What is Social Saturday?
Social Saturday on 15 October is a UK-wide day of activity to celebrate and raise awareness of British social enterprises – businesses trade for a social or environmental purpose, reinvesting their profits for good.
What are social enterprises?
Social enterprises are businesses and just like other businesses they trade to make a profit. But it's what they do with their profits that sets them apart – reinvesting or donating them to address pressing social and environmental issues.
There are more than 70,000 social enterprises in the UK operating in an array of industries and sectors, and selling a vast range of products and services. What’s more they are outperforming traditional SMEs when it comes to start-up rates and growth, and are leading the way when it comes to diversity in leadership teams, and paying the Living Wage.
Social Saturday 2016
Social Saturday is an opportunity for social enterprises to shout out loud about the brilliant work they are doing, to get new customers and to be part of a national campaign, supported by the government.
There are lots of ways in which to get involved at home and work. You might be a consumer looking for a social enterprise gift; work in a local authority and keen to support social enterprises in your borough; or a business looking to buy from social enterprises to improve your supply chain.
Who’s behind Social Saturday?
Social Saturday is led by the national body, Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) and is supported by the Cabinet Office. It is part of SEUK’s award-winning Buy Social campaign. Social Saturday began in 2014.
Last year’s Social Saturday
In 2015, Social Saturday saw more than 80 events across the UK from pop-up markets and film-screenings to dinner parties and open-mic events. The day trended and had a Twitter reach of more than 10 million. High profile personalities tweeted their support, including Jamie Oliver, Number 10 Downing Street and comedian Chris Addison.
Here’s a short film showing some of the highlights from last year.
