Buy Social Canada is thrilled to release a new resource today, the Guide to Social Enterprise: Plan, sustain and grow your impact with a social enterprise business plan. A valuable update for the sector, this Guide builds on the first two editions of the Canadian Social Enterprise Guide, as well as Buy Social Canada’s 10 years of experience certifying, promoting, and coaching social enterprises to develop and succeed.

Who the Guide is for:
This Guide is for you if you are thinking about starting a social enterprise or want to sustain or grow your enterprise activities and impact. If you decide to start a social enterprise, your intention should be to create a community asset rather than individual wealth.

Other interested readers may include academics, social procurement practitioners, and policy makers looking to better understand social enterprise.

What the Guide includes:
The Guide has three key sections: Plan, Sustain, and Grow. Within each section, we use the 5Ms: Mission, Market, Manage, Money, and Measure, to share advice, insights and stories to support business planning and maintenance.

No matter what stage you’re at – from beginning to explore the idea of starting a social enterprise, all the way to expanding into a national business or growing your impact – now is the time to commit to social enterprise success. This Guide and the many resources it references will help show you how.

Download the Guide to Social Enterprise.

If you have any questions about the Guide or social enterprise, please contact info@buysocialcanada.com or explore our services.

---

Thank you to Buy Social Pledge Leader SAP for supporting the development of this Guide.

And thank you to the Canadian social enterprise sector. So many of the stories and best practices included in this guide come from your experiences and dedication. This Guide is for you most of all.