Partner Article

ELC named leading social enterprise in South East by NatWest SE100

Index designed to track growth and impact in the social economy highlights regional leader

The Ecological Land Co-operative (ELC), a social enterprise based in Lewes that aims to increase sustainable land use, has been recognised as the leading social enterprise in the South East by the NatWest SE100.

The NatWest SE100 Index is an online listing of social ventures, ranked and scored according to their growth and social impact. The live market intelligence platform is designed to provide a substantial data resource for investors, commissioners and policymakers as they seek to understand the landscape of the social economy and identify top performers across the UK.

In the monthly snapshot of SE100 data, the 101 surveyed social enterprises in the South East show an average growth of 9% and a total combined turnover of £900 million in the most recent financial year. The combined regional profit of social enterprises in the South East demonstrated an impressive increase from £87.25 to £99.7 million. The top three sectors for profit growth were health and social care (581%), environment and recycling (148%) and retail (68%).

Ecological Land Co-operative has gone from strength to strength, experiencing 2,294% growth in turnover and an increase of 138% in profit, between the financial years 2012/13 and 2013/14.

The Ecological Land Co-operative is a social enterprise that aims to widen access to land for sustainable use, through the creation of affordable low-impact smallholdings and farms. Cost of land and the intricacies of the planning system create barriers to those wishing to farm in an ecological or sustainable way. ELC works to help individuals negotiate the challenges of the planning system, through purchasing marginal agricultural land and applying for planning permission for residential smallholdings, before leasing the land at low cost to those wishing to farm sustainably. These smallholdings are aimed at new entrants to horticulture and mixed farming, and are protected for affordability and agricultural use.

To date, ELC has developed three sustainable smallholdings, with plans to roll out 20 more between 2015 and 2020. ELC has recently launched a community share offer of £340, 000 to fund its next cluster of farms. To date, they have successfully raised over 50% of their funding target, through a mixture of share capital and loan finance, and are actively seeking further investment.

Commenting on their recent growth, Cate Chapman, executive director, said: “We received grant funding through Big Potential, a BIG Lottery Fund grant fund, which meant we were able to access expert support to help us prepare for our 2015 community share offer. We have also just developed a five-year business plan, which has allowed us to model our growth and finances over the long term and be ambitious in planning for the future.”

ELC have an impact measurement score of 8/10 on the SE100 Index. The organisation produces annual social accounts to measure social and environmental impact. Cate said; “Measuring our social impact helps us to evidence the benefits of our work to a wide range of stakeholders, including our members, local residents, councils and planners, and partner organisations within the environmental and low-impact sector.

“Measuring impact highlights how our work has a wider significance than to our smallholders alone: in addition to creating access to land and sustainable livelihoods for small farmers, our work also contributes to a growing community of people committed to developing a safe, just food system; provides a range of educational opportunities; creates a source of sustainable local food; and addresses the pressing need for affordable housing and rural employment.”

Commenting on the ELC’s SE100 Index ranking, Cate said: “It is incredibly heartening to gain recognition for what we are doing. The index helps to raise our profile and credibility with potential funders, investors and other interested parties.”

Sue Quinn, Director of South East Social Enterprise (SE2), the regional network for the South East of England, commented: “SE2 is excited to see these results [from the SE100] and the increase in the growth of social enterprise; we firmly believe that social entrepreneurs can make a difference not only to their communities but to the economic resilience of the UK.

ELC is a perfect example of social enterprise providing innovation addressing multiple issues within communities. Their commitment to social impact is an example to other social enterprises raising awareness of its importance to funders and investors.“

Mark Parsons, Head of Community Finance and Social Enterprise, RBS, commented: “We’re delighted that social enterprises in the South East are thriving and many like ELC are growing very strongly. This is good for them, good for the economy and importantly, good for the local communities they serve across the region. I’m particularly pleased that through the NatWest SE100, we are enabling social enterprises that are transforming lives to tell their stories to a much wider audience.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emily Benbow .