Collecting Data on Social Enterprises 2025

Additionally, over 20 global experts were interviewed (see Acknowledgements), who had extensive experience in mapping, surveys and social enterprise research. Their insights further shaped the playbook’s recommendations. The emphasis of the review was on surveys, a widely used tool for mapping social enterprises across countries. Over 30 surveys were analysed, compiling more than 700 questions into a database to identify common themes and assess data comparability. The following surveys, which were either publicly available or confidentially provided to the initiative, were mapped either in their entirety or to the full extent of their relevance for this project. –Practitioner surveys, such as the Global State of Social Enterprise by the British Council10 and the European Social Enterprise Monitor 2023- 2024 by Euclid Network.11 –Academic surveys, such as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2015 by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association12 and the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models 2013-2020 by EMES.13 –Governmental surveys, such as the 2021 census of social enterprises in Scotland.14 –Verification/certification surveys, such as by People and Planet First15 and Buy Social Canada.16 –Membership/grantee surveys, such as by Ashoka, Catalyst Now, Echoing Green, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, Impact Hub and Skoll Foundation. While all inputs focused on social enterprise, definitions and units of analysis varied – some centred on organizations, others on individual social entrepreneurs. A full list of surveys is available in Appendix 1. The mapping of existing surveys on social enterprise revealed that while there was often significant divergence in terms of scope, areas of focus and both the wording and formatting of questions, there were also notable patterns with regard to the themes that were most commonly covered.17 The social enterprise data that has been commonly collected can be organized into eight categories, as listed below.18 These categories are not exhaustive, and most initiatives (both historically and currently) collect data aligned with only some of these categories, in varying combinations and with varying approaches – leading to numerous challenges with data comparability. 1. Passport-style data: Basic details that can be used to identify a social enterprise, including name and registration number (in national business or charity registers). 2. Identification and characteristics: The characteristics that can be used to determine whether an organization may be categorized as a social enterprise according to common definitions. 3. Workforce and leadership: Demographic details on an organization’s workforce and founder/leader. 4. Social and environmental goals: The social enterprise’s mission and impact focus. 5. Economic performance: Financial performance data, such as turnover, profit and job creation. 6. Barriers and challenges: Challenges experienced by social enterprises. 7. Practice and behaviour: Assessing the way social enterprises go about their business and implement their values. 8. General sentiment: Perceptions of social enterprises, particularly their level of optimism regarding the future of their organizations and the social enterprise sector more broadly. For a more detailed list of data points collected under each category, see Appendix 2. 7 Collecting Data on Social Enterprises: A Playbook for Practitioners