Category Archives: Social Enterprise

Help us feed families in South Sudan this Christmas, simply by spreading the word…

Every Christmas, we choose a grassroots project to support – this year we are helping out our old friends, Sonja and Elger Nieuwenhuis, who carry out an annual food distribution in South Sudan. Read on to find out more about the impact they are having on some of the poorest families in Juba, and how you can get involved. Continue reading →

Help refugee children be children this Christmas…

Kids playing at the Dunkirk Refugee Children's CentreEvery Christmas, we choose a grassroots project to support - this year we couldn’t be more excited to be helping out Playgrounds for Peace in Dunkirk Refugee Camp. Read on to find out more about this initiative from some extraordinary ‘ordinary’ folk from Sheffield, and how we’re turning the charity Christmas card idea on it’s head to raise some much-needed funds. Continue reading →

Networking - who will you meet today?

This month the School for Social Entrepreneurs focused on networking – no, not the kind involving cables – but the kind we often ignore as we hide behind our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Our followers will know we post regularly on social media, but it’s important to meet people face to face, too. Kate Welch, founder of Social Enterprise Acumen talked us through recognising your key networks and personal networking traits. It’s really difficult as a start-up to get your voice heard, or your products and services known to others. Top tips that came out of the session were: Continue reading →

Stakeholders aren’t just for Christmas…

Stakeholders Picture

Some of our current stakeholders

In 2015, Aid Works won a place at the School for Social Entrepreneurs, sponsored by the Big Lottery Fund and Lloyds TSB. As part of the school, Aid Works and other start-up social enterprises have been taken through key topics for successful enterprises. Today’s topic was Stakeholders, an important topic for any organisation trying to reach its full potential. Continue reading →

Talking about the F-word…Finance!

Today, the School for Social Entrepreneurs took Aid Works and other start-up social enterprises through the critical thinking needed around pricing and finance systems. Pricing can be a hard topic to talk about for a social enterprise, when people perceive us as ‘tree huggers’ or expect us to provide products or services for free. However, we compete in the same market as for-profit companies. Continue reading →

The one where Mo goes back to school!

Last week, Mo started his year-long training with the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE Yorkshire and Humber), which provides action learning programmes to support social entrepreneurs each year to grow social and community organisations across the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada. Back in July, we announced that Mo had won a place on the Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme, which is provided by the SSE and funded by Lloyds Bank and the Big Lottery Fund. Mo gives us his thoughts on his first day back at school: Continue reading →