Looking back at the last six months it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on communities up and down the country, bringing to light the stark inequalities present in society and creating an economic crisis on an unprecedented scale.
However, amongst it all we’ve seen a renewal in feelings of community. Mutual aid groups flourished in the early days of the pandemic with people coming together to support the vulnerable and we united in our appreciation for the key-workers who kept the country going.
Community businesses and social enterprises have been at the heart of community responses to the pandemic – they’ve been getting food and supplies to the people who’ve needed it most, making sure people are not left lonely and isolated and working on the front-line of the crisis, delivering vital health and care services. Many also found themselves pivoting their entire business model, switching to making facemasks and PPE or moving their services online so they can keep on supporting people.
It’s important that this renewed public awareness and commitment to support communities is not lost which is why this October we’re launching our new campaign – Choose Communities: Buy Social.
The message behind the campaign is a simple one – when you buy from a social enterprise you are choosing to support communities. Why? Because social enterprises are businesses set up with the sole intention of benefiting communities both in the UK and around the world – whether that’s creating jobs and opportunities for people in your local area or supporting specific groups of people such as those experiencing homelessness. Through where they work, who they employ and what they are created to achieve they are reducing inequalities and pointing the way to a more equitable and sustainable future.
Choose Communities: Buy Social will be taking place from 15-17 October and is a chance to raise the profile of the social enterprise movement and the different way of doing business which it espouses, one which will be needed more than ever if we’re to build back better from the pandemic.
Most community businesses run as social enterprises and we’d love you to take part in the campaign! There’s a whole host of resources on the SEUK website to help you make the most of it, with specific campaign packs created for different types of business whether your primary market is consumers, other businesses or if you work in the public sector. They contain materials include template press releases, invitations to your local MP and sample social media content.
Join us this October and get the message out that whoever you are, whether you’re a consumer, a private business or a public body you can use your spending power to buy from social enterprises and that when you do you are helping support communities at home and across the world.
When you #BuySocial you choose equality, you choose people over profit, you choose the planet and you choose communities.
More information about the campaign can be found at >> https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/choose-communities-buy-social/
If you’ve got any questions about the campaign please email shehan.perera@socialenterprise.org.uk