The Digital Technology & Education Society has been built on the triple bottom line principle that Social Purpose Organizations (SPO) (and more and more mainstream businesses) follow: People – Planet – Profit.

In the UK, there are over 470,000 social enterprises that employ 1.44 million people in 2017. 7% of all UK small businesses are social enterprises. (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, 2017).

The pandemic is having one very positive consequence and that is the growth in the number of ‘ethical consumers’ as well as a new focus within companies that want to have a positive Social Impact. The rationale for corporations is that the research has shown that ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is good business…

Within the next 10 years, social enterprises in Canada will generate up to 4% of GDP (UN, 2020).

From an article in Causeartist: Ethical products and brands have exploded over the past few years giving consumers options that have never been presented to them before. There is basically an ethical alternative to every single product on the market and consumers are learning more and more about them. We as consumers have never really had this power before. The power to solve issues both domestically and internationally by using our purchasing power to support our favorite causes.

Here are the 10 most interesting social enterprise statistics that the report revealed:

1. 56% of US consumers stopped buying from companies they believe are unethical
2. 35% of consumers stopped buying from brands they perceive as unethical even if there is no substitute available
3. 63% of consumers feel that ethical issues are becoming more important
4. 49% of consumers say they trust small companies to do the right thing
5. 36% of consumers say they trust big businesses to do the right thing
6. The most commonly considered factor when determining a company’s ethics is employee treatment (48%), followed by where its products are made (34%) and if the brand/ or product is environmentally friendly (33%)
7. 34% of consumers tell others when they believe a brand to be making ethical actions or actions that are honest and fair
8. 29% of consumers take to social media to share their support of ethical companies
9. 58% of consumers revealed that buying ethically produced products makes them feel good
10. Consumers are more likely to consider outreach in local communities (22%) over national (18%) or global (13%) outreach

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE WORKS: Here are some stats: