Social Enterprises in Estonia, Finland and Lithuania CASE STUDIES AND TEACHING RESOURCES
Edited by Raminta Pučėtaitė Andželika Rusteikienė
2020 Vilnius
©2020 Geri Norai LT Edited by Andželika Rusteikienė, Raminta Pučėtaitė Designed by Gabrielė Niekytė
This collection of teaching and learning resources is an outcome of a three-year project (2017-2020) “Education for smart development of social entrepreneurship” funded by Nordplus Horizontal programme (Project No. NPHZ-2017/10198).
Comments and enquiries about the project and the case studies should be directed to: Andželika Rusteikienė, andzelika@lja.lt
Disclaimer The views expressed in the texts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Nordplus programme.
Table of Contents
Foreword
2
Case 1: Business or Art
4
Teaching Note
10
Case 2: CommuniCare
11
Case 3: Dignity Home
14
Teaching Note Creative Task
19 22
Case 4: Icehearts
26
Context Comments Teaching Note
30 32
Case 5: SCULT
34
Teaching Note Creative Task
41 42
Case 6: SOS Children’s villages
45
Context Comments Teaching Note
49 52
Case 7: Workshops of Treasures
54
Context Comments Teaching Note Creative Task
57 59 63
Case 8: Stella Soomlais
66
Reading
72
2
Foreword
This collection of teaching and learning resources is an outcome of a three-year project (2017–2020) “Education for smart development of social entrepreneurship” funded by the Nordplus Horizontal programme (Project No. NPHZ-2017/10198). The project was carried out by 4 partner institutions, i.e. Geri Norai LT (Good Deeds, coordinator), ARVO – the Finnish Association for Social Enterprises, the Estonian Business School, and Vilnius University. The partners from academic and non-governmental sectors aimed to develop teaching and learning resources for promoting the development of social entrepreneurship in the Baltic-Nordic countries, in this way systematising knowledge in the field, sharing and disseminating best practices in the region. Disregarding legal forms of social enterprises that exist in partner countries, the project rests on the concept of social enterprise defined by the European Commission’s Social Business Initiative (2006), which holds that the main objective of a social enterprise is to have a social impact, rather than make a profit for its owners or shareholders, by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion. As social enterprises are active in variety of fields, the partners initially planned to focus on cases dealing with women’s empowerment, immigrant integration, elderly care and child welfare. In the course of the project the social issues focus was narrowed to empowerment, elderly and disabled people care and empowerment, and child welfare and youth engagement, as these are among most pressing issues in the partners’ societies. This collection is targeted at developing analytical and creative thinking skills of both undergraduate and graduate students at higher education institutions as well as beginner social entrepreneurs. It combines diverse resources: cases capturing a certain stage of social entrepreneurship development in Estonia, Finland and Lithuania, followed by brief teaching notes and suggestions for teaching particular topics or/and theories, role play scenarios and instructions; contextual notes to help students better understand restrictions and opportunities for the enterprise in focus; and a PowerPoint presentation, social business model canvas, etc. Some cases illustrate a transitional stage of social entrepreneurship development where the business founders are still searching for a strategy to become sustainable and make social impact, prompting students to create and test different strategic perspectives. Other cases offer an opportunity to reflect on outcomes and impact, how
they can be perceived and measured. In this respect, there is space for research-oriented students to elaborate available social impact measurement tools. The contents of the cases are structured following the framework of The Impact Chain’s Seven Steps, shared by the Finnish partner ARVO who developed it with several partners and stakeholders in the Measures of Good (Hyvän Mitta) project. (see Fig. 1). Following the arguments of Maas and Grieco (2017), the partners believe that all activities of social enterprises must be directed at making social impact. However, findings from a research project on the social economic impact of social enterprises in Lithuania indicate that very few social enterprises in Lithuania measure social impact, as they are just developing their business models (Pušinaitė-Gelgotė et al., 2019). In some cases, what they call impact is just outputs (ibid.). This stage of development in Lithuania contrasts with the one in Finland, where social enterprises may be very large (e.g. employing over 1,000 people), established and well-aware of their outputs, outcomes and impact. Yet, although the studied social enterprises are at different stages of development, the cases give directions on the amount and quality of resources, and intensity of actions to achieve certain outcomes and impact. Therefore, they can be used as comparative examples in the discussions in both formal and informal learning environments.
Social need
1
Vision
2
Goal(s)
3 4
Actions
5 6 7
Resources
Outcomes Impact
Fig. 1. Impact value chain (Clark et al., 2004)
3
The Measures of Good’s Impact Chain – Seven Steps to Impact is a tool to plan, develop and model the impact of an organisation or just a single service. The Impact Chain is the core of the Measures of Good framework developed in 2016–2019. The idea of the framework is that societal impact cannot be produced without careful planning, evaluation and measurement. One does not create impact by accident or with simple good intentions. In order to have impact and to be able to also prove it to stakeholders, investors and public buyers a social enterprise must follow all the seven steps of the impact chain: what is the impact we want to produce, why and how? After planning, the next step is to think how each part of the chain and the practical actions should be monitored and measured. In the end, the social enterprise should have a clear vision of the impact it creates and data to evidence it. You will find instructions on the use and completion of the Impact Chain further on in this publication. Considering that the social entrepreneurs’ character is both caring and business-minded, the teaching perspectives on strategy, communication, social business model, ethics of care etc. that are meant to develop critical, analytic and creative skills are expanded by creative tasks which are meant to evoke empathy in students. Although scenarios are written for the specific cases of Dignity Home, Scult and Workshops of Treasures, the teachers can apply them to the other cases as well. Each creative task takes around two hours and does not need specific training on applied drama or related methods. Teachers are simply expected to create a safe and supportive environment for sharing attitudes and expressing creative ideas. As the author of these exercises Raimonda Agnė Medeišienė puts it, the aim is to experience empathy, experiment and enjoy one’s discoveries. Perfection is not an aspiration here: as Voltaire claims, “The Perfect is the Enemy of Good”. This edition would not have been possible but for the goodwill and openness of the founders, owners and/or managers of the studied social enterprises. The partners are grateful for their time spent when giving interviews, participating in social breakfasts, welcoming the project partners at their premises, reading the manuscripts and commenting on them.
References 1. Maas, K., Grieco, C. (2017). Distinguishing game changers from boastful charlatans: Which social enterprises measure their impact? Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 8(1): 110 – 128. 2. Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, R., Pučėtaitė, R., Novelskaitė, A. (2019). Socialinio verslo poveikių vertinimo patirtys Lietuvoje socialinių verslinink(i)ų požiūriu [Lithuanian social entrepreneurs’ experiences of evaluating the impact of their social businesses]. Informacijos mokslai, 86: 116 – 132. 3. Clark, C., Rosenzweig, W., Long, D., Olsen, S. (2004). Double Bottom Line Project Report: Assessing Social Impact In Double Bottom Line Ventures. Working paper 13. Berkley: Center for Responsible Business, University of California Berkeley. Available at: https://bit.ly/3jtw6le. Accessed on 12-09-2020.
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Raminta Pučėtaitė, Vilnius University Rasa Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, Vilnius University Aurelija Novelskaitė, Vilnius University
Business or Art SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Societal need for this enterprise
In Lithuania, some social groups do not have equal opportunities to access culture and enjoy the right defined by UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (adopted 2001). The problem is conspicuous in the accessibility to visual arts for blind or visually impaired people. According to the Lithuanian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired, around 20,000 blind and visually impaired residents may experience the limitation of this general right. More specifically, in Lithuania, as in the rest of the world, the number of fiction books in Braille for blind children is considerably small, and literacy amongst blind people is decreasing.
eliminates the possibility for blind children to read books with relatives who do not have visual impairment and so get acquainted with both literature and fine arts.
One reason for this is the technological complexity of publishing Braille books, which makes them quite expensive. Besides, the market for these books is rather small. Therefore, audio books for blind people are much more popular, and the availability of Braille books is markedly poor. Moreover, these books are published in a limited quantity (from 1 to 10 units), which also limits the accessibility of Braille books. Braille books for blind children are usually without illustrations and adapted just for blind people. This
The scarcity of selection and quality of publications for blind people influences blind children’s motivation to study and read Braille books with illustrations, which is an important means to develop blind children’s intellectual capabilities through tactile senses, and their further development and achievements.
Another restriction to accessing culture for blind and visually impaired people is the scarcity of information adapted to their needs. For example, tourist sights and cultural objects are presented without visual information and cultural context. Therefore blind people miss the opportunity to understand the major part of cultural heritage.
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Business or Art is a non-profit organization producing innovative books in Braille and regular lettering for blind and sight impaired people, in particular, children. In addition, some of the books can be read using three or four senses such as smelling and hearing. They can be read with family members and friends who do not have sight impairment. Publishing activities go in line with educational ones for high school children in Lithuanian cities who learn how blind people perceive the world and creative workshops in which both blind and seeing children and young people take part, producing pictures, scents or ceramics.
Founding motives
Vision and goals
The founder of the social enterprise “Business or Art” (Verslas ar menas), Eglė Jokužytė, established this nonprofit organisation in 2012 with the motive to contribute to a better life for blind people, helping them break the closed social circle and giving an opportunity to connect with others. Ms Jokužytė had not had experience with blind people in her close environment by then. She had been working in a family-owned publishing house, had gathered experience in different roles, had been responsible for the company’s marketing, e.g. new product development, sales, communication, and had gained knowledge about different publishing technologies. While still working in the publishing house she started a Master’s programme in Public Relations. In one of the projects for her studies and later when writing Master’s thesis her focus turned to social issues and children. As the founder puts it, the turn to social entrepreneurship was triggered by knowing blind children and their families. As the usual activities became less rewarding, did not give deeper experiences, and a wish to use her knowledge more widely bringing happiness to oneself and others started dominating her mind.
The vision of the social enterprise is to provide blind and visually impaired people with an opportunity to read books, develop their competences in literature and arts, and diminish their social exclusion. The mission is to provide an opportunity to blind and visually impaired children over the world to read books and feel equal, help them to develop and discover their talents. The goals of the social enterprise are as follows: To develop children’s talents through project activities, deepen societal awareness about disabled people and change attitudes towards them To change different sectors’ attitude to social issues through the products and services and increase motivation to create better future together
Resources One of the basic resources of the enterprise is its founder’s knowledge and experience in the field of poligraphy which she extended through communication with blind people, e.g. she learnt about subtleties of the Braille lettering, communicating via tactile pictures. Pictures (e.g. artefacts, photos, maps, schemes etc.) in the books are presented in the way that they can be perceived by sight and touching, and texts are complemented with the Braille lettering. In this way, the enterprise adds to the activities of the culture, education, tourism and business sectors, increasing integration and diminishing social exclusion of disabled people. The social enterprise employs freelance professionals, e.g. IT specialists, illustrators, designers, and editors. Their engagement varies depending on the running projects. It collaborates with other production companies abroad which have particular technologies. The enterprise employs blind people who are responsible for educational activities, project coordination, product testing and sales. Volunteers are relied on in fairs and public events. Books are sold to educational and culture organizations, e.g. high schools, libraries, training centres which work with children with special needs, also business companies which give these books as presents to employees’ children and/or organizations supported by them. Books are distributed by book distributors, bookshops as well as in the e-shops www.taskoistorija.lt and www.vam.lt. Regular books for children, which are also published by the enterprise,
‘There is a point in your life when you understand that you want to change something. Then it is important to stop and listen to your inner voice. Most often your new idea looks weird to others and you have lots of hesitations about your new choice, but you undernstand that you know how to do it and that you can do it. When you think about it your eyes are shining and something inside is going on. At this moment it is important ot hear what your heart is saying and simply dare to start. Such changes in life help a person to find a calling. Social enterprises are born when one understands that not everything is measured by profit and has strong wish to help to solve a problem.’ Eglė Jokužytė, founder
are sold in supermarkets and bookshops. Since 2020 books are sold in the Gallery of a Point (Šeimyniškių str. 16, Vilnius) that was founded by the enterprise. The enterprise participates in various fairs where customers can not only open the books but also hear about the enterprise’s activities and the benefits of such books to children. These books are popular with families who consider deepening children’s awareness about the world and developing their responsibility important. They also find place in book collectors’ homes. Funds for publishing the books are raised in various ways. One source of income is collaborative projects which are funded by the contractor (e.g. museums, libraries). The enterprise applies for different project grants for partly funding the books, looks for sponsors who donate to social projects and book publishing. Income comes not only from sales of books. Part is obtained from an informal education class “Let’s know the invisible world” to high school children in schools and libraries. Such activities are funded by the program “Culture Passport” of the Ministry of Culture, Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Lithuania. Still another source of income that is used for book publishing is gained from business presents which were created by visually impaired children and young people. One of the business presents, i.e. Home and office scent was created in the social project “Invisible World of Scents”. The scents were created to fairy tales in the book “Close your Eyes” and can be smelled on its pages. The book can be bought as a product which is popular with socially responsible companies. In cooperation with other stakeholders in the educational and cultural sectors this social enterprise is attempting to create equal opportunities for blind and visually impaired people to use cultural and educational resources in Lithuania, increase the accessibility to cultural objects and possibilities to learn about them, bringing different social groups closer to each other.
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Actions
The social business engages in three types of activities: Publications adapted for blind people and those without sight impairment Social, cultural, educational projects and services targeted at eliminating social exclusion of disabled people Informal educational projects to children and youth which contribute to the development of public social awareness The social enterprise Business or Art employs cutting edge technological solutions to produce fiction books under the trademark “The Story of a Point” (Taško istorija) that can be read with three or four senses (i.e. sight, touch, hearing and smell). They are printed in both regular and Braille lettering, with flat and raised illustrations that deepen cultural and artistic awareness. This allows blind children to read the books with their family members whose sight is not impaired. The books are published from 100 to 500 units, which means that they can be owned by households, not only libraries. For blind children this is an opportunity to feel similar to peers without sight impairment as they read and discuss the same contents. Moreover, the accessibility of books for households provides more opportunities for blind people to practise their tactile senses which are related to intellectual development, particularly in childhood. Children who read books in Braille in
‘Social business is interesting and meaningful but complex as a business model. It would not be possible without people who are not indifferent to social problems. Cooperation helps not only to discover a need but also make stronger change. Social enterprise is like an injection to different sectors that helps to change their attitude to social aspects and incites the wish to create brighter future.’ Eglė Jokužytė, founder
childhood later better adapt to the environment (which is usually created by seeing people for similar ones), complete higher education and have better employability and career prospects. These books educate children without sight impairment as well. It is an opportunity to experience the way of reading of blind people and to understand how they perceive the world. Many children reflect on these aspects for the first time in their lives, usually in the project activities coordinated by the social enterprise. The founder of the social enterprise nelieves that books in Braille and regular lettering contribute to the development of creativity and talents of blind and visually impaired people. This is evidenced by the birth of new “diamonds”, i.e. illustrators of three books published by Business or Art. The project outcomes are not limited to knowing Braille lettering and reflecting the world of blind people. They are targeted at deepening social competences, tolerance and empathy of society, and changing attitudes to disabled people. Some informal education projects such as “Let’s know the invisible world” target high school children. Other projects are aimed at both seeing and blind or sight impaired children or children with special needs in creative workshops of a project such as “I see by heart” (https://bit.ly/2GNNkeC) where tactile cards are produced and the selected ones used for a
8 ‘When relating to the blind I understood that the world’s beauty is not just what we see by eyes. To see the beauty of life differently is the most important lesson which I get by doing the things I know best and my greatest wish is to facilitate such learning of others.’ Eglė Jokužytė, founder
Outcomes and impacts calendar; “Invisible World of Scents” (https://bit.ly/3kccFNN) where four home scents were created to illustrate fairy tales in the book “Close your eyes” (Užsimerk); and “I see the world differently” (https://bit.ly/3mhhvv1) where blind children from social care homes can create ceramics together with an artist Nomeda Marčėnaitė and later participate in a touring exhibition etc. In this way, workshops create possibilities for sighted children to interact with blind peers for the first time and lose the fear of the unknown. As the business founder puts it, such projects trigger changes in individuals, children’s motivation to do good deeds and help someone increases, and they develop a wish to create a more beautiful and better world. Lack of information that is culturally sensitive for blind people is handled by publications in both regular and Braille lettering with tactile pictures in which photography, artefacts, maps, frameworks etc. are communicated. Publications and stands with schemes, photos, artefacts, maps for outside and inside use convey the information by regular and tactile symbols, including Braille lettering of texts. In addition, these products have an educational function for children who want to receive information not only by sight but also by touching. By creating products of universal design the social enterprise aims to increase social integration of blind, visually impaired or otherwise disabled people and reduce social inequality. Such products enable disabled people to be more self-dependent and live with dignity, actively engage into urban communities, and experience culture.
The outputs of the activities are measured by the number of books donated to blind people and sold per year. Sales are important as they allow families with blind children to expand their private library. Part of the profit of Business or Art is given to publishing Braille books and the charitable initiative “Let’s donate a book to a blind person”. By 2020 there were 7 books published in both regular and Braille lettering, from 100 to 500 items each and 1,900 items in total. About 30% of the books are given as presents to blind children, children with special needs, and educational institutions for disabled children. Before that, blind and visually impaired people would borrow the books from a special library. At present, some blind people have their own Braille books collection which they can read together with their seeing relatives. Another part of the profits goes to social projects in which both seeing and blind or visually impaired people take part, aiming to reveal the participants’ talents and present them to society. Over 7 years, 5,000 children took part in the creative workshops organised by the business. Hence, a number of good deeds and motivation for helping behaviour may have become stronger. Business or Art is among the few Lithuanian social enterprises which measure their social impact. First, impact is considered as change in sighted children’s attitudes to blind people. During the creative workshops, they fill in questionnaires before and after the activities. Second, the subject who acquires a book is considered. For example, if a book is bought by a library, the founder makes the assumption that the book is read by more than one person, therefore, social impact is greater. The enterprise plans to measure the intensity of communication between blind and family members, children’s development and increased empathy of society members.
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Awards
Some awards received by the social enterprise Business or Art
The books published by Business or Art have also received acknowledgement both nationally and internationally, e.g.:
Children’s Best Friend, 2019
Leader of Social Entrepreneurship, 2017
Children’s Confederation NGO
The Ministry of Economic of the Republic of Lithuania
In 2019 the book Sparnuotosios raidės: Pasakos reginčiųjų ir Brailio raštu (Winged letters: Fairy tales in letters and Braille). Vilnius, Lithuania: Verslas ar Menas, 2015 [24pp.] was included in the IBBY - The International Board on Books for Young People Selection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities (https://bit.ly/33mMfCh).
National Award of Equality and Diversity, 2016
Awarded as Leader of Change
in the nomination of the Breakthrough of the Year for bringing together the visually disabled with the seeing through sensing books. Award of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson and National Forum of Equality and Diversity
A finalist of the first competition for social business in Lithuania organised by “Reach for Change”
Most Beautiful Book Of The Year, 2015, competition Art of the Book 2016 organised by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian Artists Union and Vilnius Academy of Arts. Publication of the Year, 2016, Award by Lithuanian Publishing Industry.
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Teaching Note
Developing a social impact measurement tool in groups of 3-4 students
Social Impact Measurement Tool
Read the reading on Social impact on p. 73 and the paper by Maas and Liket (2011). Considering its mission and goals (you could also suggest if, and if so, how they could be modified), types of activities, the socio-cultural context in which the business operates, which of the social impact measurement instruments would you adopt for Business or Art? How would you modify it so that it is rigid and reliable?
Maas, K., Liket, K. (2011). Social impact measurement: Classification of methods. In Burritt R., Schaltegger, S. et al. (Eds.) Environmental Management Accounting and Supply Chain Management. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 171 – 202.
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Mari Kooskora, Estonian Business School
CommuniCare SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
CommuniCare, a student team from Tartu, relieves the loneliness of elderly people. CommuniCare, a network of volunteers created by Tartu students, was chosen as the best social enterprise in the Ajujaht business idea competition 2020. The company received a special prize of €5,000 for developing the idea. CommuniCare’s goal is to encourage elderly people to communicate with the outside world and to make their last years of life dignified. The team creates a network of volunteers to provide elderly people living in nursing homes company and social companions with whom to talk, go for a walk or play board games. “Our goal is to ensure a permanent connection between care homes and volunteers”. The social enterprise works through a social network created through interpersonal relationships and technology, creating a network of volunteers who are sent to nursing homes to spend time with the elderly. Nursing homes pay a fixed amount per month for CommuniCare service for each elderly person living there. The money earned from the service will cover the costs of volunteer recruitment and motivation events. The team, comprising freshman of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Tartu, is involved in the
Brain Hunt Development Programme to create a network of volunteers to provide companions and communication partners for elderly people living in nursing homes. Although the idea was born in England and the solution is being tested in Estonia, the team aims to expand rapidly into the Scandinavian and North American markets. The team began working on their idea in the Startup Lab’s Starter Tartu programme in autumn 2019. Ajujaht noticed CommuniCare’s idea at the Starter Tartu mentoring event and gave them direct access to Top 100. The idea was born when the team leader Norman Vester spent time in England talking to elderly people in nursing homes and spending time with them. “While communicating with them and spending time with them, I discovered that no one was visiting them. Even their loved ones make it there only at Christmas and rarely on birthdays. More than half of those who were there have no loved ones,” he says of a growing problem in society. In Estonia, the problem is even bigger, he says. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2013 shows, for example, that 85% of elderly people in nursing homes are visited on average 2.3 times a year.
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An example how the new social enterprise ideas are created and put into practice. Best Social Enterprise idea in Ajujaht (Brain Hunt) Business Competition 2020
Communicare team members (from left) Siim Aksel Amer, Vadim Konov, Norman Vester, Andre-Loit Valli.
Volunteer friends
Learning from competitors
To alleviate the problem, Norman began working with his university group mates in September this year. Originally a tiny idea, he says, actually came from a push received from the university, where joining the Starter programme helped him to avoid a test. “I went there with my problem and idea and fell in love with it,” he says.
Regarding the question of whether such solutions and services do not already exist in Estonia or in the world, Norman replies that they do, but their focus is too broad. “Before we came out with our programme, we wrote to and phoned all the competitors. We asked what went badly and what went well for them, to learn from their mistakes,” says Norman about the extensive groundwork.
According to Norman, there are a total of 64 active nursing homes in Estonia, with eight of which the CommuniCare team has already communicated with and cooperation with three has already begun. By the end of the summer, the team’s goal is to start working with all nursing homes in Tartu, one in Pärnu and one in Harju County. So far, he says, the feedback from nursing homes has been positive. The biggest challenge for Norman is the recruitment of volunteers to take to the nursing homes. “This is the most important place we are currently putting our resources,” he adds. Their poor reputation is a major obstacle to finding good volunteers, he said. In order to motivate volunteers, CommuniCare is also launching its own scholarship programme, whereby they provide one volunteer each year with a scholarship of €500–1000 for sporting or educational activities. “The more a volunteer is involved, the more likely he or she is to get that money,” Norman explains.
CommuniCare came to Brain Hunt through a mentoring event in Tartu in the autumn, where during the final round of the speed-dating format event, they had to choose between going to the table of an investor or Brain Hunt team leader Harri Tallinn. Because the team’s goal is to find good mentors, they decided to go to the Brain Hunt table. At Brain Hunt, the team is primarily looking for good mentors to help make the business model and processes more efficient. CommuniCare creates a network of volunteers to reduce the loneliness of nursing home residents by providing companions for elderly people. According to Helen Mikkov, the head of the Social Enterprise Network (www.sev.ee), the team has created a network in a short time, the members of which believe in benevolence and action. “The CommuniCare team represents entrepreneurship and the courage to change the system, seeing opportunities in places where the majority in society may not want to look,” he added.
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In addition, CommuniCare Ajujahil won the special prize of the city of Tartu in the amount of €5,000 and the special prize of Saue municipality in the amount of €4,000. In total, the team won €14,000 from the competition for business development. Among many other awards, CommuniCare have won the title of the best Starter team and tickets to the prestigious business festival Arctic15. They also won the Tartu City Government’s financial award at the business ideas competition Kaleidoskoop. CommuniCare was established last autumn (2019), and so far its volunteers have visited several nursing homes: for example, they spent time with the residents of the Aarike nursing home in Virulase village, Kambja municipality, Tartu County. Elle Ott, the manager of the nursing home, was happy to hear about the company’s success and said that these visits and conversations are essential for the residents of the care home. “Very necessary, very pleasant,” said Ott, who added that she initially was rather surprised when she heard that the students wanted to come to the nursing home.
The work continues Volunteers who visit a nursing home two or three times a month usually talk to the residents face-to-face; sometimes they interact with a larger group. Nursing homes and local governments pay for the communication service, volunteers visit the elderly ones with their own car or a bus. As, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, volunteers cannot visit their newly befriended elderly friends in the nursing homes, CommuniCare uses the prize money to create digital communication opportunities between nursing home residents and volunteers, which enables communication to continue in similar cases in the future. “There are many questions about whether our volunteers could also visit single elderly people living at home, but now it is behind legal obstacles,” Vester said.
“Before the corona, the nursing homes did not mean much for anyone, only now have they started to be talked about,” said Elle Ott, the manager of the Aarike nursing home. “Even a person who came to us after a car accident and who neither we nor his family were able to motivate to act so that he would not remain paralysed ... even he said after talking to the young people that they could come again.” CommuniCare has a hundred volunteers in Tartu County and more than three hundred volunteers all over Estonia. Before the lockdown, the volunteers visited the residents of six Tartu County nursing homes: in addition to the Aarike nursing home, both homes in Härmalõnga, the Tartu nursing home, the Tartu Mental Health Centre and the Iru nursing home in Harju County. The company is in negotiations with Benita Home and Nõo Nursing Home.
Brain Hunt Business competition All ideas submitted to Brain Hunt, which offers solutions to social problems, were nominated for the Special Award for Social Entrepreneurship. The special award was presented by SEB Estonia and the Network of Social Enterprises.
‘CommuniCare is committed to solving a truly human and profound challenge – loneliness in our hypersocial world. The problem is universal and yet so complex that even the slightest success of CommuniCare in this area could open up many new business opportunities for them, both in terms of target segments and markets. The recognition and strength of the team is the ability to involve partners. This strength helps them to create a strong network of volunteers, but more importantly to develop their service, to move from an initial ‘person-to-person’ solution to a digital communication environment,’ Andra Altoa, SEB Baltic Strategy and Customer Experience Manager
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Andželika Rusteikienė, Geri Norai LT, Vilnius University
Dignity Home SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Societal need for this social enterprise Lithuania, as many developed countries in Europe and worldwide, is experiencing the phenomenon of an ageing population with both the number and proportion of older people growing in society.1 This transformation is affecting the country’s socio-economic environment and has considerable impact on most aspects of older society such as daily livelihood, housing, healthcare, social protection, labour market, fiscal sustainability, amongst others. For example, according to the Lithuanian Statistic Department 2020 data, the average pension in Lithuania is €398.85, and the threshold of being at risk of poverty is about €345. More than a third, 37.7 % of people 65-plus years old in Lithuania, are at risk of poverty.2 Thus, the elderly population struggles to cope with their daily needs of food, healthcare, and housing. It is an interesting fact that men have on average a higher pension than women, €422 and €353 respectively.3 The gap occurs since women earn less on average than men during their working life.
It is important to mention that many Lithuanian seniors live in their own homes,4 which means they do not have to pay rent for housing.5 But this also means that they spend most of their income, especially during the heating season (end of Autumn, Winter and beginning of Spring), on maintaining uneconomical and unsuitable housing be it a flat or a house. Besides, over 40 % of elderly people (more women than men) live alone6 because they have no family or their children live either in different places or have emigrated. Many seniors keep themselves distant, even isolated, and experience loneliness in their homes. Therefore, a new social enterprise, Dignity Home (Orūs namai), was created to take an innovative approach towards solving the issue of poverty and loneliness of mainly single elderly people in Lithuania, focused on community housing – co-living apartments.
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Dignity Home is the first social enterprise in Lithuania that addresses a social issue of elderly people living alone in the apartments that are often too large and expensive for them. The enterprise rents an apartment that meets the needs of the senior who retains the property and rents it out. The income for the rented own apartment covers the fees of living in a community of elderly people in Dignity Home. In contrast to social care homes for elderly people, in Dignity Home the senior retains her pension. In this way, the social enterprise contributes to reducing poverty of lonely elderly people and enabling them to live a life of dignity.
Vision and Mission The mission of the Dignity Home social enterprise is to contribute to reducing poverty and loneliness amongst elderly people. The social enterprise is based in the capital of Lithuania – Vilnius. Its mission has multiple layers of possible positive impact for stakeholders – elderly people (seniors), the government, and local municipalities, described in the “Impact” section. The idea of this social enterprise is based on simple human values – neighbourliness and transparency. “I envision how in ten years exactly ten co-living households will be built. I envisage how the homes will look like, how grandparents will live there, have morning routines when they take a shovel, and start digging the snow … I am so empowered by that vision” – says Marija Bunkaitė, the founder of Dignity Home. She started building the organisation in 2016 to pilot a new approach towards the social and economic problems of the ageing population in Lithuania, specifically lonely elderly people.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World population ageing, 2019. Available at: https://bit.ly/2QuHT64. Accessed on 25-05-2020
Statistics Lithuania (2020). Skurdo rodikliai [Poverty metrics]. Available at: https://bit.ly/2EBFpQA. Accessed on 02-06-2020.
State Social Insurance Fund under the ministry of Social Affairs and Security (2020). Pensioners. Avsilable at: https://atvira.sodra.lt/lt-eur/?page=P11. Accessed on 02-06-2020.
EUROSTAT (2020). Distribution of population aged 65 and over by type of household. Available at: https://bit.ly/2YDKRd3. Accessed on 30-07-2020.
Poverty and social disparity in Lithuania, 2019. Report. Lithuanian Anti Poverty Network. Available at: https://www.smtinklas.lt/. Accessed on 30-07-2020
EUROSTAT (2020). Distribution of population aged 65 and over by type of household. Available at: https://bit.ly/2YDKRd3. Accessed on 30-07-2020.
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Resources
Actions
Before starting the organisation the founder of the social enterprise did comprehensive research to understand if there is a societal need, interviewing over 100 people from different sectors, including representatives of various organisations working with elderly people, such as the Order of Malta, Third Age Universities, and social workers. Many of them said the idea is very innovative, very much needed but hard to implement in Lithuanian society.
The initial idea of Dignity Home was to invite seniors to rent out the properties where they have lived the most of their lives and move to live in the apartments equipped for them in a four apartment Dignity Home building. The income from the rent of their dwelling fully covers the cost of living there (no extra payment is required for rent, utilities, internet, or cable), so the seniors retain the whole of their pension for their other needs. This is different from the elderly care housing provided by the state, which usually requires the transfer of the pension, or most of it, to the institution as payment for the service. The seniors’ homes are rented out but remain their property, so they have the opportunity to return to their homes if they choose.
During the period of research, Ms Bunkaitė met a person willing to donate money to buy the first piece of real estate to start the first Dignity Home. This was the beginning of the journey and the offer which Marija could not refuse. She set up the NGO Dignity Home to receive the promised donation and to get started. The founder of the organisation is the only employee so far. The organisation is supported by many long-term or temporary volunteers who support the social enterprise in accountancy, information technology, communication management, and other areas. As a social enterprise, the organisation has multiple income sources as well as donations. The social enterprise rents apartments for elderly people, selling cleaning services to keep it self-sustainable. All profits and donations from private and corporate donors are reserved for scaling. There are many in-kind partnerships mostly in the construction area: discount prices on building materials, free access to construction tools, no fees on the account dedicated to collect money from sponsors, donors, and free internet is supplied.
Dignity Home is a place for independent living, where no one regulates the lives of seniors, but there is always someone to help whenever help is needed. The Dignity Home apartment building consists of four 27m2 apartments and a common area, where everyone can meet, communicate and engage in their favourite activities. The apartment is well designed and adjusted to the needs of elderly people: it is located on a ground floor, and there are no stairs. There is a polyclinic, food market, pharmacy and public transport stop nearby. The apartment building is located in the Karoliniskes area of Vilnius.
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Outputs and outcomes After the first year of piloting the founder realised that elderly people in Lithuania are afraid to agree to long-term living in the apartments. The reasons for that are very different: fear of long-term commitment, or disagreement by the seniors’ children. Therefore, elderly people are willing to rent the Dignity Home apartments and pay monthly from their pensions, as the rent is lower and safer than those on the market. After the first year of piloting the founder started providing cleaning services. This opportunity arose when one of the elderly residents shared the experience of cleaning the apartments and working for the company to spend her time and to feel needed. But the conditions offered by that company were terrible so the founder of Dignity Home decided to test an additional service in the market. In May 2020 there were 3 clients for cleaning services.
So far the organisation is measuring the number of elderly people staying at Dignity Home as its outputs. The number of hours the elderly people as service providers spend on cleaning services. The amount of money saved is not applicable so far due to the changes in the operational scheme at the moment. As a social business, the organisation has two major types of clients: tenants
elderly
those who rent the apartments from elderly people
who rent the Dignity Home apartments and live there
Due to the opportunity to provide cleaning services one additional type of client has appeared: organisations/people who need cleaning services.
The senior has real estate property / housing
The housing remains her property but is rented
The senior lives in Dignity Home
Her living here is paid by the money from the rental of her own property
The senior’s entire pension remains at her disposal
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Impact The social enterprise has a clear goal to improve the lives of elderly people in Lithuania. Thus, the organisation has at least three impact areas it is observing and focusing on. One of the core impact areas the organisation measures is the level of poverty of beneficiaries – elderly people. This is a quantitative measure that is monitored by the amount of money elderly people save by living in the Dignity Home apartments. The other metric which is in the plans to be used is the level of loneliness. The feeling of loneliness is to be measured while entering the households, after a month, a half a year, after a year, and so on. The organisation is also looking into measuring the quality of life of seniors which is attributed to increasing disposable income for their needs on food, healthcare, leisure activities, etc.; the increase of social contact with their neighbours, volunteers; minimisation of administration work needed being a homeowner of their apartments. Partnerships with measurement developers are still sought after. The social enterprise looks into the impact it creates for its stakeholders, such as the municipality and government. The municipality may experience a reduction in the amount spent on social benefits such as heating compensation, in the number of social workers need to take care of elderly people, and in the number of health care services due to reduced loneliness issues. The example of Dignity Home contributes to Vilnius city municipality vision – a city friendly to all ages. The State of Lithuania may benefit
from increased rental market from seniors, which, according to the founder of the social enterprise, might be focused on minority groups such as refugees. Co-living apartments contribute to the variety of services for seniors and, according to Marija Bunkaitė, sometimes elderly people just need “a feeling of choice” in their life. Which means that they can decide to stay in their own homes or go and live in a co-living place, which boosts their confidence and sense of dignity. Finally, such social enterprises deepen society’s awareness about an ageing society and the importance of responsibility / responsible attitude towards one’s ageing. The social enterprise is planning to measure the impact on the health of elderly people in the future.
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Teaching Notes Andželika Rusteikienė, Geri Norai LT, Vilnius University Renata Matkevičienė, Geri Norai LT, Vilnius University
This teaching perspective could be taken either with a group of early stage social entrepreneurs or undergraduate business students.
Social Business Model Canvas and Typology
Regular social business model canvas might be discussed to analyse the key areas of the social enterprise:
Key Resources
Key Activities
Type of Intervention
Segments
Value Proposition
Customer Value Proposition Impact Measures Customers
Partners & Key Stakeholders
Beneficiaries
Surplus distribution/ investment
Beneficiary Value Proposition
Communication and Relationship Channels to reach your Segments Revenue Structure Cost Structure
The students/audience could identify the different pillars of a social business model canvas based on the case study and discuss: What could be further developments/changes for the current Dignity Home social enterprise?
How could the Dignity Home social enterprise model be scaled across Lithuania?
More about Social business model canvas Forming a Social Business Plan (2020). Available at: https://bit.ly/312vDPM
How could the Dignity Home social enterprise transform into fully profitable business, non related to donations and volunteer work?
20 Regular social enterprise typology might be discussed to analyse values, types of operations and mission of the organisation. The theoretical background shall be presented to the students based on emerging typology schemes and further discussion in groups might be open:
Social/environmental mission and entrepreneurial activites embedded togeher in the operations
What type of social enterprise is the Dignity Home social enterprise: Mission Centric, Mission Related or Unrelated to Mission.
How does the social enterprise integrate its social and business activities to balance the operations?
Social activities Entrepreneurship activities
Example: www.socialinistaksi.lt
Social/environmental mission and entrepreneurial activities interrelated/integrated in the operations
Social activities
Entrepreneurship activities
Example: www.manoguru.lt
Social/environmental mission and entrepreneurial activities unrelated in the operations Example: www.jerrybottle.com
Social activities
Entrepreneurship activities
Read more about emerging typology of social enterprises: Alter K. Social Enterprise Typology. 2006. A map of social enterprises and their eco-systems in Europe, Synthesis Report. 2020 Identify Sustainable Development Goals This teaching perspective could be taken either with a group of early stage social entrepreneurs or undergraduate business students. Discuss the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with an audience. Discuss the purpose of UN SDGs as a way to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Open up the further discussion on:
What is the role of your How do the social enetercountry in contributing to prises in general contribthe 17 UN SDGs? ute to the UN SDGs? In particular, how does Dignity Home contribute to the UN SDGs? Which of the goals and targets are impacted by the activity of Dignity Home?
Please read more about UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
21 Discuss and write What could be the aim of social enterprise communication (what you want to communicate about with stakeholders)?
References and further readings What are the target groups you want to reach with communication? Make a list of all target audiences, and then set priorities - what target groups would be more important to reach than others?
1. European Commission (2015). A map of social enterprises and their eco-systems in Europe. Synthesis Report. Available at: https://bit.ly/3lL0fNO. Accessed on 20-07-2020.
Make a portrait of the target group - try to describe those group members, what are their features (socio-demographic factors, interests, lifestyle). Think about what they would be interested to hear about?
What could be the main message you'd like to deliver to the target group?
3. Decree of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of
What communication means you'll select to transfer that message to the target group?
Try to make a sample of the message you'll deliver (draft of the interview or publication, maybe a video).
2. Alter, K. (2007). Social Enterprise Typology. Available at: https://canvas.brown.edu/courses/1073328/files/61 028038. Accessed on 10-12-2019. Lithuania on the Approval of the Action Plan for Promotion of Social Entrepreneurship in 2015–2017
(2015). No. 4-827, 23/12/2015. 4. Decree of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania on the Approval of the Concept of Social Entrepreneurship (2015). No. 4-207, 03/04/2015
(amended 29/08/2016, Decree no. 4-533). 5. EUROSTAT (2020). Distribution of population aged 65 and over by type of household. Available at: https://bit.ly/3aZ79KY. Accessed on 30-07-2020 6. Jakubavičius, A., Leichteris, E., Stumbrytė, G. (2016). Socialinio verslo plėtros Lietuvoje galimybių
studija [Feasibility study of the development of social entrepreneurship in Lithuania]. Vilnius: Lietuvos
inovacijų centras, Žinių ekonomikos forumas. Available at: https://bit.ly/2QsZISX. Accessed on 02-08-2020. 7. Pučėtaitė, R., Novelskaitė, A., Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, R., Rusteikienė, A., Butkevičienė, E. (2019). Understanding the role of social enterprises in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals through the Human Capability Approach. The Case of Lithuania. UNTFSSE. Available
at: https://bit.ly/3gxm1Se. Accessed on 02-08-2020. 8. Pranskevičiūtė, I., Okunevičiūtė-Neverauskienė, L. (2018). Social enterprises and their ecosystems. Country Report. Lithuania. Available at: https://bit.ly/3ndtiep. Accessed on 25-07-2020. 9. Rusteikienė, A., Pučėtaitė, R. (2015). Socialinis verslas kaip darniųjų inovacijų kūrimo laukas [Social Business as a Field for Creating Sustainable Innovations]. In Pučėtaitė, R., Novelskaitė, A., Pušinaitė, R. (Eds.). Organizacijų etika, novatoriškumas ir
darniosios inovacijos [Organizational Ethics, Innovativeness and Sustainable Innovations]. Vilnius:
Akademinė leidyba, pp. 148 – 163. 10. Skurdas ir socialinė atskirtis Lietuvoje 2019 [Poverty and social exclusion in Lithuania], Lithuanian Anti Poverty Network. Available at: https://www.smtinklas.lt/metine-skurdo-ir-socialines -atskirties-apzvalga/. Accessed on 14-10-2020.
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DIGNITY HOME: taking another perspective
Resources Paper & pen for notes; a few chairs
Raimonda Agnė Medeišienė
Aim
Notes for Teacher
To experience another perspective through the role taken.
About Dignity Home
Learning Outcomes
Dignity Home is a home for independent living, where no one regulates the lives of seniors, but there is always someone to help whenever it is needed.
Learning Areas
The Dignity Home apartment building consists of four 27m2 apartments and a common hall, where everyone can meet, communicate and engage in their favourite activities. It is well designed and adjusted to the needs of elderly people: located on the ground floor, the entrance is without stairs. There is a polyclinic, food market, pharmacy and public transport stop nearby.
Human Rights People Management Negotiation Complex Problem Solving
Situation Social Skills
Empathy Story-telling
After the first year of piloting the founder realised that elderly people in Lithuania are afraid to agree on long term living in the apartments. The reasons for this are very different, e.g. fear of long-term commitment, disagreement by the children.
Respect for other views of reality Deepen awareness about the importance of focus and tention
The Model of the Dignity Home services
The senior has real estate property / housing
The housing remains her property but is rented
The senior lives in Dignity Home
Her living here is paid by the money from the rental of her own property
The senior’s entire pension remains at her disposal
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About the task The aim of this task is to create a verbal story (narrative) to understand emotional reasons of possible tensions and miscommunication between seniors, their children and representatives of Dignity Home. A significant part is allocated to the teacher as a person who takes a Teacher-in-role character. It does not usually involve the practitioner acting but does require conviction and the adoption of an attitude that can be shown in action. Teacher-in-role is a major convention which allows the teacher to challenge, support and develop the session. In this session the teacher should take the role of a representative of Dignity Home, and be prepared for Mom/Dad role in some groups. Short guidelines on what is important to express are provided next to the task description. The main point is empathy. The use of artefacts always helps for fast “jumping” into a character, e.g. a briefcase with documents to signify a representative of Dignity Home; a nice necklace and/or scarf as a sign of Mom. This session offers several situations and multiple roles. Students are invited to complete the content of briefly-described situations and roles based on their experiences and observations. Students’ empathy and ability to believe in given circumstances will determine the success of the session. The teacher’s interaction and role taking will help students fulfil their roles. Ability to believe in circumstances given is the phrase from actor training, common with “what if …” What if I am old and lonely now? What if I am asked to move from my room, where each single thing talks to me? How do I usually talk to Mom/Dad being far away – Phone/Skype/WhatsApp? Video or audio call? How close am I to my Mom/Dad? How would I talk to my Mom/Dad trying to convince one of them to move to Dignity Home? What is my main reason for this? What is behind my words? By answering these questions, you can feel empathy, build up relations and create the whole picture, which can be contracted and captured into a short dialogue.
Step 1
Time: ~10 min.
Task No. 1 The teacher invites the group to read the Dignity Home case description, find and mark the basic info needed: Vision and Mission. Goal. Target group. Innovativeness of organisation. Problems. The session is going to focus on the following problem: After the first year of piloting the founder realised that elderly people in Lithuania are afraid to agree on long term living in the apartments. The reasons for that are very different, e.g. fear of long-term commitment, disagreement by the children.
Step 2
Time: ~5 min.
The teacher asks the students to mingle in a group of 3–5 and presents the topic: Son/Daughter lives far from Lithuania. He/she is worried that Mom/Dad stays alone and no help will be available in the case of emergency. The idea of Dignity Home sounds logical: Mom/Dad will live among similarly-aged people and will be under the supervision of doctors if needed.
Step 3
Time: ~10 min.
Task No 2 Now is time for role play. The following roles need to be taken in each group: 1. Son/Daughter 2. Mom/Dad (Teacher-in-role: according to the needs) 3. Representative of Dignity Home (Teacher-in-role) All members of the group help create roles and story.
24 Step 4
Time: ~10-15 min.
1. Preparation for the monologue of Son/Daughter – Scene No. 1 Son/Daughter talks of how he/she cares about his/her elderly Mom/Dad, why Dignity Home services sound to be a perfect option. Audience have to understand: - where does Son/Daughter live; - what is the reason to worry about Mom/Dad; - where Mom/Dad lives. 2. Preparation for the monologue of Mom/Dad – Scene No. 2. Mom/Dad talks about his/her current life, relationship with the children and expectations of them. Options: - Mom/Dad lives in the countryside; - Mom/Dad lives in a town or city.
Step 5 Performing Scene No. 1 Time depends on the number of groups. Duration of one monologue ~ 2 min Son/Daughter of each group delivers the monologue sitting on a chair in front of the whole audience. The teacher can ask additional questions if this could help highlight the character or situation.
Step 6 Performing Scene No. 2 Time depends on the number of groups. Duration of one monologue ~ 2 min Mom/Dad of each group delivers the monologue sitting on a chair in front of the whole audience. The teacher can ask additional questions if this could help highlight the character or situation.
Step 7 Performing Scene No. 3 Time depends on the number of groups. Duration of one dialogue ~ 5 min Phone/Skype/WhatsApp talk with Mom/Dad. Son/Daughter introduces the Dignity Home option, explaining how this service works. The options for Mom/Dad: -to say a strong “No”; -to be doubtful; -to try to not strongly oppose the Son/Daughter; -to use all options described above. Son/Daughter says that it has already been agreed that the representative of Dignity Home will come tomorrow for a talk with Mom/Dad. The conversation could contain at least 3 rational or emotional arguments pro and contra from both sides. Some reasons which may help understand why an elderly person doesn’t want to move to Dignity Home: - My whole life is here. All my memories (the purpose is to come up with memories that would be effective for the audience, such as children’s height tags at the kitchen door; furniture inherited from the great-grandparents’ house; the list can be extended based on the participants’ own experience). - My pets. - A bench on which I sit in the shade. - My wife’s/husband's clothes in the wardrobe. - I live as an independent person. Why do I have to move? - If I let strangers into my house, it will no longer be my home. - I can leave my home for the heating season only.
25 Step 8
Step 11
Preparation for the meeting with the representative of Dignity Home at the elderly person’s home. Time ~ 10 min. Suggestions for creating the scene:
Reflection
the representative is in a hurry, because two more visits are scheduled today; the representative is empathetic, pays a lot of time and attention to the potential client. N.B. both options can be good or bad equally. The conversation could contain the following topics:
Time: ~10 min.
Students are asked to answer the following questions: Which part of this session turned out to be interesting? Why? Did I hear some unexpected ideas from my colleagues? Did I surprise myself in some way?
What questions can be asked during this meeting?
Teachers are asked to answer the following questions:
What kind of logic motives may sound interesting for an elderly person?
Did the students surprise me in a positive way during this session?
What kind of emotional motives could impress a potential Dignity Home client?
Did the students surprise me in a less positive way during this session?
Step 9 Performing Scene No. 4 Meeting with the representative of Dignity Home at the elderly person’s home. Time depends on the number of groups. Duration of one dialogue ~ 5 min. After this meeting Mom/Dad of each group should make her/his final decision.
Step 10 Performing Scene No. 5 Mom/Dad talks with Son/Daughter (Phone/Skype/WhatsApp) and announces his/her final decision regarding Dignity Home. Time of one talk~ 2 min.
Did this session give me some inspiration for my further thinking?
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Eeva Toivanen, The Finnish Association of Social Enterprises, ARVO
Icehearts SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Organisational background
Societal need
Icehearts is a non-profit social enterprise working to prevent youth social exclusion in Finland. Icehearts is an additional support system to municipalities’ social services that accompanies the child for up to 12 years. The idea of Icehearts is to provide a safe adult, the Icehearts educator, and the support of a team to children and youth who are at greatest risk of dropping out of school and later social exclusion. It is estimated that one Icehearts team of 25 children can save up to €2.8m of public money.
The number of children (under 18 years old) taken into custody in Finland has risen by 3% annually in 2000–2014. Children in the identified risk groups do not receive the help and support needed to prevent more intensive social services in time. The services are often scattered and fragmentary and no-one has the overall responsibility for the child’s situation. This increases the risk of ending up in foster care and social exclusion, even though with the right support a different path would be possible.
Vision Icehearts wants all children to have equal opportunities to grow up to become well-adjusted adults. Their vision is that children and youth grow up to be active community members who are also able to generate well-being amongst others.
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A seven-year old boy refuses to go to school. The first half of his first grade has been full of fist fights, bullying, low grades and notes from the teacher saying the boy can’t focus during classes and is disturbing others. The boy’s mother is a single parent and doesn’t know what to do. She has tried everything but can’t get the boy out of his bed in the mornings anymore. The mother works long hours and can’t be there to watch over her child all the time. Her younger son needs her attention too. Social workers are observing the situation and are considering taking the boy into custody if he keeps not showing up at school. The boy is referred to an Icehearts team.
Goals The primary goal of the Icehearts programme is that at the end of their Icehearts path, the young participants have passed elementary school and continue to secondary education. Studies show that passing elementary school with accepted grades significantly decreases the risk of social exclusion.1 Another goal is that a confidential relationship develops between the child and the Icehearts educator and that Icehearts activities and the support from the educator secure and support the growing of the child.
In addition to the programme goals there are individual goals for each Icehearts participant. These sub-goals have been identified to support the achieving of the primary goals listed above. Each of them has to be measured and monitored as a part of the overall impact measurement.
School attendance Improving of social skills Fluent running of the family’s everyday life Decrease in the need of social services Functional connection between parents and the educator
‘One of the strongest experiences for me was that the educator didn’t just listen, he heard me. He never judged me right away, but always gave me the chance to tell my side of the story. He understood and supported me even if I had done something stupid. The educator managed to see things from my perspective.’
Decrease in the need of unplanned social services Participation in the Icehearts-activities
Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. Syrjäytyminen ja syrjäytymisen
Former Icehearts participant, now 22 years old
2
riskitekijät. Available at: https://bit.ly/311F1nh. Accessed on 17-08-2020
Icehearts blog. Available at: https://www.icehearts.fi/otteita-iceheartsin-arjesta-3-4-lasten-nakokulma/. Accessed on 17-08-2020
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Resources
Actions
One Icehearts team costs about €50,000 per year. Funding channels are diverse: some teams get funding from private foundations and philanthropists, many from municipalities and a few from a Social Impact Bond (SIB – see more about SIBs on pages 30-31). Municipality partnerships are the ones that Icehearts seeks to form first. The problem with these is that municipal budgets usually cover 1–2 years, while the Icehearts intervention lasts 12 years. Municipal budgets are also quite bureaucratic and fragmented: each sector (education, social services, sports) has its own budgets and procedures and Icehearts has to negotiate with them all. When a partnership with a municipality is not an option or fails, Icehearts raises the team funding from foundations and other private sources.
Icehearts is a child welfare services preventive programme that lasts for up to 12 years. An Icehearts team of about 25 children is put together in multi-professional cooperation with pre-school, school and social service professionals when the children are six years of age. The selected children are identified to be at risk of intensive social services and marginalisation and often come from areas where social problems accumulate. The child’s caregivers ultimately decide if the child will participate in the team activities and accept the offered support.
A key resource in the Icehearts model are professional and committed educators. The Icehearts model requires exceptionally long and intense commitment from the employees. They have to be available for the children and their families outside office hours and for up to 12 years. The educator’s job is full-time and all educators are professionally qualified to work with children and youth (having a degree in a relevant study area, for example social work). Educators receive mentoring and support from Icehearts’ central organisation but in their everyday work their closest colleagues are teachers and other school professionals. Not everyone can be an Icehearts educator, so finding the right people is a key to the success of the model.
Icehearts blog. Available at: https://www.icehearts.fi/otteita-iceheartsin-arjesta-2-4-vanhempien-nakokulma/. Accessed on 17-08-2020
The teams are led by committed, trained, professional educators who support the team’s children for 12 years, from first days of school to the edge of adulthood. The team’s educator is an unofficial “case manager” for the child and is there to help with school, social services, career choices and everyday life. The educator takes part in meetings concerning the well-being of the child when necessary. The educator works closely with social, health and educational services. The central goal of the educator is to support the child and their family to lead a good everyday life and build hope for the future. The educator is the person on whom the child and their family can always call.
‘For us the educator is like a family member. Such an important source of support. I am a single parent with two sons, the younger one with ADHD and Asperger’s diagnoses. The Icehearts educator has given me not only mental but also very concrete support. He has sat beside me in countless school meetings and encouraged me when I needed it the most.’ Mother of an Icehearts child3
Icehearts uses team sports as a part of the support system offered to the participating children and youth
29 ‘Now that I’m older, I have come to realise how important it was that I got a hobby. Sports carried me and gave me the opportunity to have support and safety from my teammates. Also the trips to amusement parks and abroad were a significant thing to a child from a single-parent family. We couldn’t have afforded them without Icehearts. These things gave me the feeling that the world belonged also to me.’ Former Icehearts child, now 22 years old4
In addition to the educator’s individual support for each child and their family Icehearts provides meaningful activities for the children in the form of team sports. The team is a place to form friendships, support the development of social skills and offer a sense of belonging. Doing sports regularly also enhances physical well-being. Icehearts was founded in 1996. In 2020 there are 46 teams in 13 municipalities in Finland. Each team is led by an Icehearts educator who works in his/her position full-time (40 hours per week is the length of full work-week in Finland).
Outcomes
Societal impact
Icehearts has been developing systemic measuring systems to follow the outcomes of the programme annually during the 12-year period. Every goal listed in the “goals” section above is being measured. Measuring tools are for example: questionnaires conducted with the children, their parents, teachers and social workers, descriptions of meetings by the educator, data from school (attendance, behaviour, success in school etc.) According to the impact evaluation done in 2016 the Icehearts programme has increased the self-esteem and empathy skills of the children. They also reported to have more friends and doing better in school.
It has been calculated that one Icehearts team saves up to €857,000 of public money in the cost of social services. The savings become visible after 10 years (from starting in the Icehearts team) when the youth successfully move to secondary education. Studies show that the Icehearts intervention halves the number of NEET (not in employment, education or training) youth. When considering this, the savings for society can be up to €2.8m in total per team.
Icehearts blog. Available at: https://www.icehearts.fi/otteita-iceheartsin-arjesta-3-4-lasten-nakokulma/. Accessed on 17-08-2020
As important an impact as the savings is that the children grow up to be well-adjusted adults able to generate well-being amongst others. The Measures of Good – research project identified key impact factors of Icehearts that are crucial in generating the positive impact: Long-lasting confidential relationship with a safe adult
The boy we started with has now finished 9th grade (last grade of elementary school in Finland) and will start studying to become an electrician. After he started in the Icehearts team he slowly started opening up. It took time for the educator to gain the boy’s trust, but when it happened the educator was able to help the boy to do better in school and end fighting with other children. Together they found out that the boy was really good with technology and learned best by experimenting in practice. One of the former fist fight opponents became the boy’s best friend and together they formed a power duo in the Icehearts football team. The threat of foster care is no longer present. The mother has reconnected with her child and is able to handle him better.
The sense of belonging arising from the team Diverse individual and team activities that take place near the child and their normal living environment The Icehearts model requires the employees to commit to the job for an exceptionally long time. They also have to be available for the children outside normal office hours.
Bonus Watch a short film about the impact of the Icehearts model (English subtitles available on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6HWIOFqNhU
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Context comments
Non-profit association – social enterprise? Icehearts is a registered association which is a common legal form of social enterprises in Finland. It started as a sports team with a social mission and has slowly grown to be a national welfare actor. The organisation is formed by the national umbrella association and local associations. The national level takes care of administrational, financial, HR and PR functions whereas the local organisations take care of the actual running of the teams. Administrative costs are funded by STEA, the Finnish Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations Icehearts works locally with municipalities. The local social work officers point out the areas and schools where they think Icehearts could help. The arrangements in school, such as the presence of the educator at classes, are done in close cooperation with local officials. The municipality is also a partner in providing facilities for after-school activities.
Who is the customer? One Icehearts team costs about €50,000 per year. It is not very expensive compared with the savings it can offer to society, up to €857,000 per team. Still, someone needs to pay for it: the salary of the educator, facilities and equipment needed for the activities etc. A municipality can buy the Icehearts programme for their area. In this model the municipality agrees to pay for the team for a set number of years, which is usually one or two. In this case the local parliament decides annually/every two years if they will continue the agreement or not. Municipality partnerships are the primary funding model for Icehearts but are not without challenges. Municipalities usually divide their budgets into sectors such as education, health care, social services, sports etc. The Icehearts model operates simultaneously on at least three different sectors (education, social work, sports) and often the local association has to apply for funding from multiple different sectors and sometimes one sector refuses to grant funds because the same organisation can’t receive support from more than one sector. The impact of the Icehearts model is based on its duration (12 years) and widespread activities. The child in need gets support from the same, safe adult in many areas of their lives and this is a large part of the effectiveness of the model. Ironically these benefits of the model often also form the biggest challenges when it comes
to funding (from municipalities). Another branch of funding is foundations and private philanthropists who donate to Icehearts. In this model the donor can pay for anything from one year up to 12 years. In conclusion the actual “customer” who gets the service, the child in need, never has to pay for the programme themselves. Icehearts has also been a service provider in one of the first Social Impact Bonds in Finland. This is a tool of funding that you will learn more in the next page.
Social Impact Bonds (SIB) – what are they? SIBs are a form of outcomes contracting where outcomes payers, investors and service providers come together. These three (each can have one or more individual actors) groups create an impact bond where the outcomes payer (often governmental actor) identifies a thematic social issue, such as youth social exclusion, that needs tackling. In Finland SIBs have focused on preventive action among identified risk groups, so that the social issue would never even develop to a full (and expensive) social problem. Thus the outcomes payer will also calculate the cost of preventing the social problem from developing. In other words, the savings in public funds in the cost of social and health services if, for example a large group of youth in the identified risk groups would never become tax-paying citizens. The outcomes payer also defines the desired outcomes of the intervention that the SIB is going to be formed for. What needs to change in the life of the beneficiaries (e.g. the youth at risk of social exclusion)? But it is notable that the outcomes payer does not define how the outcomes should be reached. That is up to the service providers responsible for the actual intervention in the beneficiaries’ lives. This approach makes SIBs significantly different from, for example, traditional public procurement, where the public buyer describes in detail how the services should be arranged. SIB leaves a lot more flexibility and space for continuous development for the service provider – if the service model does not seem to deliver the results wanted, the service provider can make alterations and change the service, as long as the impact goal stays the same.
31 The last part of the trio are investors that provide funding for the service provider. The return on the investment is based on whether the desired outcomes are achieved. The investors can be foundations, NGOs, banks, corporates or other private investors. In Finland the first SIBs have been mainly foundations and large corporate funders. If the desired outcomes are achieved, the outcomes buyer, in the Finnish case the public sector, pays return on investment to the investor. In the end, the public sector will save money in the cost of social and health services that will not be used because of the intervention. In Finland, SIB as an instrument of outcomes contracting has been tested in two projects, one for promoting occupational wellbeing in the public sector and the other for the rapid employment of immigrants. Projects currently underway focus on providing access to employment for the long-term unemployed, on preventing the placement of children in foster care, and on preventing the exclusion of young people.6 Icehearts is one of the service providers in the SIB for preventing the placement of children in foster care.
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland
Icehearts uses team sports as a part of the support system offered to the participating children and youth
Benefits from the SIB model SIBs are especially useful in supporting preventive action. Preventive services, that usually intervene in a very early stage of the possible development of a social problem, are traditionally not seen as very attractive investment targets. Traditional investors might be seeking a short-term profit or predictable return on investment. An SIB is a good option for an investor seeking social return on their investment and who is interested in the actual impact their money will help produce. For the service provider SIB helps control the financial risks because in this model the provider does not have to carry all the risks if the desired outcomes are not achieved. SIB is a great way of funding for especially social enterprises that work with preventive services and are willing to work on impact development and modelling. For the outcomes payer, in Finland the public sector, SIB is a great way to buy outcomes and increase the impact of public procurement. SIB is also a tool to increase the amount of private equity in the social business field.
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Teaching Note
In the Measures of Good project, run by ARVO, the aim was to provide the best tools to measure societal impact. The project developed the impact chain which in itself is not a tool that would measure impact directly but is a great way to develop, plan and evaluate the social impact of an organisation.
The Impact Chain of Measures of Good – create your own
In the Measures of Good project, run by ARVO, the aim was to provide the best tools to measure societal impact. The project developed the impact chain which in itself is not a tool that would measure impact directly but is a great way to develop, plan and evaluate the social impact of an organisation.
IMPACT
SOCIETAL NEED
VISION OUTCOMES GOAL(S) ACTIONS RESOURCES
When using the impact chain one must carefully think of each of the pieces and then write down the answers to at least these questions: societal need
vision
goal(s)
resources
What societal challenge are we talking about? What is the risk of exclusion in question? Who does it touch?
What is our overall aim? What has changed when the need in question has been met?
What kind of changes in target groups’ lives are we aiming at? What results must there be in order to enable the vision?
What are the resources needed to reach the goals? Where is the investment targeted?
actions
outcomes
impact
What actions are the resources used for? How much, what, to whom? How and why are these actions leading to changes in target groups’ lives?
What are the outcomes of the actions? What has changed in target groups’ activities? What are the metrics to prove the changes?
What do he reached outcomes mean in the long run compared with the original need? What are the financial and wellbeing outcomes and to whom?
Teaching question Choose an organisation that aims to have societal impact. Then write down the impact chain of that organisation using the questions above.
Other teaching points: How could the Icehearts model be scaled? Icehearts is now partly philanthropy, partly social business. How could it be transformed to business that would not depend on donations?
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References
Further reading
1. Measures of Good: Impact Evaluation of Icehearts Model, final report. (2016). Nordic Healthcare Gorup. Available at: https://bit.ly/3cYuu0D. Accessed on 06-06-2020.
1. Tykkyläinen, S. (2019). Growth for the Common Good? Social Enterprises’ Growth Process. LUT University.
2. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland (TEM): SIB projects. Available at: https://tem.fi/en/sib-projects. Accessed on 06-06-2020. 3. Measures of Good project. Available at: www.hyvanmitta.fi. Accessed on 06-06-2020. 4. Kotiranta ja Widgrén (2015). Esiselvitys yhteiskunnallisesta yrittämisestä. Katsaus yhteiskunnallisiin yrityksiin ja vaikuttavuussijoittamiseen Suomessa. ETLA. 5. Hilli, P., Ståhl, T., Merikukka, M., Ristikari, T. (2017). Syrjäytymisen hinta – case investoinnin kannattavuuslaskenta. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 82 (6): 663–675. 6. Kyösti, A., Airaksinen, J. (2020). Hyvinvointipalveluiden tulevaisuus risteyskohdassa – kohti vaikutusten hankintaa?
Itlan raportit ja selvitykset 2020:2. Available at: https://bit.ly/3cW32QW. Accessed on 12-06-2020.
2. Kataja, K. , Ristikari, T., Paananen, R., Heino, T., Merikukka, M., Gissler, M. (2014). Huono-osaisuuden ylisukupolviset jatkumot eri perustein kodin ulkopuolelle sijoitettujen lasten elämässä [ Intergenerational transfer of wellbeing problems among children placed in out-of-home care]. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 1: 38-45. 3. TEM working group. Yhteiskunnallisen yrityksen toimintamallin kehittäminen. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön julkaisuja 4/2011. Available at: https://bit.ly/34rWMNb 4. Russell, S., Pattiniemi, P. Koivuneva, L. (2014). A Map of Social Enterprises and Their Eco-Systems in Europe. Country report: Finland 2014. Available at:
https://bit.ly/3ldIG8Q. 5. Kostilainen, H. (2019). Social Enterprises and their Ecosystems in Europe. Country report: Finland 2019. Available at: https://bit.ly/30zie1p. 6. Fraser, A., Tan, S., Lagarde, M., Mays, N. (2016). Narratives of promise, narratives of caution: A review of the literature on social impact bonds. Social Policy & Administration, 52 (1): 1–25. 7. Albertson, K., Fox, C., O´Leary, C., Painter, G. (2020). Towards a Theoretical Framework for Social Impact Bonds. Nonprofit Policy Forum. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2019-0056.
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Mari Kooskora, Estonian Business School Katri-Liis Reimann, Tallinn University
SCULT SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Background Inactivity levels are growing and the number of sport volunteers is diminishing in Europe. Passive models and campaigns promoting physical activity and sports for all have their limits. Therefore, Europe needs and deserves innovative and radical, but simple, more authentic and engaging, scalable models to solve this growingly important complex challenge. World Sport Volunteers Movement SCULT has a creative solution. Sport is the most attractive field for volunteering, in which over 30 million adults plus young volunteers in the EU take part either occasionally or regularly. For example, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic games had about 70,000 sport volunteers nicknamed as Game Makers or Runners. However, the area of sport volunteering is relatively chaotic with many challenges – one of them being the fluctuating quality of voluntary work and information asymmetry between the sport event organizers/sport clubs and potential volunteers. These challenges are common across cities and countries and in the case of both local and big international sport events. As the sport industry relies heavily on volunteers (in Finland
199 out of 200 people related to sport clubs and events are volunteers) and their number differs from country to country at times, their activation would ultimately lead to more active and healthier societies in Europe and globally. The SCULT team is solving these social challenges by using best experiences from the start-up as well as the technology world.
Vision and Mission The vision of SCULT is to build lifelong physically active and community-oriented lifestyles and alleviate the social and economic burden of physical inactivity. Its mission is to facilitate the matchmaking and communication between volunteers and sport event organizers through business model innovation in the field of sport volunteering. The central element of the organization is an international sport volunteers movement it develops and related services like the matching solution for sport event organizers and volunteers.
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SCULT is a Social Enterprise (legally Foundation) that coordinates the activities of International Sport Volunteers Movement and connects bright-eyed volunteers at all ages, sport event organizers and sport clubs, locally and internationally. SCULT is a network-based organization uniting individuals and organizations passionate about healthy lifestyle, sport and/or working in the physical activity sector, it is connecting bright-eyed volunteers at all ages, sport event organizers and sport clubs locally and internationally. On the one hand, SCULT is a social movement that promotes voluntary activity, on the other hand, technological solutions and services are being developed that will help sports volunteers to find volunteers for sporting events and events, both locally and internationally. The model capitalizes upon transparent and active volunteer communities, and uses smart solutions to facilitate the matchmaking and communication between volunteers and sport event organizers. The focus of SCULT is to scale the model internationally. SCULT Academy is dedicated to today’s and tomorrow’s sport volunteers and their managers. The sport and physical activity sector relies heavily on volunteers. Without them, most activity simply would not happen. As a social enterprise SCULT: 1. resolves social/societal challenge, namely solving the quality problems, creating opportunities, and developing leaders and tools for the sports volunteering. 2. has so-called ‘multiple revenue streams’ or multiple cash flows and a direct customer does not pay the bill. The revenue sources are (a) all kinds of funds; (b) corporate partners interested in expanding to a region/country); (c) services for organizing sports events 3. uses business principles to solve a societal challenge, including a scalable service and business model. By dedicating their time, energy, and expertise, they will help to make a positive impact on the lives of many people.
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Goals
Activities
The goal of the SCULT Foundation is to promote sports, exercise and health, to promote the international movement of sports volunteers, to participate in the work of sports and health clubs, to protect and license the trademark SCULT through the management and effective use of funds. SCULT relies heavily on advanced technological knowledge and innovation drawn from the team’s previous experiences at Skype, Sportlyzer, Let’s Do It World Clean-up Foundation, SmartCap Venture Capital, Junior Chamber International, etc.
One of the main activities is Internationalization of the Sport Volunteers Movement SCULT. It develops services like the matching solution for sport event organisers and volunteers. In order to do so, it develops technologies, carries out research and development activities and other necessary activities. SCULT co-operates in its fields of activity and exchanges information with other non-profit associations, foundations and associations, educational institutions as well as other legal entities. It organizes networking conferences to motivate, activate and educate stakeholders from all over the world. SCULT Academy is dedicated to today’s and tomorrow’s sport volunteers and their managers.
The word SCULT is associated with, and its DNA is drawn from, three words: sport, culture and cult. SCULT alleviates the social and economic burden of physical inactivity through business model innovation in the field of sport volunteering. The ambition of SCULT is to create a successful 21st century sport lifestyle social enterprise that delivers socio-economic effects to the cities, countries and regions involved. Through increased sport volunteering and grassroots sport SCULT aims to improve social inclusion through sport activities, supports gender equality in sport, and highlights the importance of health-enhancing physical activity.
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Achieving its Goals
To achieve its goals, SCULT: initiates and carries out projects, programs, campaigns and activities; acts as a competence center;
to achieve its objectives and earn financial resources participates in the activities of different legal entities; receives and uses property, grants and donations from individuals and legal entities;
develops technologies, carries out research and development activities and other necessary activities;
issues scholarships, prizes, awards and grants;
co-operates in its fields of activity and exchange information with other non-profit associations, foundations and associations, educational institutions as well as other legal entities;
carries out other activities consistent with the purpose.
cooperates internationally;
Resources and projects SCULT has so-called ‘multiple revenue streams’ or multiple cash flows and a direct customer does not pay the bill. The revenue sources are funds from grant programs and corporate partners. SCULT is an organization in the start-up phase, it still constantly develops its organization and services. In 2016, the focus was on developing and launching the organizational activities, and developing partnerships. In 2017, mainly team development took place, and also volunteering at various sports events, and assisting volunteers was done. In 2018 and 2019 besides core activities different new partnerships were developed: SCULT participated in calls for proposals and represented the field of volunteers at various international conferences and information days.
The purpose of the Interreg Central Baltic YOUTH SPORT VOL Project is to provide ‘Better Access to Labor Market for Young Unemployed Through Cross-Border Sport Volunteers Model in Estonia and Finland’. The project aims to increase the social inclusion of young unemployed and improve their access to the labor market through development and piloting the cross-border sport volunteers model in Estonia and Finland. Through voluntary work, the young unemployed will get work experience in different organizations with people from different nationalities and age groups. This will give young unemployed an important advantage while entering the labor market. This project is supported by €209,995 from the European Regional Development Fund.
SCULT is one of the few organizations awarded the Erasmus+ Sport Grant for the years 2017–2018. The project is focused on Internationalization of the Sport Volunteers Movement SCULT. During the project, SCULT intends to adapt its model to the European scale, pooling together at least 25,000 volunteers. They participate in 8 international sport events together with volunteers to validate and promote the SCULT model, and organize two large scale SCULT Fest networking conferences to motivate, activate and educate stakeholders from all over the world. There are five international partners in this project: University College of Northern Denmark (DEN), Lithuanian Sport University (LTU), European Volunteer Centre CEV (BEL), Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (FIN), and Club Tartu Marathon (EST).
The Erasmus+ Youth Project ‘Gaining Experiences from the UK to Develop Sport and Youth Volunteering in Estonia’ is about innovation through knowledge transfer: utilizing experiences from the UK to develop school sport and youth volunteering in Estonia and strengthening ties between the two countries. The aim of the project is to create links between sport, voluntary work, youth work, and school as an organization. School is a place where young people spend much of their time, therefore it shapes their values, affects their mental and physical abilities, and improves wellbeing. The MyPromise Europe project is a creative initiative Boosting Sport Volunteering and Grassroots Sport in Europe, led by the SCULT World Sport Volunteers
38 Movement, where active and sporty people make as volunteers ‘MyPromises’ to bring somebody inactive closer to sport and physical activity. ‘MAKE MY PROMISE – BRING A FRIEND TO SPORT!’ is the slogan of the campaign project in the preparation phase, started in 2019. The main objective of ‘MyPromise Europe’ is to boost sport volunteering and grassroots sport in parallel in Europe, by sporty and active people as new sport volunteers making one-to-one ‘MyPromises’ to bring somebody inactive closer to sports and physical activity. Ideally and in absolute terms, this ‘one-for-one’ approach, where the 1/3 of Europeans who are physically active, would each bring one inactive person closer to sport, would lead us to Europe where 2/3 of its people are physically active, sporty and healthy. During the 2019 project, participants in 10 MyPromise Europe country events in 10 countries make as sport volunteers 3,500 ‘MyPromises’, and via digital media campaigns, additional 7,000 ‘MyPromises’ made to bring inactive people closer to sport and physical activity in 2019. MyPromise.eu technological platform is developed to support the ‘MyPromise’ giving (supply side of the MyPromise model), as well as to count the number of inactive people activated through the promises (demand side of the MyPromise model). To have the widest possible effect, 10 MyPromise Europe country events were planned to take place in parallel to 10 consecutive city marathons in Spring 2019.
Outputs and outcomes The outputs and outcomes of SCULT include increased sport volunteering and grassroots sport, social inclusion through sport, gender equality in sport, and health-enhancing physical activity. Development of overall cross-border sports volunteering is one of the main outcomes of its activities. The volunteering enables unemployed youngsters to gain experiences which makes them more employable in the labor market. SCULT is an organization in the start-up phase, it still constantly develops its organization and services. The main idea is to reduce the number of inactive persons so that each active person will engage an inactive one. The impact is calculated by the number of new members in sport clubs and organisations, more participants and money for sport event organisers, more training groups and work for coaches and mentors, more interest and money from sponsors for sport events, more clients and money for sport product manufacturers, more clients and money for sport service providers, etc. The positive impact can be also calculated by the reduced spending on health care for government. The wider impact is evident by happier and more inclusive and productive society.
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Impact The indirect effects of the activities extend to the society in general. In recent years, it is seen from the crowdsourcing and crowdfunding arena that one-for-one approaches are personal, committing and extremely powerful to make change happen. ‘If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one,’ is famously said by Mother Teresa. SCULT initiatives employ the same philosophy to the growing inactivity and diminishing popularity of sport volunteering problem in Europe. ‘Make MyPromise – Bring A Friend to Sport!’ is used as a motto of the MyPromise project. SCULT blog https://www.scult.org/en/blog contains inspirational stories of volunteers how they, by dedicating their time, energy, and expertise, have helped to make a positive impact on the lives of many people. Some examples from people who have been nominated with SCULT ‘Volunteer of the year’ awards:
‘I volunteer, because my effort gives positive energy to others’ ... ‘Volunteering has given me a lot of experience and life management skills, that’s also why I like to keep volunteering. I have also improved my English and met a lot of new people who I've become friends with. I had the opportunity to travel around Europe and even Australia, where I was an SCULT orienteering coach, a school teacher, a mapper and a volunteer for 7 months last year. So many incredible memories that I will remember for life. I would like to become a sport event manager or a sport organization manager in the future – I think volunteering is at the base of these future opportunities I might get or find, and always a good thing to put in one's curriculum.’ Stefano Raus Source: https://bit.ly/2F0Yko4
‘I volunteer, because I want to be a better person’. Her advice to people who are thinking about volunteering: ‘Just give it a go, and you’ll see the benefits it gives you! Your actions will help an event to succeed, but they will also bring magic to your life, and very strong connections with people!’ Olivia Margain Source: https://bit.ly/30GMjN7
‘I volunteer, because I’m looking for my dream job’. Taking about her experiences she brought out how volunteering has given her lots of experiences, new friends and also much knowledge about event management.’
Aino Lahtinen Source: https://bit.ly/2XHrlM2
‘I volunteer, because I’m having a positive impact on someone’s life!’ When sharing his experiences and speaking about motivation Aled mentioned several motivators ... ‘I volunteer in sport for a number of reasons, it all started because I loved sport and the idea of being able to get a job in sport from volunteering in sport was incredible. Over time, I began to love the fact that I was encouraging others to be physically active and improve their health and well-being, the idea that I am having a positive impact on someone's life is something that motivates me.’ Aled Davies Source: https://bit.ly/2F7qVbw
40 Dr. Ott Pärna, the founder and CEO of SCULT considers the most important values of sports volunteering to be the various social skills that volunteering provides and the social diversity that it supports in many ways. He argues that, although the target group of the Central Baltic Program Youth-Sport-Vol was unemployed young people, people from different social and cultural backgrounds were working side by side at all ages and stages of life. ‘The more different the company, the better’ says Pärna, and adds: ‘The value comes from being able to communicate with each other and thereby broaden the world view, there is a lot of mentoring and other learning from each other.’ There are activities for those sports volunteers who have less physical abilities, for example, young people with visual impairments have unlocked medals at IRONMAN’s triathlon. The social background of young people themselves is very different, some of them learn, some do not learn. For people who have done something for half a day for others, the probability of getting on a ‘wrong path’ is about 80 percent lower, according to different data. Social responsibility and sense of belonging and positive reference groups arise. Pärna says: ‘One of the greatest values in volunteering at sports competitions is that there is no difference between being an athlete, an assistant in logistics, or at different levels in sports – everyone is equal, mutual respect is very high, everybody depends on each
other. ‘One for all, all for one’. One of the golden rules and success factors is definitely a promise – if you have made a promise, you have to adhere to it – other people depend on you, the overall success of a sporting event or the athletic career of some athlete may depend on you.’ This in turn teaches young people a sense of responsibility and tolerance, which in turn enables to understand different organizations and cultures. In addition to learning and teaching the skills that young people need to enter the labor market, it is worth mentioning the activities Youth-Sport-Vol initiative Volunteer support. For example, a 9-meter treadmill for a visually impaired girl was built, which was carried through the 10km race, so that she could pass the runway of the Tartu Running Marathon. SCULT’s efforts to involve young people have not gone unnoticed. For example, to draw attention to social exclusion in a creative way, the desirable recognition was given to the Golden Egg Competition. President Kersti Kaljulaid also recognized the organization with the Year of Volunteer of the Year 2018, and the Tallinn City Government raised SCULT in the Great Action for Young People in Tallinn 2018 competition.
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Teaching Note
This task can be carried out with BA or MA level students or trainees in a social entrepreneurship course.
Social business models
Based on the case of SCULT, the task is to analyze its business model and fill in the canvas. In case of the financial aspects, it is recommended that the participants suggest their ideas how to increase the finances. See the social business canvas model below.
Key Resources
Key Activities
Type of Intervention
Segments
Value Proposition
Customer Value Proposition Impact Measures Customers
Partners & Key Stakeholders
Beneficiaries
Surplus distribution/ investment
Beneficiary Value Proposition
Communication and Relationship Channels to reach your Segments Revenue Structure Cost Structure
Source Business Model Toolbox. Social business model canvas. Available at: https://bmtoolbox.net/tools/ social-business-model-canvas. Accessed on 12-01-2020.
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SCULT: communication in a start-up phase Raimonda Agnė Medeišienė
Resources Phone with internet access; paper + pen for notes; A1 size paper, markers; screen and multimedia for presentations. Optional: suitable music during the group work.
Aim
About the task
To mobilise the energies of the group quickly for developing and presenting brave ideas.
Situation: SCULT is an organisation in the start-up phase. Basically, the task is to create a visual and/or verbal story (narrative) and use it wisely to create meaningful content.
Notes for Teacher
Students are invited to use the tools they are good at, e.g. their phones and various media platforms. However, for completing the task they have to critically evaluate them and use them for clearly defined goals.
About SCULT Vision and Mission The vision of SCULT is to build lifelong physically active and community-oriented lifestyles and alleviate the social and economic burden of physical inactivity. Its mission is to facilitate the matchmaking and communication between volunteers and sport event organisers through business model innovation in the field of sport volunteering.
Goal
Students can be less connected with radio and TV. Nevertheless, it is useful to understand the differences between TV, radio and social platforms, and the differences of reachable TV and radio audience depending on the time of the day. For example, morning time on the radio is expensive as people listen to it in cars and a large and diverse audience can be reached, including the ones who are able to pay. Evening time on TV is also very expensive as evening programmes are more “serious” and attract a more diverse audience while morning time is mostly considered as viewed by housewives. Although YouTube TV, podcasts, archived TV programmes are changing the game, the above described real-time listening/viewing tendency is still strong.
Impact
Students should consider which exact TV channel and radio station is good to be chosen and why, how to use the TV and radio programme material for further start-up advertising and/or promotion. The task offers an opportunity for the students to get better acquainted with the traditional media along with social media. This is done consciously as SCULT aims to connect diverse social groups. Moreover, competition in the information market affects prices, and interesting stories are sought after by any media.
SCULT is an organisation in the start-up phase, still constantly developing its organisation and services.
The main point of this session is to encourage young people to think differently and present the result (narrative) as visually as possible (less written text).
The goal of the SCULT foundation is to promote sports, exercise and health, to promote the international movement of sports volunteers, to participate in the work of sports and health clubs, to protect and license the trademark SCULT through the management, and effective use of funds and funds allocated or donated to the Foundation.
The main idea is to reduce the number of inactive people so that each physically active person will engage an inactive one.
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Step 1
Time: ~10 min.
Step 4
Time: ~30-40 min.
Task No. 1
Group work
Teacher invites the group to read the SCULT case description, find and mark the basic info needed:
Teacher informs which type of media is allocated for each group and distributes the tasks.
Vision and Mission. Goal. Target groups. Main problem.
Group 1
Step 2
Time: ~5 min.
Teacher asks students to mingle in a group of 3–5 (regarding the number of students); should be 4 groups; in the case of a small number of students group No. 4. can be skipped.
Step 3
Time: ~10 min.
Task No 2 Imagine that all of you start a three-month internship in a new and promising socially-driven start-up SCULT. You are divided into groups. Each group is given a task during the internship to use all possibilities of the media assigned to disseminate information about SCULT services, increase the number of regular members, draw more resources and increase public awareness of the organisation. There is no money allocated for that. In some exceptional cases (e.g. a clear brilliant idea and estimated budget) it can be requested by the board, which often means a long procedure. The developed strategy will be presented to the board in 30–40 min. As interns you are motivated by the possibility of being offered a permanent workplace at SCULT.
FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Define the audience each of these media is targeting. Come up with a publicity promotion. What exact information will you place in each platform? How often? Find the precise words, text, visual images, hashtags and keywords. Define groups and/or personalities you offer to follow to reach your goals. Describe expected results. Group 2 Podcast and Radio Show Define the audience each of these media is targeting. What exact information can be given in one show? How many shows are reasonable to plan in a period of 3 months? Which exact podcast is the best for SCULT? Which exact radio show is the best for SCULT? Who is the best speaker on behalf of SCULT in both cases? Describe expected results.
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Step 6
Time: ~10 min.
TV Shows and YouTube Define the audience each of these media is targeting What exact information (content) can be given in a TV show? What exact information (content) can be presented in a YouTube channel? Who is the best speaker or speakers on behalf of SCULT in TV? How many TV shows and YouTube products are reasonable to plan in a period of 3 months? Describe expected results
Students are asked to answer the following questions: Which part of this session turned out to be interesting? Why? Did I hear some unexpected ideas from my colleagues? Did I surprise myself in some way?
Teachers are asked to answer the following questions: Did the students surprise me in a positive way during this session?
Group 4
Did the students surprise me in a less positive way during this session?
Website Define the main audience of the website. Think about content, visualisation, navigation, languages, functions. How often are you ready to update information about SCULT on this platform? How can the content created by the other groups be used wisely? Who and how many people will be working on info update? Describe expected results. Step 2
Reflection
Time: ~40 min.
Presentation Each group has 10 min for presentation. Group No. 4. (website) are the last presenters; the information given by the previous presenters can and should be integrated into the website presentation.
Did this session give me some inspiration for my further thinking?
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Eeva Toivanen, The Finnish Association of Social Enterprises, ARVO
SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Organisational background
Societal need2
SOS Children’s Villages is an international organisation with operations in over 130 countries. The Finnish branch was established in 1962 and today it operates in over ten locations around Finland. They offer different services for underserved families and children, like foster care, family rehabilitation, support families, after care, family work and family partner service. In 2019 they helped almost 1300 children in their services.
Approximately 100,000 children live in vulnerable conditions and almost 19,000 have been placed outside their homes in Finland. Even if Finland has a good variety of public child welfare services, research shows that they do not succeed in meeting the needs of individual families at the right time. A small number of families is using an increasing number of services without the desired outcomes. SOS Children’s Villages Finland started a joint development project with the municipality of Varkaus in 2016. Together they wanted to find out the points where in the service paths intervention would most be needed and what could be done earlier so that the problems would not escalate. They found out that for about 1–2 years the families in need are using about 1–2 welfare services and after this “search period” the number of services escalates up to even six simultaneously in use.
Vision The vision of SOS Children’s Villages is that every child grows up with love, respect and security and has the opportunity to reach his/her full potential. The long-term societal goal is to prevent the children of underprivileged families from inheriting their parents’ situation, prevent the social exclusion of children and youth and thus save public money. It is estimated that by cutting the number of children taken into custody by 20%, €300m of public money could be saved annually. The vision is that youth are supported on their path to adulthood and families are supported until their own wings carry them. Social exclusion is prevented.
SOS Children’s Villages and the city of Varkaus came to the conclusion that the child welfare services are ill-coordinated, don’t discuss with each other and most of all don’t look at the family’s situation as whole. The intervention should start earlier.3
SOS Children’s Villages Finland’s Family partner service is a new (2016) service to families that have multiple challenges in their lives and do not seem to get the help and services they need. The family partner comes to support the family individually with organising and prioritising their social services and everyday life. For the family, the family partner is there to listen and understand. He/she is someone who looks at their situation as a whole and hears their point of view. On the other hand, for the service provider which is usually a local municipality, the Family Partner serves as a link and trust builder between the family and the public officials. Usually the Partner helps the family for 3–6 months. 1
Goals
Resources
The goals of the Family partner service are: Trust in the service system improves in the targeted families and a trustful relationship is formed between the family and family partner. The exact services and support mechanisms will be co-developed with the family and the family’s control of own life and feeling of belonging improves.
Crucial resources are the trained and professional (background in social work) employees who work as family partners. The family partners are working for SOS Children’s Villages Finland but get limited operational access to the municipal officials and their data (social workers, service handlers, certain data etc.). Access to the data and officials is important. The family partner works as a link and navigator between the family and all the different public services. The first family partners in Varkaus are former social workers, so they are already familiar with the public organisation and the service structure.
A family with three children has been using multiple different social services for years. The mother is struggling with severe mental illness and is on unemployment pension, the family is in a debt management programme, the father is in unemployment services and one of their children is diagnosed with ADHD and is entitled to special support. Despite all the services and support directed to them, the family’s situation does not seem to improve. Their problems pile up and the parents feel that trying to navigate with all the different officials and municipal departments takes most of their time and energy. The parents have been told that the officials are considering taking their children into care if their difficulties with everyday life get worse.3
One full-time working (38h/week) family partner can work with approximately 20 families in a year.
In this article the service is addressed in the form it has been used during the pilot phase and later on in the city of Varkaus. The model is slightly modified in other cities and the target groups are a bit different. However the core idea remains the same.
The whole impact chain is quoted from the Measures of Good project Measures of Good: SOS Children’s Village 4 Imaginary story inspired by true customer stories. 3
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47 Funding and the service are arranged in a few different ways in different municipalities (currently the family partner service is operated in 5 municipalities). In Varkaus the service is funded by philanthropic donation from a large Finnish co-operative, Tradeka. In Helsinki, Vantaa, Lohja and Kemiönsaari SOS Children’s Villages family partners service is one of the service providers in a Social Impact Bond (SIB) aimed to prevent child and youth social exclusion. More about SIBs, please see pages 30-31.
Actions5 Municipal officials, often in the social service sector, can recommend the family partner to families they think would benefit from the service. These are usually families that are using multiple different social services (mental health, rehabilitation, economic trouble, child services etc.). The criteria for the service are that the family should show motivation to improve their own situation and willingness to work with the family partner. The family partner service is a 3–6 month intervention where the partner walks alongside the family and supports where needed. The goal is that by getting to know the family’s situation as a whole, the family partner is able to get to the bottom of the family’s problems. The family partner can help the family to decide which services are most helpful and how to organise all their services (and life in general). Parents
Please note that “actions” described here only talk about the organising of the service in the city of Varkaus.
and children can freely talk to the partner about all aspects of life without bureaucracy and fear of negative consequences. Listening, understanding, and reacting to actual needs is key in the success of the family partner. At the same time the family partner helps the public officials to understand the family’s situation better. The partner can give valuable information about the family’s needs to the municipality actors, who then can suggest different services/options to the family. The family partner builds trust and understanding between the families and the public service provider. The partner clarifies the situation to both parties and helps with choosing the right path.
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Outcomes
Societal impact
According to the Measures of Good impact evaluation the family partner improved the customer families’ trust in the service system. The families’ sense of control over their life and sense of belonging have improved. They are more committed to the social services they receive.6
The overall self-reported wellbeing of customer families has improved. With the help of the family partner the family gets the services they need and that increase their wellbeing. Unnecessary and unworkable services are dropped. If the family partner prevents even one child from ending up in foster care the service saves annually €90,000 of public money and is cost-efficient to the municipality.
Measures of Good: SOS Children’s Village 7
The story is imaginary but inspired by true customer experiences.
The Family we started with is slowly but steady improving their situation. The mother goes to therapy and is finally taking the medication she needs. She found just talking with the family partner helpful. She is able to take little more responsibility over the family’s everyday life: taking the trash out, cooking, helping the children in little chores. The father is doing an internship and hoping to get permanently employed after the interning period. With the help and knowledge of the Family partner the family got a part-time nurse to help them at home, so that the children have someone watching over them when the father is at work. The father felt that with the help of the Family partner he could trust that everything at home would be fine while he is attending his internship.7
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Context comments
A combination of a charity and a social enterprise – the organisational and business model of SOS Children’s Villages Finland SOS Children’s Villages in Finland consists of a foundation and a registered association. The foundation is responsible for the actual provision of services in Finland and selected partner countries. The registered association represents civil society and supports the foundation in its work. SOS Children’s Villages has been working in Finland since 1962 and is a member of SOS Children’s Villages International, which is active in more than 130 countries. Headquartered in Helsinki, the foundation has more than 200 employees. The majority of employees work locally supporting children, youth and their families.
Growth as strategic goal needs funding In order to grow their business and thus social impact, SOS Children’s Villages are dependent on new funding. The social enterprise operates in a field where cutting expenses is very difficult: the impact of their work is tied to the professional and careful work of the employees. In Finland human resources are expensive and form the biggest item of expense for nearly all companies and public actors working in the field of health and social services. Other large item of expense are facilities (SOS villages, family centres etc.) and in order to grow their business activities, SOS Children’s Villages would also need to invest in new facilities. Also, the further development of core services requires additional funding.
The business activities consist mainly of selling of services to public actors, mainly local municipalities.
SIBs could be an increasing, important new channel of funding also to SOS Children’s Villages. More about SIBs in pages 30-31.
Main client and target groups
A closer look – Fundraising
Main clients
Target groups
Local municipalieties
Families in need of support Children and youth in need of foster care Youth in need of extended care Underaged refugees entering the country by themselves
The strategic goal is to cover 1/3 of investments through fundraising. The goal is extremely challenging. Compared with, for example, the United States or the United Kingdom, Finland does not have a strong culture of private citizens or companies donating large sums to philanthropy. Finns tend to think that in the welfare state that the country is, it is the state’s responsibility to take care of people in vulnerable situations. Nevertheless, private citizens and companies do make some donations. Below is an example of a successful communications and fundraising partnership.
Funding of activities Current funding sources grants sales of services other (2017) - Sales of services 68% - Fundraising 19% - Grants 2% - Investments 9% - Other sources of revenue 2%
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Case: SOS Children’s Villages Finland and Danske Bank – a partnership that benefits both In 2019 SOS Children’s Villages Finland formed a partnership with the local branch of Danske Bank, the third largest bank in Finland. The same year Danske Bank had started a campaign headlined “Economic peace of mind belongs to everyone”. The core message of the campaign was to encourage all Finns to improve their skills in running their personal economy, know more about ways to save and invest, and in general, talk more openly about money at home, especially with children. For the bank, the campaign was a part of their corporate responsibility work. The bank’s strategy stated that they should be closer and more engaged with the society they operate in and become recognised as a responsible actor. The economic motivation was to introduce their services to new customers. They were looking for a civil society partner to engage with the campaign and came across SOS Children’s Villages. SOS Children’s Villages seemed a good partner because it is a widely appreciated actor who is very familiar with the challenges underprivileged families and children face. Research shows that underprivileged, low-income families have the least skills to organise, manage and plan their economic situation.
‘Our cooperation with Danske Bank enabled us to help more children and youth. With this donation we were able to hire two new family partners for 1.5 years. The family partner model has a proven positive impact and has a potential to help a large group of children and youth. The partner supports, listens and helps with whatever the child or young person feels the most need’ Mikaela Westergård, CEO, SOS Children’s Villages9
‘We wanted to avoid whitewashing and over-optimistic, polished talk about saving the world. We know that one donation or campaign does not end child poverty. But we wanted to do our part in rising discussion over inequalities in economic competences and money talk. We know that getting rich is not possible for everyone, we know that not everyone can invest or save. Our message was that everyone can still learn to manage their own economic situation better and take small steps to improve it. But we need to talk about these issues as a society and bring money talk and skills to all families. That’s where we thought we and SOS Children’s Villages could together do something’
The partnership includes campaigns where the bank and SOS Children’s Villages have jointly spoken about poverty, families’ economic planning and “peace of mind”. The first campaign was launched around Mother’s Day in May 2019. The campaign spoke about the inequalities between newborn children in Finland:
Leena Vainiomäki, Country Manager, Danske Bank Finland8
Interviewed 14.8.2020. 9 10 11
SOS Children’s Villages media statement, January 2020 Danske Bank’s media statement, May 2019 Danske Bank’s media statement, May 2019
51 ‘I was very happy that we could support SOS Children’s Villages work and take our customers and personnel aboard. As a manager I could really see that our Economic peace of mind project and as a part of that helping children with SOS Children’s Villages became really important to our personnel. They felt good that via their work efforts something good could be done. It gave us all a motivation boost. Personally I was really humbled and moved when I heard what and how much SOS Children’s Villages would be able to do with the money we donated. The Family partner model is doing grass-roots work that will actually help families in challenging situations. It is not every day you get to feel that you did something so useful and good. For us in Danske Bank this partnership is a way to show that we don’t just talk, we also act. That’s what corporate responsibility is to me’ Leena Vainiomäki, Country Manager, Danske Bank Finland12
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“Even though Finland is a rich country with relatively small income gaps, every seventh child is born to a family in a risk of falling to poverty. Everyone does not start from the same start line – we want to amplify the public discussion about family poverty and differences in economic starting points.”10 As a campaign act the bank started investment accounts for 10 newborns from underprivileged families located and chosen by SOS Children’s Villages. Together with the accounts the bank promised to make donations to the accounts until the children turn 18. The campaign message was that starting to save and invest with small sums when the children are very young, parents and other close adults can influence the circumstances in which the children enter into adulthood.11 Fall 2019 Danske Bank launched a new identification application intended for their customers. Simultaneously with the launch they promised to donate €1 from each download of the application to SOS Children’s Villages. In January 2020 then Country manager Leena Vainiomäki presented a cheque for €215,050 to SOS Children’s Villages CEO Mikaela Westergård. Together they said that the donation would be used in full to fund the Family partner service.
Interviewed 14.8.2020
From left: SOS Children’s Villages CEO Mikaela Westergård and Communications and fundraising director Leena Poutanen receive a cheque of €215,050 from Danske Bank’s Country Manager Leena Vainiomäki.
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Teaching Note
Could the Family Partner model be transferred to other service areas or business models?
Discuss and Write down ideas
To what and how? What is the potential of scaling?
Discuss
Write
How could social enterprises increase fruitful cooperation with traditional partners?
What, if any, differences are there between doing responsible business and impact business
Are there some advantages in having a social mission that could be used to attract partnerships?
(= responsible, traditional corporation vs. social enterprise)?
Discuss
TIP
How could social enterprises increase fruitful cooperation with traditional partners?
Search with “ESG” and “CSR” from Google to learn more about corporate responsibility.
Are there some advantages in having a social mission that could be used to attract partnerships?
Bonus
Watch a video explaining the societal impact of the Family Partner service (subtitles in English available in YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAtFfBCYHe4
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References and further reading
Further reading
1. Measures of Good – research project’s impact
1. Kataja, K. , Ristikari, T., Paananen, R., Heino, T., Merikukka, M., Gissler, M. (2014). Huono-osaisuuden ylisukupolviset jatkumot eri perustein kodin ulkopuolelle sijoitettujen lasten elämässä [ Intergenerational transfer of wellbeing problems among children placed in out-of-home care]. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 1: 38-45.
evaluation of SOS Children’s Villages Finland’s Family Partner service. Owal group: Vaikuttavuutta
kohtauspinnoilla - SOS-Lapsikylän Perhekumppani -toimintamallin arviointi 8/2019. Available at: https://bit.ly/34v4Eip. Accessed on 20-12-2019. 2. SOS Children’s Villages Finland, Annual report 2018. Available at: https://bit.ly/3hrHtJn. Accessed on 20-12-2019. 3. Heinonen, H., Väisänen, A., Hipp, T. (2012). ”Miten lastensuojelun kustannukset kertyvät?” lastensuojelun keskusliitto ja Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL. Available at: https://bit.ly/31oHsAp. Accessed on 10-09-2020. 4. Danske Bank, Media statement (2019). May 2019. Available at: https://bit.ly/3lgxXv7. Accessed on 12-09-2020. 5. Danske Bank, Media Statement (2020). January 2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/2FUZKRE. Accessed on 12-09-2020. 6. SOS Children’s Villages, Media Statement (2020). January 2020. Available at: https://bit.ly/2Yt3pMQ. Accessed on 12-09-2020. 7. Telephone interview with Leena Vainiomäki 14.8.2020, conducted by Eeva Toivanen.
2. Jokinen, L. kehittämissuunnittelija, SOS-Lapsikylä: ”Vanhemmuuden varhainen tukeminen ja ohjautuminen tuen piiriin Asiakasymmärrys kolmesta kunnasta Keski-Suomessa”. SOS-Lapsikylän oma raportti. Available on: https://bit.ly/2Yzo9CN
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Raminta Pučėtaitė, Vilnius University Rasa Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, Vilnius University Aurelija Novelskaitė, Vilnius University
Workshops of Treasures SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Societal need for this social business Although the Law of Social Enterprises (2004) in Lithuania offers financial benefits to the so-called work integration social enterprises (WISE) which employ disabled people, the unemployment of people with learning disabilities is a severe problem in society. According to statistical data of 2017 from the Department for the Affairs of the Disabled under the Ministry of Social Security and Labor of the Republic of Lithuania,¹ there were more than 10 thousand disabled people registered in the Labor Exchange. From these, around 800 disabled people are sent to professional training and 76% find employment. Around 190 social enterprises of disabled people employ 8,000 disabled people. This costs the state over €3m and prompts a search for more effective ways of integrating disabled people into the labor market, providing them with professional skills, strengthening their self-dependence and ensuring dignity of life.
Disabled people’s needs are not properly met by public services: mostly public (social) services will assist the family members in getting some counselling and social workers’ help in meeting household needs. However, public services are not aimed at developing the skills of self-dependence of people with learning disabilities and fail to build their social inclusion. In particular, in less urban communities people tend to think that people with learning disabilities should live in ghettos.² Also, there is a gap in social services for such disabled adults having a higher self-dependence level, who need meaningful activities in a sheltered work place, which is “more than a day center”. Vocational schools are not ready to welcome people with learning disabilities and provide them with professional skills. So, they just sit at their desks during theoretical lessons and daydream. Or they start attending a day-care center day after day and become more dependent on the system and social workers. Finally, in society there is a strong belief that disabled people are those who get something from society, e.g., social benefits, whatever they are called, pension, allowance, donations etc. But these people want and can give a lot to society! Thus, changing attitudes to people with learning disabilities as capable and society-friendly individuals is crucial.
Neįgaliųjų reikalų departamentas prie SADM. Statistiniai rodikliai [Statistic metrics]. Available at: http://www.ndt.lt/statistiniai-rodikliai/ Accessed on 20-01-2020 ² Bakūnaitė, G. (2019). Skandalų purtomų Žiežmarių gyventojai išplatino viešą laišką: vis dėlto šie žmonės yra ne tokie kaip mes [Residents of Žiežmariai in the peak of scandals distributed a public letter: On a second thought, these people are not like us]. Available at: https://bit.ly/3b3Jedk. Accessed on 29-01-2020 L‘Arche International. Together in the mission. Available at: https://www.larche.org/lt/together-in-the-mission. Accessed on 20-01-2020
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Workshops of Treasures is a non-profit organization operating in the periphery and giving an opportunity for people with learning disabilities to learn craft of woodcarving and their families to participate in labour market. It produces functional and decorative wooden items ranging from souvenirs to furniture, shelves, window shutters, benches for religious purposes with ethnic motifs etc. Together with International Betzata community they organize summer camps for young people who participate in workshops together with the people with learning disabilities. In this respect, the enterprise is trying to change public attitudes to disabled people in Lithuanian society which sometimes can be overtly negative and socially excluding.
Vision and Mission
Resources
The organization was founded in 2013 with the mission to celebrate life with people with learning disabilities through work. Their goal is to develop the employees’ skills for self-dependence and ability to work. The organization considers that business is a way to achieve social mission. Six founders of this non-profit organization are people who had prior experience in working with people with learning disabilities and their families, developing skills in carpentry and finance management. In 2019 this organization joined international l’Arche (non-profit) organization “Betzatos bendruomenė” and became part of the global community, sharing the mission of l’Arche to make the gifts of people with learning disabilities known, working together toward a more humane society.
Before founding the organization the core team found some friends and one social organization who lent them money to acquire a piece of land near Vilnius, and with donations from companies and private persons erected a workshop building in 2014, followed by construction of the second workshop in 2016. A German and American Christian foundation and a local company helped greatly to extend the working space. Many different social organizations helped to build and improve the workshop space during workcamps, day activities and volunteering.
‘Support from others is very important for founding social business. I think if we had been just individuals with desire to create out of scratch, we would not have done that much and with this speed. But we had support from Matulaitis social center where I and another person from our organization worked. They gave support to start, there was financial aid, project activities, advice from competent people ... I think this is a circumstance, something bigger that helps to stand on two legs and establish an organization and then lets you be independent. ... Another thing that is very important to me is real property that we own. One of our founders insisted that if we want to be sustainable we must have our own workshops. ’ Vytautė Paškevičiūtė, founder
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Activities
Outputs and outcomes
Workshops of Treasures produces functional and decorative wooden items: their products range from souvenirs to furniture, shelves, window shutters, benches for religious purposes with ethnic motifs etc. These items are produced by employees together with disabled people. In addition, the organization diversifies its activities and organizes, on average, 30 educational activities per year. These include thematic ethnic handicraft workshops for children, young people from daycare centers, other different groups of people, members of the social center Open Community, summer camps with Betzata community, and educational workshops of archaic wooden decorations of windows, which is a particular specialty of the organization, for anyone interested in the craft. Some of these workshops are organized in collaboration with the Neris regional park and volunteers of the Erasmus+ program.
The activities of 9 clients-employees with learning disabilities are coordinated by 3 staff, who have full-time or part-time contracts. The intensity of employment for clients may be chosen: some employees come to work daily, others less frequently (e.g., once a week). The employees are paid a lump sum of support (stipend) as a salary.
As a social business, the organization has two types of client: one group of traditional business clients from which income is earned; the other group of social or internal clients, i.e., people with learning disabilities who are the focus of the social mission of the business. The clients whose purchases constitute the organization’s income consist of two sources. First, private individuals who own properties in the countryside and buy authentic wooden decorations for their houses. The organization tried to increase its income from sales at an e-shop etsy.com, which specializes in handicraft items, yet this attempt failed. Large construction companies which build wooden houses could also be their client, however, the organization does not have a regular partnership and/or contract with such businesses. Second, the organization sells its educational activities to high schools, kindergartens, daycare centers, and family and youth communities, which are paid from the municipality budget. As the organization’s daily social work with the social clients is not funded by the state (or municipality) the income is not sufficient to earn profits.
The organization reports its results to the donors. The reports are comparatively simple, they include expenditure, the number of participants in the educational activities or workshops, the number of activities, and the number of business deals. From a more qualitative perspective, the coordinators collect workshop participants’ stories testifying how their attitudes to people with disabilities change. In this respect, the unique handicraft decorations which workshop participants take home have social value as they relate with different people. Besides, they believe that they provide meaningful activities to employees with learning disabilities and enable their families to have time for economic and social activities. Their summer camps contribute to the income of local shops, as they try to procure food and services from the community.
Social impact The organization does not yet measure impact of its activities.
Acknowledgement ‘Our activity gives benefit to ourselves, it is our self-realization. To people with learning disabilities, they work, participate, grow. To their families who feel peaceful and safe that their family member is busy, they can participate in their own professional activities, be employed. To other organizations which come here, to children, young people … we care that a generation who is used to, who is not afraid of a different person, who is free, accepting, tolerant would grow.’ Vytautė Paškevičiūtė, founder
The authors are grateful to Vytautė Paškevičiūtė, a founder of Lobių dirbtuvės, for comments on the drafts of the case.
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Context comments Raminta Pučėtaitė, Vilnius University
The organization Workshops of Treasures is a typical case of social business with the status of a non-profit organization in a post-socialist context where social entrepreneurship is at an early development stage. There are two types of social businesses in Lithuania. One type is social enterprises (SEs) which operate on the basis of the Law of Social Enterprises of the Republic of Lithuania (2004) and represent work integration social enterprises (WISE). The Law of SEs defines an SE as an entity that facilitates integration of socially excluded groups, e.g., disabled people, single parents raising children under 8 years of age, the long-term unemployed etc., into the labor market, and distinguishes two types of SE depending on the target group of socially integrated employees, i.e., a social enterprise and a social enterprise of disabled people. The law grants the right for these SEs to receive financial support from the state in the form of subsidies and tax benefits. The status of “social enterprise” can be obtained by an entity of almost any legal form. According to the data from National Labor Exchange, there were 177 SEs de jure at the beginning of 2019. Usually these organizations operate in the non-governmental sector providing low-skill social services. Despite its intentions to facilitate systemic social integration the Law has been criticized for failure to achieve the desired impact (Rusteikienė, Pučėtaitė, 2015; Varnienė, 2018). Although the missions of these organizations in the applications for the status of SE are of a social character, their implicit (and often primary) goal is often economic: social enterprises tend to employ people with minor disabilities who do not have considerable challenges in the labor market anyway to meet the criteria for compensation, offer cheaper services in the market and outcompete other companies in, e.g., public procurement. In most cases, they do not reinvest their profits in innovation, well-being of the target groups or scaling-up of their social impact. The other type of social business in Lithuania is based on a broader definition of social entrepreneurship that can be found in academic literature, e.g., as a process of creating value by combining resources in new ways. These resource combinations are intended primarily to explore and exploit opportunities to create social value by stimulating social change or meeting social needs (Mair and Marti, 2006). This understanding is integrated in one of the
prevailing definitions of social enterprises in Europe, i.e., the European Commission’s Social Business Initiative which defines a SE as an operator in the social economy whose main objective is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for its owners or shareholders. It operates by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion. This concept is embedded in the Decree of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania on the Approval of the Concept of Social Entrepreneurship (2015). Paradoxically, this concept is subordinate to the Law of Social Enterprises, which is based on a narrow understanding of SEs. To promote social business in the country based on a wider understanding, the Decree of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania on the Approval of the Action Plan for Promotion of Social Entrepreneurship in 2015–2017 was passed. This resulted in the amendments to the Decree of Social Entrepreneurship in 2016 which broadened the understanding of SE, defining it as an entity with 1) a social mission which makes a positive impact on society and environment in fields ranging from transportation and logistics, agriculture, tourism etc., to landscape cleaning, preserving the authenticity of Lithuanian culture, civil education etc.; 2) at least 50 percent of income from operations in the market with the aim of earning profits by employing people rather than relying on volunteers; 3) at least 50 percent reinvested profit; and 4) as an enterprise is independent of public or private organizations with other than social goals. Moreover, a bill for amending the Law of social enterprises and recommendations to public institutions about the models of gradual transfer of public services to SEs was developed in 2018. Although these amendments were not passed by the end of the spring session of 2019, the amendments to the Law of Public Procurement would allow the inclusion of social businesses in the group of service providers to which simplified public procurement procedures could be applied. These steps are considered important to improving the eco-system of SEs in general. As there is no special status of social business, their number varies from 30 to 90 by different sources. The forms of these organizations range from non-governmental to private limited liability companies. However, even private companies share some characteristics of non-governmental ones by attempts to change social stereotypes, develop place-based identity of young people, contribute to safer environment of the city, and increase the welfare of families with children etc.
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References
Read more on SEs in Lithuania
1. Decree of the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania on the Approval of the Concept of Social Entrepreneurship (2015). No.
Pučėtaitė, R., Novelskaitė, A., Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, R., Rusteikienė, A., Butkevičienė, E. (2019). Understanding the Role of Social Enterprises in Attaining the Sustainable Development Goals through the Human Capability Approach. The Case of Lithuania. In Implementing the sustainable development goals: what role for social and solidarity economy? UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy. Available at: https://bit.ly/34iBIZb
4-207, 03/04/2015 (amended 29/08/2016, Decree no. 4-533). 2. Law on Social Enterprises of the Republic of Lithuania (2004). No IX-2251, 01/06/2004. 3. Rusteikienė, A., Pučėtaitė, R. (2015). Socialinis verslas kaip darniųjų inovacijų kūrimo laukas [Social business as a field for creating sustainable innovations]. In Pučėtaitė, R., Novelskaitė, A., Pušinaitė, R. (Eds.). Organizacijų etika,
novatoriškumas ir darniosios inovacijos [Organizational Ethics, Innovativeness and Sustainable Innovations]. Vilnius: Akademinė leidyba,
pp. 148 – 163. 4. Varnienė, H. (2018). Socialinių įmonių įstatymas pripažintas kaip sudarantis sąlygas neskaidriam ir neefektyviam lėšų naudojimui [The Law of Social Enterprises is acknowledged as providing conditions for untransparent and ineffective use of finance]. 15min.lt, February 9, 2018. Available at: https://bit.ly/3ncCK1r. Accessed on 10-12-2019.
Teaching Notes Raminta Pučėtaitė, Vilnius University Renata Matkevičienė, Vilnius University Aurelija Novelskaitė, Vilnius University
This teaching perspective could be taken either with a group of social entrepreneurs or undergraduate business students. Typical business models of social enterprises could be discussed to help them see how social enterprises can combine their social and economic missions. The audience could identify and argue which business model Workshops of Treasures has chosen and propose directions for its development/change. Descriptions of business models can be found at: https://bit.ly/3lcjDmi
I
Social business models
Cross-compensation
Payment for the service
Employment and training
Connector
in this business model, one group of consumers pays for the specific social group’s purchases.
SE gets income from customers who pay for their service which is provided to those in need.
SE connects a specific social group and new markets.
Independent help
Cooperatives
SE creates jobs and provides training (craft) to the specific groups. Intermediary: SE sells the products produced by a specific social group in the market under their brand (e.g., “Fairtrade”).
SE provides a service/product to external market that a specific social group cannot reach. Earned income is used to finance social programs (e.g., betterworldbooks.com).
a company or an NGO that belongs to a community provides service to other community members.
Alternative examples on social business models in practice: Alter, K. (2007). Social Enterprise Typology. Available online: https://canvas.brown.edu/courses/1073328/files/6102 8038
60 If the case is analyzed with Master’s students the theory of the ethics of care could be taught alongside with business strategy models.
The article builds the basis for discussing how different stages of care relate to the development of a social business as depicted in Figure 1. This article proposes the idea that social entrepreneurs are caring entrepreneurs and, in this respect, is in line with the case organization which was founded on the basis of Christian virtue of care and the background of some founders and coordinators of the social enterprise in social care. The class discussion can also highlight the difference between social enterprise, for which care is the focus, and traditional enterprise, for which care as an ethical virtue is secondary.
II
Business ethics and business strategy
Recognition of opportunity
Exchange (info, the product is refined, etc.)
A useful resource in this respect is:
CARING ABOUT
TAKING CARE OF
CARE RECEIVING
CARE GIVING
Opportunity filtration
Venture creation
Figure 1. Stages of ethics of care and social business development (Tronto, 1993 op. cit. Andre and Pache, 2016)
Andre, K., Pache, A.C. (2016). From caring entrepreneur to caring enterprise: Addressing the ethical challenges of scaling up social enterprises. Journal of Business Ethics, 133: 659 – 675.
This teaching perspective could be taken either with a group of social entrepreneurs or business students. Specific types of partnership strategies could be discussed and developed in groupwork. For example, the discussion could center on strategies of integration, cooperation and networking as they rest on sharing and exchange.
III
Business strategy and partnerships
The groups of learners could come up with ideas how to develop the following opportunities arising from: vertical integration with Betzepa community
cross-sectoral partnerships
the larger organization can serve as sales point of educational activities.
providing social integration services to people with learning disabilities to Vilnius and other geographically close municipalities.
networking strategies with local communities and Christian NGOs to widen the scale of skills of people with learning disabilities; applying for external funds in tandem for the same (integration) goals.
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IV
Marketing strategies
Again, this teaching perspective could be taken either with a group of social entrepreneurs or business students who could apply marketing strategies and practices to propose a business development strategy for social impact.
diversification
scaling across
scaling deep
scaling up
(suggesting any new products that can be produced by clients-employees or/and services to a wider society and arguing the market need for such supply)
(which partners/networks have to be mobilized to achieve stronger social impact?)
(how can the current experiences of the clients be enriched? What is the current unique selling proposition of Workshops of Treasures and how can it be enhanced?)
(what are new market segments and how can they be reached? How large should new market segments be to earn profit; particular consideration could be given to the opportunities to increasing income from sales to Nordic societies; developing a new sales point via construction companies as business partners).
V
Writing a communication plan
Social enterprises need good visibility in society to get support for their activities and achieve social change. For that they need a good communication plan that could be implemented even with a “€0” budget. Students/early social entrepreneurs could be asked to take the role of a PR agency that proposes collaboration with the social business and make the enterprise’s activities and their outcomes more visible.
While preparing the plan for communication the students may be directed by the following guidelines: formulate the task
create the main message
select target audiences
that is going to help the business. It could be construction of an image, visibility of the company, it could be about presentation of the leaders of the business as influencers, etc.;
this is the most crucial aspect – a very clear and short message that could be spread about the enterprise should be created. It could be based on the mission of the company, and, of course, contribute to the formulated task
all the audiences cannot be approached at once, so a list of target audiences should be made and the most important selected for realizing the task. To be successful, the profile of target audiences has to be considered so that the message is more persuasive
think about measurement of the results have the actions reached the communication task at step 1?
choose the means for communication that could deliver the message in the best way and that would use human and financial resources effectively. The means that are available to the enterprise should be considered, supporters of the enterprise in communication involved, etc.
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VI
This perspective can be applied with Master’s students.
Relating a business problem to a research problem
However, there are several essential points which should be brought to the students’ consideration: How can the identified and clarified business problem be converted into a specific research problem/question(s)? How should the most efficient empirical research methods be selected for the business research? What are ethical implications in the designed empirical business research and how (if so) they could/should be resolved.
As much as it is reasonable to ground business and marketing strategies as well as communication plan on factual knowledge, but not personal presuppositions and/or individual experience, business research perspectives can be introduced to the students based on the case. Business research is a process of acquiring detailed information of all the areas of business (i.e., market, financial, brand, product, risk, competitor, demand, distribution analysis) and using such information in maximizing the sales and profit of a business. Both quantitative (survey, content analysis, secondary data analysis) and qualitative (interview, focus group, etc.) methods can be used for informative business research.
Additionally, considering specifics of social business, it might be relevant to stress the importance of marketing research, which is systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, and dissemination of information for the purpose of assisting management in decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing.
In this context, students could be taught several techniques of research types:
Market research
Product research
Advertising research
which examines all aspects of a social business environment asking questions about competitors, market structure, government regulations, economic trends, technological advances, and numerous other factors that make up the business environment
which looks into the products that can be produced with an available technology, and what product innovations can be developed with the near-future technology
which is aimed at improving the effectiveness of advertising
Useful resources Authenticity Consulting, LLC, Free Management Library. Basic Business Research Methods. Available at: https://managementhelp.org/businessresearch/
QuestionPro. 2020. Business Research: Definition, Methods, Types and Examples. Available at: https://www.questionpro.com/blog/business-researc h/
“Workshops of Treasures”: How to get a long-term contract?
Resources
Raimonda Agnė Medeišienė
Optional: suitable music while students are thinking or having discussions in a group.
Aim
Notes for Teacher
To develop complex problem-solving skills within the role play
1. “Workshops of Treasures” mission is to celebrate life with people with learning disabilities through work. The goal is to develop the employees’ skills for self-dependence and ability to work.
Learning Outcomes
Phone with internet access; paper + pen for notes; flipchart, paper, markers.
2. “Workshops of Treasures” produces functional and decorative wooden items: their products range from souvenirs to furniture, shelves, window shutters, benches for religious purposes with ethnic motifs etc.
Learning Areas Complex Problem Solving
3. Recent clients of "Workshops of Treasures” are private individuals who own properties in the countryside and buy authentic wooden decorations for their houses.
Critical Thinking Creativity Cognitive Flexibility
Step 1
Time: ~20 min.
Social Skills Teacher Efficient team working (splitting in small(er) groups and coming back to one) Developing other people’s ideas Verbal presentation of ideas Taking different perspectives
Presents what will be done during this meeting. Writes down all the problems identified by the groups. Presents that next actions will be concentrated on the following problem: Large construction companies
which build wooden houses could also be their client, however, the organiszation does not have a regular partnership and/or contract with such businesses.
Students In groups of 3, read the case. Discuss and name the main problem.
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Step 2
Time: ~25 min.
Teacher Asks to split into pairs and presents the task: Imagine that you are a real, at least a little-known or well-known person* in your country, and the organisation “Workshops of Treasures” asks you to find regular customers with whom the organisation can sign at least a one-year contract for the supply of production. You can spend 15 minutes to get acquainted with information available online about “Workshops of Treasures”, production included. Students In pairs, choose one real person at least a little known in the country. Check information available about him/her, social media channels included, in order to be sure that the selected person may be interested in such assistance. In pairs, get acquainted with the production and online presentation of the organisation. Capture its advantages and improvements to be done to make it more attractive for a potential client.
Step 3
Why could she/he say “no”? How do you refute those arguments (e.g. I buy wholesale in IKEA and support Lithuanian producers. I present this in my social reports and I think this is enough. Or: I am interested in different design and do not tolerate any shortcomings)? Remember – beside rational arguments, emotional ones are extremely important. How do you use that? The dialogue will be presented in front of all groups. One of you is going to be a “known person”, and the other one a potential client. Duration of a dialogue is 5 min. Students The task is to find new clients. It means you have to be aware of: Who already are buying “Workshops of Treasures” production; Why someone should buy “Workshops of Treasures” production. Think about 3 arguments why “Workshops of Treasures” production is exceptional and worth choosing? How can those 3 arguments be presented for quite a sceptical potential client?
Time: ~15 min. Step 4
Time: no longer than 30 min.
Teacher The students are not asked to name their choice of the person so far. The next task follows: Task: So, you are person X. You have to figure out (remember, find, google) 1 real potential client for “Workshops of Treasures” and arrange a face to face, online meeting or a phone call with a person who makes the decisions about new contracts.
Teacher Makes notes for the future discussion and asks the audience to do the same. Checks the time. Shows support for the presenters. Students
Describe that person.
In pairs and in front of all group, present the chosen characters and perform the dialogue.
How as a “known person” will you construct the conversation with him/her?
Duration of one dialogue – 5 min.
What does a successful meeting look like?
* The students should be encouraged to be as free in naming the person as possible, although you as a teacher may disagree about the choice (e.g. who is an Instagram influencer with social responsibility). It is part of discovery how young people think for you and a possibility to discuss the variety of choices after the task.
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Step 5
Time: ~10min.
Time: ~10min.
Teacher
Reflect the outcomes of the task ~ 10 min.
Moderates the discussion about the dialogues performed.
Students are asked to answer the following questions:
The topics for discussion are the following: Why have particular characters been selected? How realistic were the dialogues? Has the main goal (contract) been achieved? If not, why? If so, what was the breakpoint in the dialogue (negotiation)?
Which part of this session turned out to be interesting? Why? Did I hear some unexpected ideas from my colleagues? Did I surprise myself in some way? Teachers are asked to answer the following questions:
How did it feel to be in the role?
Did the students surprise me in a positive way during this session?
How important is it to be a known person to achieve this kind of goal?
Did the students surprise me in a less positive way during this session?
Can the list of possible clients be useful for “Workshops of Treasures”?
Did this session give me some inspiration for my further thinking?
Students Participate in the discussion as a whole group.
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Mari Kooskora, Estonian Business School Katri-Liis Reimann, Tallinn University
Stella Soomlais SOCIAL ENTERPRISE CASE STUDY
Vision and Mission
Goal
The vision of the enterprise of Stella Soomlais is to be a zero-waste leather bag workshop by the end of 2020 (should be 2021) and become climate positive in 2025. “I want a person’s bag to serve them as well as possible for as long as possible and that the lifespan of the material does not end with the lifespan of the bag,” said Stella Soomlais.
At the moment the enterprise produces 2–4% material leftover. The goal is to reach zero waste in production – the enterprise is actively working on a solution to recycle leather scraps that are not used into a new material. In 2020 they plan to do the inventory of products according to the circular economy principles, to be able to use the materials 95% in all products. The fact that the producer of zippers today is not yet an enterprise that would take their zippers back and recycle them, therefore, there are obstacles to 100% recyclable bags related to the suppliers. Another goal is to give up using any glue in production. Some of the products do not contain it already, and this is an additional way of reducing the environmental footprint. The enterprise has grown 10% during the previous years but they would expect 20% growth.
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Stella Soomlais is a leather designer from the younger Estonian generation. She makes leather bags and accessories with a minimalist aesthetic and creates her products keeping in mind circularity – the details can be changed with ease and the material of the used product can be used to make new accessories.
Resources All bags are made of vegetable tanned leather. The bags combine functionality with minimalist aesthetics and are designed following a circular system which the brand calls Round 2 that they have developed in-house.
If any bag ever gets spoiled with stains that won’t come off or if its function has no use to anymore, then upon returning it, the company can give it a new life. In return a person will get credit, amount depending on the condition of the bag.
High quality materials are used in a way that the details of the product can be simply repaired or replaced. The leather can be reused for a new item, adding many life-cycles to the initial material. Therefore, there are no decorative details on the products since this enables to reuse the material to the maximum and it is easy to maintain and refresh them. The pockets and straps of the bags are screwed into place – that way, unnecessary stitching is avoided. This makes it possible to re-use a large part of the material after the bag has lived its life in the hands of the current owner.
Currently the enterprise uses only cowhide of European origin, but is actively looking for options to add non-animal material to the portfolio. The raw material is from Sweden and has ecological product certification as they use local animal leftover product. They also have suppliers from Italy and Spain certified by their local leather associations.
The designs are crafted to minimise the cutting leftovers. The larger cutting leftovers are used for creating smaller accessories (purses, wristbands and keychains) and the really tiny bits and pieces gain a new life in their own workshops or are given away as charity to craft clubs.
The enterprise has financed its activities itself and not received any grant funding. They have won in 2020 responsible business index gold level award (www.csr.ee) and received €1000 as a special award from Social Enterprise Network (www.sev.ee). All the profits are reinvested in the enterprise. The structure of the social enterprise’s costs and profits is depicted in Fig. 1.
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Outputs and Outcomes
Activities
All bags are made in Tallinn, Estonia in Stella Soomlais’ studio by their own crafters. Each of her bags has a story to tell. Every bag has information about its origin: the date the bag was finished, crafter’s name and a serial number.
In 2004 Stella began to tailor unique bags for customers with specific requests. Over the years the company has grown into a brand that produces a collection of weekend bags, backpacks, handbags, wallets and other small accessories with a circular design system.
The design concept is visualised in the following video: https://vimeo.com/182364319
‘Each of our bags has a story to tell. A story on how it is made, what materials have been used for it, who has made it and how the price of the bag is built up. When purchasing a bag, we want you to make a conscious choice. Therefore, we are giving our customers as much information as possible about the products. For us it’s not just about creating transparency, it’s about building a lifelong companionship where honesty and transparency are ingrained. We take pride in the bags we make and have a great respect for the materials we use. Therefore, we make sure we make use of the most of it. Our designs are crafted to minimise the cutting leftovers.’
Since 2015 Stella Soomlais runs as a brand whose aim is to prove that managing a leather studio in a sustainable way is possible. She started her own enterprise in 2011 after she had received a business startup grant from Estonian Unemployment Fund. In 2010 she wrote her graduation thesis about circular economy model as part of the service design topic. Then she understood that by tailor-making her products she also takes the responsibility for recycling them. She can build new products if people bring back the old ones. She conducted market research as part of her thesis to find out what people need and what are they ready to buy. During the next three years she fulfilled the orders and collected product information. By 2015 she realised the importance of following the circular economy concept so that she could create the products which could be repaired, renewed and recycled for new items. Today Stella Soomlais’ studio www.stellasoomlais.com makes leather bags and accessories for women and men. In addition to cool and long-lasting design the company has put circular economy principles in good practice to be a pioneer in making the leather use Stella Soomlais, founder more sustainable and responsible. High quality materials are used in a way that the details of the product can be simply repaired or replaced and the material reused for a new item. All products are handcrafted and made by Stella and her artisans in Estonia. As a social enterprise all the profits are reinvested in the enterprise. The enterprise has 10 employees and some people are working as volunteers (instead as volunteers has to be on contract base). For example, some people help in the shop during weekends. They also cooperate with a family company in Tartu to be able to increase capacity and reach export markets. That enterprise produces some small items. In addition to selling the ready-made products the brand also offers a rental service of bags and has a little second-hand corner of their own products in the studio shop.
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Impact In 2010 Stella Soomlais had the idea of renting bags according to the pay-by-use system but at that time in Estonia this concept was far too new and therefore was not progressed. The bag rental service grew out of that idea and today people can rent bags for a weekend and might decide later if they want to buy them. Besides their own portfolio, the enterprise also carries out workshops for groups and offers a design service for other companies and blogs about their activities and circular economy. They organise exhibitions and discussion nights where people can see themselves how the bags have been produced. The enterprise would like to promote customer responsibility, so they educate them in workshops explaining why they use certain leather. Tanning in general has a large footprint, but good design and offering 2–3 rounds for the product could extend its lifetime. Currently the enterprise is in search of more sustainable tanning providers. The enterprise also offers the first maintenance free of charge for the customers. They also sell second-hand bags which have been brought back by clients. Based on 2019 data, the traditional sales formed 37%, e-shop and e-mail sales 23%, business clients 17%, workshops 10%, distributors 13%. The sales have changed in recent years as peoples’ consumption behaviour has changed. They sell to German and Finnish markets via the online shop. Previously, foreign customers used to visit the shops; today, the selling has mostly moved online. In terms of the suppliers Stella Soomlais has chosen people who would follow her own principles and value local products, pay an equitable salary and would do things not for money but because it is better that way.
The enterprise tries to reduce the leftover materials to the largest possible extent – they aim at completely waste free production. The traditional subcontracted production processes have ca 20–25% leftover material compared with their 2–4%. Currently they are in the process of development of new materials from the leftover materials. They also sell their own and other Estonian producers’ textile bags made of leftover materials for the storage of the bags. A handmade leather bag is an investment. When buying a bag one should know why it costs what it costs. To illustrate this, they provide full information on this – from direct production to overhead and markup. This is meant to help people make more conscious choices. The company analyses its impact in terms of usage and waste of materials. They correspond to the responsible business index criteria of the Estonian Responsible Business Forum (CSR.ee). In order to analyse their activity, they compare the previous year’s achievements and set the goals for the next year. They analyse the risk management plans regularly but work safety has not been yet dealt with thoroughly. They also take good care of their own employees and offer them self-development training, inspiration days, and physiotherapy services. These services are provided during working hours by the enterprise and are also part of the impact measurement indicators. The measurement indicators include production development indicators, whether the reuse services function well, indicators related to the rental service, testing new materials, and turnover. The impact is mostly measured in terms of the contribution to the circular economy.
70 MATERIAL 17%
STUDIO 4%
CRAFTMANSHIP 13%
ADMIN 5%
MARKETING 8%
PROFIT 23%
TAXES 30%
Fig. 1 The structure of Stella Soomlais’ costs and profits.
2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment At Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2017, Global Fashion Agenda called on fashion brands and retailers to sign a 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment to accelerate the transition to a circular fashion system. Circular economy is an environmentally considerate way of conducting business. In all stages of production the environmental consequences and sparing aspects of the resources are considered. Possibilities and solutions for reusing or recycling the product at the end of its life cycle are thought of already when designing the product. One of the essential aspects of circular economy is that the manufacturer thinks ahead about how the customer can utilise the product later without sending it directly to landfill. Companies have different ways to do this and in fashion the most common model is to return the product to the producer who then reuses or recycles it. Stella Soomlais said: “We joined in with the following targets:
Action Point 1
Action Point 2
Implementing design strategies for cyclability. By 2020, circular design principles will be applied to 100% of our leather bags in order to remanufacture them after their first life.
Increasing the volume of used garments collected. By 2020, we will implement a garment collection scheme for used leather bags in our retail stores and online.”
1. Design for purpose 2. Design for longevity 3. Design for resource efficiency 4. Design for biodegradability 5. Design for recyclability 6. Source/produce more locally 7. Source/produce more without toxicity 8. Source/produce more efficiency 9. Source/produce with renewables 10. Source/produce with good ethics 11. Provide service to support long life 12. Reuse, recycle and compost all remains 13. Collaborate well and wisely 14. Use, wash and repair with care 15. Consider rent, loan, swap, second-hand or redesign 16. Buy quality as opposed to quantity
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Here the company explains how customers can return the bag they have made and customers have lovingly used until the end of its glorious life.
‘Already several years we design our bags following the principles of circular economy. In our case, it means that all bags are designed in the way that makes them easy to clean and care for, repair and the leather of the bag can be reused to its fullest potential. Leather that has been well taken care for, we can reuse for our Round 2 products and the material that has seen some rougher days, will be repurposed via reprocessing. We can also reprocess our smaller products that don’t fill their purpose for you any longer. Although vegetable tanned leather is biodegradable, the process takes quite a long time and thus it is most reasonable to get the most out of the leather that has already been produced. In order to make it convenient for you to return the used products (after long and loving use, of course), we offer 10% discount for new products. If you have taken good care of your bag, the discount can climb up to 30%.’ Stella Soomlais, founder
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Reading
Principles of Market Economy for Beginner Social Entrepreneurs Rasa Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, Vilnius University
Profit maximization is the goal of any private company in a market economy. Social enterprises also operate in the market economy as private companies. But the main difference is that social enterprises have different goals, i.e., social and economic. The goals must be harmonized: economic profit is necessary for social profit or value maximization. Because social enterprises compete in the same markets for resources and consumers, they must follow the same rules as other firms.
The amount of the goods supply in the market depends on the main indicators of the firm that determine the decisions of the firm: profit, revenue, and cost. Focusing on the supply side of the market, the theory of the firm assumes, the goal of the entrepreneur is to maximize profit (Hughes, 2006). Profit is the difference between total revenue and total cost. Total revenue is calculated by multiplying quantity by market price. Total cost (or cost function) summarizes information about the production process and is divided into two types: fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs are costs that do not vary with output. Fixed costs include the costs of fixed inputs used in production. Variable costs are costs that change when output is changed. Variable costs include the costs of inputs that vary with output. Since all costs fall into one or the other category, the sum of fixed and variable costs is the firm’s short-run cost function. Profit maximization and cost minimization are the main goals of all competitive firms. In addition to cost minimization, the profit-maximizing firm must also determine the optimal quantity to produce (Hughes, 2006). The most important questions to answer are as follows:
How markets work is explained by the market equilibrium concept. A market is in equilibrium when demand and supply curves intersect.
How much does it cost to make a single item of goods? (the question relates to average total cost; a company should tell the costs of the typical unit)
Demand is the consumer’s desire to purchase goods and services and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service. Demand can help to explain consumer’s behavior in the market: how and why a consumer decides what to buy. Demand is determined by price, income and wealth of consumers, prices of related goods, advertising and many other factors such as taste and preferences of an individual consumer (Praveen et al., 2011). The theory of consumer behavior rests on the assumption that a consumer chooses among different “commodities” with the goal of maximizing utility (Hughes, 2006).
How much does it cost to increase production of one item? (the question relates to the marginal cost; it shows the amount that the total cost rises when the firm increases production by 1 unit of output)
The behavior of sellers (firms) is explained by supply. Supply is a firm’s position in the market: willingness to produce and possibility to sell goods and services at market price. The market equilibrium concept in economics explains the price of the good or services. At the market equilibrium price, the quantity of the good that buyers are willing and able to buy exactly balances the quantity that sellers are willing and able to sell (Mankiw and Taylor, 2006). The actions of buyers and/or sellers make changes in demand and supply, which influences the price. Prices of goods and services determine allocation of resources in the market.
Company profit maximization decisions lead to a supply curve. Because the firm’s marginal cost curve determines the quantity of the good the firm is willing to supply at any price, it constitutes the firm’s supply curve. These economic indicators help entrepreneurs to make decisions in the market about pricing, output, and use of scarce resources.
References 1. Hughes, P. (2006). The Economics of Nonprofit Organizations. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/nml.1 19 2. Mankiw, N. G., Taylor, M. P. (2006). Microeconomics. London: Thomson. 3. Praveen, M.V., Vineesh, A.K., Venugopalan, K. (2011). Managerial Economics. Study material. Calicut University.
Social Entrepreneurship and Care Ethics
economic crises as incapable of caring and, consequently, of being sustainable. In sum, care ethics highlights the following aspects:
Raminta Pučėtaitė, Vilnius University
Social entrepreneurs are considered different from traditional entrepreneurs (Andre and Pache, 2016). The practice of social enterprises highlights the importance of these entrepreneurs’ moral emotions such as empathy and compassion as motives in identifying niches in the market and developing products/services which respond to their customers’ pain. Empathy is combined from a number of psychological capacities, mostly relational, which “are thought of as being central for constituting humans as social creatures allowing us to know what other people are thinking and feeling, to emotionally engage with them, to share their thoughts and feelings, and to care for their well-being” (Stueber, 2019). Although empathy is highlighted in the social entrepreneurship literature, it should be noted, however, that it is not a new topic in traditional business either which has been applying participative techniques known as design thinking for innovation development (Hamington, 2019). As a concept in moral philosophy, it is closely related with the ethics of care, which is also considered a relational moral theory. Care ethics developed as a theory in the early 1980s as Carol Gilligan’s response to Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development which held the principle of absolute justice as the characteristic of highest moral development. In her book In a Different Voice (1982) Gilligan argued that Kohlberg’s focus on young males’ moral reasoning in decision making is not sufficient to generalize on an individual’s moral development. She claimed that both men and women voice care and concern about others, which cannot be considered as hierarchically lower (immature) than the justice motive for decision making. Rather, it is an alternative and legitimate criterion to justice as relations are fundamental to humans as social beings. The aspect of care was further elaborated by Nel Noddings, who distinguished between caring for and caring about (see Andre and Pache (2016) who explain how these differences are applied in social enterprise development). Caring for refers “to actual hands-on application of caring services”, and caring about “to a state of being whereby one nurtures caring ideas or intentions” (Sander-Staudt, 2019). Hence, caring is contextual, responsive to particular needs of definite others. Therefore, it is relevant to social enterprises as they are social mission, social change and social impact oriented. Yet, traditional business has also received much criticism, in particular, in the context of
Humans exist in a social system that rests on interpersonal relations and forms their personality and self-perception. Therefore, they have to nurture (invest in) valuable relationships with definite people. People have to care for those with whom they are interconnected in a network of interrelations and who depend on their caring. This does not mean that care is paternalistic (although care and empathy may grow into favoritism in practice – this aspect should not be neglected!) and makes someone less efficacious, self-dependent etc. Proper caring develops the others as personalities with their authenticity and identity by responding to their needs, values, expectations and well-being. In other words, care ethics and empathy, if properly practiced, help the other to grow.
Finally, in practice, care ethics and justice do not contradict each other. Caring entrepreneurs, managers, and enterprises build their practices on both of these principles, i.e., considering particular needs of particular employees’ groups (e.g., in diversity management) and still remaining systematically just with them. Also, teamworking would not be possible if team members were concerned just with following procedural rules and having no interpersonal contact with each other. Customer relationships are also built on care ethics and justice as they are meant to empathetically offer products or services which respond to legitimate needs (e.g., reasoned complaints) of their customers. Just offering uniform solutions would not suffice to stay competitive and sustainable.
References 1. Andre, K., Pache, A. C. (2016). From caring entrepreneur to caring enterprise: Addressing the ethical challenges of scaling up social enterprises. Journal of Business Ethics, 133: 659 – 675. 2. Gilligan, C. (1982). In a Different Voice:
Psychological Theory and Women's Development.
Harvard University Press. 3. Hamington, M. (2019). Integrating care ethics and design thinking. Journal of Business Ethics, 155: 91 – 103. 4. Sander-Staudt, M. Care ethics. In The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://www.iep.utm.edu/care-eth/. Accessed on 01-12-2019. 5. Stueber, K. Empathy. In Zalta, E. N. (Ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2019 Edition). Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/ empathy. Accessed on 28-01-2020.
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Social Impact Raminta Pučėtaitė, Vilnius University Rasa Pušinaitė-Gelgotė, Vilnius University Aurelija Novelskaitė, Vilnius University
The crucial distinction of social enterprise from traditional business or even socially responsible companies lies in its social mission and social impact. As argued by Maas and Grieco (2017), if a social enterprise does not measure and monitor its impact, it is just a charlatan using a buzzword. Measuring social impact is needed to improve organizational activities and reach the strategic goals on the one hand and to ensure transparency and accountability to social investors on the other hand (ibid.). However, the diverse nature of social enterprises creates challenges to developing social impact measurement (SIM) frameworks. For example, Maas and Liket (2011) distinguish 30 methods of SIM ranging from a broad(er) focus such as Millennium Development Goal Scan or Participatory Impact Assessment to a more specific focus such as Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit or Social Cost-Benefit Analysis. Yet, in some countries where social entrepreneurship is not developed and social enterprises are still searching for their business models SIM is not even attempted, as these enterprises have neither the human nor financial resources to accomplish it. Therefore, it is important that social enterprises define their social mission which they later could measure with an assessment tool that fits their design and capabilities. A point of departure for nascent social enterprises could be Clark et al.’s (2004) social impact value chain that explains how social value is created (see Figure 1) According to Clark et al. (2004), resources encompass everything that social enterprises use for their primary activities. They define output as a result that organizations can measure themselves (e.g. the number of a literacy programme graduates, reduced high school drop-out rate etc.). Outcomes are the
ultimate changes that a social enterpreneur wants to achieve (e.g. increased self-respect or capacities of the programme participants). Impact is understood as part of the outcome that would have evolved anyway without the intervention from a social enterprise. Goal alignment requires a social enterprise to review its activities and the extent to which desired changes have been achieved. A frequent case in the practice of reporting social impact is that social enterprises list outputs (Molecke and Pinkse, 2017). However, the most challenging part of applying the impact value chain in practice is distinguishing outcomes from impact. The difference between impact and outcomes is that impact assessment requires to evaluate only the effects that were created by a certain social enterprise, disregarding what would have happened anyway as a result of social interactions.
References 1. Clark, C., Rosenzweig, W., Long, D., Olsen, S. (2004). Double bottom line project report: Assessing social impact in double bottom line ventures. Rockefeller Foundation. Available at: https://bit.ly/2GtUu7V. Accessed on 10-04-2020. 2. Maas, K., Grieco, C. (2017). Distinguishing game changers from boastful charlatans: Which social enterprises measure their impact? Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 8(1): 110–128. 3. Maas, K., Liket, K. (2011). Social Impact Measurement: Classification of Methods. In Burritt R.; Schaltegger S. et al. (Eds.) Environmental
Management Accounting and Supply Chain Management. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 171–202.
4. Molecke, G., Pinkse, J. (2017). Accountability for social impact: A bricolage perspective on impact measurement in social enterprises. Journal of Business Venturing, 32: 550–568.
Outputs
Resources
Activities
results that can be measured
Outcomes changes to social systems
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what would have happened anyway =
Impact Fig. 1. Impact value chain (Clark et al., 2004)
Goal alignment