Membership of the Partnership

The definition of a social enterprise is that used by the government:

       

"A business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profits for shareholders and owners."

            

Membership of the Partnership is open to all Cumbrian social enterprises and other organisations promoting social enterprise, operating in Cumbria. For the purposes of this membership, social enterprises are defined as businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.
 
To become a member of the Partnership, please complete the online Registration Form.
 
A mapping survey commenced in September 2005 when postal questionnaires were sent out to all known social enterprises in Cumbria. The aim of this was to build up a detailed picture of the many ways in which social enterprises contribute to communities in Cumbria and to estimate the contribution they make to the Cumbrian economy.
 
We also needed to find out what kind of support social enterprises required, in what areas (eg. book-keeping, IT, legal advice, marketing, etc); how this should be delivered (eg. generic or bespoke training, mentoring), and so on. This information would then assist us to provide the accessible services that social enterprises actually need and want.