What is a Social Enterprise?

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A social enterprise is a special type of non-profit or more than profit business that reinvests all of its profits into achieving specific social missions. This can be anything from protecting the environment to enriching the local community. Uppertunity has an asset and profit lock: all assets and profits must be permanently retained within the CIC and used solely for community benefit and aims. We have a Board of Directors. This board makes all the final decisions of the organisation. None of the board members are paid, it is voluntary.  

Uppertunity relies on grants and donations to run our services. We decided to open a cafe to generate an income to help us be sustainable as funding is not always guaranteed. All profits, grants and donations go towards providing our members with more services, volunteering opportunities, equipment and more. 

Many of our members go on to volunteer with us, and the profits and funds we are granted let us provide even more meaningful opportunities.   

We need many different materials and types of equipment in order to run our weekly classes - from baking supplies to sewing machines - and any money we receive also goes towards replenishing and maintaining these items.