Entrants's Name: Kate Atkinson
Country: Scotland
Field: Social enterprise
Innovation - idea: Demonstrating that social enterprise can function well, and bring massive social benefits, even in traditional retail sectors where few social innovations have ever taken place i.e. if it can work in the carpet industry; it can work anywhere.
Innovation - why it is pioneering: Social enterprises tend to be confined to certain sectors: care, education, arts & crafts, health etc. Examples of cost-recovering social enterprises outwith these sectors are few and far between. Pioneering social enterprises in non-social oriented fields has huge potential for mainstreaming social enterprise in place of its for-profit equivalents.
Strategy - how it achieves impact: quirky model (carpet-related charity) excites interest and builds profile whilst tackling repeat homelessness, delivering environmental benefits, training unemployed young people in marketable skills and developing the confidence of vulnerable volunteers. Spruce Carpets takes in donations of unwanted carpets, refurbishes them using simple industrial equipment, and supplies and fits them to people resettling from homelessness in Glasgow, Scotland, where there are 12,000 cases of homelessness per year. Through very strong local community links and heavily reliance on operational and board volunteers - who reap significant personal & professional benefits from their involvement - the model achieves its impact through affecting people in a positive way, and through word of mouth amongst tight-knit communities of disadvantage.
Strategy - growth plans: The free franchise/open source ethos means that several replication projects are in development by homelessness organisations who see the need for really affordable carpets for their client groups, social entrepreneurs who are passionate about improving their environment, housing associations or local councils. The strategy is to support replication project with information, technical training and business development support in return for an agreement to share our ethos. A depository of tried and tested business and technical practices will be held centrally, and updated with innovations from any of these (loosely) affiliated projects.
Impact to date: Over one year of operation, creating 7 fulltime jobs, 50 volunteer opportunities, 4 training places, diverting over 50 tonnes from landfill and providing carpets at 50% commercial price for over 300 people resettling from homelessness or on very low-incomes. Inspiring two other women, originally involved as volunteers, to branch out and create their own environmental social enterprises (one a large-scale resource recovery park, one a small-scale community arts project) in addition to the twelve groups who have been inspired to begin replicating Spruce Carpets directly.
Future impact: In the carpet field; 95% waste in the carpet retail industry will have been eradicated, with fitters and retailers being aware of the resale value of refurbished carpets. In the homelessness field: greater recognition of the benefits of volunteering to overcome the loneliness and temptations of those who have recently resettled. In the training field: greater recognition that training is almost only ever valuable when closely linked to the demands of the local job market. Most importantly, in the field of social enterprise: no sector being considered outwith the scope of not-for-profit enterprise, 'social entrepreneur' being seen as an attractive career option so that family businesses in the next generation are continued on a not-for-profit footing and traditional skills salvaged.
Sustainability - resource base: human resource base: 50 volunteers per year (10 at any one time), extensive word-of-mouth network, 7 members of staff, and very cohesive and committed 8 person Board of Directors. financial resource base: initial grant-funding of £60,000, in-kind donations of £5,000, sales of products and services £30,000 over six months, strategic partnerships with local furniture recyclers targetting similar client group.
Major challenge for the field: The field needs to challenge the presumption that businesses must distribute profits to shareholders and maximise dividend or capital growth, and make non-profit distibuting models acceptable and attractive to entrepreneurs and investors.
Contact Information:
Name: Kate Atkinson
Country: Scotland
Website: www.sprucecarpet.org.uk
Home