Social Firms UK

The Social Franchising Manual follows on from the 'Growing social enterprise' research findings, providing a how-to guide which includes a general introduction to social franchising - the use of a commercial franchising approach to replicate and share proven organisational models for greater social impact - and practical advice on how to franchise a social enterprise. It is primarily aimed at those thinking of franchising their organisational model (potential franchisors) but will be of use and relevance to a broader audience, including individuals who want to set up a franchise of an existing, successful social enterprise.

This presentation about the Flagship Firms Franchising & Replication Programme was presented by Gerry Higgins at the CEFEC Conference in Slovenia on 9th September 2005. The presentation explains the difference between the various types of replication, how business opportunities are developed and ideas chosen, and gives examples of opportunities currently on the programme.

Social Firms UK worked through the Flagship Firms replication and franchising programme to adapt standard commercial franchise and licence agreements for the purposes of the Social Firm sector. Many of the learning points apply equally to social enterprise and, which this is not a template to cut and paste, Social Firms UK believes that the extra time spent on this sample licence agreement highlighting key obligations for licensee and licensor can be extremely useful for the social enterprise sector. A useful reference at least for any social enterprise considering entering into a licence arrangement, though professional legal advice would need to be sought if taking to the next stage.

This feature in CAN's newsletter 'Beanstalk' discusses the lessons learned from its social franchising programme.