Nova Scotia Social Enterprise Strategy Framework Developed by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia
Social Enterprise: where smart business meets social impact: The Common Good Solutions Enterprise Spectrum
Nova Scotia Social Enterprise Strategy Framework Nova Scotia should be celebrated as a place of social innovations that meet community need through vibrant economic initiatives. From the Antigonish Movement s rural resilience cooperatives to Canada s first Community Economic Development Cooperation, New Dawn Enterprises, and 1000s of other social enterprises active across the province today purpose-driven businesses and organizations are creating a better economy. Growing Nova Scotia s unique social enterprise sector directly aligns with ONE Nova Scotia s vision of a thriving and inclusive economy a place of abundance, a place of belonging. The purpose of this document is to provide a sector-based strategy in order to further the development of social enterprise in Nova Scotia. The format of this strategy is driven by the Social Enterprise of Canada s six policy pillars (develop practitioner business skills, enhance access to capital, connect social enterprises to markets, demonstrate the impact of social enterprise, create a supportive legislative and regulatory environment, and build a strong network of social enterprises). In order to effectively develop a working framework, the various levels of government, enabling organizations, and social enterprise actor organizations must work together. Social enterprises are businesses, and thus they must generate a significant portion of their income through trade. Ownership and control are essential questions in social enterprise and ideally social enterprises should be owned and controlled in the interest of its social or environmental mission. In the cases of social enterprises with shares, the majority of these should be owned in the interest of the social mission. Social enterprises must ensure that their assets are legally protected and permanently retained for social or environmental benefit. While an asset-lock is a desirable feature for all social enterprises, there are some cases where it is not required, provided other protections are in place. With these aspects of social enterprise in mind, this document provides the particular results and strategies that frame how development in Nova Scotia can take place. These results include various program outputs for social enterprise actor organizations, outputs from enabling organizations, and the role of government in achieving these results. A social enterprise is a business or organization operated for the purpose of addressing social, economic or environmental challenges. The majority of profits and surpluses are reinvested to support community needs. Specifically, the following sections outline a sector-based strategy in order to further the development of social enterprise in Nova Scotia. For each policy pillar, there are results that could be achieved over the next three to five years. Following this, the potential strategies that could be employed to achieve those results are displayed with respect to each sector s role. The following strategy framework was developed by the founding members of SENS (Social Enterprise Nova Scotia), listed below, with editorial support of Emily Robinson. SENS is a new non-profit society, whose purpose is to represent the interests of the social enterprise sector and promote its development: 1. Mark Austin, executive director, Coastal Communities Network 2. Richard Bridge, Lawyer for Charities 3. Cathy Deagle Gammon, executive director of DASC Industries and board chair of Directions Council 4. Norman Greenberg, board chair of Community Carrot Co-operative and board member of Affirmative Industries 5. Andy Horsnell, co-founder, Common Good Solutions 6. Erika Shea, director of communications for New Dawn Enterprises 7. Michael Townsend, executive director of the Directions Council 8. David Upton, co-founder, Common Good Solutions Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 1
A. Develop the Business Skills of Social Enterprise Practitioners 1. Develop a map of stages that envelops the entire process 2. Improve and share the spectrum of training available Create a skill and organizational development map and distribute to social enterprise organizations Organize annual gatherings to provide tools available for social enterprise practitioners to improve their awareness, networking, and skills 3. Develop a value-based language Establish a professional designation for social enterprise practitioners 4. Provide an increased amount of online support Grant access to Skills Online NS Create social enterprise curriculum to be hosted on Skills Online NS 5. Target support to specific areas, such as mentoring 6. Aid organizations in their professional designations 7. A framework of principles that describes the knowledge, skills, and values inherent in social enterprise, including systems and processes is created 8. Ensure that financing is linked to demonstrated capacity 9. Build the organizational capacity of social enterprise organizations, including systems and processes 10. Establish experiential and co-op learning opportunities for social enterprise organizations 11. Consult with social enterprise sector regarding target areas Identify and compile a curriculum for a social enterprise professional designation Create framework Establish a social enterprise internship program Attend annual gatherings and take action to improve organizational effectiveness Designate areas that need support and share with enabling organizations Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 2
12. See that the programs available to small and medium sized businesses become available to social enterprises Equalize access, benefits, incentives and funding for social enterprises Identify the Provincial programs that exist for small and medium sized businesses for which social enterprises do not have equal access, and ensure existing programs are accessible to social enterprises Aid entrepreneurs and social enterprises in developing their venture finance literacy B. Enhance Social Enterprises Access to Capital 1. Research on Social Finance Participate (at a senior level) in a sector based project to examine best practices from around the world Participate (at a senior level) in a sector based project to examine best practices from around the world Participate (at a senior level) in a sector based project to examine best practices from around the world Examine and report on the current ecosystem at each business stage in NS and report on gaps Identify gaps and opportunities to create a more responsive financing system for organizations looking to use enterprise and market driven strategies to create social, environmental and cultural impact 2. Enhance Loan Guarantee Program Expand loan guarantee program to ensure all rural communities are served Publish an annual report on loan activity by region and lender Change the order of security for community based, non-profits to exclude personal guarantees and put the government guarantee in first place and have the lender negotiate with the community to maintain the assets in the community in the event of a default Develop a program for start-up social enterprises that links demonstrable organizational capacity to loan access Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 3
3. Enhance Social Finance Review fiduciary responsibility rules for public pension investors in NS to consider multiple bottom lines. Allow CEDIFs to include any nonprofit enterprise activity, not just COMFIT Commit a % of public pension investment to NS based business activity and include social enterprise by name Create a proposal to pitch government and investors on the use and value of quasi equity and patient capital in the social finance sector C. Connect Social Enterprises to Markets PARTNERS AND STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE RESULTS 1. Establish a system of well-developed social procurement Recognize an industry-driven validation process Use existing incentives within the procurement system Collaborate with municipal and provincial governments, crown corporations, and the private sector to create standards that are agreeable to all. Get tender ready 2. Use SROI (Social Return on Investment) to open up markets, especially government Integrate SROI into the procurement process Help build the capacity of social enterprise sector to understand and use SROI Measure what matters, then report 3. Large corporate contractors get points under community benefit agreement Include Community Benefit Agreements in large tender projects and reward contractors that purchase from S E Organizations Work with government to pilot a community benefit agreement project 4. Create a social enterprise marketplace portal Establish (or partner with existing) online social enterprise marketplace Collaborate with Buy Social Canada and established database Create a marketing campaign to promote the B2C and B2B Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 4
5. Have an ongoing dedicated liaison with provincial government PARTNERS AND STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE RESULTS Create a collaborative structure for ongoing co-creation of the sector (i.e., The Scottish Model ) Social Enterprise Nova Scotia (SENS) to liaise with senior government contacts 6. Ensure that social enterprises are prepared to respond to large request for proposals Engage Buy Social Canada in integrating social procurement into the procurement process Partner with Buy Social Canada Participate in Buy Social Canada s social procurement strategy D. Demonstrate the Impact of Social Enterprise 1. Ensure that the general public know and value the community sector with social experience as a tool Provide funding for promoting the sector Write a book explaining social enterprise in Nova Scotia Participate in the writing of case studies to be included in the book 2. Establish a five-year goal to increase knowledge of the social enterprise sector amongst the general public Engage media and promote certain projects 3. Develop an annual report card in order to demonstrate the impact of social enterprise Create a report card process and tool to report on activity and share with sector actors Incorporate report measuring into the daily activity and submit to SENS 4. Engage mainstream media and news outlets in order to provide information about social enterprise Connect with key media outlets to share stories (Progress Magazine, etc.) 5. Study successful strategies such as those used by Fair Trade in order to improve the social enterprise sector Partner with faculties at local universities and business programs Partner with faculties at local universities and business programs 6. Increase communication within the social enterprise sector in order to clearly articulate its goals Provide funding Organize an annual social enterprise awards event Attend annual awards event and gatherings in order to fully engage with the sector as a whole Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 5
7. Engage the philanthropic community and increase their understanding of the social enterprise framework 8. Engage the corporate sector in order to increase procurement 9. Ensure that beneficiaries demonstrate the value of social enterprise i.e. how they have been positively impacted Aid social enterprises in their strategies to reach the relevant actors (philanthropic, corporate, media, etc.) Aid social enterprises in their strategies to reach the relevant actors (philanthropic, corporate, media, etc.) Aid in the distribution of annual reports and relevant material, provide organizations with outreach strategies Share success stories using various outlets available and distribute to the relevant communities Share success stories using various outlets available and distribute to the relevant communities Encourage beneficiaries to share success stories E. Create a Supportive Legislative and Regulatory Environment for Social Enterprise 1. Complete Community Interest Company regulations and ensure that these companies are incorporated and running Finish the two year process to create regulations and consult with the sector to make sure it is right and get it done before the end of this fiscal 2. Improve the Societies Act Amend current Societies Act to allow non-profits to engage in enterprise/business. 3. Establish clearly identified access to programming tools such as job creation or societal costs Identify social enterprises by name in all business and job creation projects Continue to apply pressure to Provincial Government about the Community Interest Company regulations Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 6
F. Build a Strong Network of Social Enterprises 1. Establish a member-based Nova Scotia social enterprise council in order to have a central voice 2. Connect the various actors involved in the region, by holding a regular conference 3. Promote a strong, positive, recognizable brand for social enterprises 4. Community is informed regarding key issues affecting social enterprise 5. Link industry verticals together within social enterprise sector (e.g. all food-based social enterprises( 6. Establish cross-sector networking opportunities 7. Develop shared spaces with diverse tenants and interests 8. Ensure that government departments are properly engaged with the social enterprise sector and that their priorities are linked Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Society (SENS) has been created Host an annual gathering Use the Buy Social brand to connect the various social enterprise practitioners Provide broad consultation around key issues in community development Create mechanisms to connect enterprises within different industry verticals Speak at private sector events and publish in business publications Support research and development of shared spaces for social enterprise Ongoing liaison with key government departments and actors Drafted by Social Enterprise Nova Scotia Page 7