Office of the Third Sector releases baseline report of national evaluation
In October 2008, the Office of the Third Sector contracted Step Ahead Research to conduct a national evaluation of its Social Enterprise Business Support Project in each of the nine British regions, the baseline report and user perceptions of which are now available to download.
The evaluation is aiming to assess the quality of social enterprise customer experience via Business Link and to judge the impact of the Office of theThird Sector funding on mainstream business support organisations in each region.
The baseline report combines the results of in depth research into the social enterprise sector and in-depth interviews with key staff involved in the creation and delivery of OTS funding. The report also includes results from the Social Enterprise Business Link Customer Satisfaction survey of quarter three of 2008/9. The survey comprises the results of interviews with 71 social enterprises across each region who have received Office of the Third Sector funding.
The baseline report's initial findings give rise to a number of issues surrounding social enterprise business support. These include:
- Social enterprise business support is improving but does vary from region to region
- There are conflicting opinions on the areas of business support which need the most investment in each region
- Though social enterprises business support are mostly similar to those of mainstream businesses , the differences in business models means that social enterprises will always need specialist support
- Social enterprises value peer-to-peer support, mentoring and networking opportunities
The evaluation will be completed after the project ends in March 2011.
Download the National Evaluation of the Office of the Third Setor Social Enterprise Support Improvement Programme Baseline Report.
Download the Service User Perception Paper.