Commonwheels wins Social Enterprise Mark
Commonwheels Car Club, which co-ordinates a growing national network from its offices in Durham, has been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark after passing an independent assessment of its values and business performance.
Commonwheels is a community interest company and one of a new breed of social enterprise making it easier for people to live a green lifestyle. It aims to provide hire cars in areas other than just the big UK cities (where most car clubs operate). It is also the only car club which allows members to offer their own vehicles as hire cars.
Commonwheels currently offers cars in 13 different locations in the UK, from Durham to Norfolk, and the number is constantly growing. One of the objectives of the business is to encourage local groups to develop car clubs; members could therefore create availability in more remote areas or simply areas outside of cities through offering their car as part of the scheme.
The Social Enterprise Mark is a national initiative designed to promote a social enterprise brand by clearly identifying businesses which meet a set of criteria that prove they are ‘trading for people and planet, not profit and power.’ To be approved to use the mark businesses must demonstrate that they earn at least half their income from trading and that they spend at least half their profits on socially beneficial purposes.
“We applied to use the Social Enterprise Mark because we wanted to emphasise the social and environmental benefits of Commonwheels,” said Michael Berriman, one of the directors of Commonwheels. “We were assessed and we achieved the quite strict criteria. Commonwheels is now one of a growing number of social enterprises that can prove they are in business primarily for social or environmental purposes.”
For more information about Commonwheels please visit www.commonwheels.org.uk.