Impact in Social Enterprise Award 2022

Part of our Building Public Trust Awards programme

The PwC Building Public Trust Award for Impact in Social Enterprise, in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, recognises UK based social enterprises demonstrating excellence in impact reporting.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, PwC has supported social entrepreneurs with the impacts on them and their businesses, helping to give our PwC Social Entrepreneurs Club members clarity, control and confidence. We know how resilient social enterprises are. Despite the many challenges over the last two years, this resilience was very evident in the 2021 Impact in Social Enterprise award submissions. So many showed an impressive ability to swiftly adjust their business models to digital delivery and have generated high returns in the effort to ‘build back better’. They’ve often been at the centre of the pandemic response, working with those most affected in our communities.

Our three finalists all demonstrated excellent impact reporting and included strong quantitative and qualitative evidence in their entries. The judges felt they had all produced compelling reporting that communicated their business performance and positive impacts in a transparent and emotionally engaging way.

We’re delighted to announce that the winner of our BPTA Impact in Social Enterprise Award 2021 is Noise Solution, who were also one of our finalists in 2019. Our two highly commended entrants are Equal Education and Prospela.

Simon Glenister, CEO of Noise Solution received the award at the BPTA Awards Reception in London and commented, ‘We're absolutely delighted to have our impact for young people and their families recognised and also our work around reporting that impact highlighted as best practice. Reporting is all about understanding your work and getting better at it. Now more than ever we need all organisations to step up their game, as we have, in understanding why and to what extent their approaches work, so we can drive better outcomes’.

David Adair, Head of Community Engagement at PwC added, ‘Our PwC Building Public Trust Social Enterprise Award 2021 shines a light on a social enterprise that really punches above its weight, demonstrating an impact on a very relevant issue post COVID. Noise Solution engage young people with mental health issues using technology in an imaginative and creative way, building their confidence and boosting their prospects and life chances. I look forward to watching them grow and expand over the coming year’.

We are also thrilled to announce that PwC Social Entrepreneurs Club member, Money A+E, won the 2021 BPTA Upskilling Reporting award this year, building on their success of winning the Impact in Social Enterprise award in 2019.

Our BPTA Impact in Social Enterprise Award will open again in May 2022 and is open to all UK based social enterprises.

Building Public Trust Award 2021 winner: Noise Solution

Application

Awards criteria
Shortlisting and judging
Application period
Eligibility

Awards criteria

Please read the awards criteria before completing this application form.

Shortlisting and judging

A panel of subject matter experts from PwC, the School for Social Entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs will agree a shortlist of ten entries initially and then three finalists. These finalists will then be considered by an independent judging panel.

Application period

The award application window will open on Tuesday 10th May 2022 and close on Friday 17th June 2022 at 5pm

Eligibility

Entrants must have an impact report and submit this as part of their application. Entrants must be a UK-based social enterprise that meets the following Social Enterprise UK criteria:

The business has a clear social/environmental mission that is set out in its governing documents
Is an independent business and earns more than half of its income through trading (unless trading for less than 24 months)
Is controlled or owned in the interests of the social/environmental mission
Is transparent about how it operates and its impact
Reinvests or gives away at least half of its profits or surpluses towards its social or environmental purpose.

From Tuesday 10th May 2022 to Friday 17th June 2022 at 5pm

Apply

Prior to presenting the short list to the independent judging panel we consult representatives from the School for Social Entrepreneurs, other stakeholders and social enterprises. Our subject matter experts use the following principles to screen applications. These include that the social enterprise:

Demonstrates positive social or environmental impact* backed up by evidence (can include quantitative and/or qualitative evidence)**
Demonstrates good use of impact measurement or evaluation methods.
Involves and communicates with stakeholders (anyone that affects, or is affected by the enterprises activities)
Clearly communicates both its intended and actual impact in the reports or evidence provided

^{* ‘Impact’ has different definitions in the fields of impact measurement, evaluation, and accounting for social or environmental value, and we’re open to different approaches to the topic. When reviewing impact reports and evidence the judging panel will take into account the focus area and size of enterprise applying e.g. we wouldn't expect an in depth counterfactual impact evaluation from a small start up organisation.}

^{** Although not essential we are interested in how social enterprises have responded or adapted through Covid-19 to create positive impact (which may or may not include changes to impact measurement or evaluation methods).}