About Us
Social Enterprise has come of age. Today social enterprises aren't solely an alternative to public service delivery or innovative business solutions to social problems. Social Enterprise holds a new space in civil society.
Social enterprises create greater community cohesion. They build a sense of local pride and ownership. They encourage a belief in positive action in the communities they seek to serve. They often reach the most vulnerable people in our society and they do this in imaginative and entrepreneurial ways.
They can give a voice to the voiceless and a hand to the vulnerable. They can influence everything from Government legislation, consumer behaviour to the way we behave in civil society. Driven by social need, Social Enterprise responds from the grassroots up often changing lives, communities and futures along the way.
CAN’s vision is of a social economy buoyed by a thriving social enterprise market. Our mission is to help social entrepreneurs achieve it.
To build sustainable businesses, social entrepreneurs need business support, experience from their peers, capital funds and even space to grow. That’s where CAN helps:
CAN Social Investment deploys a range of business support into social enterprises and includes the pioneering Breakthrough programme. We work with the corporate and finance sectors to leverage capital funds and strategic growth support into leading social enterprises.
CAN Mezzanine: Great Offices for the Third Sector provide high-quality shared office accommodation for social enterprises and charities in prime locations. To date we house over 100 social enterprises and charities.
CAN Mezzanine is an award-winning, self sustaining social enterprise providing space, services and products to support the Third Sector.
CAN is a registered charity working as a social enterprise. CAN used to be known as Community Action Network.
