The Social Enterprise Census 2024

Continuing the theme of active participation from our main article with Craig Dunn from the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network, the 2024 Social Enterprise Census survey is now open, so please have your say. Gathering data on social enterprises and community businesses is important in influencing future direction and seeing how the sector has changed over time.

In our 2022 article about the census, we considered the data and thought about how we (alongside other support agencies) could better support social enterprises early on in their journey and increase their chances of survival.  Two key services can help with that:

ACCELERATE: We are delighted to announce that Accelerate has been funded again by the Scottish Government this year as part of the Social Enterprise Action Plan. Charities, community groups and nascent social enterprises can get up to 6 days of free support from the start of their enterprise journey to help them put the right building blocks in place to be more financially robust and independent. This, alongside the existing Just Enterprise programme, Firstport’s Start-Up initiative and other collaborative support programmes, means comprehensive support is available to those who need it.

CRISIS SUPPORT: Help is also at hand for organisations facing serious challenges. Community Enterprise, Scottish Community Alliance, Development Trust Association Scotland, and Just Enterprise have come together to create the Crisis Recovery button, which is not a new programme but rather a simple route to connect groups into the existing support ecosystem quickly and easily. It can be found on the Social Enterprise Support Map (top right), and there is also a link to the Social Enterprise Census survey. All you need to do is fill in a few simple questions, and someone will contact you to get you the support you need.