ICT Support for the Third Sector: Is Social Enterprise the Solution?

One the final reports to come out of the work of the ICT Hub is now published.

“ICT Support for the Third Sector: Is Social Enterprise the Solution?”  was commissioned by the ICT Hub to answer the following questions:

• Should the sector try and deliver ICT support services from within, or should it rely on services from the private sector?
• If yes, what sort of services should be provided for the sector?
• How have current social enterprises emerged? What problems have they encountered in their birth and growth? How can these be avoided?
• Are they robust enough and, if not, how can this be improved?

It will be of value to:

• Anyone thinking of setting up a social enterprise to deliver ICT services to the third sector;
• Anyone running a social enterprise that delivers ICT services to the third sector;
• Policy-makers and funders who want to understand how they can support the development of social enterprise models to deliver ICT services to the third sector;
• Anyone interested in helping to meet the ICT support needs of the third sector

It is the work of 4 of the regional ICT champions who also run social enterprises:

Julie Harris is Chief Executive at COSMIC, a social enterprise delivering a range of ICT services to individuals, community groups and businesses across the South West. She is a keen follower of ICT and its effect on society, and is a major advocate of social enterprise and social accounting. Julie is currently Chair of RISE, the regional organisation which supports social enterprises in the South West, and has recently been appointed one of 30 social enterprise ambassadors across the UK with ministerial approval to promote the business model and its benefits.

Colin Harrison is Managing Director of Electroville, a social firm in Dewsbury. Its aim is to provide employment for people with disabilities and also to provide technical IT support to voluntary organisations at a reasonable cost. For the past year he has been the Yorkshire & Humber Regional ICT Champion for the sector.

Paul Ruskin is the Director for Social Enterprise and IT for Advice for Life running projects in communications for the sector in the east of England these are pulled together under one project name of I-Trust which evolved from the Cambridgeshire Circuit Rider Project which had two main objectives:

• to make ICT an easy to use tool ensuring it is not a burden in terms of access, finance or time
• to be a trusted source of ICT support and expertise for the VCS in Cambridgeshire.

Mark Walker helped found Sussex Community Internet Project (SCIP) in the mid-1990s and is currently responsible for training, community projects and business development. He is also regional ICT Champion for the south east of England.

Click here for the report:

ict support-is social enterprise the solution