• Asset Based Development
  

A development strategy that recognises the possession of tangible assets – land , buildings or a dedicated income – is key to achieving the goals of self-sufficiency, independence and sustainability which underpin community-based regeneration organisations.

• Capacity Building
  

The provision of support to ensure that organisations, individuals or networks have the skills, knowledge, structures and resources to realise their full potential.  Capacity building support can take many forms, including direct facilitation and training, transferring knowledge and expertise, financial investment or any combination of these.

• Fair Trade
  

Fair Trade is an internationally recognised approach to trading which aims to ensure that producers in poor countries get a fair deal.  A fair deal includes a fair price for goods and services, decent working conditions, and a commitment from buyers so that there is reasonable security fr the producers.

• Social accounting and audit 

A method of measuring an organisation’s social and environmental performance taking in stakeholder views and measuring social outcomes against goals to enable an organisation to demonstrate how it delivers these objectives alongside any service or works it carried out as its trade. A social audit is an independently verified account that shows to what extent an organisation is delivering its social goals, values and commitments and can help to manage the process of delivering these better.

• Social added value 

Social added value describes the benefits a business or organisation provides in terms of its social and environmental impact.

• Social Capital
  

A term used to describe the non-financial resources – such as trust, partnership, shared values – which enable a community to thrive and function more effectively.

• Social Entrepreneur
  

Somebody who identifies and brings to life new business opportunities but who is motivated by public and social good rather than the need for personal profit.

• Social Enterprise 

A social enterprise is a business that trades in the market for an explicit social purpose. Social enterprises are assumed to have three distinct characteristics: they have a clear social aim; they are socially owned (non-profit-distributing) and they have an enterprise orientation where their turnover is derived from sales or contracts.

• Social investment

Social investment is used to describe investment in an organisation that is focused on the social return rather than the financial return. It is a relatively new term but is gaining common currency describing the type of investment organisations are looking for as they move away from grant aid. The term is used by some to mean investment that builds human or social capital.

• Social Return on Investment (SROI)

SROI measures an organisation’s added value by calculating the social, environmental and economic benefits it creates and by attributing a financial value to them.  It is based on standard accounting principles and investment appraisal techniques.

• Surplus
  

The profit in many social enterprises is referred to as a surplus, to reflect their ‘not-for-profit’ status.

• Third Sector

The overarching term for organisations and groups that operate other than for private profit.  The term encompasses voluntary and community organisations, charities, social enterprises, co-operatives and mutuals both large and small.