A community interest company (CIC) is a social enterprise company where the profits it makes go back into the community.
This could be providing money for a good cause or offering free or low cost services. CICs offer all kinds of goods and services and the purpose of a CIC is that it serves a social purpose – it could be employing ex-offenders and getting them back into society or delivering youth services or day care and respite for people with learning disabilities and their carers.
The main drive behind a CIC is the good that it does rather than making as much profit as it can. Though the more profit a CIC makes the more people it can employ, the more people it can help.
Here are some interesting facts about CICs;
They came into existence some 13 years ago.
There are over 14,000 CICs registered.
28% of CICs are based in the most 20% deprived areas of the country.
84% of CICs employ over half their staff locally.
71% of CICs pay the living wage to their employees.
55% of CICs actively seek to employ people disadvantaged from the labour market.
48% of CICs are led by women and 58% have a female majority workforce.
30% of CICs have at least 1 BAME director (compared with only 5% from commercial small and medium organizations).
For me CICs show that there are ways of doing business that treats people fairly, cares for the environment and cares for our communities.
If you would like to know more about CICs then see the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies website at
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-regulator-of-community-interest-companies.
Or, if you prefer the personal touch contact me for a chat.
