We back people with purpose.
Since 1997, the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) has supported thousands of people to start and grow organisations that make a real difference. Each year, we work with more than 1,000 changemakers tackling issues like poverty, ill-health and climate change. We don’t do this alone. We work with trusts and foundations, businesses and public bodies to turn funding priorities into practical outcomes. Together, we help people and projects build stronger communities, grow their income and become more resilient.
Our support is hands-on, inclusive and rooted in real-world experience. People learn in supportive groups, apply what they’re learning straight away, and benefit from mentoring, peer support and funding opportunities. That includes Match Trading™ grants, an approach we developed to help social organisations grow their income from trading. This kind of support helps people create lasting impact, with stronger financial foundations.
When you partner with SSE, you’re investing in people who are changing lives, now and for the long term.
What you get when you partner with SSE
SSE can help you reach organisations at scale. We run inclusive outreach and recruitment that helps you connect with leaders and organisations who may not otherwise access your support, including in economically disadvantaged areas.
SSE helps the organisations you fund diversify their income through trading and earned income, so your investment does more than support delivery in the short term. It strengthens financial foundations, reduces reliance on a single income source, and helps organisations stay viable when funding or operating conditions change.
That means your funding is more likely to lead to lasting outcomes, not repeated crisis cycles.
Where it fits, we can also include Match Trading™ grants. This approach rewards organisations for growing their trading income by matching that growth with grant funding, alongside tailored learning and mentoring.
Working with SSE gives you a delivery partner with a clear, practical approach that has been tested across different places and themes, and refined over time. Our model combines cohort-based learning, one-to-one mentoring and, where it fits, funding tools such as Match Trading™.
That means you are not commissioning something unproven. You are investing in a delivery model with a track record, clear governance and learning built in, so you can report with confidence and improve what you fund over time.
We support funders to understand reach, outcomes and learning, and to communicate progress clearly to boards, stakeholders and communities.
Depending on the partnership, reporting can include:
-
Where support reached (place and geography)
-
Themes and issue areas
-
Inclusion measures and leadership characteristics
-
Indicators linked to sustainability, such as progress on income diversification and trading
For corporate partners, this work can strengthen CSR credibility by backing community-rooted organisations and leaders in a way that supports long-term resilience. For funders, it can demonstrate a commitment to equity and effectiveness, with learning that improves future strategy.
SSE and Linklaters: long-term corporate support for social entrepreneurs
For more than a decade, Linklaters has partnered with SSE to back social entrepreneurs through programme funding, mentoring and corporate convening. The relationship has grown from sponsored places into a broader collaboration that offers entrepreneurs strategic guidance, confidence and connections, while giving Linklaters colleagues fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking. The result is a partnership that’s grown in depth over time and delivers meaningful outcomes for entrepreneurs and colleagues alike.
SSE and Brewin Dolphin: building procurement-ready social enterprise leaders
RBC Brewin Dolphin partnered with SSE to help social enterprises become procurement-ready and win the contracts that can unlock long-term income and impact. Together, we co-designed the Procurement Readiness Programme to demystify procurement and give social entrepreneurs practical support to compete for public and corporate sector opportunities.
SSE and Heritage Lottery: tailored support for the heritage sector
The National Lottery Heritage Fund partnered with SSE to design tailored support for heritage organisations through the Heritage Trade Up programme. Built specifically for the heritage sector, the programme helped leaders strengthen governance and financial resilience, develop enterprise models, and deepen social and environmental impact through peer and action learning. Over 12 months, participants benefited from structured learning, action learning sets and a residential, alongside a £4,000 Match Trading grant to accelerate recovery and growth by matching increases in earned income. The result was practical, sector-specific support that helped heritage organisations build stronger foundations and more sustainable trading income.
Our partners:
