contents4 social enterprise

5 about social enterprise

6 corporate social responsibility(csr)

7 about corporate social responsibility(csr)

8 social value and impact social impact and value audits

9 SROI – social return on investment

10 income generation funding (bid writing)

11 trading commissioning

12 business planning review and restructure

13 organisational development feasibility studies and proposals human resources

14 collaboration/merger

15 stakeholder engagement

16 about stakeholder engagement

17 training and events

social enterpriseAt Make it Happen, we believe that Social Enterprise is a way of doing things and that any type of organisation can be enterprising whilst achieving social impact and value. We call these’ Social and Ethical Businesses’

However, there are many definitions of social enterprise around the world and many academics and governments continue to debate the characteristics and principals of social enterprise and its operation both in the UK and globally.

There are several legal structures that can be adopted for Social Enterprise and choosing the right legal structure is vital to its future sustainability. The main factors of a social enterprise organisation are to generate income, promote democracy and achieve social value.

Other considerations when choosing the right legal structure are:Governance Structures.Membership.Tax benefits.Objectives.Regulation.

Since its conception in 2006, Make it Happen have helped establish over 50 organisations that provide social enterprise activity through the following legal structures:

Charity Trading Arms.Cooperatives.Community Interest Companies.Private Companies Limited by Guarantee and by Shares (social and ethical businesses).Limited Liability Partnerships.

Make it Happen can provide support to your organisation by: Discussing your social enterprise needs.Providing advice and support on a variety of legal structures.Developing multi level legal structures.Designing your governing document.Developing governance structures.Completion of legal documentation to establish your social enterprise.Specific legal and operational guidance on social enterprise.

We have a range of consultants that are qualified to Masters Level in Social Enterprise Management and are specialist Legal and Tax Advisors in Social Enterprise.

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about social enterpriseSocial enterprises are businesses which exist to address social or environmental need.

Rather than maximising profit for shareholders or owners, profits are reinvested into the community or back into the business. It’s this which makes social enterprise the most exciting and inspiring business movement in the world.

The official definition of social enterprise to which SEL subscribes is:‘a social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners’ (DTI, 2002).

The movement is diverse and includes: Cooperatives.Credit unions.Housing associations. Community development trusts. Social Firms. Community businesses.

There is no single legal form used by social enterprises, however in 2005 a new legal form was introduced - the first for more than 100 years. The Community Interest Company is a bespoke legal structure designed for social enterprises with a built-in asset lock. However a social enterprise can also be a Company Limited by Guarantee, a Company Limited by Shares, or an Industrial or Provident Society. Many also take charitable status.

The 2005 Annual Survey of Small Businesses UK found that there are 55,000 social enterprises in the UK with a combined turnover of £27bn. Social enterprises account for 5% of all businesses with employees, and contribute £8.4m per year to the UK economy.

In London there are 3400 social enterprises registered as companies limited by guarantee. The vast majority are SMEs with less than 10 employees, and turnover of less than £0.5m. London’s social enterprises provide 104,500 jobs, with a combined turnover of £4bn and the London Social Enterprise Network, which is run by SEL, has more than 1000 members and is the biggest such network in the country.

The social enterprise movement operates in all markets, using different models and structures to address a vast array of needs, and they are quietly transforming the world - addressing its most complex social and environmental challenges in innovative and sustainable ways.

Source: Social Enterprise London http://www.sel.org.uk/definition-of-se/Contact us on 0161 432 7744 or enquiries@mihconsultancy.co.uk to discuss your social enterprise needs and arrange a free consultation.

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corporate social responsibility(CSR) At Make it Happen, we believe that all types of social and ethical businesses should have a commitment to CSR.

This process is embedded into everything that the business does and is reflected is the organisation’s Mission Statement.

The Mission Statement consists of the:Mission – why does the organisation exist?Vision – what is the organisations long term aim?Values – what does the organisation value in its work?Guiding principles – How does the organisation behave?

In order to develop an ethical culture within the organisation it needs to build on the Mission Statement and develop a Code of Ethics, this provides statements of ethical business considerations that the organisation utilises for both internal and external stakeholders.

If a Code of Ethics is to lead the ethical behaviour of an organisation then it needs to be managed, therefore an Ethics Strategy needs to be developed.

The strategy will cover business areas such as:Human Resources – how staff are recruited, managed, rewarded.Risk Management – reputation, social contract, doing the right thing.Brand Differentiation – added value, unique selling point, social impact.License to Operate – good corporate citizenship, triple bottom line impact.

The most important part of Ethics Management is to be able to account for the ways in which you have achieved your ethics statements, and to be able to provide a report to your stakeholders that is transparent, accessible and clearly shows ethical and social value.

Make it Happen can support your organisation to:Develop a values based Mission Statement.Develop a Code of Ethics.Design and produce an Ethics Management Programme.Develop frameworks for ethical and social value accounting.Support ethical recruitment and HR processes.

We have a range of consultants that are qualified to Masters Level in Social Enterprise Management, are CIPD qualified and are specialist business ethics advisors.

Contact us on 0161 432 7744 or enquiries@mihconsultancy.co.uk to discuss your CSR needs and arrange a free consultation.

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about corporate socialresponsibility(CSR)Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/ Responsible Business) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby businesses monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere.

CSR is titled to aid an organisation’s mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Development business ethics is one of the forms of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment.

The term “corporate social responsibility” came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organisation’s activities have an impact. It was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders.

Outside stakeholders are taking an increasing interest in the activity of the Company and most are interested in the ‘external’ perception of the company, i.e. What the company has actually done, good or bad, in terms of its products and services, in terms of its impact on the environment and on local communities, or in how it treats and develops its workforce.

Internal stakeholders are becoming increasingly more interested in the social activities of the Company that they work for, many studies in the USA have shown that the productivity of staff can be greatly increased when the values of the company meet their own personal values and this increases further when the Company invests in and makes efforts to also support the values and motivations of its workforce.

With the move in society towards ‘ethical consumerism’ more consumers (be it individuals or organisations) are looking towards the Added Value of their interaction with a Company (or supplier), this is evident within the Economy where large scale corporations have entire departments dedicated to social responsibility and will tell you that this effort has had a direct impact on the triple bottom line outputs that they produce (Economic, Social and Environmental).

In this way, social responsibility becomes an integral part of the wealth creation process – which if managed properly should enhance the competitiveness of the business and maximise the value of wealth creation to society.

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social value and impactThe changing face of society requires social organisations to continually change their business to align themselves with stakeholder and customer needs, what they want, what they will buy and most importantly, how they will react to any organisational change.

The strength of understanding individual stakeholders values can be the difference between success and failure when undergoing organisational change, rebrand, product and services development or a new marketing approach.

The research and evaluation of Key Value Statements (KVS) for your customers and stakeholder groups helps you understand the value that they place on different aspects of their lives, their actions and their own values. KVS’s provide the knowledge to help you develop your organisation to meet these values.

Our research can produce a defined list of KVS’s which provide the foundations for all future marketing, change and development strategies to help grow your organisation.

All charities, social enterprises and social businesses create impact and in turn this impact creates value. When an organisation’s aim is to create social purpose, the impact and value turns into social impact and social value. Organisations that have social motives and social outcomes can often be at a disadvantage as profit may not be the only purpose of its mission. There is a growing need for social purpose organisations to effectively report, promote and market their true social value otherwise they may not be able to compete in a growing marketplace.

Our team of specialists can:-Carry out research and evaluate individual stakeholder values.Create Key Value Statements to support marketing and promotion.Provide you with a Social Value Report and Social Value Pledge.Support the marketing of your social value.Develop robust systems for the ongoing collection and evaluation of data.Carry out SROI, LM3, Wellbeing and SAA audits.

social impact and value auditsAt Make it Happen, we use the following frameworks to assess your social impact and value:

local multiplier effect (LM3)LM3 tracks how income received from a stakeholder is spent by the receiving organisation and how the organisation’s income and expenditure affects the local economy. Many local authorities are increasing their own local spend as part of their efforts to stimulate the local economy.

wellbeingHealth and Wellbeing measures the value and impact that products and services have on the lives of individuals and how an organisation internally affects its staff and volunteers.

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stakeholder dialogueStakeholder dialogue measures how an organisation engages with stakeholders and how strong an organisation’s social contract is with its stakeholders. This is important when you consider that ethical decision making increased by 89% last year and 2 out of 5 purchases are based on the personal values of the consumer. Stakeholder engagement through mapping and dialogue is essential to understanding what effects your products or services have had on your stakeholders.

valuing change We understand the importance of measuring an organisation’s value and also understand that all organisations are different. Therefore using a standard approach may not always be right for all charities, social enterprises and businesses. Therefore we have created a social impact tool that blends the recognised social accounting models together and using the knowledge and experience of our social impact team we have developed a framework for measuring change and the effect of that change.

Make it Happen are specialists in:-Reviewing and evaluating the economic/social impact on the local community, post code, area or region. Demonstrating the social value of your organisation through qualitative/quantitative methods.Researching, reviewing and evaluating health, education, crime, employment, environmental impacts that you make and the strength of your social contract. Creating reports for key stakeholders for external communication and promotion.

SROI is one of the most common tools to measure social impact and is currently the chosen method within public sector procurement departments as it can provide an economic return on investment calculation.

SROI (Social Return on Investment) could be the right tool for you, as it’s a tool that can be used by an organisation to measure social impact and convert the impact into a monetary benefit to society. For example; for every £1 spent a further £4 is created in social value through the reduction of GP visits.

It reviews the impact of your organisation’s products and services and through primary and secondary research, is able to successfully demonstrate the social value and impact your organisation is creating, either directly or indirectly.

Make it Happen has a number of trained SROI specialists capable of supporting any size of organisation. We are able to provide SROI workshops, mentoring and coaching for key individuals or carry out a full SROI assessment which can be tailored to your organisation’s needs. As with all of our services, we work in partnership with our clients to ensure the outcomes are aligned with your requirements.

We can: Carry out stakeholder engagement events and data collection techniques. Carry out research and evaluation of data.Calculate the social impact. Create case studies/journeys of impact.Create a tailor made report for your organisation or individual project. Create a launch event to promote your social value and impact.

SROI – social return on investment

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Without income there is no profit, without profit there is no sustainability to your organisation as without profit, an organisation cannot invest in organisational change, development, create new products or services and market themselves effectively. Generating income from a number of different sources can provide an organisation with much needed sustainability in these economically challenging times that can help build and develop a successful organisation for the future. Focusing on the creation of income through trading (business to business or individual), commissioning, (engaging with the public sector), funding (receiving of a grant) and the development of fundraising, (receiving donations) can reduce risk, improve sustainability, develop new markets and create a robust organisation.

Make it Happen’s income generation team specialises in the development of income and profit through income and profit diversification. We work with and have in-depth experience in charities, social enterprises and private businesses having supported our clients to generate over £45m of income. We work closely to understand our client’s ethics and values, culture and vision and through partnership working to create a plan for the creation of new or increased income and profit.

funding (bid writing)funding strategyOur experience in writing successful funding applications tell us that it is important to have a clear defined structure and strategic outline for funding to stop organisations getting into the “funding trap”, where organisations become grant dependant. We work with organisations to reduce their reliance on funding and develop a diverse range of income generation methods.

search and scopeOur experienced team of professional bid writers have the knowledge, skills and experience to search and select the most appropriate funding bodies for any organisation, having generated over £6m of grant funding for our clients. Our funding search reviews and evaluates Charitable Trusts, Government and European funders, grant giving organisations and companies.

grant writing (bids)We have a dedicated team of bid writing specialists that have developed their skills and have over 30 years of experience of writing successful applications for small and large grants, from local charitable trusts through to European funders. Successful funding has included capital funds for the purchase and renovation of buildings, together with revenue for staff and training.

reporting and evaluationWe can also provide evaluation support for projects using our ‘Valuing Change’ model that incorporates SROI, LM3, SAN, Wellbeing and Stakeholder Value methods.

fundraising Developing income through Fundraising is no longer about shaking a tin in the high street, hoping to generate a few pounds. Fundraising has become increasingly innovative and strategic.

Our Make it Happen team of specialists are trained and experienced in the Institute of Fundraising Codes of Practice.

income generation

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We can act as your fundraising department which have the added benefits of:Qualified and experienced fundraisers acting on your behalf. Compliance with the Fundraising Promise.Compliance with the Institute of Fundraising Codes of Practice. Compliance with Charity Law.Up to date information on fundraising best practices Broad knowledge of funding for Charities, Cooperatives, Social Enterprise and Social Business.

tradingThere is a greater emphasis on creating diverse ways of generating income as the changing face of the sector is becoming more reliant on making profit that can be used to enhance social benefit. Charities are developing trading arms that generate a profit, businesses are looking for new ways to make a social impact and the public sector is providing greater opportunities through the empowerment of individuals to make the choice of how and where their money is spent.

Make it Happen has a team of income generation specialists who have created over £45m of trading and commissioning income. We have helped generate income from trading products and services such as Retail and Catering, Support Services, Training and Consultancy, Domiciliary Care, Membership and e-commerce.

Our team is able to help you with:Trading Strategies/Operational Planning. Designing Products and Services.Research and Evaluation of Trading Potential. Market Research.

commissioning The public sector is now the largest procurer of products and services within the UK at over £260bn. However, recent economic challenges have caused the public sector to re-shape and re-think how public sector services are run in the future and have created opportunities for social and ethical businesses to provide services in the future. They have committed to 25% of contracts to be awarded to the SME market and believe that social value and impact is key, which is evident through the Public Services (Social Value) Bill, which states that public sector procurement will have a greater focus on economic, environmental and social impacts. Social and Ethical businesses need to consider the effect of the changes to procurement, outsourcing, individualised budgets and payment upon results.

Make it Happen can help you with:Tender readiness audit. Creating tender documentation.Review/Evaluation of a draft tender. Full tender writing service. Liaison with tendering organisation. Policy and procedure development. Product and service development. Mentoring and coaching staff. Unsuccessful tender, review, evaluation and recommendation.

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business planningAs society is changing the needs of your customers will change, ethical consumerism and value based purchasing is now a large part of the reason for buying products and services. 2/5 purchases in the UK are based on ethics. 2009/10 witnessed an increase of 89% in ethical decision making. Organisations often do not understand or engage with these areas and lose out on a large area of income. By developing a high level strategic plan for growth, products and service development, research and development we are able to align your organisation to the future needs of the sector and consumers.

Creating and sustaining an organisation during economic uncertainty isn’t easy, it requires a high degree of planning, vision and the ability to be flexible to meet the changing needs of stakeholders and customers, as their own needs and wants will change with society.

Make it Happen has a team of organisational development specialists with a range of experience in developing charities, social enterprises and businesses into sustainable organisations.

Business planning is an essential part of developing a successful charity, social enterprise or private business as it provides a vision for the future of the organisation, defining its structure, products and services, growth, HR, communication, finance and development strategy and researches competitors and markets in which the organisation operates. Business planning also reviews and develops your ethics and values to be at the heart of the organisation developing your point of difference and using these strengths to develop the organisation’s long term sustainability.

Our team can support your organisation to create a business plan through mentoring and coaching or via development sessions. We work closely with your senior management team to generate a tailored business plan.

As part of the development of a business plan we:Review and evaluate possible product and service development options. Develop marketing plans.Define income generation activities and development. Create a organisation change matrix.Carry out research and stakeholder engagement. Create robust income and expenditure projections.

review and restructureIn society the economy changes, therefore so must every charity, social enterprise and private business to meet the changing needs of customers. Restructuring an organisation can be the answer to make it competitive once more, ensuring financial security. Our team has the ability to review and evaluate the organisation and create a plan of action to restructure for the short, medium and long term needs of the organisation, this includes, HR, Communications, finance, operational and strategic structure and development.

Our team works with your organisation to review, evaluate and restructure your organisation so that it is ‘fit for purpose’ for the future.

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organisational development As a charity, social enterprise and business grows, so does the requirement for a robust infrastructure, well developed policies/procedures and sound day to day management, this coupled with well thought out and defined products and services lead to long term sustainability. It is easy to get into a rut, get caught up in the day to day operational issues.

Make it Happen is able to support charities, social enterprises and businesses through organisational development using our wealth of experience and knowledge of strategic and operational management, organisation change, development and culture mapping.

feasibility studies and proposalsAll new ideas and concepts should be accompanied by research and evaluation to understand if their idea or concept is viable and to improve their chance of success.

We are experienced in carrying out feasibility studies for a wide range of clients, we have undertaken both primary and secondary research for large and small projects to inform and provide essential data to prove that a development proposal will work.

As part of the study we:Write and undertake questionnaires and surveys.Carry out interviews and focus groups.Carry out specific action research.Analyse results and provide quantitative and qualitative reports.Undertake secondary research through academic libraries, multimedia and internet.Provide objectives to create benchmarks for social value/impact reporting purposes.Demonstrate social value/impact and provide financial reports to support your proposal.

human resourcesThe development and management of people in an organisation is important to continue the legacy of an organisation, promote growth, capability and capacity.

Supporting individuals to develop and grow the required good performance management, support and guidance is underpinned by robust Human Resources Management systems and policies.

Our consultants are CIPD qualified in both HRM and Volunteer Management and use this knowledge to support the recruitment of staff and volunteers, create robust systems for performance management and help retain staff through training and development programmes.

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collaboration/mergerThe development of partnership working between like minded organisations can be an excellent way to develop skills, capacity and confidence in a challenging market. Closer working arrangements with like minded organisations can lead to formalised collaboration through shared working, knowledge/development which may lead to a merger between the two organisations.

Although collaboration/merger is not right for all, many organisations discover its potential during challenging times or hardship. Make it Happen is able to support and facilitate merger discussion and carry out the preliminary checks and evaluation to assess the feasibility of merger.

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stakeholder engagementAt Make it Happen we support and facilitate our clients to understand who their stakeholders are, through stakeholder mapping and carry out research to find out what their stakeholders value. Every organisation is unique and so are its stakeholders so a stakeholder mapping exercise is essential to determining the stakeholder range and type. Stakeholders can be split into three types:

Ways in which we engage with stakeholders are:Forums.Questionnaires.Electronic surveys.One to one interviews.Observations.Away days and consultation events.

An important part of the stakeholder dialogue process is to record the findings so that any decisions made are evidence based. We can provide you with the results of the stakeholder engagement via:

Written report.Statistics.Visual report (graphs and charts).Video and voice recordings.

Stakeholder engagement is useful for social and ethical businesses in:Understanding your value to prospective clients.Social Accounting.Community Engagement.Market Research.Evidence of Need (for bid writing).Feasibility studies.Project/service evaluation.

We have a range of consultants that are qualified researchers, facilitators and community engagement specialists.

stakeholders with power stakeholders with influence stakeholders with legitimacyfunderscustomerslegislative bodiescompany board/directors

staffcustomerspartner organisationsmedia

directorsstaff

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about stakeholder engagementThe organisations stakeholders are those groups of people who have a ‘stake’ in the activity of the organisation; this may be from an internal or external viewpoint.

Stakeholder engagement is the process by which an organisation involves people who may be affected by the decisions it makes or can influence the implementation of its decisions. They may support or oppose the decisions, be influential in the organisation or within the community in which it operates, holds relevant official positions or be affected in the long term.

Organisations engage their stakeholders in dialogue to find out what social and environmental issues matter most to them about their performance in order to improve decision-making and accountability.

Involving stakeholders in decision-making processes can also be used by private and public sector organisations, especially when they want to develop understanding and agree solutions on complex issues or issues of concern.

An underlying principle of stakeholder engagement is that stakeholders have the chance to influence the decision-making process. This differentiates stakeholder engagement from communications processes that seek to issue a message or influence groups to agree with a decision that is already made.

Agreeing on the rules of engagement is integral to the process. It is important for everyone to understand each party’s role.

‘Buy-in’ is essential for success in stakeholder engagement. Every party must have a stake in the process and participating members should have decision-making power. Every party must be committed to the process by ensuring that actions based on the decisions made are legitimate.

No decisions should be already made before commencing stakeholder engagement on the issue. It is integral that the dialogue has legitimacy in influencing the decision.

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training and eventsOur one day training sessions build on the awareness seminars with more practical exercises and discussion.

We offer six, one day training sessions as follows:

value and values: how do they play a part in business today?Over the last few years there has been an increased interest in the ‘added’ value of services delivered within all sectors, but what does the ‘added’ bit mean?

At the same rate, the general public has become more interested in ‘Values’, in the ‘ethical purchase’ and the ‘ethical organisation’.

By the end of this seminar you will understand the importance of Value and Values within today’s marketplace and how you can embed them into your organisation to increase your Unique Selling Point.

legal structures for social and ethical businessIn this seminar we consider the economic landscape as a whole and identify the three main sectors of the economy. We take a look at the type of legal structures that are available to the economic sector and analyse the challenges and benefits in adapting these legal structures for Social and Ethical Businesses.

By the end of this seminar you will have an understanding of the current economic landscape in relation to social and ethical business along with raised awareness of the range of legal structures available.

developing an ethical and values based culture in your organisationFor all social and ethical businesses their values are at the heart of everything they do, but very few go on to develop an ethics management structure which is essential for protecting your organisations legitimacy with stakeholders and society as a whole.By the end of this seminar you will have an understanding of the importance of an ethics management system within your organisation and an opportunity to develop a Code of Ethics and ethics management plan for your organisation.

working with stakeholdersSocial and ethical business is about people, the people both inside and outside your organisation. In this seminar we look at stakeholder mapping and dialogue, analyse stakeholders with power, influence and legitimacy and how to develop engagement plans that foster collaboration and cooperation.

By the end of this seminar you will have gained an understanding of stakeholder mapping and dialogue, have a raised awareness of stakeholder typology and had the opportunity to develop a stakeholder engagement plan for your organisation.

diversifying income generationSocial and Ethical businesses are currently faced with a number of economic challenges with the reduction of public sector contracts, tougher trading conditions, and increased competition for funding and less people donating. In this seminar we will explore the different income generation possibilities available to your organisation, to develop your income potential over four key areas; Trading, Commissioning, Funding and Fundraising. By the end of this seminar you will have raised awareness of methods available to your organisation in order to generate sustainable income and had the opportunity to develop an outline income diversification plan for your organisation.

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measuring and reporting your social value Understanding your organisations social value and impact is an excellent method of demonstrating to your stakeholders the value your services have to them, the local community and to society as a whole. This seminar aims to introduce delegates to Social Value and Impact, providing practical knowledge and skills to understand and communicate your value and impact to society. During the seminar we will explore Social Value and Impact and find out more about current social accounting frameworks such as Social Return on Investment (SROI), Local Multiplier Effect (LM3), Social Account and Audit (SAA) and AA1000.

By the end of this seminar you will have gained an understanding of the terms Social Value and Impact, the frameworks available to you to help calculate, measure and communicate your Social Value and Impact and how they can be used to promote your organisation and develop your organisations sustainability.

We also deliver a three day training course; ‘Profit for Purpose’ which covers all of the training models listed along with interactive workshops to explore practical tools that can be used within your social business.

We are currently running FREE awareness seminars throughout the North West, to find out if there are seminars near you visit our website: www.mihconsultancy.co.uk.

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We offer a free, non obligatory consultation so that you can get to know us, ask questions and find out more about our products and services. We find that this is the best way for us to understand your organisation, your requirements and provide value for money support.

To arrange your free consultation e-mail us at enquiries@mihconsultancy.co.uk or give us a call on: 0161 432 7744

Oh, and don’t forget to visit our website (www.mihconsultancy.co.uk) and sign up to our newsletter – it’s full of useful advice and support to help you build a sustainable, social and profitable business.

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The Investment Centre375 Stanley RoadBootle, L20 3EF

Tel: 0151 330 5922

Make It Happen Consultancy18 The Embankment Business Park

Vale Road, Heaton MerseyStockport, Cheshire, SK4 3GN

Tel: 0161 432 7744