Buy Social This Christmas and join the revolution!
Social Enterprise UK, together with Business in the Community, is developing a Christmas project as part of its Buy Social campaign
di Staff
Christmas is approaching fast and Social Enterprise UK, together with Business in the Community, has partnered to produce an online Christmas gift guide. The Buy Social Christmas Gift Guide enables responsible consumers make a seasonal social impact this year. The aim is to raise awareness of social businesses and to encourage people to purchase from them.
The website www.buysocialchristmas.org.uk helps consumers do their shopping, decorating and cooking in ways that promote social enterprises.
21 businesses that trade for people and the planet are featured in the guide. Among them Divine Chocolate, the only Fairtrade chocolate company which is 45% owned by cocoa farmers, Bikeworks, an award winning social enterprise using cycling as a tool to tackle social and environmental challenges at a community level and The House of St Barnabas, a charity that supports London’s homeless people back into work.
This initiative is part of the Buy Social campaign. Launched in 2012 by Social Enterprise UK, the national body for social enterprise, it aims at boosting trade with social enterprises.
The Buy Social campaign began with the objective of increasing the number of social enterprises trading with each other. Now it has expanded to help the private and public sectors, consumers, charities and universities to buy social.
There are more than 70,000 social enterprises in the UK, of which 22% are based in London. They all contribute £ 18.5 billion to the UK economy and employ almost a million people. This exciting movement of businesses combing profit making with tackling some of society’s biggest issues is expanding rapidly all around the world.
As John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, points out: «Imagine your money could really mean change. Social enterprises are businesses that reinvest their profits and put people and planet first, from caring to children in developing countries to supporting communities we are part of. Buying from social enterprises takes your spending much further. What we buy can educate, nurture and empower, providing solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. Join the revolution: buy social and unleash your spending power!»
