I work with many individuals who have identified a social issue and have an idea for how to solve it. They often come to me with just an idea and need help to articulate the business model that sits behind it and what actions they need to take to make it happen. UnLtd (The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs) have developed a useful toolkit that helps individuals to navigate this process, giving practical tools and working models for planning and implementation that will help social entreprenuers to start up, pilot and achieve long term sustainability, growth and replication.

The toolkit is based on two key areas, one the stage that you are at (for example intial idea and vision, start up and set up through to sustainability and growth and replication) and two three specific themes that encompass your social venture (Personal, Social and Business). The toolkit has been set out as a grid, it’s worth scanning through it taking note of all of the sections as it’s not the easiest format, also many of the documents are pdf’s the content is good so don’t let this put you off.

So what does the toolkit include? Below is a list of some of the topics.

Personal: what are my motivations, what are the implications on my life, the financial and personal commitments, qualities of a social entrepreneur.

Social: defining the problem and your solution, developing your social model, defining social impact indications, setting targets and refining you social model, monitoring and evaluating your social impact, social return on investment (SROI), social impact measurement systems.

Business: strategies for operating on a shoe string, mapping out your operational needs, recruitment, leadership and management, operational systems, processes and infrastructure, managing the organisaitonal changes of replicaiton, understanding your target audience and defining your value proposition, determining the right legal structure for your social enterprise, making governance work for you, appointing board members, getting started with financial management, financial analysis, securing start up funding, stakeholder engagement and building networks, funding for long term growth.

click on the link to access the UnLtd Social Entreprenuership Toolkit or visit http://unltdworld.com/hefce