Social Enterprise
What is a Social Enterprise?
A social enterprise is an enterprise whose objective is to achieve a social, societal or environmental impact, rather than maximising profit for its owners or shareholders. It pursues its objectives by trading on an ongoing basis through the provision of goods and/or services, and by reinvesting surpluses into achieving social objectives. It is governed in a fully accountable and transparent manner and is independent of the public sector. If dissolved, it should transfer its assets to another organisation with a similar mission.
Government of Ireland (2019), National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland 2019-2022
Support for Social Enterprises - SICAP
Under SICAP GRD aims to support the development of new and existing social enterprises through:
awareness raising and the promotion of social enterprise activity in County Galway.
information, training and mentoring to assist the development of sustainable services.
small-scale grants to assist social enterprises to establish or expand.
networking events to provide opportunities for social enterprises to both network and increase their profile.
Social Enterprises in Galway county
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SERP 2021 – 2022 (Social Enterprise Regeneration Programme)
SERP 2021-2022 was administered by ILDN (Irish Local Development Network) on behalf of the DRCD (Department of Rural and Community Development) to help social enterprises recover from the impact of Covid-19. Funded under the DAF (Dormant Accounts Fund) it provided free mentoring and training to social enterprises across the country under the themes of; Strategic Planning/Income Diversification, Digital Innovation, Capacity Building and Governance Support.
In the Western Region GRD led one of two consortium projects under the theme of: Capacity Building including Digital Capacity.
The consortium included representatives from Galway Rural Development, Forum Connemara, Galway City Partnership, Comhar na nOileán, Roscommon LEADER Partnership and South West Mayo Development Company.
A Project Co-ordinator was recruited and training and mentoring took place from December 2021 until June 2022 across the following core action areas:
Idea Generation, HR (Human Resources),
Financial Procedures,
Procurement, Governance,
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and
Digital Marketing/Social Media.
120 people across Galway, Mayo and Roscommon took part in a mix of online workshops and one-to-one mentoring support. The programme engaged with 23 organisations at an early stage in the development of their social enterprise and 68 existing social enterprises providing valuable training and expertise to assist in their long term sustainability. The various workshops and initiatives also ensured the development of linkages and provided networking opportunities for social enterprises across the region.