Top 5 needs of social enterprises in the Frankston Mornington Peninsula region

In the last quarter of 2021, Frankston Social Enterprise Hub conducted a survey of social enterprise needs with social enterprises in the Frankston Mornington Peninsula region. The results provided insight into the social enterprises that were out there, their characteristics and the sort of support they could see Frankston Social Enterprise Hub providing them. 

To begin with, the survey was sent out to more than 150 organisations in the local area. 63 responded. Of those, 39 identified as social enterprises or as wanting to start a social enterprise. Of those, 31 were keen to get some much-needed support from Frankston Social Enterprise Hub.

In terms of content, the social enterprises looking for support were most interested in the following topics:

1. Ideas for Revenue Generation – most of the social enterprises that we’ve been speaking to have some revenue from sales of products or services but are still quite heavily reliant of grants and donations and would like to see the pendulum swing a little more towards earned income.
2. Business Model Development – many of the social enterprises we’ve heard from are strong on either their social value proposition or their commercial value proposition but not always on both. 
3. Impact Evaluation and Measurement – often this is an afterthought for social enterprises or something that they know they need to do but don’t have the time or other resources to do properly. Doing it well can mean the difference between being able to demonstrate the change your social enterprise is making to the world and not.
4. Capital Acquisition and Raising – social enterprises can struggle to secure much-needed seed capital or post-startup capital to take their social enterprise to the next level. This can be due to their inability to assess what is appropriate to their circumstances and how much is needed as well as to understand how to access it. 
5. Social Enterprise Certification – social enterprises responding to our survey lamented that government or corporate bids are too big for their scale or too complex and hard to understand. Certification with Social Traders can open up the door to government or corporate procurement opportunities.

If you or someone you know are involved in social enterprise and need some support, come along to one of our Mastermind events scheduled in 2022.