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Social Enterprise Background

What is Social Enterprise?

Parramatta City Council's definition of social enterprise is a 'social business' that has the following characteristics:

  • Social, environmental, cultural mission / objectives core to purpose and focus
  • Limited distributions of profits – the majority of profits are reinvested in the enterprise and/or an associated social entity
  • Mixture of capital inputs – the enterprise is supported through a mixture of grant income/subsidised income and trading income, but must trade
  • Generation of a social return in addition to a financial return, and commitment to demonstrating this
  • Favour democratic decision-making structures and seek high levels of accountability to their stakeholders, rather than just to shareholders

Social enterprises often have missions that relate to one or more of the following:

  • Providing a service or product that addresses an identified social, environmental or cultural need that is not being met by the commercial market
  • Creating or sustaining real employment opportunities for people with complex barriers to workforce participation
  • Developing income streams that allow social purpose organisations to become self-sustaining and independent over time.

PCC’s Social Enterprise program

Under its Parramatta Twenty25 strategic plan PCC has committed to working towards seven key destinations over the coming twenty years. The strategic plan is based on triple bottom line principles and therefore provides strategies designed to positively impact the wellbeing of Parramatta’s communities and environment. The innovative responses to service delivery and social and environmental issues that social enterprises are known to generate are likely to provide unique opportunities that work towards the Parramatta Twenty25 objectives.

The six key strategy areas that have been developed for the social enterprise program provide the required ‘best-fit’ for a local government oriented program and also support the community capacity building strategies of the program that it sits within.
The social enterprise information here is organised under these headings:

  • Social entrepreneur and social enterprise identification and development
  • Mentoring and other business support for local social enterprises
  • Seed funding local social enterprise development
  • Maximising social enterprise opportunities arising from PCC procurement and facilities usage
  • Social impact measurement and analysis
  • Contributing to the progression of the Australian social enterprise sector and to global network development
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