Localism, community involvement and the social economy: What are the opportunities and challenges facing the not-for-profit sector in terms of regeneration?

This paper is an overview of the contribution of the not-private and not-public sector to regeneration. Often called the third sector, community-based organisations and ventures which have aims that benefit their local community but which don’t return financial dividends to their board of directors or trustees have been a familiar part of the regeneration landscape for some years. A common label we have learned to know is ‘social enterprise’ — a community-based organisation with a private sector-type structure that engages in commerce of different kinds. These are the key organisations that can develop a trading surplus and therefore have some ‘profit’ to dispose of, and they have been around long enough to have their own professional and membership bodies such as Social Enterprise UK,1 and their own good practice. In looking at the opportunities and challenges facing such organisations, we have identified a number of ‘Top Tips’ to support them in their regeneration activities, including: Have the right structure for your organisation; Have the right business planning approach; Have the time to bring local people and businesses in to share your initiative — and to bring their time as well.