SEEE has a unique consultancy support offer. As a leading infrastructure organisation in the social enterprise sector, we have access to resources and information that add value to our communities and economic policies.

SEEE is passionate about enabling brilliant ideas and supporting individual talents for the benefit of the community. This is demonstrated perfectly by our Social Enterprise Hub concept that has been rolled out in Cambridgeshire.

Why a hub?
A Social Enterprise Hub allows co-operative solutions and is a brilliant way to help individual Social Enterprises to thrive, bringing multiple creative practitioners and entrepreneurs together under one roof within a social economy hub could be transformative for the local community and economy.

In Cambridgeshire this concept was funded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority which funded three Social Enterprises in Papworth Everard, March and Wisbech, each with a unique vision built on the same values & looking to achieve the same outcomes.

Inspiration for other communities, local government and organisations

These hubs want to

• make a difference for their community;
• bring about transformative societal and environmental changes by working cooperatively to fill gaps
• address unmet needs in a way that reduces inequalities and increases community wealth

SEEE’s role in a local area is to:

• Support a community or local authority to research ideas and demand for business support programmes, social enterprise hub space and other initiatives
• Go out to market to find ambitious social enterprises looking to start or grow
• Work with key VCSE partners to ensure all parts of the third sector and social impact sector are reached
• Manage funding allocations including the application process, support with due diligence and decision making process
• Support Social Enterprises with ongoing project management
• Reporting to funders/local authorities on progress of projects
• Continue to work collectively with social enterprises (and social enterprise hubs) to prove the value of social enterprise and community pride using shared impact measurement frameworks and shared experience

SEEE’s consultancy offer to support organisations and policy makers:

Our links with Social Enterprise UK and other key infrastructure organisations means we have access to the latest research and policy development relating to social enterprises and the markets in which they operate.  We can advise on effective ways of developing social enterprises in your area, including:

• Supporting new social enterprises
• Helping existing social enterprises to develop and grow
• Measuring impact, using a range of tools and approaches
• Public sector commissioning and procurement – download our guide
• Advising on Social Value and Social Enterprise policies to ensure the VCSE sector are heard and included
• Promoting social investment finance and how to access it
• Researching the social enterprise sector – see our example SEEE research report carried out on behalf of Herts LEP
• Working with South East LEP (SELEP) to develop a SELEP prospectus on social enterprise in the region and case studies
• Implementing advice for social enterprises following our research – for example we carried out a research project in Essex around investment readiness and distributed this summary of our findings: Social Investment Readiness Programme
• Developing social enterprise networking, including Social Enterprise Place
• New thinking on commissioning and public procurement
• Building capacity within your organisation to work effectively with social enterprises

Our regular team includes leaders from large social enterprises, academics with long-term involvement in social enterprise, project managers and network facilitators and a wide range of experts in business planning and growth