Social Firms are enterprises set up with the expressed aim of creating employment, training and social inclusion opportunities for people who are severely disadvantaged in the open labour market specifically because they have learning disabilities or autism or both.
There is no set legal definition for a Social Firm, but Yes2Ventures is clear about the types of organisations we can develop and support:
- The founding principles of the organisation, expressed in its mission statement, must include an explicit commitment to providing employment for people with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD), neurodiversity and/or autism.
- At least 25% of its employees will be from those groups of people.
- It will generate over 50% of its income through trading, i.e. the sale of goods or services.
- It is most likely to have a recognised not-for-profit legal structure such as a registered charity, a company limited by guarantee or shares, or a community interest company.
We recognise that these elements may not all be in place from day one, and we will be working with organisations that have a commitment in their DNA that will help them emerge as Social Firms.
Some examples of Social Firms…
Viewpoint Research CIC in Sheffield
Fair Shot in Covent Garden, London
Earlier Social Firms with connections to Yes2Ventures…
Reclaim was a Sheffield based Social Firm from 1989 to 2019. It was the UK’s first post-consumer plastics reclamation enterprise, employing a workforce of adults with learning disabilities.
Buster’s Coffee Company was a South and West Yorkshire based Social Firm from 2002 to 2012 with a string of cafes and a merchant arm for packaged coffee blends.