reach over 10,000 in a year. 1.2 million The total number of beneficiaries reached by survey respondents in a year 62,000 The number of volunteering opportunities created by survey respondents in a year Each active venture reaches a median average of 100 people per year. 5 This has increased from 70 in our 2010 survey. Because of the wide variation in numbers reached, the mean average for our sample, however, was 2,500 per venture. How many people do Award Winners support in a year? Up to to % 25% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Social capital Our 2012 survey looked in detail at the types of social capital created by Award Winners. 95% of respondents reported at least one type of social capital. Examples included: Helping people to connect with others - 83% Promoting neighbourliness - 66% Promoting trust within or between communities - 63% Types of social impact 101 to to 2,500 2,501 to 10,000 23% 12% 6% Respondents were asked what types of social impact they created. Most commonly, Award Winners are working to*: Over 10,000 3% Looking at Award Winners business models helps us interpret this information. Some 80% deliver face-toface services or activities. These tend to reach fewer people and work with them in depth. Around a quarter provide online services, and these generally reach larger numbers. A quarter design or sell products to meet social needs their beneficiaries are their customers, and again, these Award Winners tend to have a broader reach. Promote personal development - 73% Improve health and wellbeing - 67% Promote training and skills development - 61% Create community cohesion - 56% Tackle isolation - 43% Social entrepreneurs also inspire others. 60% said they had supported someone else to set up a social venture. *Respondents could pick multiple answers PAGE 4

5 Volunteering Over three quarters of ventures create volunteering opportunities. In total, more than 62,000 opportunities were created by our survey sample. We estimate that if these volunteers were paid, the wage value of their positions would be 200m per year. 6 48% of ventures have between 1 and 10 volunteers. At the other end of the scale, two ventures in our sample each created thousands of volunteering opportunities. The median average per venture is five. Comparison with our previous surveys shows this has been broadly consistent over time. The mean average is this is much higher than the median because of the small number of ventures creating large numbers of opportunities. Training Over two thirds of ventures provide training opportunities. 31% provide 1 to 10 opportunities per year, 25% provide 11 to 100 and 8% provide 100 or more. The median average per venture is four, and this has shown a slight increase since The mean average for our sample was MILLION The ESTIMATED wage value of volunteering generated Turnover and profit Award Winners whose ventures had been active for at least 12 months were asked about their financial position in the last full year. Turnover varied considerably. A quarter made 1,000 or less, while 20% made more than 50,000. The median average was 9,300 and the mean, 79,400. Most had experienced or expected growth. 45% said their turnover had increased since the previous year. 73% believed their turnover would increase in the next 2-3 years. 33% generated a profit or surplus, making an average of 3,500. Employment Our 1,014 survey respondents employ a total of around 2,700 people. 43% employ at least one person. Ventures that had been running longer are more likely to have employees, but even among ventures that are less than 12 months old, nearly 40% have employees. A small number of ventures have larger workforces. 5% have 10 or more employees, and 1% have 50 or more. Because over half have no employees, the median average per venture is zero, while the mean is 3.1. Comparison with previous surveys suggests that the proportion of ventures creating jobs has increased over the last three years. 43% The proportion of ventures that employ at least one person 45m The estimated annual wage value of these jobs We estimate the annual wage value of jobs created by our sample at 45m. 7 Our survey reached just over 1,000 UnLtd Award Winners out of over 7,000 supported in total, so it s reasonable to assume that the real wage value of jobs created by Award Winners is much higher. PAGE 5

6 How does UnLtd help? UnLtd offers cash Awards to individuals to help them turn ideas into reality, or to enable existing ventures to grow. Alongside the money we offer one-to-one development support, pro-bono help from experts and access to networks. Most of the people we support are at a very early stage in their work, and receive Awards of 5,000 or less. Among respondents to the survey, 90% had received an Award of this size, while 10% received larger Awards of up to 25,000. Our survey suggests that UnLtd Awards have an empowering effect: 97% said the support they received from UnLtd was important (21%) or very important (76%) in getting their social venture to its current position 58% said they would have struggled to run their project without their UnLtd Award 28% said they would not have been able to run their venture at all Self confidence Our survey also suggests that UnLtd Awards give social entrepreneurs the skills they need, now and in the future. Proportion of respondents agreeing they have: 91% Confidence in their ability to lead the social venture 86% The right level of skills to lead their social venture 64% The contacts/networks they need Challenges faced Yet social entrepreneurs also face challenges. 64% had difficulty in accessing appropriate finance, whilst 48% said operational capacity (e.g. staff and systems) was a problem. 47% felt they did not have enough personal income to be able to run their social venture, and only 57% felt they had enough time. Learning and responding It is nearly ten years since UnLtd started making Awards and we have learned much over this time. After publishing our Strategy , we reviewed our products and working methods, taking on board feedback from Award Winners. We were challenged to deliver a more consistent service and Awards that helped at distinct stages in a journey. We are using this to design new ways of working, that are tailored to the different stages in individuals journeys and help them form the relationships they need to develop and deliver their ideas successfully. PAGE 6

7 ABOUT THE RESEARCH This report is the latest in our Research Findings Series and is just one of the ways we gain insight into the individuals we support, their learning, needs and impact. Data comes from: Applicant monitoring data for Award Winners supported by UnLtd since 2003 Survey undertaken in January 2012 of Award Winners supported by UnLtd since 2003, which generated 1,014 responses from a total sample of 4,300 A spatial analysis of UnLtd s Award making since 2003 mapped against Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) Previous research findings on Award Winners Please visit for more information about our research and evaluation, including further reports in our Findings Series. Notes and references 1. We have made a further 3,000 Awards through partners. 2. Levie, J. and Hart, M What Distinguishes Social Entrepreneurs From Business Entrepreneurs? Insights From GEM. 3. Defined by the English Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010, Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2011 and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation Data based on analysis carried out by Framework on behalf of UnLtd, unpublished. 5. Median averages give the middle value in a series of numbers. Unless otherwise specified, we have used these throughout the report rather than mean averages, because they give a more accurate picture of typical responses. Our data set includes some extreme values - social entrepreneurs operating at a much large scale than others. Their responses skew the mean average. 6. Volunteering opportunities assumed to be 10 hours per week on average and paid at national minimum wage for people aged 21 and over. 7. Wage value estimate assumes all jobs paid at national median gross weekly earnings (Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2011) and that part-time jobs are 0.5 full time. PAGE 7

8 Authors: Liz Burnell and Madeleine Gabriel Acknowledgements: Stephen Miller and Paul Priestley of UnLtd Research analysed the data in this report, with additional analyses carried out by Nichola Lewis of Framework. We would like to thank all the social entrepreneurs who contributed to the research. PUBLISHED - JUNE 2012 UnLtd is the trading name for The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No Registered Office: 123 Whitecross Street, London EC1Y 8JJ. Registered Charity No