More than one million Scots benefit from social investment

More than one million Scots have benefited either directly or indirectly from social enterprise over the last year, according to Social Investment Scotland’s 2017 Social Impact Report.

Social Investment Scotland (SIS) provides loans to social enterprises, charities and community groups. In its annual survey, all of the customers surveyed said they expect the number of employees to grow over the next two years.

However, overall turnover fell by a total of £9m last year to £182m.

A quarter of social businesses reported having more financial independence, with no grant funding and relying on trading and other income instead – an increase of 7% on 2016.

Around a third of SIS’s customers said employment, training and education was their main outcome area, and the report shows SIS approved £375,000 in investment for five organisations in this area over the last year.

The report highlights the example of the Inverness Kart Raceway social enterprise, which is owned by the charity Day 1.

Day 1 provides 14- to 17-year-olds with a year-long, one-to-one mentoring service, with the of helping young people to be in education, employment or training by the end of the process.

The charity received funding of £780,000 from SIS to build a go-karting track and contribute to the initial working capital.

All of the profits from racetrack go to Day 1 to support the charity in its youth work and 94% of young people who participated in the mentoring programme are now in employment, education or training.

Around one in five (21%) of customers chose citizenship and community as their primary outcome area.

One of these is the charity Portsoy Community Enterprise (PCE), which runs the annual Scottish Traditional Boat Festival and celebrates the area’s rich maritime culture.

PCE operates a boat-building programme, which provides people with a chance to learn new skills and support.

The charity also offers learning and skills development, facilitating career development and return to work of the long-term unemployed.

But just 5% of SIS customers chose housing and local facilities as their main outcome area, with SIS approving just one investment, worth £200,000.

An earlier study by Social Enterprise Scotland revealed there are now 5,600 social enterprises operating in Scotland, worth £2bn in gross value added to the Scottish economy.

Last month, Social Enterprise UK published a report, showing social enterprises contribute more than £24bn to the UK economy and employ nearly one million people.

‘As we grow and expand our services, I’m proud that our focus on supporting the most marginalised communities has remained unchanged, and we have also been able to maintain our high service standards, as judged by our customers,’ said SIS chief executive, Alastair Davis.

‘While economic conditions over the past year have been testing, our customers remain broadly optimistic about both their revenue and employment prospects over the coming years,’ he added.

‘At SIS, we have been doing a lot of work with organisations across Scotland to help them become more investment-ready and this appears to be paying off. Only by becoming more financially sustainable can these organisations plan for the future, targeting growth, greater employment and increased impacts.’