Defining the service and what you have to offer
Whether you are an existing charity or setting up a social
enterprise from scratch, you need to understand what makes the
service your organisation offers stand out from other services.
What do you do differently? Are your services unique?
Undertaking a SWOT
analysis will help you see what your strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats are as an organisation.
This may help you in defining the service you offer.
The more clearly you understand what you are
offering and how it fits into the market place the better able you
will be find and create funding and therefore to provide that
service efficiently to the people who need it most.
Restaurants have specialities –
dishes that make them special and make people travel to eat
them. What does your organisation do that no one else
does? Remember, it may be about how you provide the
service rather than just what you provide. What do you do
that makes the crucial difference in outcomes to the lives of
children and young people?
Useful links
Guide
to social enterprise – a series of success stories [pdf 4Mb]
Forth Sector (Scotland) - A
business planning guide to developing a social
enterprise [pdf 3.57Mb]
Charities and Public Service Delivery –
An
Introduction and Overview
SureStart - It’s
the business toolkit
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place
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