Volunteers and board members of the Golden Food Bank got together at the Ruth Wixon Memorial Community Garden for an evening barbecue, with a little brainstorming on the side.

The discussion topic on the table was starting a social enterprise.

Non profit organizations such as the Golden Food Bank typically rely on grants and donations to keep them running. Now members of the food bank are looking at other options to keep the doors open.

The option of developing a social enterprise has been brought forward, and board members and volunteers met on July 28 to explore the idea. A barbecue was held on the Tuesday evening so that interested parties could attend and learn more about what it would mean for the Golden Food Bank to start a social enterprise.

Before any brainstorming got underway, the social enterprise concept was explained by Golden Food Bank Co-ordinator Sherra Vorley and Lisa Reinders, Chair of the Board. They explained that a social enterprise is a business that is operated by a non-profit group that will offer a blended return on investment - both financial and social. It was also pointed out that the main purpose of the enterprise was social, rather than profit.

With the development of a social enterprise, the Golden Food Bank would continue to operate as a charitable non-profit organization; however, funding would come from the enterprise as well as from grants and donations. Vorley explained that a pro is that it would diversify the funding for the organization.

“There is no provincial or federal funding available for organizations like food banks,” explained Laura Archer, Food Bank volunteer. “They rely on grants.”

There are currently a variety of social enterprises operating both throughout Canada and the United States. Examples were given at the barbecue to give those present a clearer understanding of the concept. Some of those operating in North America offer a wide variety of products and services, from cafes to job training and employment centres.

In the framework of a social enterprise, non-profit organizations in communities sell a product or service, which is often needed by a community. The income that is generated is then used to support the activities of the charitable organization, helping to make it more self-sustaining.

As well as brainstorming a number of social enterprise ideas for the Golden Food Bank, the barbecue also served to help board members develop a plan on how best to proceed with this new enterprise.

“We are establishing the baseline about whether we’re going to move forward with this,” explained Vorley.

Some of the main things that were being discussed, and will be looked at are what type of social enterprise the Food Bank would be interested in taking on. In order to narrow down the list of ideas, the group worked to set out the criteria of what the social enterprise would need to be. A list of criteria was brainstormed and developed by the end of the barbecue.

Now that interest has been established in starting a social enterprise, and brainstorming has been done, the next steps can be taken by Food Bank board members.

“In discussion with Sherra we will be looking at the next step,” said Reinders.