We haven’t ever heard a corporate buyer or contracting authority actually say this, but suppliers could be forgiven for thinking it… 

It’s not always easy to find and work with a local community organisation to deliver your Social Value.

Yet, it is a fact that businesses are increasingly being asked to go the extra yard. 

And we’ve known for some time that business ‘does its bit’.

Fortune Global firms spend around $20 billion a year on CSR activities (Meier and Cassar 2018), while more than 90% of the 250 largest companies in the world produce an annual CSR report (KPMG 2017).

Some businesses have community partners they have been working with for many years. And many do a lot of unseen and unrecognised work in their local communities. 

Now, businesses in the UK have to think about Social Value. 

Under law, you can be asked to create ‘Social Value’

When businesses tender for work with the UK Government, they can be asked to create Social Value above and beyond what is being asked for in the contract tender specification. 

Importantly for businesses, Social Value is becoming a determining factor in how government contracts are awarded. 

We are seeing government organisations ratcheting up the weighting in their tenders to 20%.

Bear in mind the UK government spends up to around £280 billion each year in the private sector: getting Social Value right will make a difference to your bottom line. 

Government is increasingly looking at their Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations as ideal vehicles for Social Value. 

This makes a lot of sense – for the community, for businesses and for government. 

Think about it for a moment 

Not every business understands what a local community needs. But businesses have resources and have good reasons to contribute.

On the other hand, local VCSE organisations are part of the local fabric of a community. They know where the big challenges are and how to unlock these problems in a way that no one else does. They have all the local knowledge, but lack resources. 

Putting business together with local community organisations is a win-win, and government is increasingly asking for this. 

Take a look at this great collaboration between community and business in Manchester.

But what we’ve discovered is that not every business can find a community project they are able to support. It might be that the range of projects don’t fit with your area of expertise. Or maybe they are too costly. 

We went out and did some research. The results were pretty clear: 

76% of the businesses we spoke to wanted the option to post their own resources on MatchMyProject. 

It might be that you are ready for new laptops for your team, and have some pretty good second-hand ones to share?

Or someone in your company has some spare volunteering time to offer?

Or do you need to find local residents to fill your apprenticeships and work placements?

Then you should sign up to MatchMyProject.