Wish you could grow some bok choy in your garden, but don’t have a clue how? There’s a social venture that can help with that.
According to a UBC report, the number of social ventures has grown by over a third since 2015. However, issues such as not tracking social impact and a disproportionate amount of part-time employment are prevalent in the social venture space.
Not just a fad, the social venture space in B.C. has grown by 36% in the last five years, from 831 in 2010 to 1127 social ventures in 2015, said the report. “Vancouver is emerging as a leader in social innovation, with more than 60 social enterprises in our city – the most in Canada,” noted Mayor Gregor Robertson in 2013.
What is a social venture? Numerous definitions exist, noted the report, but the definition it used is an “organisation . . . that [undertakes] business activities . . . which contribute towards . . . a social, environmental, or cultural mission.” Some Vancouver-based examples of social ventures are Lunapads, a company that produces washable menstrual pads, and Shift Delivery, which delivers goods by tricycle.
Despite its lofty goals, the social venture space faces significant issues such as lack of funds for full-time employees. Of the 13,000 employed workers in social ventures, less than half of them have full-time positions. Almost a third of the workers hired by the companies surveyed in the report were employed in contract roles.
Another significant issue faced by social ventures is the lack of impact metrics. 60% of the organisations studied in the report did not formally track or report the social impacts of their work, despite social impact being a core value of social ventures.
A lack of metrics and clear goals seems to be common among organisations trying to do good. In an interview with Forbes, Professor of Management at Rice University Dr. Marc Epstein noted “one of the biggest deficiencies we observed . . . is the lack of clarity and rigor around specific project or organizational goals. Without a clear articulation of what an organization is trying to achieve, measuring success and impact is quite challenging.”
Will Vancouver’s social venture scene continue to enjoy its high growth rates? Perhaps, with luck and a good dose of clarity about its goals.
By Jenny Tan, 25 August 2016