The UK has one of the largest social enterprise sectors in the world, with more than 100,000 enterprises contributing approximately £60 billion to the economy and employing more than 2 million people. These include community interest companies, charities registered as companies, co-operatives and mutual societies. A significant proportion of NHS services are in fact provided by social enterprises, and GGI has worked with many of them.
UK social enterprises play a critical role in addressing social, environmental, and community challenges, but they face significant hurdles in balancing financial sustainability with social impact. Some of those hurdles are:
- relationships with funders and regulators
- balancing financial sustainability with social impact
- measuring and reporting social outcomes
- access to funding and investment
- scaling social impact
- stakeholder engagement and buy-in
- governance and ethical leadership
- navigating competitive markets while staying mission-driven
GGI has significant experience helping social enterprises navigate the increasingly complex and challenging environment in which they operate while ensuring they continue to deliver social impact. GGI’s extensive experience with community interest company governance, for example, is unusual among governance review companies.
Key areas of support include:
- Governance reviews and compliance audits: ensuring that leadership structures and governance processes are effective, fit for the twenty-first century, and compliant with regulatory standards.
- Strategy development: helping social enterprises develop long-term strategies that balance financial sustainability with social impact.
- Leadership development and workforce support: supporting the development of effective leadership and strategies for workforce retention and engagement.
- Board development: support to harness diverse expertise for social enterprise boards, including skills gap assessments, enabling the identification of critical competencies needed for success while also designing targeted development to nurture existing and future leaders.
- Impact measurement and reporting: assisting in the development of robust frameworks for measuring and reporting social impact, attracting investment and funding.
- Digital transformation and technology adoption: helping organisations adopt digital tools and processes, including AI, to improve service delivery and stakeholder engagement.
The GGI team’s insights and recommendations were split between looking at what we’re working on and how we work. The how is just as important as the what, in my view. The real value we gained wasn’t just from the report’s recommendations; it was the learning that we did as a group of colleagues, supported by the GGI team. The advice they gave us on our approach to risk, our governance, strategy, and financial alignment was really pertinent and he...
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Peter was amazing! The institute provided a friendly and professional service which advanced governance procedures and accountability for the organisation.
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