Social enterprise is a tool for communities to achieve positive social, environmental, cultural or local economic outcomes. Christchurch City Council works with local social enterprises for the benefit of the city.

The Department of Internal Affairs states a social enterprise must:

  • Have a social, cultural, or environmental mission.
  • Receive a substantial portion of its income from the trade of goods and/or services.
  • Reinvest all or the majority of its profit or surplus to advance its social, cultural or environmental mission.

Supporting social enterprises

We support local social enterprises by:

  • Purchasing from them.
  • Including social clauses in the Council Procurement Policy to drive businesses to consider using a social enterprise in their supply chain.
  • Providing ongoing guidance and referrals to organisations considering the development of a social enterprise venture.
  • Facilitating the Charities in Business Network.
  • Facilitating the Canterbury Impact Collective, a network of support agencies to strengthen the social enterprise sector.
  • Raising the profile of social enterprises through sponsorship and endorsement of events such as the Social Enterprise World Forum 2017 and Impact Week 2019.
  • Providing access for charity start-ups to funding, ongoing support, training and community loans.

Some of the social enterprises we do business with

Social Enterprise in Christchurch book

Social enterprise in Christchurch booklet

The Council, in collaboration with the Social Enterprise Institute, launched the Social Enterprise in Christchurch [PDF, 18 MB] booklet about the history of local enterprises at the Christchurch-hosted Social Enterprise World Forum in 2017.

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