Community Sector
The community sector is a diverse group of organisations that covers everything from neighbourhood watch groups to social enterprises, community interest companies to registered charities. Within Essex there are over 10, 000 community sector organisations.
Charities
An organisation set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.
Not for Profit
A nonprofit organisation uses its surplus revenues to further achieve its purpose or mission, rather than distributing its surplus income to the organisation’s shareholders (or equivalents) as profit or dividends.
Community Interest Companies
A community interest company is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. CICs tackle a wide range of social and environmental issues and operate in all parts of the economy. By using business solutions to achieve public good, it is believed that CICs have a distinct and valuable role to play in helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy.
Social Enterprise
By selling goods and services in the open market, social enterprises reinvest the money they make back into their business or the local community. This allows them to tackle social problems, improve people’s life chances, support communities and help the environment. So when a social enterprise profits society profits.
According to Social Enterprise UK, social enterprises should:
- Have a clear social and/or environmental mission set out in their governing documents
- Generate the majority of their income through trade
- Reinvest the majority of their profits
- Be autonomous of state
- Be majority controlled in the interests of the social mission
- Be accountable and transparent