Environmental Scan of Social Businesses
Principal Investigator
Terry Krupa, Queen’s University Research Team
Rosemary Lysaght, Queen’s University Research Team
Joyce Brown, Working for Change Research Team
Catherine Vallée, Laval University
summary
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. They have been developed to address the employment and economic disadvantage experienced by a wide range of disenfranchised people, including people with mental illness. This study included the completion of an environmental scan to identify businesses for people with mental illness across Canada and in-depth case studies of six longstanding social businesses.
The environmental scan identified approximately 100 social businesses developed to create employment opportunities for people with mental illness across Canada. This suggests the presence of a solid
foundation for knowledge development, sharing, and dissemination with regards to this approach.
The case studies highlighted that there is considerable variation with respect to key business features,
and this poses a challenge to developing a shared understanding of social business goals, processes, and structures. It also compromises economic analysis and outcome evaluation. Several dimensions of social businesses are developed in this report, and for each of these dimensions, examples of promising practices and challenges are provided. Twelve key messages directed to policy makers, business developers, evaluators, researchers, and educators are proposed with a view to enhancing social business as a legitimate option for improving the employment prospects of the aspiring workforce. These include recommendations for the development of: a formal network of social businesses to advance consensus standards and knowledge;
policies to support the dissemination and sustainability of social businesses and enable the full participation of people with mental illness; and training and research initiatives to advance best practices in the field.
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. They have been developed to address the employment and economic disadvantage experienced by people with mental illness. This study included the completion of an environmental scan to identify businesses across Canada, and in-depth case studies of six longstanding businesses. The goal was to determine the extent to which the approach has been used, to describe the models of business development, to examine their costs and benefits, and to consider how policy might be developed to support their development. The scan identified approximately 100 social businesses creating employment opportunities for people with mental illness. Twelve key messages emerged for policy makers, business developers, researchers, evaluators, and educators, with a view to enhancing the legitimacy of social business as a viable option for improving the employment prospects of the aspiring workforce. The core ideas presented in these key messages are consolidated in the following paragraphs.
While social businesses have proliferated across Canada, and provide a solid foundation for knowledge development, sharing, and dissemination, the
approach does lack a formal structure to promote communication, advance knowledge, and enable collaboration and the development of shared standards. The development of a formal network of social businesses would advance their development and growth but will require an investment of funding and resources beyond the budgets of existing social businesses.
The development of policies related to social
businesses for people with mental illness is required to support the legitimacy and strategic development of social businesses. These policies could include procurement policies and practices that institutionalize financial and social support. Similarly, these businesses will require ongoing resource support to ensure their sustainability. The development of a formal network for social businesses could enable the development of consensus and shared standards around such issues as funding and sustainability.
executive summary
Environmental Scan of Social Businesses
Principal Investigator
Terry Krupa, Queen’s University Research Team
Rosemary Lysaght, Queen’s University Research Team
Joyce Brown, Working for Change Research Team
Catherine Vallée, Laval University
summary
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. They have been developed to address the employment and economic disadvantage experienced by a wide range of disenfranchised people, including people with mental illness. This study included the completion of an environmental scan to identify businesses for people with mental illness across Canada and in-depth case studies of six longstanding social businesses.
The environmental scan identified approximately 100 social businesses developed to create employment opportunities for people with mental illness across Canada. This suggests the presence of a solid
foundation for knowledge development, sharing, and dissemination with regards to this approach.
The case studies highlighted that there is considerable variation with respect to key business features,
and this poses a challenge to developing a shared understanding of social business goals, processes, and structures. It also compromises economic analysis and outcome evaluation. Several dimensions of social businesses are developed in this report, and for each of these dimensions, examples of promising practices and challenges are provided. Twelve key messages directed to policy makers, business developers, evaluators, researchers, and educators are proposed with a view to enhancing social business as a legitimate option for improving the employment prospects of the aspiring workforce. These include recommendations for the development of: a formal network of social businesses to advance consensus standards and knowledge;
policies to support the dissemination and sustainability of social businesses and enable the full participation of people with mental illness; and training and research initiatives to advance best practices in the field.
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. They have been developed to address the employment and economic disadvantage experienced by people with mental illness. This study included the completion of an environmental scan to identify businesses across Canada, and in-depth case studies of six longstanding businesses. The goal was to determine the extent to which the approach has been used, to describe the models of business development, to examine their costs and benefits, and to consider how policy might be developed to support their development. The scan identified approximately 100 social businesses creating employment opportunities for people with mental illness. Twelve key messages emerged for policy makers, business developers, researchers, evaluators, and educators, with a view to enhancing the legitimacy of social business as a viable option for improving the employment prospects of the aspiring workforce.
The core ideas presented in these key messages are consolidated in the following paragraphs.
While social businesses have proliferated across Canada, and provide a solid foundation for knowledge development, sharing, and dissemination, the
approach does lack a formal structure to promote communication, advance knowledge, and enable collaboration and the development of shared standards. The development of a formal network of social businesses would advance their development and growth but will require an investment of funding and resources beyond the budgets of existing social businesses.
The development of policies related to social
businesses for people with mental illness is required to support the legitimacy and strategic development of social businesses. These policies could include procurement policies and practices that institutionalize financial and social support. Similarly, these businesses will require ongoing resource support to ensure their sustainability. The development of a formal network for social businesses could enable the development of consensus and shared standards around such issues as funding and sustainability.
executive summary
Environmental Scan of Social Businesses
Principal Investigator
Terry Krupa, Queen’s University Research Team
Rosemary Lysaght, Queen’s University Research Team
Joyce Brown, Working for Change Research Team
Catherine Vallée, Laval University
summary
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. They have been developed to address the employment and economic disadvantage experienced by a wide range of disenfranchised people, including people with mental illness. This study included the completion of an environmental scan to identify businesses for people with mental illness across Canada and in-depth case studies of six longstanding social businesses.
The environmental scan identified approximately 100 social businesses developed to create employment opportunities for people with mental illness across Canada. This suggests the presence of a solid
foundation for knowledge development, sharing, and dissemination with regards to this approach.
The case studies highlighted that there is considerable variation with respect to key business features,
and this poses a challenge to developing a shared understanding of social business goals, processes, and structures. It also compromises economic analysis and outcome evaluation. Several dimensions of social businesses are developed in this report, and for each of these dimensions, examples of promising practices and challenges are provided. Twelve key messages directed to policy makers, business developers, evaluators, researchers, and educators are proposed with a view to enhancing social business as a legitimate option for improving the employment prospects of the aspiring workforce. These include recommendations for the development of: a formal network of social businesses to advance consensus standards and knowledge;
policies to support the dissemination and sustainability of social businesses and enable the full participation of people with mental illness; and training and research initiatives to advance best practices in the field.
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. They have been developed to address the employment and economic disadvantage experienced by people with mental illness. This study included the completion of an environmental scan to identify businesses across Canada, and in-depth case studies of six longstanding businesses. The goal was to determine the extent to which the approach has been used, to describe the models of business development, to examine their costs and benefits, and to consider how policy might be developed to support their development. The scan identified approximately 100 social businesses creating employment opportunities for people with mental illness. Twelve key messages emerged for policy makers, business developers, researchers, evaluators, and educators, with a view to enhancing the legitimacy of social business as a viable option for improving the employment prospects of the aspiring workforce.
The core ideas presented in these key messages are consolidated in the following paragraphs.
While social businesses have proliferated across Canada, and provide a solid foundation for knowledge development, sharing, and dissemination, the
approach does lack a formal structure to promote communication, advance knowledge, and enable collaboration and the development of shared standards. The development of a formal network of social businesses would advance their development and growth but will require an investment of funding and resources beyond the budgets of existing social businesses.
The development of policies related to social
businesses for people with mental illness is required to support the legitimacy and strategic development of social businesses. These policies could include procurement policies and practices that institutionalize financial and social support. Similarly, these businesses will require ongoing resource support to ensure their sustainability. The development of a formal network for social businesses could enable the development of consensus and shared standards around such issues as funding and sustainability.
executive summary
As with other initiatives that focus on the employment needs of the aspiring workforce, social businesses are impacted by government disability income policies that constrain their workforce. Efforts to address employment disincentives in these income structures should specifically consider their impact on the individuals working in social businesses, and also on the structure and operation of social businesses.
Similarly, the relationship of social businesses to the broader mental health system will need to be explicitly addressed to enable their autonomy and growth and ensure that they are guided by principles and best practices for empowerment, social inclusion, and community participation.
There are distinct competencies associated with the development and management of social businesses, not typically found within mental health systems, and these should be identified and supported through the creation of relevant training and education programs.
Compared to other employment approaches in the field, the development of a social business approach has been hampered by limited systematic evaluation and research. Any effort to advance knowledge and practice will require the investment of evaluation and research resources.
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. Social businesses have been developed to address the ongoing
employment and economic disadvantage experienced by people with mental illness, and in particular,
those with weak labour market attachment. They are sometimes referred to as social purpose businesses, social firms, or social ventures. The social business is one approach within a larger “social enterprise” field, which aims to use innovative business and market practices to drive important and sustained social change.
Social businesses for the aspiring workforce have been in operation for more than two decades in Canada, but this employment approach has received little direct attention in the mental health field. While they are positioned within the social enterprise sector in Canada, this sector is only loosely defined and connected through national associations such as the Canadian Community Economic Development (CED) Network and the BC Centre for Social Enterprise. Such organizations provide an important resource for the field, but social businesses as they have been applied to people with mental illness have not been a focus of their attention.
This component of the Aspiring Workforce project was designed to increase our knowledge of the social business approach for people with mental illness in Canada, and to use this knowledge to develop recommendations with regards to the advancement of the approach. The study was guided by the following research questions: 1. To what extent has the social business approach been used to develop employment opportunities for people with mental illness who have been marginalized from the community labour force?
2. What social business development models exist in Canada and how do these compare to those developed internationally? 3. Which business development approaches are most cost-effective, from both an economic and social perspective, and best suited for dissemination to meet diverse Canadian contexts and conditions? 4. How can Canadian policy be developed to support the establishment, maintenance, and growth of these initiatives?
full report Part 1
Methods: This environmental scan was conducted with a goal of identifying as many businesses as possible that met our key criteria: a registered business open for trade in the community; has a set of by-laws; strives for financial sustainability; and has a social mission that includes hiring or training of persons identified as having a mental illness (although not necessarily exclusively). Not included in this scan are businesses that are operated to build revenues for a larger organization that provides services for people with disabilities, such as Goodwill or the March of Dimes, independent businesses that operate informally and without a defined mission or vision, or businesses that might otherwise be considered sheltered businesses by virtue of paying piece-rates or less than minimum wage equivalents to long-term employees. It does include businesses that operate on a profit-share basis where the intent is to ensure income that exceeds minimum wage through marketing efforts and efficient business management.
Businesses were identified using a network-based strategy. We located key contacts within a variety of relevant sectors and groups across Canada, including vocational service providers, disability organizations, and the Canadian Council on Social Enterprise. We asked these sources to identify social businesses that fit our criteria and to suggest names of organizations or people for further sampling. We also identified sources through online registries of social enterprises by province, Google searches, and review of academic publications and popular press articles featuring social businesses. Having identified a number of businesses, we used a snowballing approach, where respondents were asked to identify other similar businesses that they were aware of. This inventory should not be considered an exhaustive and complete list of businesses that met our criteria, but rather a listing of the businesses we were able to identify through these methods, and within the time period of September 2009 – September 2010. Some businesses may have been missed, while others may have discontinued or changed operations.
Data were collected by first reviewing the web page of the business and any available documents (e.g.
annual reports, incorporation documents, etc.) or video presentations. Contacts were then made
with each social business, and when possible, a key contact person was interviewed using a standardized telephone survey. The survey items included: size of the business based on number of employees and annual revenues; legal and governance structures; the model of ownership and management; the mission and guiding principles of the business; the nature of goods and services produced; characteristics of the workforce and human resources practices, including means of recruiting and reimbursing workers; subsidy structure; relationships and partnerships external to the business; and information about financial sustainability and other indicators of success.
Interviews were used to verify and add to information gained through other sources. In cases where no one from a business could be reached, that information was noted as being unverified. Through the interviews, many additional points of interest emerged, including factors driving the creation of the businesses,
philosophies underpinning the operation, factors that contribute to sustainability, and operational tensions that exist for these small businesses.
The data were summarized in tabular format and then analysed by qualitatively identifying key attributes observed within businesses, comparing these across businesses, and noting thematic trends and differences. Based on this analysis, an initial taxonomy of social business was developed. This initial taxonomy was then refined by comparing the classifications to scholarly discourse about social business in Canada and internationally.
As with other initiatives that focus on the employment needs of the aspiring workforce, social businesses are impacted by government disability income policies that constrain their workforce. Efforts to address employment disincentives in these income structures should specifically consider their impact on the individuals working in social businesses, and also on the structure and operation of social businesses.
Similarly, the relationship of social businesses to the broader mental health system will need to be explicitly addressed to enable their autonomy and growth and ensure that they are guided by principles and best practices for empowerment, social inclusion, and community participation.
There are distinct competencies associated with the development and management of social businesses, not typically found within mental health systems, and these should be identified and supported through the creation of relevant training and education programs.
Compared to other employment approaches in the field, the development of a social business approach has been hampered by limited systematic evaluation and research. Any effort to advance knowledge and practice will require the investment of evaluation and research resources.
Social businesses are commercial ventures that market goods and services to the public and use this economic activity to achieve social outcomes. Social businesses have been developed to address the ongoing
employment and economic disadvantage experienced by people with mental illness, and in particular,
those with weak labour market attachment. They are sometimes referred to as social purpose businesses, social firms, or social ventures. The social business is one approach within a larger “social enterprise” field, which aims to use innovative business and market practices to drive important and sustained social
those with weak labour market attachment. They are sometimes referred to as social purpose businesses, social firms, or social ventures. The social business is one approach within a larger “social enterprise” field, which aims to use innovative business and market practices to drive important and sustained social