NGOs, enterprise and rural development

Non-Government Welfare Organisations (NGOs) in rural areas have traditionally relied upon the state for a large part of their revenue which in turn provides the state with the capacity to impose strict monitoring and evaluation. However the tightening of state funding has either forced NGOs to stretch their own resource to the limit or to become more enterprising and innovative in their desire to provide people with access to an ever increasing range of community-based services and opportunities for connection with their local communities. The term that is often used for these new approaches is ‘social enterprise’ that has been defined as a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners’ . It is most often seen as an interface between public and private sector, being part of neither but engaging closely with both through partnerships, stakeholding and joint ventures as well as through complex trading and contracting relationships.

Such broad definitions however do not give much guidance to how particular NGOs can shift to a social enterprise model and still remain within their chosen missions. It is the very processes of re-imagining and reforming their enterprise that is a vital element in moving to a successful social enterprise practice. Accordingly this project focuses on two NGOs in different parts of the world (Brophy Family and Youth Services in Warrnambool. Australia and Aberdeen Foyer in Aberdeen, Scotland) that have developed (and are developing) new ways of approaching their roles as service providers and early intervention agents for youth in their local areas. Since both organisations have faced (and are facing) issues associated with depleting state allocated resources they are attempting to break new ground in the ways in which they redevelop their work with youth. Both agencies are leading the way in developing a broader approach that draws together disparate element of a social enterprise model. The project analyses the processes used by these two agencies to develop as social enterprises and how likeminded agencies can use the model for capability enhancement.