In this article we are joined by Mel, the heart and soul behind Social Care Solutions, a local Social Enterprise. Unlike traditional businesses where the focus is on profit, a Social Enterprise operates at the unique intersection of commerce and social good, with the goal of creating positive change in society while generating sustainable income. A Social Enterprise is not a non-profit; it is a dynamic entity engineered to generate sustainable income while delivering impactful social change.
We'll hand over to Mel to take us through the ins and outs of running a Social Enterprise.
What Makes a Social Enterprise Different?
Running a social enterprise in the current economic climate can be a challenging, yet rewarding, experience. I am the founder, owner and CEO of Social Care Solutions, a child protection consultancy company delivering tailored, innovative solutions in the human services sector across Australia and Aotearoa.
While my company is technically a for-profit company, we prefer the term ‘for-purpose’ because, while we aren’t a charity, we do not seek to make excessive profits. We do not have a board, we do not have shareholders as such; our stakeholders are the clients we built the company for in the first instance.
All the profits we do make are churned back into the company to expand our service and delivery options, so we can better meet our brand promise - Driven by purpose, powered by passion, we are change-makers committed to creating safer futures for children.
The very thought of being ‘profitable’ in the child protection space is on the nose. But of course, companies which are fiscally responsible, accountable and achieving their objectives typically do so because they are efficient and effective.
Making money to be viable is a critical part of the business being successful and being able to grow and expand. With the senior leadership team at SCS all coming from the government and non-government sectors previously, we’ve seen the waste and bureaucracy that can come from working in that space. Not always, and without meaning, waste happens. However, when your profit margins are tied to being customer-centric and client focused, you work smarter, not harder, to meet those commitments. The more efficient and effective we are, the more work we gain, as our reputation proceeds us and word-of-mouth speaks to our passion and drive.
As a social enterprise, we then get to use those profits to do more work, effect more change and do more creative, innovative work to address some of the gaps of the systems in which we work. We give back to charities and support not-for-profits to meet their objectives, having team development days, social events and charity fundraisers for the breast cancer survivors, medical research, domestic violence services and other personal passion projects our team identifies.
A key difference for us is we hire team members who have lived experience, as they enrich us and the work we do. We have a 97% female team, with a full female executive. We hire mothers returning to work post maternity leave, foster and kinship carers, people with disabilities or those who are carers of children or partners with disabilities.
We have a number of practitioners with lived experience in mental health, disability, regional/remote, LGBTQIA+ First Nations and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Our beautiful, diverse team is possible because we ensure our team members, no matter who they are, why they are here, where they live or how they live, they have a place with us.
This may mean putting in more supports, adding more resources, offering more training and provision of professional development, but this is all central to our business being a social enterprise.
We are guided by a social purpose, not profit. We are here to enrich, support and sustain our community, our families, our children. And I cant think of a better way to work.
Written by Mel James
Chief Executive Officer