Happy Black Friday! Isn’t it wonderful? I don’t know about you, but I woke up this morning, checked my Black Friday stocking, stuck the lights up on my Black Friday tree and then went and queued in the rain outside a Tesco at 5 am to buy a television that I didn’t need. Magical. I can’t wait for our office Black Friday party later.
Before all that though, here’s this week’s news. It’s a little briefer than usual because I’ve been out of the office for the last few days and I’m chasing my tail a little bit. Roll on the weekend…
If you are somehow resisting the urge to buy electronic goods so cheap that you really do have to question the supply chain ethics and are looking for an alternative, the social enterprise sector has come up trumps. Cecilia Crossley of From Babies with Love has written an article for Pioneers Post asking ‘How should social enterprises respond to Black Friday?‘. Next, Charity Bank encourage you to ‘Buy better, not more‘, an article that contains a handy link to a range of organisations representing the social economy.
An exciting week for SSE Fellow Cemal Ezel who this week launched ‘Change Please’, a partnership with the Big Issue which sees homeless people staffing mobile coffee carts. You can read all about it on the Big Issue’s website or over here on the Guardian.
An excellent scheme from current student Natalie Szarek, whose organisation Audacious Veg is running a crowdfunding campaign to welcome refugees to the UK this Christmas with a gift of a weekly bus pass, making it possible for them to rebuild their lives in London. You can back the campaign here.
The Guardian have collated a guide of tools and resources for measuring social impact – there’s some really useful stuff in there.
Congratulations to SSE Fellow Nina Emmett, who was awarded the P.E.A (People, Environment, Achievement) Individual Award last week. Nina’s organisation FotoDocument uses photography to highlight positive social and environmental initiatives around the world and they have recently launched their own photography agency – get in touch with them here if you have any photographic needs!
Congratulations are also due to SSE Fellow Jo Higson, who won the very first Devonport SOUP event in Plymouth for her project “Prejudice and Pride” which showcases women in non-traditional jobs in order to provide career role models for young women and girls considering their future careers. You can find out more about the scheme here.
Last night Social Enterprise UK held the annual UK Social Enterprise Awards at the Globe Theatre. You can find out who picked up a prize here.
We added an additional ‘Transition to Trading’ course to our schedule. Starting on March 31st, this six day course will help your organisation to move away from grant funding towards a more diverse income. If you follow this link and register your interest I can send you all the necessary info that you need.
Finally, if you want to come to next Friday’s Writing Successful Bids workshop, we’ve got a few places remaining. Snap one up before it’s too late!
Coming up at SSE
- Writing Successful Bids, SSE London, 4th December
- Kickstart Your Social Media Strategy, SSE London, 21st January
- Crowdfunding for Social Enterprises, SSE London, 27th January
- An Introduction to Legal Structures, SSE London, 28th January
