Social Enterprise UK (SEUK; previously The Social Enterprise Coalition) is a

community interest company A community interest company (CIC, colloquially pronounced "kick") is a type of company introduced by the United Kingdom government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, designed for social ente ...

founded in April 2002 in the United Kingdom. It functions as the national membership and campaigning body for the

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ca ...

movement in Britain.

Organisation

SEUK liaises with similar groups in each region of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, as well as in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is a membership organisation. In 2011, more than seven thousand social enterprises were members of SEUK. Social enterprises sometimes deliver

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

History

The Social Enterprise Coalition was founded in April 2002 (SEUK) as a community interest company. In 2007, Claire Dove took over the role of chair from Glenys Thornton, she runs the social enterprise

Blackburne House Blackburne House is an 18th-century Grade II listed building located on the east side of Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was built in 1788 and remodelled in from 1874 to 1876. Originally a private house, it became a girls' schoo ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Between 2007 and 2010, the organisation ran a social enterprise ambassador scheme. It spent £860,000 on the project. The Office of the Third Sector support the ambassador scheme. Since January 2010, SEUK's chief executive has been Peter Holbrook. Previously he had worked at the social enterprise Sunlight Development Trust, based in

Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a large town in the unitary authority area of Medway in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is also the largest town in the ...

. In took over the role after Jonathan Bland. In 2011, Social Enterprise Coalition was rebranded as Social Enterprise UK as it is now known. Its company name was changed from 'The Social Enterprise Coalition' to 'Social Enterprise Coalition CIC' in 2013. In 2012, SEUK ran the 'Not In Our Name' campaign against

Salesforce.com Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, an ...

, a global software and CRM company, that had begun using the term 'social enterprise' to describe its products and had applied for 'social enterprise' trademarks in the EU, US, Australia, and Jamaica. The campaign was supported by similar organisations in the US (the Social Enterprise Alliance), Canada, South Africa, and Australia. An open letter was sent to the CEO and Chairman of Salesforce.com asking Salesforce.com to stop using the term 'social enterprise'. It was signed by people and organisations around the world, including

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

(

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...

founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate),

Richard G. Wilkinson Richard Gerald Wilkinson (born 1943) is a British social epidemiologist, author, advocate, and left-wing political activist. He is Professor Emeritus of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, having retired in 2008. He is also Hon ...

and

Kate Pickett Kate Elizabeth Pickett (born 1965) is a British epidemiologist and political activist who is Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, and was a National Institute for Health and Care Research Ca ...

(co-authors of '' The Spirit Level''). Salesforce said they would withdraw applications to trademark the term 'social enterprise', and remove any references to 'social enterprise' in its marketing materials in the future. In July 2012,

Social Enterprise London Established in 1998, Social Enterprise London (SEL) is the strategic agency for the development of social enterprise in London. SEL works with individuals, enterprises, organisations, government and other statutory bodies to provide enterprising so ...

announced that it would be integrating its key activities with SEUK. In January 2017, Victor Adebowale became the chair of SEUK.

Publications

*
Fightback Britain: A report on the state of social enterprise survey
' (2011) *
SEUK: The People's Business A report on the state of social enterprise survey
' (2013) *
Leading the World in Social Enterprise - State of Social Enterprise Report 2015
' (2015
Summary

References

External links

socialenterprise.org.uk
{{authority control Social enterprises 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Community interest companies Community interest companies in Wales Organisations based in the London Borough of Southwark Organizations established in 2002