What is social entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship aims to increase social impact, primarily making a profit to fulfill social goals. A social entrepreneur can be any legal entity (association, company, cooperative, craft) that invests in the public good. Our legislation and public policies have, as of yet, not recognized the importance of this type of entrepreneurship and do not provide enough incentives for the development of social entrepreneurship, unlike neighboring countries. More at OECD. https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/social-economy/social-entrepreneurship.htm
As part of the permitted economic activity for the services and goods provided, we issue invoices or e-invoices, and we enter the year 2023 exempt from VAT, according to Article 90 of the VAT Act.
Previous economic activity, which is always related to the objectives of the DIP’s activities and whose income was always intended for the costs of the programs implemented by the DIP
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Our DIP team, in charge of the economic activity of the association, consists of members and associates, people with experience in creating various studies and strategies, research, statistical data processing, etc.
Our services, which we have provided so far, are extremely community and public good-oriented in terms of content, and the way of doing business is in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. We are qualified to provide a variety of services in the areas of:
- strategic planning of public policies – creation of strategies, desk analysis and applied research, creation of action plans based on strategic plans, creation of a library of indicators, etc.
- strategic planning for organizations of various types – creation of strategic plans for associations, foundations, cooperatives, private and public companies of any type
- monitoring, evaluation and assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of strategies, plans, interventions, projects, actions, operations – creation of instruments for monitoring, evaluation of results and assessment of social efficiency, investment efficiency studies, etc.
- creation and implementation of applied research, processing of results and interpretation, etc.
More at the Department of Research and Strategies. All income is intended for program maintenance and activity costs.
II. Our nominal members can work for the purpose of labor-occupational and rehabilitation activities in various products and provide various services. Through these work activities, we prepare both employers and members for work in the open labor market.
Until now, our members have delivered various products and services, within the framework of our program of providing social services and for the purpose of rehabilitation and increasing the efficiency of work-occupational activities. Given that most of them are people with disabilities, we include them in the work in several ways:
inclusive volunteering / no income, but it is an effective preparation for work
work activities in the “Friends Daycare Centre”: e.g.
- production of semi-finished products, such as the assembly of parts of caps for the company B.M. PLAST (income is intended for program implementation costs)
- or making pine balls from felted wool, for the employees of the Hilton Hotel in Rijeka (income is intended for program expenses).
- the work-occupational activities make products that are given away to donors at fairs (income from donations is intended for the costs of implementing the program) – it is not an economic activity.
When possible, members are paid a performance bonus, in the form of a grant, up to a tax-free portion.
work activities at other employers: groups of people from the program with the support of work assistants, do contracted work at employers (income is intended for program costs and compensation – reward for work)
jobs that represent the preparation of both the employer and the worker for the employment of persons with disabilities in the open labor market, according to two models:
– with support for people in work for persons with disabilities, which can be permanent or short-term – services of an external mentor
– without work support, but with a preparatory adjustment period for both employer and employee – the role of an external administrative associate.
III. Given that the economic activity of the association has limitations, we decided to start a company whose activity is focused on activities/jobs that the people we work for can do. Starting from January 2023, the company DIP lab d.o.o. has been registered, with the purpose of creating cooperation with employers and entrepreneurs, and creating a positive environment, thus encouraging the employment of persons with disabilities. We started our registered businesses and started employing persons with disabilities. More about all of this soon!
About social entrepreneurship:
In the “Social Business Initiative”, the European Commission conceptually defined the concept of a social entrepreneur:
- a) a social entrepreneur is defined as a carrier of entrepreneurial activity, whose primary goal is in achieving social impact, not in generating profit for owners or shareholders;
- b) a social entrepreneur acts in a way that provides goods or services on the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative way and uses the realized profit primarily to fulfill social goals;
- c) the method of managing the entrepreneurial entity is open, and includes employees, users and other stakeholders affected by the economic activity of the entrepreneur” http://Social Business Initiative, http://social%20business%20initiative%2C%20com%282011%29682%20final%20od%2025.%20listopada%202011./ 2.
Strategy for the development of social entrepreneurship in the Republic of Croatia for the period from 2015 to 2020 – http://www.esf.hr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Strategija-razvoja-dru%C5%A1tvenog-poduzetni%C5%A1tva-u-RH-za-razdoblje-2015-2020.pdf
“A business based on the principles of social, environmental and economic sustainability, where the generated profit/surplus income is fully or largely invested for the benefit of the community…. The criteria for recognizing social entrepreneurs are:
- A social entrepreneur achieves a balance of social, environmental and economic business goals.
- A social entrepreneur performs the activity of production and trade of goods, provision of services or performs an artistic activity that generates income on the market, and which has a favorable impact on the environment, contributes to the improvement of the development of the local community and society as a whole.
- A social entrepreneur creates new value and ensures financial sustainability in such a way that in the three-year period of operation, at least 25% of the annual income is planned to be realized or is realized by carrying out its entrepreneurial activity.
- A social entrepreneur invests at least 75% of the annual profit, i.e. the excess income generated by the performance of his activity, in the realization and development of business goals, i.e. activities.
- A social entrepreneur is characterized by voluntary and open membership and the autonomy of business operations.
- The Republic of Croatia, a unit of local and regional self-government or a public authority, cannot be the sole founder of a social entrepreneur.
- A social entrepreneur is characterized by a democratic way of decision-making (involvement of stakeholders in transparent and responsible management), that is, decision-making is not exclusively related to ownership shares or membership roles, but includes key stakeholders: workers, members, users or consumers, and cooperative organizations.
- A social entrepreneur monitors and evaluates his social, economic and environmental effects and impact, as well as the results of the evaluation of benefits in planning his further business, and takes care of their improvement.
- In the event that a social entrepreneur ceases to carry out his activity, his general acts have a defined obligation to transfer his remaining assets, after covering liabilities to creditors and covering losses from the previous period, to the ownership of another social entrepreneur with the same or similar business objectives, or to the ownership of a unit of local and local (regional) self-government that will use it for the development of social entrepreneurship.”
Social entrepreneurship can have various legal forms: from a company to an association, foundation and cooperative. We contract our social-entrepreneurial projects through public procurement processes, or by direct offer for the services we provide.
